Amor Fati
Gideon’s narration starts with a chilling reminder that he’s died more times than he cares to remember. He talks about how life is a looped record that continues to skip by and how we all obliviously repeat everything without knowing it. The trouble is, Gideon has somehow stepped outside the conventional norms fate has given us and he can move the proverbial needle on the record.
What happened in Gideon’s past?
Gideon and Malcolm’s relationship is based on their shared experiences with their father. When he finally returns, he drives them out to the cliff-edge and encourages them all to pray for their mother, who has sinned (cheated) against him. And as they pray, Lawrence floors it and kills them all.
The timeline repeats again and again, with Gideon dying repeatedly in the same horrific way until one loop everything changes. In this final iteration, Gideon changes things. He senses flashes of what’s going to happen but this time decides to take matters into his own hands. ..
Gideon is determined to save his own life and that of his brother. He grabs a knife and sneaks into his father’s room while he’s sleeping. He stabs him repeatedly, going on to wash the blood off his hands and running away, as far and as fast as he can. Gideon is found numerous times and it always ends the same way – he commits suicide and repeats the cycle.
What is Gideon’s recurrence?
Gideon has a unique way of predicting the outcomes of sporting events, which means he never runs out of money. He also saves a family from a fatal crash by slashing their tyres to stop them from getting involved in an accident.
Gideon has a routine of saving people and he learns about tragedies every time he does it. It becomes a fixation. He’s stopped fly-tipping and started keeping an eye on all the appliances in his home, in case they start fires.
Gideon had every intention of turning Harold Slade into the authorities, but after seeing all the child phonography on his computer, Gideon decided he had to die. So why write everything down if he can’t bring it into his new life? Well, that comes from the idea of revision. Gideon is a man possessed, and works to write down everything that’s happened so he can remember them like lyrics from a song.
Is Jonah Taylor still alive?
Gideon knows everything that’s going to happen and encourages Ravi to check the last book of the notebook after making a quip about Gideon’s terrible handwriting. A nicely written note reads: “Is this better Detective??”
Jonah Taylor is still alive, and Gideon hasn’t killed him. He dropped his teddy out the window, while Gideon hid Jonah to protect him from his parents, who intended to kill him and bury him in a shallow grave. He took Jonah to someone who can keep him safe, someone saved from the path they were destined to lead. But where?
Gideon points out that the lives we lead are like tracks in the snow. Only, when things change then some people find it hard to adjust. Evelyn – the girl he saved from the car crash – started to see things, including shadows; strange ghosts drifting in and out of her reality. The tracks that others have left behind, if you will. These ripples, from the changes, can result in some people going mad. Gideon though, saved her from the psychiatric hospital she was admitted to and taught her how to survive and adjust. As a result, she too can change things.
Why did Gideon kill Aiden and Connor?
Gideon and Nick fought for control of the situation, with Gideon stabbing Nick multiple times in order to save the pregnant mother. When Nick jumped in though, he changed things and Gideon struggled to control the chaos.
Connor Larsen’s case is much the same. Connor raped five women in another life and the “torture” Gideon conducted on him was actually part of an experiment. He wanted to try and make this rapist repulsed by sex, explaining the horrific videos and the bucket of rotten flesh. ..
In one reality, Lucy’s mother died in childbirth, leading to Lucy being raised by her abusive and alcoholic father. When she was 16, she ran away from home and ended up in a shelter. There she met Gideon, who was also homeless and had been living on the streets for five years. They fell in love and decided to run away together. However, when they got to Gideon’s apartment, they found out that Shane had already been there and killed Gideon’s partner and child. This led to Shane being sentenced to 25 years in prison where he shares a cell with Gideon. However, because of this experience, Lucy was able to survive the recurrence by learning how to cope with her past trauma. ..
What is the significance of 3.33am?
Lucy experienced Sylvia killing herself when she was a child. Gideon thought that he had changed things and stopped Sylvia from killing herself by removing the firing pin and the bullets. However, this did not work and Sylvia lost her way and struggled to find her tracks. When Lucy pulled the trigger, she had a second chance at life but also unhinged Sylvia who lost her mind.
Lucy starts to understand what Gideon is doing and locks Ravi outside the interrogation room. She watches helplessly as Gideon brings up a promise they made in a previous life. Lucy is not who she was and Isaac is not supposed to be here. With the example of a shoelace, Gideon explains that we experience life as a loop. All his previous lives are happening simultaneously and parallel to one another. The loops are so tightly wound they’re almost touching, meaning they’re glimpsing the world the way it was originally. ..
Sylvia’s shotgun shot occurred at 3.33am, which explains why Lucy has been waking up at that time every night. Isaac isn’t like any of them. He’s not bound to this lifetime. While Lucy can see echoes of previous loops, Isaac can actually reach out and touch them, crossing over if you will. When Isaac loses his balance, he slips from one lifetime to another. He’s an anomaly and not supposed to exist.
What happens to Isaac and Mike?
Mike tells his son that his arrival destroyed his life. It’s a horrific thing to say to anyone and Mike even pours beer all over his head too. Isaac carries on staring, eventually deciding he’s had enough. Noticing his phone, Isaac takes it off charge and heads upstairs. As he does, Gideon points out that Isaac’s emotionless being comes from his lack of existence. He’s a husk, according to Gideon. Claiming he’s never going to be real, Gideon presses on while we see glimpses of Isaac leave his shirt on the heater. Lucy bites back and claims that Isaac does love her. “You’re the husk Gideon,” She says.
Back at home, Mike heads up to Isaac’s room and notices the shirt on the heater and a fire starting, licking hungrily up the curtains. Instead of helping his son, Mike simply shuts the door. Lucy receives a voicemail from Isaac, confirming that Mike is the one who made him cold and wants her to come home. He also tells her he loves her.
Gideon is taken back to his cell, where he says “I’ll see you soon” before Ravi enters the interrogation room and notices that the shoelace is missing the end. This is deliberate, as Gideon uses it to release his handcuffs and destroy the guards either side of him, then slip away. When Ravi catches up, it’s too late. ..
How does The Devil’s Hour end?
As Lucy returns home, she finds Mike outside in shock.Apparently he went back for Isaac but he was gone. Lucy refuses to believe this and immediately heads into the burning house herself, determined to find her son. Instead, she loses consciousness and dies right there in the burning building.
Lucy is a detective who is investigating a fire that happened in her past. She seems to be able to understand what has happened with flashes of the past coming through. “Deja Vu.” She says.
The Episode Review
The Devil’s Hour ended with a fantastic cliffhanger that left many questions unanswered. It’s clear that the showrunners are planning on following up with a second season, and there are plenty of ways this could go. We won’t dive into that here but suffice to say, many of the questions we’ve been graced with across the season have finally been given some much-needed answers.
The journey of Sylvia, for example, now makes more sense while Isaac being an anomaly is a great touch, although we can see that he’s capable of empathy, albeit in a slightly different way. It’s also possible he’s still alive, having potentially shifted to a different reality.
In this episode, Peter Capaldi really shines as Gideon. He is very understanding of why his actions have led to the current state of affairs and provides a nice contextualization for them. This has been a great ending to what’s otherwise been a surprisingly robust and absolutely gripping series.
