As the episode begins, we see Massimo Ruggero (Alessandro Borghi) arguing with Ed before he begins working out. Then, we see a video of George Bush talking about the strikes on Al-Qaeda terrorists in the Middle East. We jump to 2011 and see Nina Morgan (Kasia Smutniak) driving her vehicle with the kids playing in the back. Her son asks why daddy isn’t coming so she says he has to work. She nearly crashes the vehicle after daydreaming and the kids in the back ask their auntie if she is okay. She says she is and it is a special day so she is taking them to a special place. Meanwhile, Dominic Morgan (Patrick Dempsey) gets a visit from Chris Bailey (Tom McKay) who wants to show him something about Massimo and his team. He tells Dominic about Oliver Harris (Malachi Kirby) hacking the system to alter the VaR.
They contemplate whether Massimo knew, but Chris believes it means they can’t trust him anymore either way. He offers to run it by legal about sacking him before Alex Vance (Chris Reilly) interrupts and tells Dominic that Stuart called because his kids didn’t show up at the pool. Nina isn’t picking up the phone either. After the intro, Sofia Flores (Laia Costa) meets with Massimo because she heard the investigation is about to be closed. She wonders how this happens before Dominic calls and interrupts. When the call ends, Massimo confirms he has to leave to meet with Dominic, but she can’t understand how he can answer to a man who has done this to his wife. He gets upset and we jump to Brick Lane in London in 2006. Massimo attends a party with Kalim and Paul.
Massimo encounters Carrie (Sallie Harmsen) and they embrace. She tells him they’re celebrating her new exhibition because the gallery wants to do a one-woman show. Paul looks for women before Massimo learns about Carrie’s new tattoo and she wants him to get one too. He gets the tattoo while the party continues. The transexual woman talks to Carrie about investing in real estate because of her investment friend and losing the house. When Massimo asks, she admits the only guarantee was her work and she is a freelancer. Massimo quickly researches and tries to find out how many mortgage-backed securities his bank is carrying. He tells Carrie they’re bonds guaranteed by mortgages on properties. They’re packaged together and sold to other banks as investments.
He is worried whether the mortgages forming the MBS are good or bad and realizes something bad is coming to the housing market. In the morning, Massimo wakes up Paul and tells him they have a problem. They return to the office and Kalim (Paul Chowdhry) confirms that the sub-primes haven’t been covered since 2005. The American banks have been handing out mortgages to anyone and everyone with no collateral at all. The foreclosure index is climbing sky-high so Paul (Harry Michell) says it is a property bubble. Massimo goes to Ed and Dominic and tells them about his concerns, but Ed believes he is wrong about the housing market. Dominic listens to Massimo and orders them to sell the mortgage-backed securities. Massimo is correct and he begins ignoring Carrie’s calls. Ed approaches him and tells him he did, but wonders if he just got lucky.
Then, Dominic tells him about the recent foreclosures and says a tsunami is coming and they need to be ready for it. He tries to call Carrie back but she doesn’t answer. He tells his team he has been invited to Dominic’s house and that has never happened before. Greg arrives and tells Dominic that Carrie is in the hospital because of an overdose. He rushes to the hospital and finds Carrie in a hospital bed and she tells him they pumped her stomach. She claims she is a loser before he returns to the office. Dominic approaches and asks if he should be at the office with his wife. He says he is going to recommend Massimo for the Head of Training position. Dominic says they sell their reputation since people can trust them before suggesting he should consider what is right for Carrie.
Back to 2011, Massimo tries to meet with Dominic but Alex tells him he is busy. Dominic tries to call Nina before Chris tells him the bank can sack him without fear of reprisal. Chris argues that Massino got to head of trading by cheating. He claims Italians have it in their blood before Dominic tells him he knows nothing about Massimo and orders him to get out. Dominic tries to call Nina again before Massimo enters and questions him about Chris’s presence. He says she was supposed to take Ed’s kids to the pool but she has vanished. They talk about today being John’s birthday and Dominic pleads with Massimo to help him locate her. We jump back to 2008 and Massimo and Carrie arrive at Dominic’s place.
She stops him and reveals she has stopped taking the pill and she wants to make a baby. Nina greets them and stops that conversation. They’re led to Dominic and John seconds later. John has enlisted in the marine and will be leaving in a few days. He is going to Afghanistan to join Operation Enduring Freedom. John and Dominic are convinced it won’t take long to get Bin Laden and return. Carrie talks to Nina about the house and how it belonged to her family. Massimo tells his boss that his wife has been clean for a few months before Massimo learns he is going to be the head of trading. Massimo thanks him and promises to give it his all, but Dominic is worried about Carrie. Meanwhile, Carrie overhears the others talking about her failed art exhibition. The only reason they allowed her to have one is because they thought Massimo’s friends would buy something.
