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Spoilers forEvilseason four, episode ten,How to Survive a Storm.
Sheryl Luria has been dancing with the devil, literally and metaphorically, since the very beginning ofEvil.
But this four-season arc came to a messy and heartbreaking end in this weeks episode.
In her final days, Sheryl, played by the fiery Christine Lahti, attempts to redeem herself.
She warns Kristen to protect her daughters from Leland.
I hate you fucking guys.
Its a show calledEvil.
I think Leland is going to prevail, she says.
Which Im glad about.
As a result, I just was barreling ahead, thinking Im going to prevail.
Michelle King called me.
Shes very much a skeptic, like Kristen and Ben.
In the end, she seems to embrace faith and wants to get her last rites.
Did that turn feel authentic to you?Yes.
I think one of my favorite scenes in the entire four years was theconfession scene with David.
But while shes in there, there is so much guilt and remorse and sadness bubbling up in her.
It makes her feel so vulnerable.
Shes done some things shes not proud of.
Probably not.For Sheryl, its all been gaining power.
It was like,Thats it.
I will never, ever be brought down or made to feel less than by a man again.
I will gain power by any cost.
At the end, she wanted more than anything to reconcile with Kristen.
It did give her some relief.
She also has a connection now with David.
I think it was more about David saying he forgives her more than God, necessarily.
Like when you become a parent or a grandparent.
Shes so needy for help, and yet she is trying to stay the cynic.
Thats really moving to her.
That really struck me.
Hes right, in a way.
This is why people lean into faith.
Im still an atheist, but I remember feelingthere is something to that.
He was raised Catholic, but we were more generally Christian in our house.
At the end of his life, he also wanted last rites.
He wanted his funeral at a Catholic church.
I was annoyed, because I was like,This isnt who he was.
That makes it so relatable.
I also wondered if the baptism had an impact on her.
As soon as Timothy was baptized, the power comes back on.
Hes a transformed baby.Of course, Sheryl couldnt see the demon.
Only Sister Andrea could see the demon baby.
Then there were other takes where it was the actual child.
We also had a dummy child that was so heavy.
Andrea and I were both like, We do not have to go to the gym forweeksafter this.
She thought he heard her.
She couldnt get to it and she just ended up stabbing him in the groin.
Like, put cockroaches in his ears while hes sleeping.
Just have some tweezers and be dropping live cockroaches in his ears.
I even pitched that to Robert King.
There is a funeral for her and a memorial service, but she never comes back.
What was shooting your last scene like?My last scene was in the grocery store incognito.
We were in our dressing rooms waiting to be called into makeup.
And we got a notice that they were shutting down because there was a picket line.
So we shut down because of the strike.
Finally, we did many, many months later, once the strike was over.
I had a long time to think about all those scenes and let them percolate.
Is it a good thing or a bad thing to have that time?It turned out fine.
I was just happy that we got to shoot those scenes.
But my characters dead, so thats a problem.
She could come back as a different being, or in somebodys dream or fantasy or nightmare.
I would love to come back as Lelands worst nightmare.
But it made me appreciate other peoples faith.
Sometimes, I was even jealous of it.
But to me, religion is, historically, just patriarchy on steroids and the oppression of women.
