Evils Christine Lahti on Sheryls Regrets and Her Quest for Redemption

An artistic Category 5 hurricane impacts New York in Thursday’s episode of Evil but the storm is not as furious as the fight between Sheryl/Christine Lahti and Leland/Michael Emerson. Sheryl has been out for blood especially after learning that Leland was almost a murderer and nearly killed her youngest granddaughter, Laura played by Dalya Knapp. As the hurricane makes landfall, Sheryl takes advantage of the chaos: She gets into her office to short Leland’s company stock and later kills him using the pills with the help of those that she procured from Dr. Boggs. But again, as she raises a knife for Leland’s throat, a demon hits her on the back of the head and then Leland can overpower her. Sheryl there is thrown through a window on the fourth story and the urge to die on impact is fulfilled. 
 
She stays alive merely long enough to meet her granddaughters in a hospital and, similarly to the case with Kristen (Katja Herbers) who allows David (Mike Colter) to perform anathema. In spite of voicing out her opinions on the church, she accepts it. That’s what Christine Lahti probably tries to convey perceiving Sheryl as a person, who wants to turn a new page. The moral of the Calamity is pure goodness of the protagonist and her struggle against Leland and his evil spirits to the last; Lahti said to the TV Guide, “She really fought, and she really tried her hardest to prevail. 
 
However, Sheryl’s struggle was not in vain; before she died, she recorded tapes for Kristen and Andy explaining all the heinous crimes Leland committed; this gave Kristen the proof she needed to send Leland to jail. So at the end of the episode, Leland has been arrested and Kristen has the equally hard decisions to make about whether to raise baby Timothy who possibly the Antichrist. 
 
‘How To Survive a Storm’, the fourth episode of Evil’s fourth season was once the fifth season finale before the show was unexpectedly cancelled and was allowed to come back to wrap things up with four ‘bonus’ episodes. Still, knowing that Evil is, finally, terminable does not soften the injury of Sheryl’s death. Following, Lahti discussed with TV Guide about the ‘catastrophe’ of Sheryl, her character’s remorse, and the real meaning of the destruction of the metaphorical glass ceiling. For more, go to the series creators Robert and Michelle King’s discussion of this episode. 
 
Hey Christine, it is such a pleasure to discuss this episode with you, although what we are going to discuss is not very cheerful. 
Christine Lahti: Oh I have, I mean I have been in mourning ever since we shot this. It was a little able traumatic. 
 
When did you come to know that Sheryl was going to die? 
 
Lahti: I believe it was the day before they relased the scripts into circulation. Which you know, I was really so thrilled because they were writing for Sheryl on a level that was so fantastic this season, and she was starting to find redemption, and starting to feel like maybe she wasn’t going to be as evil as she had indicated that she would be. Because I always assumed she has the large-scale plan of bringing Leland down and join[ing] his [organization] — she does crave power, and she is not going about it the right way. She wants power no matter the cost. But she also wishes to defeat Leland and pull him down to the ground. And I think once he threatened to kill her granddaughter, that was the final straw as far as she is concerned. But I was thinking, “Wow, they’re really writing for my character. ” Then I received the phone call from Michelle King the day before they [sp* on paper] the script for this tenth episode and said, “I just wanted to tell you that your character is going to be killed in the next episode. ” But well, you know; in the show called Evil, if it is to decide between Sheryl and Leland, I think 
 
I tell you she has been on this rampage for a while now especially from the past few episodes and then what gets her is simply being hit on the back of her head and thrown through a window. Yes, it is by a demon, but it shows that demons have preferences and actually make an effort even with a species they dislike. I could not help wonder how you viewed the kind death of Sheryl. 
 
Lahti: It is not the most graceful of deaths perhaps, but she does exit in a pretty exciting way in the sense of the fight. I would like to disagree and say that it is safe to assume that she did finally find redemption. That’s all because those tapes have to get to Kristen and Andy, and that’s good. She is fully aware that regardless of her fate, Leland will end up in jail or dead or something. That something bad will befall him regardless of what befalls her is an indication of the impact of the causes. I think selfishly, I just didn’t want to remember that I was feeling that way about eating, so I stepped away from it. To me it was heroic. 
 
I talked with the Kings about this episode and told me that earlier Sheryl had much more words in the hospital part, but later they noticed it is comparatively strange that she is able to talk so much. Did they do that before you filmed, or did you film a version with more dialogue? 
 
