By Blood – As the seventh episode of Devil In Ohio begins, Mae (Madeleine Arthur) cuts her finger to perform a ritual that says let flame devour the weak. She asks the Granter of Wishes to grant her wish of letting her stay. Suzanne (Emily Deschanel) yells at her to come inside so she can tell her about Fernwell where she’ll be safe. She explains it is a beautiful property in Vermont with beautiful hiking trails. They specialize in working with people like Mae. Suzanne spoke to the director and they’re offering Mae a full scholarship. When Mae asks if she can come back, Suzanne says she can come back to visit sometime. Mae asks if she can move back here after Fernwell. Suzanne doesn’t think she’ll need her anymore once she goes to Fernwell. Mae pretends she is okay with it before asking if she can go to the dance since she was nominated for the Harvest Court. Suzanne says yes. Dani (Naomi Tan) performs on stage while Mae stares at Suzanne in the audience.

After the performance, Suzanne talks to her family about the Harvest dance. Jules (Xaria Dotson) reveals the Yearbook Committee asked her to be the official photographer. Peter (Sam Jaeger) mentions Suzanne was the Harvest Queen and she thinks Helen (Alisha Newton) could be Queen this year. Mae says they’re on the court together. When Dani arrives, the family wants to take a group photo so Mae offers to take it. Alex Lopez (Gerardo Celasco) tells Gina Brooks (Eva Bourne) about Dressler who disappeared according to his mother. James (Max Montesi) claims his mom took pictures at his ordination, but she said she hadn’t seen him before the fire. He wonders why he’d lie. Gina admits he better take care of the case soon because the captain is complaining about budgets and threatening to close down any stalled cases next week. Later, Peter tells Suzanne that the insurance company is still waiting on the police report for the fire. When he goes outside, Suzanne tells her daughter about getting Mae into a facility in Vermont.

Once she goes there on Monday, everything will be back to normal. They just want to do whatever gets her out of there. Suzanne says she cleaned her Harvest dress so Helen could wear it, but Helen has already found something and Jules has too. Mae says it is beautiful before Helen receives a visitor. Teddy (Ty Wood) wants to know what is going on since she hasn’t been answering his texts. Helen takes off her necklace because she is breaking up with him. He asks who she is going to dance with when she wins Harvest. Helen says she might not win but she doesn’t care anyway. She is trying to figure out what she wants right now and it is unfair to keep him waiting until she does. Alex Lopez quickly realizes that Sheriff Wilkins (Bradley Stryker) is tailing him again. Mae scares Helen when she asks if she wants her to alter the dress for her. She tells Helen it is okay to be upset. Suzanne learns so she takes Helen upstairs to talk about the breakup with Teddy. Helen also reveals she was offered a paid internship to code and she wants to take it.

Suzanne promises to talk to Peter about it. Helen didn’t talk to her sooner because she hasn’t been around lately. Suzanne apologizes for the disturbance Mae’s presence has caused. Peter meets with Cheryl (Laura Soltis) to talk about managing an apartment complex. Lopez meets with Suzanne at her home. He tells her he is under pressure to shut down Mae’s case, but he has a few more days to work on another angle. After she says it might be for the best, she learns about the cold case he found that happened on the dates of the meteor shower Mae mentioned. There was one survivor of the house fire and that survivor might be able to link it to Sheriff Wilkins. Suzanne realizes it happened on the night of the full moon. She checks the files she pulled at work and sees that the patient’s name on November 17th was James Dressler. He had first-degree burns on his legs and sutures for a temporal contusion. Lopez admits James is his eyewitness and a priest now. He also had stitches for a head wound.

Lopez thinks the priest could be Enoch. He asks Suzanne to come. Since Mae talks to her, she might be able to get James to talk too and he could implicate Sheriff Wilkins. If they have Wilkins, they might be able to push him into giving up Malachi. That would save Mae the trouble of having to testify against her family. Isaac (Jason Sakaki) meets up with Jules who is busy taking photos. They talk about Helen possibly winning and becoming Queen. At home, Suzanne hears something that surprises her, but it is only Peter. He tells her about his new job. Peter is going to get back into contracting. While he loved building Windemere, the rest of it isn’t for him. When she tells him about Lopez and the witness, he asks who is going to take Helen and Jules to the dance. He promises to be back in time to pick up the girls from the dance. As she leaves, Peter gets a call asking him to be somewhere. Helen helps Jules fix her hair for the dance. The sisters are surprised when Teddy arrives and learn he is there for Mae.

They watch as Mae leaves with Teddy while wearing their mother’s dress. Peter and Dani go to the police station because Detective Beechum wants to speak to him. While Dani sits by herself, Peter goes with Anne Beechum (Luvia Petersen). Suzanne approaches James Dressler. When she says she is looking for Enoch Walsh, he seems worried. He claims he is not familiar with them and excuses himself. He tries to flee the church only to find Lopez waiting on him outside. Anne tells Lopez that Cheryl was price-gouging him, but he says she was trying to get a deal. She asks if he burned the house down before asking about his relationship with Patti Myers who is the former loan supervisor at Haverford County Bank and Trust. Peter says they went to high school together, but they weren’t close or anything. Anne asks why she’d give him an extension when it wasn’t standard procedure. Peter admits he doesn’t know, but he thinks she was being nice. He was nice to her in high school.

