Evil Season 3 Episode 5 Review: The Angel of Warning
Evil Season 3 Episode 5, “The Angel of Warning,” contemplates disaster, angels, and a history of whitewashing.
What makes this episode so effective is that it doesn’t rest on its laurels. This isn’t merely an examination of angels within Catholicism and Christianity but it finds ways to continuously layer upon that. It isn’t just about how miracles via angels is almost a trope in that religion but it also takes that a step further.
It introduces this nuanced discussion tangentially regarding angels but also in the way that some of that has been perceived, both historically and canonically. “The Angel of Warning” doesn’t quite get into this — mainly because there isn’t a need to drive it to this extent — but it hits generally upon a longheld argument in these circles.
Art and the modern shorthand for Jesus has always been this white, blue-eyed hippie with long hair and a minor tan. In reality, it makes far more sense for him to resemble people of the region i.e. middle eastern or African. The problem is that white people within the church have controlled the conversation and made him look like them.
Again, the episode doesn’t make this point explicitly but it could. The same general idea is used for how angels have been depicted throughout the ages. Disregarding the fact that if angels actually existed they’d have more in common with an H.P. Lovecraft story than anything else, their depiction has been one that conveys safety and warmth.
Given who has controlled this narrative for hundreds of years, the angels unsurprisingly resemble a kind of Aryan white person. The weight that the episode gives all of this is really remarkable and then to connect that with the visions that David has been experiencing is a really savvy move.
Linking that even further with Sister Andrea’s catholic trial over her own visions of demons is a good move on the show’s part. It’s the show having this conversation with itself that the demons on the show have always been depicted as having dark skin and the more godly figures are white and full of light and isn’t that all a bit problematic?
Like anything the show does, there aren’t easy answers to be seen here. This is less a show interested in providing explanations and more so with examination and contemplation. What does David think about this and struggle with and, in turn, how does the audience feel in regards to this?
Ultimately, Evil is a look at faith and that doesn’t truly follow a linear path. It builds up and it tears down and it does so constantly throughout one’s life. Faith is a singular, personal concept that means a lot of different things to a lot of different people and so of course there’s never going to be a right or wrong answer to practically anything.
Evil can only — is only interested in — ask the viewer how they feel on a topic and let them carry it on through the rest of their week on into their life.
What did you think of this episode of Evil? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Evil airs Thursdays 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.