Devil in Ohio review: A mysterious cult, some teenage drama and a protagonist with saviour complex

3/5

Story: Psychiatrist Dr Suzanne Mathis’ (Emily Deschanel) latest patient is a young girl, presumed to be a victim of abuse, given the massive pentagram that’s been carved into her back. Aided by Suzanne’s information on the victim Mae Dodd (Madeleine Arthur), the police deduce that she is a runaway from a mysterious cult in Amontown, and is, therefore, still in danger. Suzanne, who carries unresolved issues from her own abuse-riddled childhood, makes it her mission to keep Mae safe and takes her home, which eventually comes at great personal cost to her.

Review: Bones star Emily Deschanel’s latest, Devil in Ohio, has an eight-episode run time of roughly 45 minutes each to explore the story of Mae Dodd (Madeleine Arthur), a teenager, who has run away from the only life she’d known until then – a secluded cult in a part of town that has its own jurisdiction, Amontown. Not much is known about life in Amontown or the people, but there’ve been whispers of worship of a certain Lucifer Morningstar (sadly, no Tom Ellis version of the devil here).

Mae, according to her community, was the ‘chosen one’ to save them; a fate and future that she was not on board with. And when she is taken into Suzanne’s care and introduced to her family, which includes two similar-aged teenagers and a younger one, Mae realizes that there is so much more to life than abiding by the rules she’s grown up with. And so, she’s then determined to ensure that she continues to enjoy the perks of this new life, no matter what.

As Suzanne spends more time in Mae’s care or in trying to find out more about her and the cult she left behind, her family life begins to disintegrate. And even though she recognizes that she needs to prioritize her family over Mae, the saviour complex in her kicks in. Suzanne was a victim of abuse in her childhood at the hands of her stepfather, who routinely knocked around her mother too. Despite her best efforts, Suzanne could never get her mother to leave him and, as pointed out to her by a therapist, perhaps harbours some resentment towards her mother for having allowed the abuse to continue.

Strangely, for someone trained in the complexities of the human mind, Suzanne not only fails to see her own shortcomings, but also overlooks every sign that points to Mae still stringently holding on to her belief system. But that is not the only problem with Devil in Ohio – the series struggles to fit itself into a bracket. It’s not a horror show about a cult, and neither is it about teen drama. It’s a mish-mash of a lot of elements that prevent it from being an engrossing view.

Verdict: Season 1 of The Devil in Ohio ends with the possibility of a return. Mae has managed to secure her life with Suzanne, albeit at the expense of the latter’s family, a series of developments that she is now aware of. But even if it is not renewed for another season, this one ends without too many loose ends. Devil in Ohio is not a recommended must watch; you can save it to your watch list for a rainy day. That’s quite literally what I did yesterday, when Bengaluru was being pounded by heavy rain – hot cuppa, onion pakoras and this Netflix show at 1.25 speed.