What is the Devil in Ohio?
Devil in Ohio is a mini suspense-thriller series by Netflix. It is a limited edition 8-episode series that is gripping and quite intense. Darian Polatin created the series based on her best-selling book of the same name, “Devil in Ohio”. The story is about a psychiatrist who takes in shelter a young patient who recently escaped from a cult. The story revolves around how helping the young patient eventually puts life and family at risk.
Devil in Ohio – The Crux
Mae, played by Madeleine Arthur, is the teenage girl who escapes the cult and is taken to a hospital. At the hospital, she is under the care of Dr. Suzzane Mathis, played by Emily Deschanel, who tries hard for Mae to come back to life.
In the series, Suzzane stays with her husband and three children in a happy family environment, which eventually shatters after Mae enters their lives. Nobody knew that what appears to be just a normal escape is more than what it looks like.
Devil in Ohio – The Final Episode
The first episode shows Mae escaping the Satanic cult in Amontown, and the last shows how she returns to Lucifer as a sacrifice. The episode shows how she has been chosen by the AF town and the leader Malachi as the special one. She even has a pentagram carved on her back as a mark of the chosen one. Mae is also heard telling herself, “She deserves it”.
With the help of Dr. Suzzane, Mae is trying to settle down and starts to attend a local high school where she is crowned Harvest Queen. The series shows that things start to take a U-turn when she is given a white rose bouquet. After getting the bouquet, she disappears and is seen returning to join the cult.
Dr. Suzzane, on the other hand, realizes this and heads straight to Amontown to make Mae come back. When she reaches the town, she sees Mae dressed as a bride for a ceremony celebrated by the whole community. Mae is also seen walking down the aisle.
Later, Suzzane is seen going to the church, where she is stopped by Sheriff Wilkins, the town’s creepy monitor. They both get into a fight, knocking over a torch that starts a fire. An alarm that the town is on fire is raised, and the assembly flees before the sacrifice can be finished.
In the meantime, Suzzane reaches Mae by climbing onto the sacrificial platform to rescue her. Over there, she discovers Mae with her mother, Abigail, who has been left to complete the sacrifice as the village struggles to save their house. Abigail is completely entangled in the cult and its blind devotion to Lucifer.
Mae tries to explain to her mother to escape with her, but she refuses. Rather, she sacrifices herself as Mae wishes to go with Suzzane. After all that turmoil, Suzanne and her husband, Peter, promise to repair their marriage despite a little collapse, and Suzanne eventually discloses her trauma to her therapist.
Suzzane also acknowledges that as a coping technique for her prior experiences of abuse, her fixation with saving Mae and many of her patients stems from her need to be saved. The series shows that Peter and Suzzane are trying to build their life but decide to celebrate Thanksgiving without each other. The episode shows Suzzane and Mae celebrating the festival alone.
And then comes a phone call.
Devil in Ohio – The Ending Mystery
So, who called Suzzane on Thanksgiving? It is Detective Lopez, played by Gerado Celasco and gives her chilling information that Mae indeed planned the sacrifice. Mae wasn’t abducted; rather, she returned to Amontown and the ceremony of her own volition after purchasing the white roses that “triggered her response to return to the cult.” She organized the entire event.
Suzzane now knows the truth and is horrified. Mae is now the leader of the cult, which is running somewhere and in the meantime, Mae is seen asking Suzzane to come and eat her dinner. The narrative ends there, leaving the audience to speculate as to what transpired next.
In the woods behind the house, there is a shrine with images of Mae and Suzanne, indicating that Mae had always planned for Suzanne to be alone.