Stan Against Evil Season 3 Premiere Review: Is There Daylight Savings Time in Hell?
Carissa Pavlica
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Happy Halloween Evildoers!
Did Stan and Evie arrive home to Hell on earth?
The two time-travelers sure thought so on Stan Against Evil Season 3 Episode 1, but they were under the spell of Denny Duquette. No. But once Grey's Anatomy was referenced on screen, I was unable to the Black Magician anything but that any longer. Curses!
I can't for the life of me understand why Duquette was challenging Evie and Stan to understand their relationship better, but it was beautiful.
Sure, getting impaled through the chest might have stung a bit, but Stan wasn't dead, so who cares? In the long run, I mean.
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It was a very clever opening to Stan Against Evil Season 3 because it would have been impossible for Evie to guess she was getting punked by the version of Stan that returned from emptying his bladder.
Even after two years of working in Willards Mill, there comes a time when you believe the monster before you probably killed your friend before you believe the monster before you is your friend.
Your mind can only stretch the realm of impossibility to a certain length, you know?
Evie: HEY! Everyone we know and love is GONE!
Stan: Oh, I got a theory on that one's gonna knock your socks off. Gimme two minutes, will ya?
Evie: Wait, what?
Stan: I gotta, I gotta hit the head.
Evie: Can it wait?
Stan: Can it wait. Those were the days!
The humor was on point throughout the premiere, and although Stan was doing in fine form when they emerged from the other timeline, it was Evie and the good Doctor Edmunds who rallied while at the psychiatric hospital.
How do the people of Willards Mill manage to be so ignorant of all the supernatural mumbo-jumbo going on around them? Evie couldn't have been the first patient to make her way into the place telling tales of monsters only to have one trail in after her.
Doc Edmunds did what any normal doc would do and treated Evie like she was half crocked.
Barett? OK, it says here that you killed your best friend by impaling him through the chest with a board. Aside from that, how are things goin' for you?
Dr. Edmunds
There are some terrible doctors out there, and it's not difficult to wonder if any of them ever treat the insane like that in real life.
No, I'm not suggesting anyone should be doing it, but if someone can't understand what's happening, and a terrible doctor is already having a bad day, what's to stop them?
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That would be so awful, but if some doctors aren't above ignoring their patients, roughing them up, or killing them (I watch a lot of Dateline), then who's to say they wouldn't humor patients?
Dr. Edmunds: So, Evelyn. Would you believe me if I told you that I believe you, and I'm going to do everything in my power to get you out of here?
Evie: Really?
Dr. Edmunds: No. And I really shouldn't joke like that.
But it wasn't long before Evie wasn't pleading for her life by herself anymore, and Stan was let in on the secret. The playing field was about to be equal.
Duquette's description of Stan's voice while showing Stan the mirror was such a little oddity, but very funny. I'm uncertain of Duquette's overall purpose, but he is a card.
It all played out beautifully with our heroes realizing how far they've come in their friendship after Stan's pleading eye sockets wore down Evie enough to listen to his "hhhhhh" so they could take each other out and return to when it all began.
I got the warm fuzzies when they both stood there holding their hands before them with interlaced fingers knowing the importance of the other to their success.
Still, Stan was as grumpy as ever by the time Fleming and Nesbitt appeared as the Black Hat Society burned up on Stan Against Evil Season 3 Episode 2.
Considering Claire was a part of the BHS, you'd think Stan would have been a little more moved by what happened to the group. Oh, wait. I'm talking about Stan. Never mind!
Here's what I can tell you about the goings on during this episode -- I got lost in the forest and missed some of the trees. Even after I went back to find the trees, I couldn't. Maybe it's a case of the Halloweens?
Or maybe I'm warming up for the impending end of Daylight Savings Time.
I'm at home in my kitchen carving butter into a chicken. OK. Where in our texts does it mention Daylight Savings Time, LAURA? It's a pointless Western construct. OK. Fine. I'll be there.
Witch
Judy was crushing it with her love of butter carving. If I knew where to get a hunka hunka butter that big, maybe I'd give a chicken a go. Probably not, but it would smother a lot of lobster. Yumbola!
The forest in which I was fumbling around was the one making fun of procedurals, and The X-Files, of course.
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Stan Against Evil always finds a way to say what I've thought all along, and I'm never at a loss for quotable moments.
Evie: Hey, have you ever heard of the New Hampshire State Bureau of Paranorman Phenonema?
Stan: The NHSBPP?
Evie: Yeah!
Stan: No, but that's what they'd be called.
Tossing around acronyms on shows like that can be as frustrating as trying to read along on social media with the youngins who have never bothered entirely to learn the English language. They live in a world in abbreviations and fake words like "prolly" to make use of character limits.
And never forget how easy it is for any government agent to wander into other jurisdictions and do as they please.
Nesbitt: Like most government agents, I am also a doctor. This is the head.
Evie: How is it you guys are able to walk into any government building and perform an autopsy?
Fleming: [whispers] The trick is to bring your own rubber gloves.
But yes, there was a point to everything, and Judy, the remaining witch of the coven, was forging ahead with her spell so she could accomplish the goal of drawing out "Horace" into the light.
There was a stakeout, a lot of talk about conspiracies that only Fleming and Nesbitt understood and so much more, but it all led to the reveal that the FBI agents weren't agents at all.
They were working with Judy, who had been transformed via her spell into something else.
While the duo was trying to lead Stan and Evie astray:
This place is big, dark and dangerous. Let's split up into small, vulnerable group.
Nesbitt
Judy and an entity unknown to Stan and Evie didn't hurt them. They have no idea why but agree it's a lot more powerful than Constable Echolls.
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If Judy was a direct descendant of the founder of the BHS, then Claire might be lending a helping hand from somewhere in time. Surely her story doesn't end with the closing of the time portal.
Why would Duquette still be hanging around if it was that simple?
OK, you guys. What did I miss? Or did I miss nothing at all? Is it all butter in the bowl of life while we cling miserably to Daylight Savings Time?
Why would what appears to be a dark entity not hurt Stan and Evie? Why did Duquette need them to realize they are better as a team? Or did he miscalculate their respect while he hoped to do damage?
Does it matter as long as you laugh and enjoy?
Where oh where was the werepony?
Don't be a downer. Get off your jackasses and watch Stan Against Evil online if you've failed to do it already. Geez.
Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.