Lahti: Well, I have not actually seen this final version, so I suppose they did trim a lot of the dialogue. I rely on them so much. They most certainly did the right thing. Well, yes, when we were doing the scenes, I did talk a lot which was somewhat difficult and I thought to my self, “how sick am I?” I am almost dying. Organs are faltering, lungs are faltering, everything is dragging down. To what extent would I have actually been able to speak? It probably should not be surprising that there was undoubtedly some dialogue in this scene that had to be cut. 
 
What thoughts may run through Sheryl’s mind when David is easing her out in the position of confining her to give her the last rights? 
 
Lahti: They have modified the faith – and she, despite having once been a churchgoer, isn’t very religious. I believe she is in need of pardon, however. She wants freedom as well as absolution from what she has done and what has been done to her. Perhaps at that point it is like ‘I will take it wherever I can get it, including the God I do not fully subscribe to. ’ She might have appreciation for that.

According to Sheryl, getting engaged with DF was a wrong decision. I wonder what she has in her mind at this time, she must have some regrets. 
 
Lahti: Lust for power became her uncontrolled desire and I believe she had regrets that she desired power at any price, even making the world filled with disinformation, and actually being a troll, and doing work for the dark side of life. And finally, what did that evolve to? She received a glass ceiling: she broke it, but are the women going to be able to step up to take over DF? What she discovered was that while the dark side, the satanists and what have you were completely averse to the normal society, they too had their rules and regulation and it was even more cruel and oppression of women as that of the regular society. He believes it served the purpose of helping her come to her senses in terms of what she was doing to her grandchildren, saying “I endangered my grandchildren and for what?” 
 
I’m interested to know in particular how you understood the fact this season that Sheryl agreed to bear Leland child using Kristen’s egg without even acquiring Kristen permission. 
 
Lahti: Well, yes that was rather tough to justify, to be truthful. Well me, for example, always believed in the course of the long-term outcome. That’s how I, Christine, parsed it like – Like – “I’ll go along with this, but ultimately I am not going to do what the heck this demon child thinks is necessary to get the baby, Leland, to accept me. ”… It was, “Let me play along then make Leland think that I support him to the fullest when in reality, no. ” I think Sheryl was fascinated with the idea of someone like the Antichrist but Sheryl does not believe in any of that junk. She does have an ability to see demons now, because it is like having insight into auras of people. Or the bad in them that others cannot distinguish but she can easily spot. But I do not think from the bottom of my heart she believed in [that statement, in] this being the end of the world and the Antichrist. And perhaps it was also a way to get back in sync with Kristen. As if this baby happened, there would be a way for Sheryl to somehow reconnect with Kristen for the better. 
 
I also would like to elaborate more in terms of the glass ceiling especially in Sheryl’s office. Can you please share you experience of shooting on that set? 

Lahti: Whether or not it was intentional, it was so incredibly helpful to have the actual glass ceiling [so] that I couldn’t even stand up straight. I would have to either crawl or crouch to get over something. There is nothing that I really have to invent; you just have to respond to what is already there. So that was fantastic. They excised a scene or two – there’s one particularly where you see Sheryl still in her office loosening some of the metal bolts that support the ceiling before the ceiling starts cracking and then finally collapses. But then I look at the episode, and I think, “Well, that would kind of give it away. ” Better than you just cut from Sheryl going, “I think it’s time we get the men together,” with that knowing look to the other women, and then you see the glass ceiling just crack. And you sit back and think to yourself, “Oh, they were up to something. ” 
 
How was it being in front of and physically engaged with Michael Emerson during shooting of the fight scenes? 

Lahti: Oh, so fun. First of all, let me just say that Michael Emerson is one of the purest pleasures in working with at all ever- he’s so game and so open. I don’t want to say that everything was rather scripted, but we could pitch our ideas and muck around and have fun and it was brilliant. He is such a lovely man, and he is so different from this rude fellow presented in this show. He’s just the nicest human being; a true gentleman, very kind, sweet, sensitive, and understanding. This is hilarious; it feels so strange to witness him portray such a wicked character like this capital ‘m’ motherf---er. 
 
Lo and behold, I think I was quite fond of Sheryl’s arc in the last few episodes of this anime. While I don’t like seeing her go that is a really good season for her in my opinion. 

Lahti: I did too. And it means so much to me that you say it made you sad that she’s gone, because she did some bad sh–. The simple realization that one could search for any type of empathy for her means a lot to them, as she put her daughter’s husband on a shelf and drained his brain fluids.