Devil in Ohio is a suspense thriller about a psychiatrist who brings danger into her life after taking in a girl who has escaped a cult. The series is based on a novel of the same name written by Daria Polatin.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
A young woman is on the run from unknown pursuers as she scrambles through a cornfield before eventually reaching the main road and flagging down a passing vehicle.
Dr. Suzanne Mathis is a psychiatrist working at the local hospital. She’s called in to treat a Jane Doe who was brought in late at night by a trucker near Amontown. It’s the same girl who ran out of the cornfield, and she’s severely wounded.
Suzanne’s husband, Peter, is a contractor who has started his own business and is trying to sell his property. Peter worked on this house from the ground up and it has put him in significant debt.
They have 3 daughters, Helen, Jules and Dani. Helen is the oldest, Jules is the middle child who has an interest in photography and Dani is the youngest. She is an adopted child who loves musicals and has a talent for singing.
Jane Doe isn’t responsive to anyone but Suzanne manages to eventually get through to her and learns that her real name is Mae Dodd. When Mae was still unconscious, the sheriff of Amontown came looking for her but Suzanne says she isn’t allowed to reveal the information to anyone outside the family.
Jules has only one close friend at school, Isaac, who encourages her to try new things for the school year. She feels awkward and doesn’t have too many other friends and even gets ignored by Helen who is dating the most popular jock.
Mae appears to be very disturbed by her experiences from wherever she was staying. The wound on her back is revealed to be an upside down pentagram carved into her back. After a few days, Suzanne finds out that Mae will be sent into the foster system and she offers to take her in temporarily.
Alex Lopez is the detective assigned to the case and he reaches out to Suzanne to find out more about the situation. He’s a big city detective from Chicago who has moved to the town just recently.
Mae’s arrival at the Mathis house causes some friction between Suzanne and the rest of her family. Jules is forced to share most of her things with Mae and while she is initially annoyed, Mae warms up to her and they become friends.
Peter misses out on a buyer and he is forced to go to his former boss for help finding a new one in exchange for a small cut of the sale. He doesn’t share this news with Suzanne until she notices him taking some things out for an open house.
Alex digs into Amontown, the area where Mae is from and based on all the information he finds, he concludes that the people of Amontown are part of an insular cult that worships Lucifer. Upon further investigation, he finds out that Mae is the daughter of the leader of the cult, Malachi Dodd.
Mae slowly makes Jules’ life all the more difficult and complicated after joining her school and causing friction between her and Isaac. She seems to go above and beyond to make sure she fits in with her new surroundings.
As Mae spends more time with Suzanne, she becomes more attached and tells her what she went through at home. She tells Suzanne about a boy named Enoch who tried to run many years ago and was “struck down”.
Suzanne is forced to go for a therapy session after getting caught trying to access medical records under other doctors. At the session, she talks about how she escaped from an abusive household herself although she wasn’t able to save her mother.
Things get more dangerous as Alex learns more about the cult’s resources while the Mathis family become unwilling targets. The house that Peter worked on to sell is burnt down while Mae’s brother reaches out to Jules and charms her but Mae stops her from going out with him.
Alex locates Enoch and takes Suzanne along so that they can talk to him and find out the truth about the cult. He explains that Mae was marked to be sacrificed on the next full moon night which happens to be the same day.
It’s also the night of the Harvest dance at school and Mae goes for the dance as do Helen and Jules. Mae wins the title of Harvest Queen but when she gets a bouquet of white roses, her conditioning is triggered and she walks out and is captured by the cult.
Suzanne rushes to save her after informing Alex and asking Jules and Helen to stay with their father.
Devil in Ohio ending explained in detail:
Does the cult sacrifice Mae?
The Amontown cult make the preparations to sacrifice Mae but Suzanne arrives there and observes what’s happening. The sheriff realises that an intruder has gotten in.
He finds Suzanne and the two of them get into a fight which knocks down a lamp, setting fire to one of the buildings. The sacrifice ritual is interrupted when people realize that it’s the church that has caught fire.
Mae and her mother are left standing on the platform and Suzanne climbs up the platform to get Mae. Mae’s brother knocks the ladder down and sets the platform on fire. Mae and Suzanne jump off but Mae’s mother stays on to sacrifice herself instead.
Alex rushes to the compound after getting Suzanne’s message and he runs into the sheriff. He shoots him in self-defense before Suzanne and Mae show up and leave along with the detective.
What happens to the Mathis family?
Peter picks up Helen and Jules from the school and rushes home after they tell him that Suzanne has gone to save Mae. He tells them to pick up things they need for the night but changes his mind when he sees a marking on their front door.
They go to an apartment complex that Peter is managing at the time. He explains to Jules that her mother had a difficult childhood which is why she is so invested in Mae.
After saving Mae, Suzanne decides to take a break from work and go to therapy and deal with her issues. Unfortunately, her decision to take Mae in and help her recover from her trauma drives a wedge between her and her family.
Peter lives with their daughters separately until Mae is out of their lives because of all the danger she brought in. Suzanne tells Peter that she still loves him and won’t give up on their family, and Peter shares that sentiment.
What about Mae and the Amontown cult?
Alex gets a promotion to lieutenant at work after exposing the cult and their involvement in arson cases over several years. He gets a search warrant from the judge to search all of Malachi’s properties but when they get to the compound they find it deserted.
Suzanne is about to have Thanksgiving dinner with Mae when she gets a call from Alex. He asks her if she knew someone named Theodore and she says he was Helen’s ex-boyfriend and he took Mae to the Harvest Dance.
Alex tells her that he reported his car stolen that same night and they found it near the cult compound. He then tells her that he had doubts about the cult replacing the bouquet at the dance so he checked the security footage.
The video confirmed that Mae replaced the flowers herself and made it look like she was triggered and returned to the cult but in reality, she set it all up. AS Suzanne walks back to the table in a state of shock and worry, the camera pans to a shrine in the backyard signifying Mae’s obsession with Suzanne.
This obsession pushed Mae to any lengths to make sure she still gets to stay with the woman that saved her.
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