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PILOT REVIEW: Evil

EVIL








Starring: Katja Herbers, Mike Colter, Aasif Mandvi, Kurt Fuller, Marti Matulis, Brooklyn Shuck, Skyler Grey, Maddy Crocco, Dalya Kanpp, with Christine Lahti and Michael Emerson

 Created by Robert King and Michelle King
Written by Robert King & Michelle King, Directed by Robert King

In spring, I finally started to watch The Good Wife, which had been on my list for years. I knew I would probably like it and am loving it (I'm currently in season four). So I had a level of excitement about Evil, because I like scary shows and I now know that I like Robert and Michelle King, creator of The Good Wife and Evil. This was a real slow burn though and I wanted it to get going much sooner than it did.

I read that Robert and Michelle King were inspired to do this show partly because Robert is spiritual and a believer, but Michelle is a skeptic. Although I like scary things, I'm not always a fan of supernatural or horror shows, so this isn't really the type of show I would like. This is not a CBS type of show and maybe that's why I liked it more than something like FOX's recent horror show The Exorcist. The CBS-ified-ness, however slight, made the show a little more accessible for someone like me.

Evil has a great cast. I really liked Katja Herbers and Mike Colter and the dynamic between them. I loved Michael Emerson in Person of Interest and others did in Lost. He does a magnificent job of playing creepy or off-kilter roles and this may be his most mysterious yet. The fact that he didn't appear until close to the end of the episode was a smart move. I found myself anticipating his appearance and it kept me more interested wondering when it would come.

I felt like the show didn't totally payoff at the end of the pilot and it makes me wonder about it long term. While The Good Wife expertly blended weekly cases with overarching stories, I'm not convinced that Evil is the type of show that can make that work on a regular basis. Can it convincingly find new cases about supernatural occurrences in a way that won't seem contrived? And as much as I like Michael Emerson, how long can he continue to be just a creep? The previews for next week's episode look like more of the same with him. Maybe this just will end up not being the show for me and I'll dive back into season four of The Good Wife. But I'm not done being intrigued by it yet.

WILL I WATCH IT AGAIN?
Yes. This is teetering on the edge of being my type of show, but my love for The Good Wife has bought the Kings a couple episodes from me.
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