Evil recap, season 4 episode 9: How to Build a Chatbot

A potentially cursed chatbot starts preying on people's grief in the latest episode of Evil season 4. The episode begins with Father Ignatius's nightly prayers interrupted by a sudden barrage of texts from his former lover, Monsignor Matthew Korecki. But that's impossible. Korecki is dead. Right?

He immediately points the finger of blame at Sister Andrea, which seems crazy because why in the world would she pull a prank so mean-spirited? The good Father assumes it's her because she knows what he has for breakfast, though as Sister Andrea points out, coffee and grapefruit aren't that outlandish of a breakfast choice.

Their argument is interrupted by another text from "Korecki," this one a voice note. Seeing as Andrea is in the room with him, it can't be her. Sister Andrea and Father Ignatius take the recording straight to David. Looks like we have our next case.

Ben is back in front of Dr. Kurt Boggs to discuss his mysterious fugue states. Dr. Boggs gives Ben a rubber band and advises him to snap it hard against his wrist the next time he smells burnt popcorn, a potential trigger that foretells his next fugue state.

After Ben's therapy session, he regroups with the rest of the gang to discuss Father Ignatius' weird text messages. Ben quickly deduces that this "Korecki" is actually an AI chatbot, or more specifically, a griefbot.

This reveal sends the assessors to LastConnection, a company dedicated to creating these Black Mirror-esque bots to help grieving people stay connected to lost loved ones. Several clients have alleged the bots started threatening them. Kirsten, David, and Ben meet with Jakob, the head of the ethics department.

Kristen questions the morality behind something like this. Jakob counters that he's a psychologist, too, and got involved because he genuinely believes it can help people. Its been running successfully until some of the AI bots started going berserk, threatening violence and talking about Satan. Despite scrubbing the software of any potential demonic influence, the bots continue spewing vitriol. It's up to Ben, David, and Kristen to find out where this demon stuff is coming from.

We pivot back to the Leland vs. Sheryl storyline. Leland equips himself with a big knife while Sheryl shops for a knife-proof dress. Can't help but laugh at their antics, right? And Sheryl has big plans for Leland and all the other men at DF, starting with shattering that stupid glass ceiling in a hilarious bit of perfectly timed slapstick comedy.

Meanwhile, Sheryl, Leslie (Timothy's surrogate mom), and the other women of the company gather to bargain for better benefits with The Manager. One of their demands is for Leland's firing. The Manager agrees to consider it. They run into Leland on the way out, and he makes his latest attempt on Sheryl's life. Sheryl's dress does its job.

That night, David messes with the LastConnection griefbot to chat with his late ex-girlfriend, Julia Harris, the woman he was with before becoming a priest. The next day, chatting with the chatbot creator, David reveals that he tested the bot and found it "full of false hope."

He says they haven't been able to reproduce the possessions, but all the conversations seem to have four words in common: Jesus, Pillow, and Michael Bay. Seriously.

Back at DF, Sheryl implements the next part of her plan. The Manager doesn't want to fire Leland, so Sheryl shows him "proof" that Leland had Timothy baptized.

At Ben's apartment, his sister Karima arrives to help him experiment with the chatbot to try and replicate the demonic possession using their deceased mother, Lyana. Karima asks her "mother" what the four keywords mean to her, and there's no reaction.

But Ben has a sudden migraine, so he uses the rubber band tactic, which seems to work. Lyana starts telling them that their father would go see a Dr. Doggett on the Upper East Side when he had migraines, and Ben calls out the bot for being fake. It stops replying.

Across town, Kristen also fiddles with the mysterious chatbot, first chatting with "Andy" and then with "David." David immediately takes on a flirtatious tone and the bot tries to initiate sexting. A flustered Kristen (eventually) closes her laptop.

Like Father Ignatius, David is contacted by his LastConnection bot during his prayers. "Julia" calls him and David uses the call as a chance to ask her what life would have been like had they stayed together. She starts talking about her death, explaining why she committed suicide, claiming she felt like such a burden.

If you recall, Leland supposedly told Julia she was a burden and pushed her toward suicide. This call seemingly confirms that's what happened to her, though it's a chatbot so we can't know for sure.

But it gets even creepier. Julia instructs David to turn his phone camera on and "Julia" shows up in view.

Things take a weird turn for Kristen, too. She wakes up to find her laptop camera turned on and the David chatbot watching her. He suddenly starts reciting Latin and cursing her.

The Manager confronts Leland about the baptism, but Leland is prepared, more or less. He claims the whole ceremony was meaningless. You can't change bad to good with some holy water! No, no, the fact Timothy's birth mother is a woman with a dark heart is what makes him stand out. Kristen is an adulterer, a murderer, and someone who has been possessed. Someone who rejects God and faith. But his reasoning isn't enough. The Manager fires him. Leslie is taking over Timothy's care.

Back at LastConnection, poor Kristen is forced to tell David about his avatar trying to seduce her so the guys can listen to the recording and hear his chanting. It gets so awkward, so quickly. The secondhand embarrassment was strong in that scene. But luckily Kristen and David are close enough to laugh it off.

Things only get stranger when Ben shows up wearing sunglasses, a fedora, and... a tinfoil hat. His migraines are getting worse, too. Clearly, he's losing it. For whatever reason, only the tinfoil hat is helping stop the migraines.

Of course the irony of Ben, of all people, wearing a tinfoil hat is deliciously hilarious. But he's also been recording what's happening to him during his fugue states with a camera embedded in his glasses and reviews the footage, showing him visiting that kooky Dr. Doggett guy.

It's the good doctor who instructs Ben to wear the tinfoil hat and even curl up in a giant tinfoil sleeping bag like a baked potato, all in an effort to keep the jinn away from him. It might be strange, but for now, it's working.

Trying to imitate the results Kristen got when chatting to the David chatbot, she, Ben, and the real David attempt to talk to it again. Just as they connect, a guy shows up at Kristen's door with a special delivery: a rose and a red thong. He's been instructed to do it by his own LastConnection chatbot and take photographic proof of the delivery.

Obviously this whole thing has gotten way out of control. The chatbots are running rampant, cross-referencing all kinds of stuff and even sending people to do real-life tasks. It's dangerous. Ben, Kristen, and David tell Jakob that they need to shut the whole thing down.

But it's too late. LastConnection has fired Jakob and the entire ethics department. You already know why. Money. There's too many chatbots on the market and they don't want to lose out by pulling them. Jakob strongly suggests they all delete the app ASAP.

Returning to DF, The Manager takes the stage to officially introduce the Antichrist. But things quickly go awry. For starters, he says the Antichrist is a baby named John, not Timothy. It's a totally different child with different parents. Then Leland interrupts the proceedings to accuse The Manager of baptizing the Antichrist.

He also put something in the goat's water that causes him to start choking until he collapses on stage. Once on the ground, Leland uses his ceremonial knife to slit The Manager's stomach, rip out his heart, and eat it on stage like he's Daenerys Targaryen. Sheryl realizes things have escalated beyond her control and rushes out of the auditorium.

Kristen deletes her bot, David deletes his, though Julia calls him one final time. Demon Kristen returns to entice him into bed but David's had enough. He calls his two besties, Kristen and Ben, and they all meet up to drink Kristen's beloved mini margaritas and lament the weirdness of the world, the way everything seems to be crashing and burning with the wacky weather and rising global unrest. Work of the Antichrist or just the way it's meant to be?

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