Evil Season 2 Episode 4: E Is For Elevator Review- Is The Elevator Game And Teka Teka Girl Real?

Urban legends and dangerous games make for a wild ride in Evil Season 2 Episode 4 that is a one-way trip to Hell.

The Elevator Game takes center stage, but isn’t the only urban legend in the skillfully crafted Evil Season 2 Episode 4. Our core three are split into two groups. Mike Colter’s David has his hands full dealing with Leland’s whims and casual racism. Leland’s antics which are played perfectly cheeky by Michael Emerson are an endless thorn in David’s side, but the constant systemic racism he is bombarded with is worse. The King’s are making a point that sometimes there are things worse than the Devil and Hell. Evil is a disease and it took root a long time ago.

There is a nugget of warning that the Catholic Church may not be as holy as they pretend. At least David’s supervisors seem more concerned with pleasing Leland and balancing the staus quo than listening to anything David has to say. Priestly David has his own tempatations though. Pride cometh before the fall and David may be on the way down.

Kristin and Ben are tasked with helping a couple whose child has gone missing. The grieving parents freely admit they don’t believe there is anything demonic happening but have nowhere else to turn. The police believe he is a runaway. The true highlight of this episode was Aasif Mandvi’s Ben who is perhaps the most pure of the group. He neither thinks he is beneath spirituality as witnessed by his attitude towards his succubus, or above reproach.

He believes there are things unexplained in the world but that most of them just haven’t been examined yet. His willingingness to accept his demon shows he isn’t so rigid he can’t make room for faith while also holding onto his scientific facts. It’s an interesting mix made all the more poignant when he found himself stuck with two dead bodies and no way out. He was scared and horrified and his genuine relief and joy as he was found betrayed the normally stoic tech guy.

Kristen continues to be haunted by ghosts. Whether the Teka Teka Girl really came to her in the elevator or she had a hallucination is up for debate. She refuses to believe there are forces at play she doesn’t understand despite so much proof to the contrary. The brilliance of the King’s story however, is we can’t really blame her. She might be having hallucinations and Leland might just be a smart sociopath. Instead of dealing with her decision to commit murder last season she has chosen to forge ahead as if nothing happened. Repression can do terrible things to a person. It’s curious that for Kristen it is more palatable to be mentally ill than haunted.

The tightly framed and paced Evil Season 2 Episode 4 was successful not just for the claustrophobic feel of the shots but also the urban legends which hangs in the back of our minds like a ghost in our periphery. Elisa Lam may have played the Elevator Game before she went missing and was later found mysteriously dead in the Hotel Cecil’s water tank. Just like with real life there are many sides to every story, and the truth is often stranger than fiction.

The Real Elevator Game

The Elevator Game also called the Elevator Ritual or the Elevator To Another World, is an urban legend similar to Red Door Yellow Door. If the rules are followed perfectly, the player will be transported to another place and time. If they fail to finish the game, they risk being left in limbo permanently. The rules are pretty simple. Ride the elevator alone and complete all the steps. Like any other game of this sort, please be aware it is not recommended as elevators can be dangerous, and you risk annoying any innocent bystanders. The rules of the game are as follows:

• You must play alone.
• Play the game in a hotel with an elevator that has at least ten floors accessible by said elevator.
• Upon approaching the elevator call for the car by pressing ONLY the UP button.
• Enter the elevator from the first floor alone. If there is someone who is already on the car or someone tries to join you step off and start over.
• Press floor four.
• Once the doors open on the fourth floor stay in the elevator and push floor two.
• When you reach the second floor again stay put and press the button for the sixth floor.
• When you arrive on the sixth floor stay still and push the second floor again.
• Next when the elevators open on the second floor hit the tenth floor button.
• On the tenth floor hit the fifth floor button.
• On the fifth floor a woman may enter the elevator. Do not acknowledge her in any way. Do not talk to her or look at her as she is potentially dangerous.
• Whether a woman is present or not hit the first floor.
• If the elevator returns to the first floor you have failed and can try again another day. Exit the elevator and do not look back.
• If the elevator goes to the tenth floor you have succeeded and you will be transported to another world adjacent to ours. You can back out at any point by hitting any floor but one or ten to abort. If you choose to stay you have a couple of choices. Stay on the elevator or get off on floor ten. If you try to exit and the woman got on the elevator on the fifth floor she will ask you where you are going. DO NOT ANSWER HER!
• You are free to look around but do not ever lose sight of your elevator. You will now be in another world and you will be uterly alone.
• To leave the other world make one of two choices depending on your earlier choices. If you never left the elevator push one until the elevator returns to that floor and exit without talking to anyone or looking back. Go home as quickly as possible.
• If you left the elevator push floor four after entering the exact same elevator you were on previously. Now press the buttons and visit the floors just as you did earlier. After hitting the first floor the elevator will begin to ascend to the tenth floor. Hit any button but one or ten to cancel the ritual and reset. Do this before passing the ninth floor.
• Once you get to the first floor look around before exiting. If things seem off repeat the steps once again until everything on the first floor looks normal. Only then should you exit the elevator.

The history of the urban legend. A blog entry dated July 11th, 2011, on Daum details one person’s experience. There was already some chatter circulating in 2008 in Japan, though. In 2011 posts started circulating describing what you would see if you were successful. Your phone and other electronics wouldn’t work. Additionally, windows looking out would see a nighttime scene regardless of the time you play with no lights in the city, excluding one red cross.

The true-life origin of The Elevator Game

As with most urban legends, there is a tragic true story that predates it. In Japan, in June of 2006, elevators began malfunctioning. A specific manufacturer had a flaw. The doors would remain open, and the elevator would start ascending. This led to the death of a sixteen-year-old girl. This event likely led to the legend’s birth. Anxiety over elevators and the uncanny ascension of the elevator malfunction despite other buttons being pushed and the doors being open led to supernatural speculation. Elisa Lam’s mysterious death only intensified the belief in the legend. Although many on the internet believed she died playing the game, there is little evidence of this beyond a very creepy video. The Cecil Hotel doesn’t need the game to be real because there are undoubtedly countless ghosts roaming the halls of this place that has seen too much death.

Is the Teka Teka Girl from Evil Season 2 Episode 4 real?

The Teka Teka girl who Kristen sees in the elevator comes from the story told by the tour guide. This story is a clever derivation of the Teka Teki Girl. A school girl was bullied resulting in a deadly train accident. The girls body was split in half by the train and witnesses claim at night she will drag her upper body by her elbows near the tracks. The sound her body makes as she is dragged across the ground is “teka teki”. This sounds very similar to the story in E is for Elevator.

Paramount + has already pulled the trigger on an Evil Season 3 for a good reason. The series has only gotten stronger since its very successful Season 1 and move to CBS’s streaming service. Evil Season 2 Episode 4 was a departure while building on the skeleton established in the first three episodes. All of the chess pieces are shifting and Kristen had better watch out or she will find herself with a roommate soon. There is still so much we don’t know, but that is half the fun. Catch up on all our Evil coverage here.