The Velveteen Rabbit – As the second episode of The Devil’s Hour begins, Shane Fisher (Kyle Rowe) bangs on the door in an attempt to convince Chloe (Carys Gaylor) to let him in. Chloe talks to Lucy (Jessica Raine) on the phone to tell her about it. When Shane calms down, Chloe thinks she is being stupid so she hangs up on Lucy. Tilly calls her mother’s name. Chloe tells her to go to bed because mommy and daddy just need to chat. Then, Chloe goes outside where she finds Shane dead. After the intro, Lucy is relieved to see Chloe and Tilly in the house. Gideon (Peter Capaldi) tells Lucy that he saw her on the night they took Shane Fisher away. He had been searching for all those years and there she was. Gideon believes she knew Shane and what he was about to do before asking about Tilly and whether she is okay. He knows the things he will tell her are going to sound unlikely.

He wants her to lie. Then, she should lie to him and convince him that she doesn’t believe him. If he thinks she believes it, he’ll decide that she is unstable. If she says she doesn’t believe him, he can’t prove that she is lying. He can’t prove that she is crazy, but Lucy wonders if she is crazy. At home, Lucy imagines that she is missing a tooth until she returns to reality. She turns around to tell Mike (Phil Dunster) not to go to sleep. He checks on her since she hasn’t said a word about Shane Fisher from last week. Mike knows it is her job to be around people like that but he doesn’t like it. When he says he is being serious, Lucy admits she doesn’t want to be serious. She just wants to drink wine, listen to his crappy jokes, and have half an orgasm. Lucy knows he loves her, but she’d like to love Isaac. Mike says he tried, but he needed Isaac to love him back.

He thinks Lucy believes Isaac will feel it if she loves him hard enough but he won’t. Mike doesn’t think he can be fixed. After he tells a joke, Lucy tries to get him to leave. She opens the door only to find Isaac standing there. He claims there is a man in the garden so Lucy goes out with a flashlight to look around. Isaac says the man was looking even though he isn’t scared. Lucy doesn’t find him, but the gate gives her a scare. The following day, she takes Isaac to Rigby’s Toys and tells him he can get anything he wants. Once he comes back, Lucy tries to play around with him only for Isaac to take her seriously. Isaac shows her the Bloom Buddies toy he wants to buy and refuses to purchase anything else. On their way home, Meredith and the family wave at them as they go by. At home, Lucy yells at Isaac to try to get him to play with the toy he made her buy.

He does half-heartedly before being sent to his room. DI Ravi Dhillon (Nikesh Patel) tells his team about the evidence that was seized from Brightside Lodges last Thursday night. They believe the unnamed man is responsible for murdering Harold Slade and Shane Fisher. They only know that the man is looking for a woman named Lucy Chambers. Ravi gives them instructions for sorting through the evidence. They get into an argument about something silly so DS Nick Holness (Alex Ferns) blurts out that they found child porn on his laptop. Ravi reveals that they found the name Hobson scrawled on his wall. That was the name of Jonah Taylor’s teddy bear. Lucy tries to make sure Isaac has his shoes on, but he is busy staring at the wall. When asked what he is looking at, Isaac says she is not allowed to draw on the table. He goes on to say she knows she is not supposed to use it. Ravi approaches a Lucy Chambers at work, but she isn’t the one they’re looking for.

She can’t identify Harold or Shane. Regardless, they agree to put a vehicle outside her home for protection just in case. Isaac and Lucy visit Dr. Ruby Bennett (Meera Syal) who learns about him picking the same toy every time. Ruby wants to try something with him. He is asked to determine the emotion displayed in the drawings shown to him. Once he gets them right, he admits he doesn’t know what makes him happy. He explains that chips and music make his mommy happy. Isaac believes he makes her sad. As Lucy goes to work, she backs into another vehicle and gets upset. Rob Shaw (John Alastair) tells her about a kid he thinks is being abused and how it should be a Section 47. Lucy promises to talk to Karen about it. He asks how she is doing as Lucy admits she thought Shane had killed them. She was relieved when she found out that Shane was the victim. They joke around and Rob checks on her again before he almost leaves.

She asks him about the car she hit so she can tell the owner. Lucy visits Chloe to see if she’d like to be rehoused given the circumstances. Chloe feels guilty and thinks she should’ve let Shane in that night. She believes he was threatening her because she was being selfish. When Lucy suggests speaking to someone, Chloe says she just needs to go home before apologizing. She complains about her chest pains and the acid reflux she has been getting. Ravi and Nick speak to another Lucy Chambers who doesn’t know Shane or Harold, but she recognizes the car from Tanbrook when they lived there. About three years ago, they noticed a red car down by the woods where people sometimes park to walk their dogs. While most cars come and go, this red car didn’t. Despite being a small community where everyone knows everyone else, nobody knew who the car belonged to. The car seemed to appear and reappear in different spots.

They saw it at the end of their lane one day. They never saw the driver before the vehicle just disappeared one day and they never saw it again. Once they leave, Ravi says that Lucy is the one they’re looking for. He explains that the driver checked her out and eventually left so she is the Lucy Chambers they’re searching for. Ravi wants to make sure they’re not fearing for their lives and says they have to find the right Lucy before he does. He stops and gives a man money on the street while Nick refuses to do so. Later, Isaac tells Lucy that they did sums, spelling, and pretending at school today. He goes on to say he was pretending to be a spaceman. She asks if it was pretend like Meredith who was also pretend, but Isaac says she isn’t pretend. Lucy tells him about the little girl named Meredith Warren and how they saw her the other day.

