"177 Minutes" is the second episode of the first season of Evil. It premiered on October 3, 2019.
Synopsis[]
| Kristen, David and Ben investigate a supposed miracle when a teenage girl comes back to life after being declared dead for almost two hours; Kristen meets with her former boss and runs into Leland Townsend.[src] |
Full summary[]
David prays — in his room, at church, on a run where he’s tempted by the nearby club, and back in his room where his earnest attempts at prayer is invaded by an apparition of Leland Townsend trying to distract him with ideas of sex and the classic Who’s on First comedy routine.
The trio start their preliminary investigation on the new case - a hospital miracle where a woman, Naomi Clark, was believed to be dead for almost 3 hours (177 minutes) suddenly awakens in the morgue. The trio watch the video from the morgue, seeing the teen’s family enter and Father Augustus enter and give last rites. But before she awakens, the priest is seen whispering something in the girl’s ear.
They discuss the situation with the hospital representative, Neil Benton, who denies the miracle, claiming it’s because she’s young and had hyperinflation in her lungs so excess air from the CPR got trapped in her lungs and stopped her from breathing freely. He blames inexperienced first responders.
Talking to the paramedic, Brian Cadelago, outside, he disagrees, claiming the hospital is just trying to dodge a malpractice lawsuit. When pressed on whether he’d describe the incident as a miracle, however, the paramedic tells that he doesn’t believe in that sort of thing, but admits that something happened. The trio find out that there is also video from the trauma bay but that the footage is erased after a week.
Kristen approaches Darryl Croche, the plaintiff’s attorney, outside the DA’s office and asks for him to get the footage from the hospital for her in exchange for inside information about the hospital’s defence. While discussing this with Darryl, Kristen is approached by her former employer, DA Lewis Cormier, who offers her her job back as well as job security and a two-year contract.
Back at Kristen’s home office, the trio take a look at the footage received from Croche of the trauma bay. The footage shows the CPR conducted on Naomi. They also find a flash appear briefly, just six frames, but is a mysterious blog that has a human face. Ben wants to investigate it further, thinking it likely a deep fake or a technical glitch.
After the meeting, David and Kristen discuss their opposing opinions on miracles. Kristen reveals that her daughter Laura was born with a heart defect and has a 50-50 chance she could drop dead any time before the age of 20. Kristen also mentions her meeting with the DA who wants her back, but David says he’ll discuss with the church to see if they can meet the DA’s offer.
That night, while lying in bed, Kristen is wide awake when she hears her daughter, Laura, scream. Once safe in her mom’s bed, Laura describes the nightmare that had awoken her which bears a remarkable resemblance to the one’s Kristen had had, including a cannily similar description of the demon George who had visited Kristen in episode 1.
Kristen explains Laura’s nightmare and its similarity to her own experience to her therapist, Kurt, who remains sceptical about the similarities and Kristen’s work with demons and miracles.
David talks with Monsignor Matthew Korecki, convincing him to match Kristen’s offer from the DA. The Monsignor also asks David to interview Father Augustus – the priest present just before Naomi awoke in the morgue, and who is being referred to as the “miracle priest”.
Ben talks to the hospital security, showing them the unusual footage from the trauma bay. One guard confirms that the hospital doesn’t record over digital cards. A second guard looks at the paused footage of the figure and believes he knows who it is.
Ben presents his findings to David and Kristen, explaining that the flashing image is of Bernadette May, a woman who’d died in the hospital not long before Naomi. He wants to investigate the footage further.
David and Kristen visit Father Augustus, who is being fawned over by a large congregation. In private, the Father explains that despite praying often, he doesn’t hear from God. The Father also says that all he said in Naomi’s ear was “Don’t go. Stay. Please, God, let her stay.” He reveals that immediately prior to seeing Naomi, he had also seen Bernadette May who knew she was dying but seemed at peace.
Kristen asks David about his visions of God. The visions appeared after Julia’s death and they gave him hope and comfort.