She barges in and jokes about the reason Massimo stays with her before storming out. Nina asks her to excuse Claire because it is a special situation. Carrie begins drinking and Nina promises it can be their little secret. Massimo is told about James Sherman from the Treasury Department and lobbyist Margaret Cunningham. John is asked about his intentions after the war and he says he would rather stay in the military than get involved in finance. Carrie shows up drunk and argues that they don’t care about freedom and are only worried about oil and money. Nina has to take her away after she makes a fool of herself. She complains to Nina about the others and admits she messed up. Nina suggests she should do the right thing for Massimo and it seems she wants her to leave.
Massimo joins his wife in the car and they argue about her behavior at the party and other things. She admits she isn’t happy in their world which is also Massimo’s world so she is leaving him. Massimo realizes he is better off without her before we hear that the markets are worsening. The market is collapsing and they’re worried what is going on. Massimo enters and confirms that the crisis will expand, but they’re lucky because they dumped their toxic paper. He says they should cut every line of credit with other banks even if it means sinking them. He goes on to say a crisis is an excellent opportunity to make money and they should attack America since it is the weakest of the lot. We jump to 2008 and join Dominic in New York. He joins Margaret (Jane Perry) and the others as they discuss how to handle the banks.
They’re worried the Chinese will switch to the Euro and they’ll be downgraded by the rating agencies. He talks to Margaret in private and says they need to divert the attention away from the problem and he wants to sacrifice Europe. The President wants to help Europe but Dom says America should be his first priority. He learns that someone from his team is shorting the US Treasury. Dominic returns to the office and speaks to Massimo in private about his decision to short US debt. Dominic tells him to go back and block the shorts because the Federal Reserve will print money and the debt will be finance. Massimo believes the rating will be downgraded but Dominic says the dollar will be a safe haven again. He wants to make sure Massimo knows his place before he receives a call.
When the call ends, Massimo learns that John’s platoon was ambushed and he has been killed. Then, we return to 2011 and the couple tries to track down Carrie. They go to the war memorial and find she has been there before deciding to check Dom’s cottage. Then, we see Nina with the kids. She walks close to a cliff and looks over. Dominic lays on the bed with Nina and encourages her to come downstairs. They talk about John and why he wanted to enlist. Dom says the ambush makes him prouder of his son’s decision, but she claims John went there because he didn’t think his father thought he was good enough. She says he saw the way his dad treated Massimo and others before Dom says he is going to work.
He hears Nina call Massimo and ask him to come get her. She takes Massimo to the edge of the cliff and she shows him the seals in the water. She says the mother comes there to give birth and to keep the babies safe. She always brought John there and he was constantly worried that the pups wouldn’t be there. She turns around and kisses Massimo before they have sex. She returns to Dominic with Massimo by her side. She says she just needed to get out and ran into Massimo along the way. When she goes inside, Dom thanks Max for his help before we return to 2011. They visit the cottage and the cliff where Nina had been before, but she isn’t there. They find her at the bottom with the kids. Dom tells Max he phoned the Secretary of Defense when his son decided to join the military to get him assigned to a safe post. John found out and prevented that some happening. She needed someone to blame so Max never told her.
Dom checks on Nina and asks why she didn’t answer her phone. She explains she needed to hear the children laugh again but it was different. Nina returns to her bed and Dom leaves her there. He tells Max that she fell asleep without a sleeping pill for the first time in ages. Moments later, Dom tells Max what Nina used to criticize him for. He admits he was prouder of Max than he was of his own son even after Max screwed his wife. Dom says his relationship with her is deeper than sex and Massimo saved their marriage. Max accuses him of destroying his marriage and asks why he didn’t tell him about Carrie being in prison in America. Dominic claims he hired Trevor to protect Max from that madwoman but Max says he didn’t need protection. He confronts Massimo about the VaR and the evidence he has. He says Max will suffer the consequences but he doesn’t say anything about sacking him.
Massimo returns to his room and talks about Lucifer and other things. He visits Sofia and kisses her. They have sex while a webcam records nearby.
Devils Review
Although I liked the housing market crash scenes, the episode was a bit low and tedious. I think the show needs to move past Carrie and focus more on Massimo’s trading activities. I think most people knew Max had slept with Nina or they had a deeper relationship than previously specified.
They did and Dominic knew about it all along. He also knows about Max’s team manipulating the VaR but isn’t going to fire him for it. So, what consequences will Massimo suffer if any? The episode was good because we learned about the history of Massimo and Carrie as well as Dominic and Nina. However, I think they could’ve sped it up some and focused more on the housing market crash.
The episode was decent, but I think it could’ve been better. It scores a 7 out of 10. Past and future episode recaps of Devils can be found here.
Jay Skelton is a fan of all television shows and movies. He tries his best to keep up with the latest foreign television shows and movies. Jay loves skinny dipping in the dark too.
