Evelyn Porter is the deutergonist of The Cellar, the first episode of the 2020 reboot Amazing Stories, released on AppleTV+. She is a wealthy socialite who wants to leave her repetitive upper class lifestyle and earn a living as a singer. She meets up with a construction worker, Sam Taylor, who was sent back in time from 2019 to 1919 and she falls in love with him.
She is portrayed by Victoria Pedretti who also played Eleanor Crain (The Haunting of Hill House).
History
The Cellar
Not much is shown about Evelyn Porter's background, she was born to a wealthy upper-class family, but she grew tired of its repatitive lifestyle and has a dream of becoming a singer. She had a brother, who died from unknown causes which left her and her mother, Paula Porter, bankrupt. Paula prepared for Evelyn to marry a rich but unpleasant man named William, whose wife died and Evelyn did not accept this, since she doesn't love him.
One day, while Evelyn was playing on the piano, Sam Taylor, a construction worker who was accidentally sent from 2019 to 1919, via a magical barometer, is present at her house. When she pulls a shotgun at him, Sam calmly tells that he is leaving and gets out out of the farmhouse before Evelyn's mother arrives home.
Evelyn goes into the cellar to secretly listen to some records on a record player until her mother comes in and asks her to hand the records, since she is forbidden to listen to them. Sam arrives back as he is looking for a way to get back to 2019. To gain Evelyn's trust, Sam says that the records are his and he introduces himself to them, saying he was a friend of Paula's late son (who died from unknown causes) and Evelyn thinks of a cover. Paula then hands Sam the records and invites him to Evelyn's engagement party being held the following evening, Sam says he was only stopping by to pick up "his records". As soon Paula was out of sight, Sam hands the records back to Evelyn, which she gratefully thanks him for.
As Sam tries to find a way to get back to his own time, Evelyn becomes confused and Sam is forced to tell her that he is from the future, the year 2019. Evelyn finds to be amusing and says she has her own "time traveler". Sam tries to show her his iPhone, but he realised he dropped it when he travelled through time, but he still has the photo of Evelyn he found in 2019. Evelyn says she never had her picture taken, but Sam says she will and asks her about the cellar and who built the farmhouse. Evelyn replies that her grandfather built it and Sam decides to visit him in order to ask him about the cellar.
During the engagement party, Evelyn takes Sam to meet her grandfather, Warren Porter and he introduces himself to him. Warren introduces Sam to farmer Henry Barrett who knows about the basement but before he can finish, Evelyn's finacee William gives a speech to the guests; he prepares to marry Evelyn so she can inherit the fortune, which Evelyn does not accept. While Evelyn and William dance, he informs her that a photographer will be hired to take a pictute of her in her bridal gown, which finally convinces Evelyn that Sam is from the future. After William takes his children to bed, Evelyn tells Sam that he was right about the photo. Evelyn decides to talk to Sam and asks to go for a walk and Sam agrees.
Evelyn asks Sam of what the future would be like, Sam reveals how everything would be different in 2019 compared to 1919 and Evelyn takes an interest in it. They head to a speakeasy and the shopkeeper lets them in to the speakeasy when Sam gives him the password, "cabbage" which he learned from 2019. Sam and Evelyn share a dance in the speakeasy and Sam bets Evelyn to go on stage and perform in the song in front of a band and Evelyn agrees. As Evelyn performs beautifully on stage, Sam begins to develop feelings for her. After leaving the speakeasy, Sam tells Evelyn that she should become a singer so she can make a living and Evelyn says she was looking at him the whole time. Just then, Paula comes to retrieve Evelyn and says to Sam that she is an engaged woman.
An upset Evelyn is packing a case up as she is tired of living in her repeated upper class life and Sam arrives to show her the barometer which is the key to his time travel. He asks her if she can go with him so she can finally leave her life of misery and make a living as a singer. When he tells her: "maybe you were always meant to come back with me", Evelyn realises her that she has feelings for him and passionately kisses him and Sam returns. While waiting for the storm to arrive within 19 days, Sam places the barometer in the cellar while he helps Henry fix his barn doors and seeing Evelyn in secret before her wedding, which is due in 19 days.
After Sam finishes making the barn doors for Henry, Evelyn is dressed in her bridal gown, as the photographer prepares to take her photo of her. As soon as the photo is taken, Evelyn rushes to Sam in the cellar, but William catches up, with some men and pulls Evelyn away as he knew of the affair and leaves Sam in the basement. A bad storm occurs and the barometer begins screeching again, sending Sam back to 2019 exactly as he disappeared.
After Sam returns to 1919, he discovers that the cellar is flooded due to a storm and he rushes to find Evelyn. It is raining but Sam manages to find Evelyn who is relieved to see him. As they journey back to the cellar, it is still flooding and Sam gets pinned by a piece of roof that had fallen due to the storm. Evelyn tries to help him, Sam tells her of what he saw in the future which makes Evelyn excited and Sam tells her that she has go without him. Evelyn says she won't leave him, but Sam says she will, telling her he loves her, which she tells that she loves him too and Evelyn is sent to 2019. In 2019, Sam's brother Jake Taylor makes his way to the cellar to find Sam gone and finds Evelyn at the door, which finally convinces him that Sam was right about his time travelling adventure.
Jake provides clothes for Evelyn to wear and he tells her how much Sam really loved her and Evelyn agrees. They find two letters hidden in a secret passage where Evelyn hid her records in 1919, one for Jake and one for Evelyn. Back in 1919, Sam had survived the flooding when two men came to help him but he has not returned to 2019 when a bad storm never came. He became a construction worker with his own company, Sam Taylor Construction and has never stopped loving Evelyn. Sam states that his life in 1919 is what he loved and he came from a place with many choices while Evelyn had none. Sam placed his photo of Evelyn in her bridal gown, with some matchsticks with the password "cabbage" in the same box and hid it in the fireplace, revealing that he was the one who put the box in the fireplace so his future self would find it.
Back in 2019, Evelyn and Jake are left heartbroken over the disappearance of Sam after reading their letters that were left to them by Sam, with Jake being told to build his own house and Evelyn, persuading her that "your life is waiting, go out and get it". Evelyn comes out of the farmhouse, in her new clothes and is happy that she is free from her upper class life. Years later, Evelyn becomes a successful singer, making her win an award in New York (displayed in the farmhouse) and is placing her son into bed, named Sam, who was named in honor of her beloved Sam. Before he time-traveled to 1919 again, Sam was sent to 2034 and witnessed Evelyn placing her son in bed, which tearfully made him realise that he has a family with her and makes his way back to the cellar, making a noise in the process. Evelyn hears the noise and is too late to find that Sam has already gone back after witnessing her with their son. She sadly stands by the banister, hoping that Sam would return and see their son.
Trivia
- The episode, The Cellar, and the performance of Victoria Pedretti, her character and chemistry set with Dylan O'Brien was highly praised by fans and critics, and is considered to be one of her most famous roles to date.
- Evelyn shares similarities to Rose DeWitt Bukateer and Jasmine, who are upper-class women and strongly dislike forced marriages. While Jasmine and Aladdin remain together, Jack sacrificed himself to save Rose from the cold sea, Evelyn and Sam get seperated from each other when Sam got stuck in 1919 and Evelyn was sent to 2019. Both Evelyn and Rose miss their beloved boyfriends terribly and never stopped loving them.