Adapted from Daria Polatin’s novel of the same name, “Devil In Ohio,” will take you on a mysterious ride in a ritualistic world through the story of Mae Dodd. This eight-episode series is a 2022 American suspense drama on Netflix. Mae is a survivor who barely saved herself from the clutches of her cult family. Her condition attracts a psychiatrist, Dr. Suzanne Mathis, who invites her into her sweet little family of five. Little did she know that her presence might cause huge chaos in their lives. Moreover, as each day passes by, Mae discloses her true behavior, and with each episode, viewers will discover multiple yet creepy facts about her. Little by little, her existence in the Mathis family brings out different problems, and some of them are irreversible. The whole situation lies in Suzanne’s hands, but she willingly chooses to make herself a part of something that she’s aware of. Well, Mae belonged to Amon County, Ohio, and this place was surrounded by multiple religious beliefs, beliefs that were accustomed to the followers of Satanism. Things seem to move on nicely at first, but with each step, Suzanne begins to lose all connection with her children as her head is dangling around the betterment of Mae.
The fact that Mae had such a strong influence on Suzanne’s actions was a big deal for the whole family. In the beginning of “Devil In Ohio,” Suzanne spent most of her time helping different individuals, mostly children, at the Remmingham Memorial Hospital. At the very beginning of this series, viewers will be intrigued to learn about the bond Suzanne had with her children. But with every episode of “Devil In Ohio,” the creators of this series have carefully measured the aftermath of introducing an unwanted person into their personal space. Apart from Suzanne, nobody was interested in having Mae in the house, and the main reason behind this would be her bizarre personality. Since she belonged to a religious family, Mae’s actions were difficult to gauge. She always tried to fit in with the other children, even though it was her way of displaying gratitude. There were some cases wherein it looked like she was trying hard to overshadow Suzanne’s daughter Jules.
Growing up, Jules was connected to the eldest one, Helen, but things became bitter between them, and in all these cases, Mae was the only person who stood alongside her. But, Jules began to lose her only friend as Mae began to get all the fame. These scenes are pretty ambiguous to understand, as Mae often looked supportive toward Jules. But later, things began to dismantle as Jules stopped interacting with Mae. The arrival of Detective Lopez in the case gave a whole new angle to the story, as he became the light bearer for the Mathis family. Lopez never left a single track for investigation at Amon County. The episode begins to progress more as Lopez encounters a pig-headed scarecrow in the Amontown fields. Since then, it was pretty clear that animals had a huge connection with Mae’s cult family. As time went on, things became even clearer as Lopez had a few encounters with Amontown’s sheriff, Mr. Wilkins.
Lopez followed him deep into the country and tracked them amidst all the rituals, since that’s where he got to know about the pact they’d made with Lucifer, the Fallen Angel. This is where Lopez spotted the sacrifice of a pig. They later used its body parts to make fuel, and everything was carefully captured in the detective’s camera. In many cases, Malachi Dodd, the leader of the cult, covered up things through a mantle of faith since they used the pig accelerant to set fire, while in reality, it was arson committed from the cult’s side. The younger generations were unaware of the atrocities and the politics, but the ones who stood closer to the leaders were pretty much exposed to all the dirty secrets. Everything came to light when Lopez figured out that a young man named Enoch had escaped from Amontown. All the while Mae was under the wrong impression that people who broke the chain would suffer and die. But Suzanne knew that Enoch was her only hope to make Mae believe that her life didn’t depend on the county’s future.
Enoch saved himself and changed his identity to suppress his past. But Lopez and Suzanne were able to generate several statements from them. Every time the cult wanted to destroy a place or a person, they would mark them with the strange red symbol, and the same mark was later discovered on Jules’ hand, Suzanne’s car, and the Mathis’ family home. Lopez figured out that the cult members had specific yet catchy details about their rituals. They often gave more importance to crows and pigs. The main reason behind having pig fat in their sacrifice was to generate enough accelerant, and it was later used as a way of warning those who brought harm to the county’s people. Throughout the whole series, viewers will notice strange utensils and objects used to render the pig and this process made it easier for the cult members. More facts were dug out after Peter Mathis’ property was burned down to ashes.
All the fingers were pointed at Peter, but in reality, things were exactly the opposite. For the time being, Malachi Dodd had kept a close eye on the Mathis family, and together the whole cult came up with a plan to burn down his property as a warning since they became the official guardians of Mae for the time being. Lopez was able to confirm that animal fuel was discovered at the property as well. In the past, many cases were mysteriously shut down, and all of these cases were related to the mysterious cult of Amontown. The Amon County line fire was supposed to be a warning for Michael Calvo, who grew illegal drugs on the Amon County land. Nothing moved without Malachi’s approval, and with his men, he carefully mixed the rendered pig fat glycerin with potassium permanganate to generate an exothermic chemical reaction, causing a massive and unexplainable fire. Moreover, while the property burned, Calvo’s house was filled with addicts. Well, dozens of cases were related, as Enoch was held responsible for choosing the lives of other people over his faith. He was banished as he had broken the chain, resulting in his presence at the fire nine years ago.