She had a back brace and Peter thinks she had a crush on him. Peter can’t explain why she gave him an unauthorized extension. After Beechum asks what he got mixed up in, Peter wants them to call his lawyer Jeff Fisk. James tells Suzanne that he got out of Amontown by breaking the chain so Brother Wilkins tried to get rid of him. Suzanne wonders if that is how he ended up in the fire. James explains he was a Lightbearer, an instrument of the cult’s petty vengeance. They set fires from fuel rendered from their pigs. They called it a ritual named Serving our Lord. When asked if he heard Malachi give the order to burn down the squat house, James says nothing happens unless it is Malachi’s will. Brother Wilkins took him to the squat house. He made James mark the door in blood with the Digdin sigil. They marked the house and he was supposed to burn it down as a warning to Michael Calvo for growing drugs on their land. When he saw the addicts in the squat house, he went back to Wilkins to say he couldn’t do it.

Wilkins struck him over the head and dragged him into the house. He passed out after that. Suzanne asks how he became James Dressler. Jules hangs out with Isaac at the party. Everyone is surprised when Teddy and Mae enter together. They can see the pentagram on Mae’s back. She remembers everyone at the cult saying she is the chosen one. Sebastian yells that she is strong before others join in to give her confidence. James says he remembers waking up in the hospital with a severe concussion and burns all over his body. He thinks Wilkins set fire to the house and left him for dead. In the hospital, they thought he was James because they looked similar. It was a miracle so he believes the real God gave him another chance and he took it. Suzanne tells him about Mae living with her and the pentagram on her back. James suggests Sliocht an Diabhail must be in trouble if Malachi did that to his own daughter because they only do that in times of crisis.

Suzanne mentions what Mae said about being picked to be a Wife of the First Prophet like Mary Dodd. The women in purpose robes attend to the needs of the community. When Marry Dodd refused her brother-in-law’s hand, Caleb carved a pentagram in her back and burnt her alive. He covered for himself by saying she wanted to be sacrificed to save the congregation. They want to sacrifice Mae to grant their wishes. They usually align their rituals with the full moon so they’ll have to protect Mae tonight. At the party, Mae approaches Jules to see if she got any cool shots. Jules tells her to stop trying to be nice to her because she knows she doesn’t care about being her friend. Mae argues she helped her get those followers because she gave Sebastian her portrait. She didn’t mean to take Sebastian and gave it up the moment she found out. Jules accuses her of making everything about herself before saying this isn’t the kind of relationship she wants. Mae says she doesn’t know how good she has it, yet she takes everything for granted.

Suzanne tries to call Jules to ask her to find Helen and Mae because she is on her way. Then, she notices bright lights in her rearview mirror. Helen decides to leave the party with Tatiana. They decide to dance in private even if Helen misses the announcement. Mae is declared this year’s Harvest Queen. The flowers bring back memories for her. Jules rushes up to help her while the car begins slamming into the back of Suzanne’s vehicle. By the time Jules reaches the stage, Mae is already gone. The van forces Suzanne to stop on the side of the road before it continues. When Alex makes it to the station, he learns about Peter being there. EMS workers check on Suzanne who is adamant she wants to drive on her own. Her phone is missing. Alex tries to convince Inspector Beechum that Peter is not the guy she is looking for. He attempts to clear Peter’s name by telling her about the animal-based accelerant used at the scene. He tells her what James said and the fact that he found a dozen unsolved cases dating back to the 1920s with animal-based accelerants.

Anne warns him to watch himself because these Amon County folks have friends in high places. Alex tells Peter that he is free to go. Peter is told to talk to his wife and keep an eye on his family. Suzanne meets with Jules and learns that Mae went missing after she received white roses. She calls Lopez and leaves a message to tell him what is going on. Suzanne tells Jules to call her father and have him pick her up. She is going to find Mae because they’re going to hurt her. Malachi slices his hand and prepares for a ritual.

 

Devil In Ohio Review

Although Devil in Ohio has had its moments, the show’s many flaws are difficult to ignore. The performances aren’t always great and the series doesn’t have enough realism to make it spooky. If it had focused on what mattered and cut down the show by two or three episodes, it might’ve hit the right notes far more often. There are so many aspects of the series that diminished its believability.

For instance, it was a bit too easy for Mae to transition from a lifelong cult to a normal life with Suzanne and her family. It has taken too long to reach this point while the story had all types of young adult drama at the local high school. Another issue is the fact that nothing about the show makes it appear like it took place in a small Ohio town besides some scenery and the license plates.

Welcome to Flatch better portrays a small Ohio town. At the very least, I can appreciate that the performers aren’t using silly southern accents like so many other recent shows. Devil in Ohio isn’t great but the core story is at least interesting. Depending on the outcome, the finale could help redeem the series to some degree. However, the possibility of this being one of Netflix’s many forgettable shows is very high.

The episode scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of Devil in Ohio can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our work at this link.