That little snowball rolling down the hill is on its way to something quite dangerous.
I don’t watch The Good Fight, but by reading the reviews, I know it dove headfirst into crazytown by the end of the latest season.
If EVIL Season 2 Episode 10 is any indication, we’re in for one hell of a ride into the season finale.
Although the RSM Fertility story is in the pole position, Ben’s business with Vanessa is so trippy that it’s got to be discussed.
We haven’t seen much of Vanessa during EVIL Season 2, so watching the refresher on all topics leading into “O Is for Ovaphobia” was well worth the effort.
Ben’s full-on reluctance to lend credence to Vanessa’s sister theory came back to bite him in the ass.
If anything, the team’s investigations should have opened Ben’s and Kristen’s to the fact that there isn’t always a plausible explanation for what they witness, no matter hard they try to assure themselves otherwise.
The more they learn about life’s oddities, the less willing they are to believe it. Maybe it’s the only way they can retain their sanity.
Some of what they’ve seen would drive others over the edge. Ben and Kristen, though, are more determined to make sure all pegs onto the appropriate holes.
It was easy to chalk up Vanessa’s “sister” situation to mental issues. That arm talk is just bizarre.
Then they visited the voodoo woman, and it seemed like SurrealEstate Season 1 Episode 3 when a woman created fake supernatural phenomena to get her point across. Voodoo priestess was placating the customer with theatrics.
Even Vanessa’s full-on personality change would have fit that scenario. The placebo effect of theatrically removing her burden probably carries significant weight in theory and practice.
Ben was having the time of his life with the invigorated Vanessa.
He was a little freaked when her sister talk began pointing to the opposite arm, but when Maggie was standing right in front of Ben with Vanessa on the phone, gunshots couldn’t have got him moving any faster as he hightailed it out the door.
The connection between twins has been deeply explored, so it wouldn’t be surprising if Vanessa and Maggie’s connection went a step further.
But I can’t shake the feeling that Vanessa could have had a split personality freed through voodoo. Maybe that’s what I want to happen.
EVIL’s more likely scenario is that it’s easy for Ben to write off a physical twin since he never saw Vanessa and Maggie together. He’s got enough unanswered questions of his own, so it wouldn’t be a big deal if Vanessa were a little kooky. It didn’t change the way he felt about her.
Now we get to wait to see how they explain it or watch as Ben pretends it never happened so that we can write off another oddity without explanation, as EVIL often does to maintain the mysterious.
The other two stories of the hour merged in what might be Michelle King and Robert King’s attempt to play with far-right conspiracy theories of demons and adrenochrome. I’d be shocked if that wasn’t the driving force of this RMS Fertility story, especially since Leland is involved now.
The investigation is going ahead full bore, seemingly without the Church’s blessing. But despite David initiating it, he was more of a backseat driver as Kristen’s personal connection no longer seems up for debate.
Kristen refuses to be truthful with David and Ben. Normally, she leans on them for understanding and meaning she can’t find in context.
It’s hard to tell if that changed when she murdered someone, or she’s always been hesitant and flippant with the truth, especially when it comes to her family.
The more they learn about the fertility clinic, the less she shares with David and Ben. Kristen perks up when one of the other mothers shares an experience similar to hers with Lexis, and it’s frustrating that David and Ben can’t read her tells.
Kristen is not a good liar. Her eyes widen, and the cadence of her speech changes. But David and Ben either don’t recognize it, or they decline to object to her untruths.
Lexis is suffering. There’s a lot more to her self-confidence issues than Kristen could imagine, but her fear to discuss Lexis’s teeth, which she now knows isn’t a one-off with RMS Fertility babies, keeps her in the dark about the more pertinent issue of Lexis’s tail.
Will Lexis embrace her tail in public? Playfully working it in the mirror is one thing, but doing that in front of others should draw attention.
How long has she had the tail? Has she become so adept at hiding it that it doesn’t swat things off of the table if she’s not careful?
It’s such a bizarre addition to the story, but I hope it’s fully explored. Kristen did what she could for Lexis, but she was mired down in the discovery her remaining eggs weren’t intact or her’s alone, so her mother game suffered a little.
To outsiders like me, the fertility business is otherworldly. Frozen sperm, eggs, and embryos are out there in vast numbers. Would it be a surprise to learn that the scientific community took advantage?
If it’s all in the name of scientific discovery, they might be willing to take an egg here, an embryo there, and blame its loss on general health attrition. They could even fudge the numbers, as in Kristen’s case.
Kristen went the extra mile that many probably don’t, but after Leland’s involvement was exposed, maybe she doesn’t want to know.
Communication isn’t Kristen’s family’s strong point. It’s shocking that nobody has made more of a fuss over Sheryl’s doll altar. Kristen didn’t even make enough fuss over Sheryl’s association with Leland.
Leland: To our mutual hate.
Sheryl: Mutual.
Sheryl came to her own conclusions with Leland, but there is something about the guy that she cannot resist. What that something is was made very clear.
Life is best when it’s surprising, terrifying.
Leland
That was a theme with Leland. He used it to lure her to the white event. He used it to pimp her out to Edward (the freakiest I’ve ever seen Tim Matheson). And he and Edward said it many times over.
Leland: Well?
Sheryl: Are you pimping me out, Leland?
Leland: Which way do you want me to answer that? Don’t you want life to be exciting?
Christine Lahti is a treasure, and her skills were on full display as Sheryl’s fun night descended into madness. Lahti’s performance left no doubt about what was running through Sheryl’s mind when Edward joyfully began injecting her with God knows what.
She was terrified, no doubt believing she had made a mistake that would end her life.
Instead, she was rejuvenated thanks to whatever the hell Leland pumped into her and Edward.
My guess is the EVIL equivalent of adrenochrome, a derivative of adrenaline that is so controversial it’s most often associated with the likes of Aldus Huxley or the movies, A Clockwork Orange and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
That’s because it’s been studied in tandem with schizophrenia and for its hallucinogenic effects. But the far-right conspiracy theorists have linked it to the political and Hollywood elites who use it as a fountain of youth harvested from tortured children during satanic rituals.
This RSM Fertility story has it all. The fertility doc wrapped in a cocoon with several others in a backroom look like they’re either crops for harvesting or getting the treatment themselves.
It’s not as simple as a plasma transfusion, although actual (recent) studies have been done in the US to determine how well it works to reverse the signs of aging. The liquid Leland had was clear, so I’m rolling with adrenochrome.
Unless it was my mind playing tricks on me (and what better time than while watching EVIL), Edward and Sheryl emerged from Leland’s apartment with digitally rejuvenated faces.
I love everything about the possibility of linking real-world conspiracy theories to EVIL, as this episode went so far down the rabbit hole that even Alice would be shocked.
This kind of wonderous, fantastical storytelling is too rare, which is why EVIL is one of the best shows currently on television.
Once you open the door to the idea that anything is on the table, the greatest storytellers use it to their advantage. The Kings have proven time and again that they’re among the very best.
Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She’s a member of the Critic’s Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on Twitter and email her here at TV Fanatic.