The big question is: How do Kristen and David go forward? They need to continue to work together, or Kristen will have to resign her position, but with four daughters to raise, she needs the income. So resisting temptation and getting things back on an even keel are essential. “It’s kind of heartbreaking, a beautiful thing that happened between them,” Herbers exclusively told Parade.com. “She laid herself entirely bare in front of him. He’s the only person who knows everything about her. Her shame, her guilt, everything, and he accepted that.” As a priest, David has heard almost everything during confession, but it is probably not often that someone like Kristen—a white, middle-class mother of four daughters—confesses to murder. Granted, the man she murdered —serial killer Orson LeRoux (Darren Pettie)—threatened her family, but even so, it is a big burden for them to share. “I love how that was written,” Herbers continued. “It was very challenging and wonderful to get to play that transition from that nakedness into something that became sexual. And so now we have to deal with the fact that these two people who are at the height of their connection actually feel disconnected after sealing it with a kiss. And it becomes, let’s just say teasing it, we get to have our cake and eat it too this season.” We won’t spoil what that means, especially because it plays out different from what you might imagine, but that’s the whole point of Evil: expect the unexpected from the minds of creators Robert and Michelle King. Kristen also confessed a little earlier on to Detective Mira Byrd (Kristen Connolly) that she had killed Orsen when Mira found Kristen in her backyard while she was hallucinating about murdering Orsen, but there was also the fact that Mira was starting to suspect Orsen’s wife, and there was no way that Kristen was going to allow an innocent person to pay for her crimes. “Kristen thinks that that person deserved to die,” Herbers explained of murdering Orsen. “It was him or her children. I think it’s relatable for a lot of mothers and fathers. If somebody is out to murder your child, you would rather kill that murderer than take the risk of your child actually being murdered. I stand by that murder, let me just put it that way. “What was very jarring to her and that she didn’t realize in that moment was that when she got laid off by her cop friend, because she was white and she has four cute daughters and drives a station wagon, she had to deal with the fact that the world is unjust and that her white privilege got her off. If she were black or brown that wouldn’t have happened, she would have been in jail.” Following the confession to Mira and the reality of dealing with her white privilege, Kristen began cutting herself, self-mutilating. While for those who believe in demons and such, it may have seemed as if there were some evil power behind her actions, but for Kristen, who is a psychologist and believes in science, she feels that it is because emotions have to be expressed in some way. “There’s a way to explain that from the evil side of things, the religious side of things was: Is she now possessed? I don’t believe that. I don’t believe that at all. I think she was a person with a lot of mental turmoil and dealing with all that, and it had to come out somewhere.” Confessing to David was another way to let it out, and the result was twofold. First, there was the fact that he was still able to love her, but the reality of him being a Black man who was able to forgive her was also a key element. “I didn’t just kill a person, I’m not just some psychopath murderer,” Herbers said. “I took out a person who murdered a lot of people. I don’t carry guilt from killing this man, I carry trauma from now having been a person who killed someone. So, no guilt.” Obviously, Kristen has gone to great lengths to protect her four daughters—Lynn (Brooklyn Shuck), Lila (Skylar Gray), Lexis (Maddy Crocco) and Laura (Dalya Knapp), so it is interesting that she doesn’t perceive the danger her mother Sheryl (Christine Lahti) presents to them. “What is going on with my mom?” Herbers said. “Luckily Kristen doesn’t know the extent of it, or she would not be around my children at all. We always say children are so resilient, and I guess they are, right? And then later in life they become adults with all kinds of problems and have to go to therapy for the rest of their lives because it turns out, hey, they weren’t that resilient, they were just surviving.” Even though Kristen’s husband Andy (Patrick Brammall) is gone most of the time, the girls are very much loved by their mother, so hopefully, that will be enough to keep them sane later in life. “They come from a loving household, they’re receiving a lot of love,” Herbers said. “So their foundation is solid and good. And they’re kind of fearless. I also think they don’t understand exactly the extent of the danger, I’ve kept that away.” In a small spoiler for season 3, Herbers teases that the girls get into a little war of their own with Leland (Michael Emerson) and try to take him out. “They’re really much better at some of this stuff than Leland because they’re younger and they understand technology a thousand times better than him.” Evil begins streaming on June 12 on Paramount+ with a new episode dropping each week. Next, The Upside Down Is Coming Back! Everything to Know About Stranger Things Season 5