Isaac says her name and to come here. Then, he says Meredith go upstairs and think about what you’ve done. Lucy says she is talking about the little girl who lives down the road, but Isaac says they live here too. He begins looking at something and freaking her out so Lucy tells him to eat his dinner. She decides to turn on some music while Ravi reads about Jonah Taylor. He notices a drawing of a woman among the evidence they’ve collected just before someone knocks on the door. Once he deals with the guest, Ravi sits back down and looks at the picture once again. While reading to her son, Lucy is surprised when Isaac says there is a man. He begins repeating what she says so she tells him to stop. Lucy sits down with him before Isaac claims the man is moving. Lucy says it isn’t nice to pretend because it scares her, but Isaac insists he isn’t pretending. It isn’t the same man from the garden and he is supposedly watching now.

He says the man is right next to her before Lucy’s phone goes off and frightens her. Lucy ignores the call from Mike and tells Isaac that no one is there. Lucy wakes up after a nightmare at 3:33. She gets up and places her ear next to the wall that her son was staring at earlier. She knocks on it too. Later, she visits the Warren house where she talks to Debbie (Rhiannon Harper-Rafferty). She offers her wine only to learn that they don’t drink. Once she comes inside, Debbie admits that her husband likes smashing things and building things. He had grand plans for Lucy’s place. They put in a cheeky offer at the time. As the conversation continues, Lucy learns that Meredith is seven and does not go to Lyle Hill. When Debbie takes a phone call, Lucy notices a spot for the Blooming Buddies toy that Isaac picked out previously. She puts it down and it immediately lights up.

Gideon tells her she isn’t crazy and must never think that. Lucy doesn’t think either of them is sane, but Gideon says otherwise. He has been where she is. Gideon believes she is starting to remember even though she doesn’t want to believe it. He knows it is hard to believe that you can remember the future. When she tries to leave, Gideon asks about her son since that is why she is here. Gideon can help her answer her questions. At school, the other kids begin picking on Isaac and making him hit himself. Finn goes too far and causes Isaac to punch himself several times. As Ravi looks through the evidence, he finds a picture of paper that says “Isaac is unbound”. He learns about a woman named Lucy Chambers working on Chloe’s case. Lucy goes to the school to deal with the bullying incident. Miss Rogers (Rosie Jones) explains that the other kids are saying he did it to himself.

Lucy wants them gone. They want to get the facts before deciding what to do with the boys though. She argues with them over whether Isaac has special needs. No psychiatrist can tell her why her son won’t laugh, cry, or hug her unless she tells him to. She doesn’t think he self-harms because he is broken and she doesn’t know how to fix it. Lucy tells them that she’ll find somewhere else if they can’t look after him. Nick and Ravi visit Lucy’s workplace and talk to Karen. Ravi sees Lucy’s picture and confirms it is the one they’ve been looking for. He asks for her mobile number. Lucy tells her son that it is okay to cry. She goes on to say she won’t give up because she loves him so much. He repeats the last part. Lucy leaves her phone in the car so she doesn’t get Ravi’s call. Lucy finds the door open and Mike inside her house after he let himself in. Lucy makes him say hello to his son.

Lucy doesn’t want him there, but Mike wants to chat privately for a few minutes. She asks if he has been vaping in here only for Mike to say he gave it up. Mike eventually tells her that he has been seeing someone who wants to make it official. He thought she should know and shouldn’t find out on Facebook or something like that. Mike insists he doesn’t want her because she isn’t Lucy. He agrees to be Isaac’s dad and try to make it work again. Lucy explains she wants him to have a relationship with his father and for Mike to spend time with him. They begin arguing. Mike asks if she still loves him or not, but Lucy insists it isn’t that simple. She confesses to thinking about someone else when they have sex even though it is no one specific. Lucy chases him outside to apologize because she didn’t mean it. Mike doesn’t believe that though.

When she asks about the spare key, Mike reveals he came in through the front door. Ravi learns that Lucy’s son is named Isaac so he asks for her address. On his way out, he tells Nick that there were 40 some references to the name Isaac. He believes the man is after Isaac instead of Lucy. She searches for her son. Gideon tells Lucy that he is sorry she had to go through that. She demands to know why he did it because he had no reason to touch him. She asks why he took her little boy.

 

The Devil’s Hour Review

The second episode of The Devil’s Hour followed the path of the previous and touched some high points, but the plodding pace is still a major problem. The series probably would’ve been a lot more impactful if it had gotten to the point sooner so a 4-episode season would’ve been better. At this point, it is difficult to care about much going on in the series although I genuinely feel sorry for Lucy at times due to her struggle with Isaac.

Everything else feels like a blip on the radar because most of it just doesn’t work right now. The search for Lucy could’ve been taken care of within seconds instead of dragging it out for an entire episode, especially considering we likely already know who they’re searching for. The show feels a bit bloated with too much going on making it unnecessarily complicated. It should’ve focused on what mattered most without the stuff that didn’t.

It is too early to say what won’t matter in the end, but there is a good chance that a lot of it won’t. I won’t touch on that until I am certain even though I have some good ideas already. The acting is good. The biggest issue is the pacing though because this is just dragging. Truthfully though, it is watchable even though it isn’t spectacular. The second episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of The Devil’s Hour can be found on Reel Mockery here.

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