Sassy Demons Make This My Favorite Horror TV Show on Paramount Plus

You know those jaw-drop emojis like 😱 or 😨? You use them when you see or hear something that makes you excited, shocked, afraid or completely awestruck. It may seem corny -- yet entirely appropriate -- to express your emotional reaction to a TV show or movie with an emoji, but you'll do it when you watch Evil on Paramount Plus.

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It's horror and drama mixed with campy humor in a way that's not always predictable. Evil is, at times, violent, scary, bloody, hilarious and cerebral, yet it's consistently philosophical and disturbing. At first, the show feels like a mystery-of-the-week procedural in the vein of The X-Files or Grimm, and it sticks to that format -- with a larger overarching conspiracy looming in the background. It's a show where demon encounters can play out like frightening life-or-death situations or as amusing exchanges with smart-mouthed jerks. Humans aren't always the best, either. The series is wild but satisfyingly entertaining and thought-provoking.

Creators Michelle and Robert King set out to make audiences explore the root of evil through each episode, with a focus on its main trio: Kristen Bouchard (played by Katja Herbers), David Acosta (Mike Colter) and Ben Shakir (Aasif Mandvi). The three are hired by the Catholic Church to investigate its backlog of oddball cases. Are these incidents miracles? Is demonic possession involved, or is there a scientific or more practical explanation? 

Aasif Mandvi as Ben, Mike Colter as David and Katja Herbers as Kristen in Evil.

It's their job to determine if supernatural factors are a possibility. At its center, Evil examines the role of religion and science in explaining the unexplainable. But there are demons and lots of them, and they have lots to say. 

David is a priest who's guided by his spiritual beliefs, and Kristen -- who's a self-proclaimed skeptic -- is a forensic psychologist who leans on her professional training to understand behavior. Meanwhile Ben is a tech pro who thinks they can resolve their cases with science or common sense. The series' main antagonist is Leland Townsend (Michael Emerson), who comes off as an unassuming yet sketchy, average guy. He's not average. At home and at work, he's a deceitful being -- a boogeyman who doesn't always operate alone and who has to answer to higher-ups who look anything but human. 

Marti Matulis as George in Evil.

As the crew works through each season assessing cases, viewers see weird, wacky and chilling storylines. Underpinning the series is how 60 demonic houses are trying to take over the world through corporate plotting, media manipulation, retail ventures and other means. Sigils, icky bodily injections, exorcisms and a shovel-toting psychic nun add to the fun. Sometimes, you'll see angels, saints and demons and other times, spooky social media challenges or true miracles take center stage. Monstrous "hallucinations" taunt the characters in their bedrooms, back yards or at church, and kids experience terrible trauma. George the demon is quite the character, though he and his brethren aren't necessarily to blame for all the evil things happening in this show. 

Kristen's actions are often morally gray (and sometimes illegal), and the hot-natured tension between her and David is peak will-they-or-won't-they. Her four annoyingly loud daughters and unreliable husband make for entertaining side plots, but it's her mother, Sheryl (Christine Lahti), who takes disloyalty and dysfunction to horrible heights. I hated her, and you probably will, too. 

If you're a fan of Supernatural, then you're used to seeing TV demons in "meatsuits" wearing human exteriors to disguise their identities as dark entities. Some of those demons were charismatic but shrewd (e.g. Crowley) or just plain reckless. Evil has demons with the same characteristics, including a few who are malicious but likable. Leland's boss is gross to look at, but it's hard not to laugh when you see him gobble up cookies a la Ted Lasso. The show is tuned in to pop culture!

Manager Demon really likes Sheryl's biscuits.

Every episode makes the trio question reality, their profession and their personal beliefs. While David receives counsel (and secret missions) from a wise-cracking nun, priestly mentors and the Vatican, Ben struggles to find answers when science and atheism can't help. Though Kristen and her family get deeply dragged into the fray with Leland and his cohort, her ability to remain objective, agnostic and principled becomes a challenge. They all see unimaginable things and sometimes do the unimaginable. 

I'll admit the show leaves some mysteries unsolved, and it's up to the viewer to resolve them -- or not. Is there a reckoning? Binge all four seasons of Evil to find out.