Devil May Care – The Atheist

As another day in the office starts for The Devil (Alan Tudyk), Beans (Asif Ali) has been watching a battle between trolls go down on Chit-Chat and considers banning them. While The Devil does not understand the difference between internet trolling versus real trolls, he steamrolls through Beans talking and does not let him get a word in edge-wise. The Devil claims there are no trolls in Hell, but his receptionist Coma (Grey Griffin) reminds him that trolls are the seventeenth largest ethnic group. To avoid looking racist, The Devil tells Beans he cannot ban trolls despite Beans trying to explain the difference in the trolls he is mentioning.

Beans resigns to not bothering to explain when a strange alarm sound is heard. The Devil brings McKinley (Fred Tatasciore) while muttering frustrations under his breath as he beams out of the room. Apparently, when Hell was still in the beginning stages it was difficult to get people to come there. In turn, a contract was created where The Devil would meet with people and fulfill their requests in return for their soul to be brought to Hell instead of Heaven. So, while The Devil goes to handle the request, McKinley is in charge and assures Coma, Beans and Gloria (Stephanie Beatriz) that all is well with him at the helm—followed by a loud explosion behind him through the window. The group goes to investigate.

On Earth The Devil makes it to his destination for the incoming request: a fanatic called Atheist Steve (Lewis Black). Ready to get the summoning over with, The Devil listens to Steve go on and on about proving that God does not exist. Since The Devil clearly exists because God exists, The Devil and Steve go back and forth on the subject. Steve continues to spout off about science and his crazy conspiracy theories on actual events in history, finally producing a Bible riddled with sticky notes and questions. For The Devil, this is going to take longer than he thought.

The Devil continues to listen to Steve go on and on about his Bible questions and conspiracies, mindlessly chewing on an apple from a bowl of fruit. Giving up on trying to reason with Steve, The Devil then says that he will answer every question with “free will” from here on in. Steve continues to try and bemoan the point to The Devil, eventually keeling over and dying right there. With the task seemingly completed, The Devil then tries to return to Hell only to find that he cannot leave because Steve did not release him from his contract. The Devil is now stuck on Earth until further notice but comes up with a brilliant idea to send a message to Beans by writing a message on a skunk that he has killed.

In Hell the loud explosion was part of an accident on Hell’s public transportation called “HMTA.” As Beans is more concerned with the passengers enduring pain during the accident, McKinley mocks him a little for the empathy as Gloria’s crew tries to clean up the mess. Beans gives up on trying to understand McKinley’s blasé attitude and returns to work. Upon return, Coma brings the dead skunk to Beans where the only way that The Devil can be released is to find Steve in Hell and have him release The Devil so he can return. Beans knows that he must get to the Gates of Hell immediately as Coma tells him that Devil has a 2:00 appointment he has rescheduled twice and that the longer The Devil is not in Hell things are going to get worse.

As his time on Earth makes him impatient, The Devil starts to meet some of Steve’s circle. The first one being a supposed girlfriend who then dies after seeing Steve’s dead body. Once this has happens The Devil then encounters three fellow conspiracy theorists that are looking to talk with Steve. It is easy to tell that The Devil is losing patience with his time on Earth as his anger level starts to rise.

Beans finally makes it to the gates of Hell and locates Atheist Steve, who is still spouting off his nonsense conspiracies. Though it takes a bit of convincing from Beans, Steve finally releases The Devil from his contract and he returns immediately in non-human form. Where we are used to seeing a more level-headed Devil, he immediately throws Steve into a pit of fire and grabs Beans, ready to return home as the trio of conspiracy theorists walk up to the now closed Gates of Hell.