Kristen passes DA Lewis, handing over cases and declining his offer. Lewis doesn’t mind because he came upon another forensic psychologist who would replace Kristen – Leland Townsend. Lewis asks Kristen to brief Leland on the remaining cases. Kristen tries to convince Lewis that Leland is a psychopath with nefarious motives and has had underhanded dealings with LeRoux, but Lewis is unswayed.
As Kristen leaves the DA’s office, Leland catches up with her. Leland admits that he will argue to release the guilty and imprison the innocent, but states it’s not because he’s bad but because Kristen is easily persuaded and too soft – information he’s gained from her stolen notes from her therapist. Leland also tells Kristen to ask David about the second time he saw God.
At home, Kristen finds her daughters watching a horror show that features a monster that looks similar to George. Kristen figures this is where Laura’s nightmare stemmed from and tries to comfort her telling her it’s not real.
Kristen works alone in her office when she hears knocking. She opens the door and catches a glimpse of George’s hand closing the door of her house. She follows him inside and sees him run into her daughters room where they all scream. Kristen startles awake in her bed with Laura beside her. However, George enters and threatens to stab the sleeping Laura in the heart. Kristen again startles awake, with Laura shaking her.
Kristen relays the conversation she had with Leland to David. She asks David why Leland is coming after them. David reveals that he believes that Leland wants to kill hope. Kristen asks David about the second time he saw God and he tells her that he hasn’t seen God a second time. The question was part of Leland’s attempt to sow division and doubt.
David and Kristen interview Naomi about her experience. She tells of seeing a big black hole open up in the earth and a big swirling thing with 60 people coming out of it. David asks Naomi if he thinks what happened to her was a miracle, but she isn’t sure.
Ben meets with David and Kristen, telling them he doesn’t know how the footage was faked. He shows them side-by-side footage of both Bernadette and Naomi in the trauma bay, and while watching, David notices something that convinces him that it wasn’t a miracle afterall.
David meets with Neil to update him on their findings. He states that it was hyperinflation and undiagnosed COPD. He also reveals that the hospital’s doctors performed CPR on white patients for considerably longer than African American patients. David suggests that Naomi awoke in the morgue because ER staff stopped performing CPR 30 minutes earlier than they had with other white patients.
David presents the findings to the Monsignor but he is disinterested in the fact that they were unable to ascertain how the images got in the footage.
David runs and prays, but he passes the club again and is unable to suppress his temptation, so he goes inside. He meets with a drug dealer and buys magic mushrooms. Back home, he brews the mushrooms, lays on his bed, prays, and starts seeing a vision of multiple swirling golden rings. As his body floats towards the vision, he sees the rings in closer detail, and the rings comprise of human bodies. Among these, he believes he sees Julia.
Cast[]
Main[]
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Recurring[]
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Guest[]
- Dakin Matthews as Father Augustus
- Sohina Sidhu as Karima Shakir
- Sanjit De Silva as Neil Benton
- Hannah Hodson as Naomi Clark
- Tom Riis Farrell as Darryl Croce
- Matt DeAngelis as Brian Cadelago
- Chris Carlock as Rod
- Cristala Carter as Nurse
- Joel Harlow as Joel Harlow
- Melissa Joyner as Angela Clark
- Kevin Pariseau as Coroner
- Sean Phillips as Cleveland
- Peterson Townsend as Corey Clark
- Shiloh Verrico as Girl
- Jayson Wesley as Bearded Man
- Michael Zlabinger as Roger
Quotes[]
- Matthew: "And how is this assessment at Harbor Hospital going?"
David: "The miracle?"
Matthew: "Well, that is debatable. You know the priest, Father Augustus?"
David: "I do."
Matthew: "I'm not sure God uses an alcoholic for His miracles."
David: "He used Moses."
Matthew: "You just like being contentious, don't you?"
Puzzle pieces[]
There are three hidden puzzle pieces in this episode:
Multimedia[]
Videos[]
Trivia[]
To be added