SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers for “Fear of the End,” the series finale of Evil, now streaming on Paramount+.

Only in a series like “Evil” would a relatively happy ending be if the Antichrist were unleashed on the Vatican. In the final minutes of the paranormal series, psychologist Kristen Bouchard (Katja Herbers) and Father David Acosta (Mike Colter) have been transferred to Rome, where they will continue to investigate possible demonic possessions despite the closure of their previous base in New York. There are just a few catches. Firstly, the investigative trio is now a duo, as scientist Ben (Aasif Mandvi) has decided to stay in the USA. Secondly, the baptism of Kristen’s young son Timothy – possibly the prophet of the devil – seems not to have been fully completed yet, which means that a demonic harbinger of the apocalypse is within spitting distance of the Holy See.

Over the course of four seasons — actually four seasons and an abbreviated four-episode season instead of a fifth — “Evil” developed a seeming allergy to definitiveness. Creators Robert and Michelle King had previously struck a paradoxical tone that was at once morally nuanced and outrageously absurd in the legal dramas “The Good Wife” and “The Good Fight.” With “Evil,” the married showrunners amped up both extremes, shifting their focus from mundane politics to existential questions like eternal souls. But while the title suggests the series is about absolutes, “Evil” never felt much need for a definitive stance. The final quartet of episodes may not have had the time to tie all the threads together as neatly as possible, but a little muddle is entirely fitting for a universe populated by nuns, genies, doppelgangers and telepathic priests, among many other oddities. The same goes for the ending, which is both optimistic and threatening, giving little indication as to which side will ultimately win.

“Evil” reminds me a bit of Damon Lindelof’s “The Leftovers,” because if you take a plot point out of context, you sound like one of Dr. Bouchard’s patients. (In the last pseudo-season premiere, “Veep’s” Anna Chlumsky plays a woman who plausibly claims to be one of Kristen’s daughters who traveled through a wormhole to warn her family of coming disasters, but turns out to be wearing an animal mask with Kristen’s husband in the mental institution where they are both inpatients. Capisce?) But unlike “The Leftovers,” this show’s gray-area attitude is not not extend to whether the supernatural is actually going on or not. Only a few cases prove to be of satanic nature, but there are definitely a conglomerate called DF Global, run by a naked, anthropomorphic goat called “The Manager.”

The question Kristen, David and Ben explore is not whether cosmic evil is real, but how to live a decent life in a world where it stubbornly persists. Using dozens of cases, whose files the crew casually burns on a campfire as they prepare to end the matter, “Evil” is equal parts critical and sympathetic to its protagonists’ chosen approaches. Ben is a diehard skeptic who ends up literally wearing a tinfoil hat because it prevents his recurring migraines, whether that is scientifically sound or not. David is a deeply devout Catholic who tortures himself by choosing the priesthood over his obvious connection with Kristen, who acts as a kind of go-between. She is an agnostic, not an atheist, and flirts with David and Ben’s belief systems over the course of the series. In the future, Ben’s absence may be more threatening than Timothy’s obvious fangs. David’s most important colleague and close friend thousands of miles away from home is also his greatest temptation. How sustainable is that?

In addition to their own worst instincts—Kristen once killed a guy with an axe!—Evil’s main trio face off against Leland Townsend (Michael Emerson), a grinning, bespectacled character far more menacing than some of the series’ traditional terrors. (Though Kristen’s literal sleep paralysis demon wearing her late mother’s wig certainly got the job done.) One of the many theater legends who populate the Kings’ New York sets, Emerson could easily switch between the banality of the eponymous concept and its giggling, hysterical extremes. It was Leland who stole one of Kristen’s eggs to become Timothy’s biological father, and Leland who Kristen nearly strangled in the finale when he broke into her house. Only the intervention of Ben and David, her better angels, keeps Kristen from going too far again.

“Evil’s” aversion to absolutes was most evident in its tone. The Kings are masters at using the episodic structure of network television — “Evil” began on CBS before moving to streaming — to their advantage, using the stable base of a case-of-the-week format as a Trojan horse. Like the “Good” shows before it, “Evil” could tackle any topic, from social media to oligopoly to workplace misogyny. That flexibility extended to genre, too: “Evil” could be comic, horrific and emotional, often within the scope of a single scene. To cite one example of hundreds, Andrea Martin’s scene-stealing sister Andrea could be luring demons with a bowl of marshmallows one moment (apparently they have a penchant for sweet things) and confronting her guilt over a lost love the next. You could never guess where “Evil” was going, nor would you want to. Why miss the surprise of popular character actor Richard Kind suddenly beheading a young woman with a sword?

With its spooky bent and its range between believers and cynics, Evil clearly followed in the footsteps of The X-Files. But its religious emphasis also made the series unique. Evil was consistently critical of the Catholic Church as an institution, with Kristen particularly resenting its patriarchal nature. The series nevertheless took faith seriously – and argued that it is the ideal framework for understanding an increasingly chaotic world. We may not understand, or know how to defeat, the dark forces that make life worse for the many to benefit only a few. We can only trust in our loved ones and perhaps a higher power that can change everything for the better.

All four seasons of “Evil” are now available to stream on Paramount+.