Evil Season 3 Episode 3 Review: The Demon of Sex
Evil Season 3 Episode 3, “The Demon of Sex,” goes to marriage counseling with a demon in tow.
This is the second episode in a row that we can’t exactly parse what Evil is trying to say with its central investigation. There doesn’t seem to be a message on display and the more we think about it, the less one emerges. As weird and delightful as this show often is, sometimes it does feel like there’s a distinct limit on how much it’s actually able to say.
Given that this is such a story of the prevailing effects of evil and demons in the world, there is an expectation that the commentary it provides will reflect that in some way. How much of what the show has to say can be directed back at the canonical demons?
We see a demon throughout the episode but, and this is hardly a new question for the show, do they truly exist? Is Leo and Amalia’s marriage truly demonically influenced and fed or are we to think that is something else entirely? Is a point being made about the relationship between sex and violence or is it all merely something wild and weird within the episode?
If there is a point, what is it? If “The Demon of Sex” is making the argument that, like the demon, shows of violence have a toxic effect on a relationship, then what is the follow-up on that? If the show is making a direct link between this sexual violence and the demon, then what is it? Do you then say that BDSM is demonically inspired?
This points to both a feature and a bug with the show. It wants to always straddle the line of being both realistic and religious. It has its cake and eats it too where we can see a demon in one shot and then have Ben tell us the scientific reasons for why something is happening.
Like in this episode, does the demon truly exist or is it just a manifestation of something psychological? If it doesn’t exist, why do we then see it?
To be fair, the episode does provide a counterbalance to that with Ben becoming depressed at the level of bizarre in his life now. There’s a tiny bit of suspension of disbelief here narratively because it’s been implied that Ben has been working with David for a while now and has probably seen some things pre-Kristen that he can’t really explain.
That aside is an excellent section of the episode and feels the tiniest bit queer for this pride month but not exclusively. It goes for a lot of subgroups out there that being around other like-minded people has a really positive effect on your mental and emotional wellbeing.
It’s an appropriate part of the show’s runtime at this point for a person as logic and reason based as Ben to start being weighed down by everything that has happened so far. It makes sense that it wouldn’t make any sense to him because there has been some stuff that’s happened that there isn’t a good explanation for.
What did you think of this episode of Evil? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Evil airs Sundays on Paramount+.
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Drew Koenig
Drew has an ongoing, borderline unhealthy obsession with pop culture, but with television in particular. When he's not aggressively trying to get out of a perpetual state of catching up, he can be found passionately defending the ending of Lost. More of his online work can be found at The Lost Cause and he also co-hosts The Lost Cause Pod.