WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Evil Season 2, Episode 11, "I Is for IRS," now streaming on Paramount+.
If there were an equivalence to Evil in the music world, it would be Andrew Bird's "Fake Palindromes." Sure, there are plenty of songs that deal with sin, desire and darkness, and Bird's rhythmic indie captures all that. But it also provides the bizarre, confusing and horrifying imagery ("My dewy-eyed Disney bride, what has tried / Swapping your blood with formaldehyde / Monsters? / Whisky-plied voices cried fratricide!") that Evil fills its world with. So it's only fitting that showrunners Robert and Michelle King open "I Is for IRS" with a music-video-style montage of Sheryl injecting herself with Leland's blood transfusios drugs and flirting with numbers men as Leland watches from a distance. (With Sheryl's knowledge, of course, making it slightly less creepy.) The montage — which airs in widescreen and not the usual full-screen aspect ratio — culminates in Sheryl seemingly drilling a "tiny hole into [a man's] head]," to quote Bird, as the electronic violin drowns out his — and my — screams.
While Sheryl is out drilling holes, Kristen, David and Ben are hired by the IRS to evaluate the tax-exempt status application for the New Ministry of Satan, a burgeoning religion that chooses to worship the Father Below rather than the one above. ("The New Ministry? There's an old one?" Ben asks, half joking, half not.) They visits the Ministry and is greeted by the smooth-talking and handsome Graham Lucian, chief of operations. "How do you know Satan?," David curtly asks him as the team begins their evaluation. "The same way you know Jesus. He just makes sense to you. Describes the world to you. Satan does the same for me," Graham replies. He also provides them with the new religion's history, literature and creed, seemingly fulfilling the IRS requirements for tax-exempt status. However, the Ministry's t-shirt business raises some red flags for Kristen and Ben.
David continues dealing with his own Satan, Leland, who is about to begin his three-night exorcism. Leland notices one of the pamphlets David took from the New Ministry of Satan and takes great offense at their water-down, universal portrayal of his lord, going so far as to call it "blasphemy." (To Leland's credit, the pamphlet's picture of a family enjoying a picnic under Satan's watch does not really line up historically with the Devil's brand.) "What is belief in Satan about?" David asks. "Power, Rejection of authority. Manipulation. Violence. Disgust with people like you," Leland answers back.
Despite a seeming reconciliation between the two at the end of "B Is for Brain," Andy and Kristen are still struggling with their marriage and meeting with Dr. Boggs. But what starts as a simple mirroring exercise turns into an accusatory session, with Kristen criticizing Andy for leaving for so long and Andy asking Kristen if she is sleeping with David. As Kristen offers a non-answer about trust, the jinn appears, leading her to ask Dr. Boggs for more medication to stop her hallucinations.
During Leland's first night of his exorcism, the possessed displays weird behavior, even for him. He starts speaking in various voices, including a young girl and British woman, and kicks a priest eight feet across the room. This shocks both Leland and David, with the latter asking Kristen to come by for the second night to observe.
Before Leland's second exorcism, though, the team visits the New Ministry for services with Bishop Jim and his naked "altar girl" (who is really a woman). As Ben points out, the "production value" of the Ministry's service is pretty good: dark, purple lighting; slow, techno music from a DJ sporting various piercings; goat heads hanging on the wall. While David and Bishop Jim verbally spar over the fate of Saint Christopher, Kristen and Graham flirt/discuss Satan as metaphor, force and... a beacon of feminism.
Later that night, Kristen and David attend Leland's exorcism. But it's not just weird voices this time. Leland also upchucks black bile. Unable to take it, Kristen runs to the bathroom only to find herself bleeding from her stomach. The bleeding turns into a full-fledged wound, spilling out her guts and a living organ-like creature. This all turns out to be a hallucination though, which Kristen attributes to her new medication. Kristen heads to a bar to take the edge off, where she runs into Graham and has sex with him in her car.
As Kristen arrives home, Sheryl spots her putting on her underwear and immediately recognizes what Kirsten did. She advises Kristen to bathe, shower and dispose of her clothing. "I know what happened, honey. It was the same when I came home to dad," her mother says. "I had something on my panties, that's all," Kristen responds. "Something sticky?" Sheryl quips. "If you ever want to talk, I don't judge." Kristen does exactly what her mother suggested, bathing and showering in her bathroom, the only light coming from a Princess and the Frog-themed nightlight (the episode's second reference to Disney princesses). But that is not enough for her. She also scrubs down the bathtub, trying to clean away the remaining dirt — and guilt. Kristen then goes to see Dr. Boggs about her hallucinations, but she quickly begins to unravel, accusing her psychologist of spying on her and sleeping with her mother.
After night two of his exorcism, Leland is not doing well. He calls Sheryl for help, who reminds him that "this only works if it's transactional." Leland offers her Edward, which is enough for her to go on over. She finds Leland shivering on the floor and gets him into a bathtub of blood and bodily fluids from various "donors" such as "Jeremy" and "the two women from the airport."
(This explains what the jars in Leland's back room were and what Sheryl has been injecting herself with: the blood of others. This must be what Leland meant by "Edward." He was offering her his blood. And speaking of Leland's back room, the camera provides a glimpse of an unmoving body in the back, presumably that of Dr. Cara Autry.)
The team presents their findings to the IRS, claiming the New Ministry of Satan should not be granted tax-exempt status since its main function is selling t-shirts, not worshiping a deity, and because all the profits go to Graham. Graham and Bishop Jim stop by and accuse Kristen of trying to sabotage their application because she slept with Graham. Kristen laughs off the accusation, saying she is even willing to swear to it on the Satanic Bible. The IRS agent dismisses Graham and Jim, but not before the latter warns them that Satan is coming for them all.
On the final night of Leland's exorcism, he renounces the Devil and all His works and accepts God as his true protector and savior. But he is not the only one who comes out a new man. During the ceremony, Kristen squirms and screams on the bathroom floor, as if the exorcism is also working on her. She too renounces the Devil and His works, although the camera turns away before it reveals if she accepts God.
A changed woman, Kristen rushes home to Andy, hoping to catch him before he leaves for Colorado to sell the business. She calls her husband in tears and apologizes, admitting that she has been "off." However, when she arrives home, Andy is nowhere to be found. That is, until she notices her lit fire pit in the backyard with Andy waiting for her there. He leads her through a fire puja, a Tibetan Buddhist ritual where one writes down an affliction they want purified and burns the paper in the fire to rid themselves of impurity. While Andy's affliction is not revealed, Kristen writes down her affair. The two embrace and kiss, ready to begin again. The dewy-eyed Disney princess is reunited with her prince.
However, with Kristen seemingly cures of her affliction, the jinn needs a new host. And with Demon Therapist dead, the spirit settles on Leland, who greets his new visitor with a gleeful smile.