The Dawning
What happened to Mae? Where is she?
In Devil in Ohio, we close out the season with a final showdown between Malachi Dodd and Sheriff Wilkins. Dodd has been planning this for some time, believing it’s the right time to carry out his plan. However, Mae is actually over at the Dodd residence, having been taken by Wilkins. He contemplates his next move as he learns that Suzanne was released from prison and is now living with her family again.
The women inside the compound are happy to see Mae, believing that her death will be their salvation. With a veil over her face, Mae is reminded that there is no greater sacrifice to one’s family than what she is about to do. However, she is unaware that Suzanne is on the way to try and save her. With the wet mud outside though, Suzanne isn’t exactly subtle with her footprints. And of course, Wilkins finds it immediately. ..
Suzanne leaves a voicemail for Lopez before she enters, letting him know what she’s doing. Lopez however, has been told to drop the case due to limited budget and not enough to get a conviction. Still, Lopez decides to head over and track her down upon receiving the voicemail and, hopefully, save Mae too from her fate.
What distracts the cultists?
Mae shows up at the church, wearing some beautiful cinematography andcostuming to boot. She’s there to listen to the readings from the Book of Covenants, and sign off with a reminder that the chain must not be broken.
Suzanne tries to stop Wilkins from fighting her, but he gets into a physical altercation with her. She uses pepper spray to defend herself and the fire starts, causing a lot of damage. Oops!
Suzanne presses on, pretending to be one of the cultists as the makeshift platform, complete with the wish sigil carved in the wood and oil slathered across the wood. However, just before Mae’s ritual is completed, church bells in the distance sound, which signifies that someone is on fire. ..
Why does Abigail sacrifice herself?
Malachi leaves Mae’s burning and ritual to Abigail. And just her too, everyone else hightails it back to town to try and salvage what remains. That’s great news for Suzanne though, who appears and tries to climb the platform, fighting against the triggering effects those heights are giving her. Anyway, Mae sees this as a sign and believes Lucifer wants her to go. She also doesn’t want to die, and urges Abigail to go with her.
Abigail refuses whilst Mae and Suzanne both jump off the platform where Noah is there waiting. It turns out he’s the one who rammed into Suzanne’s car on the road. Mae smacks him upside the head with a shovel and knocks him out, while Abigail stays atop the platform and decides to sacrifice herself to make sure the chain isn’t broken.
Peter drives with the kids away from their house, noticing the red A marked on the front door and realizing they’re not safe. Instead, he takes them to his apartment complex he’s in charge of.
In a tense scene, Lopez drives into the complex where he ends up face to face with Wilkins. The latter looks close to shooting him but as he’s praying, Lopez draws his gun first and shoots. With Wilkins gone and dead, we cut back to the platform where Malachi takes control of the situation and claims they’re saved thanks to Abigail’s sacrifice.
How do the family move on from this?
Mae has been able to free herself from Amon Town and is now free to leave. The pentagram sigil appears to have played a role in this, but it is not clear yet what it does. Either way, Mae is now free and can leave the community.
Suanne heads back to therapy and embraces her painful past, telling Dr. Daniels that she believes there was a part of her child-self that still wanted to be saved. She’s convinced that if she can overcome her fears, so too will Mae.
Lt. Lopez has been promoted to Lieutenant after shooting that sheriff and solving the Amon Town case. Peter drops by and thanks him for his help. The insurance cheque has come through and things are looking up. When Peter leaves to grab some groceries, Lopez has a warrant to go search through Malachi’s compound.
Suzanne is having Thanksgiving alone with Mae given she and Peter have separated. Peter doesn’t look too enthused by that idea.
How does Devil In Ohio season 1 end?
Mae has been lying to us all this time. She’s the one who replaced the flowers with white ones, and she took Teddy’s keys. She set up the whole thing so that Theodore Harrington the Third would be arrested and we’d all be happy.
Suzanne is rattled after this call, realizing she’s completely destroyed her family for this girl. As she sits down to eat, the camera zooms out, away from the house to the shrine Mae has been setting up outside. It’s much bigger now and at its centerpiece is a picture of Mae and Suzanne together, which was her wish all along.
The Episode Review
On the other hand, we have the horror angle and all that stuff with the dark secrets and the monsters. Unfortunately, Dani is a complete idiot and Isaac is just a ditz.
Jules does have a bit of a development arc – but barely – while Mae is still technically the same person at the end as she was at the start. In fact, the only movement character-wise comes from Peter and Suzanne who are in very different places now compared to where they were at the start of the series. ..
The ending of the show leaves things open for a second season, but I think it’s pretty conclusive and does a good job of satisfying the audience’s curiosity. Mae has managed to keep her relationship with Suzanne alive despite all the pain it’s caused her family, but at the cost of her own life.
Devil In Ohio is an interesting show with some great moments, but it falls short in its overall execution. The characters don’t develop much and the plot feels rushed. It’s not a bad show, but it could have been better. ..
