The Devil’s Hour review: Petrifying and profound in equal measure

The Devil’s Hour follows a woman who wakes up every night precisely at 3:33 am trying to solve the mystery behind her inexplicable connection to a serial killing case, her son’s disappearance, and the frequent bursts of Deja Vu.

Story

Lucy Chambers wakes up at 3:33 am every night. She also has some perception glitches she feels can be symptoms of something wrong with her brain. However, she’s not worried about herself.

For worries, she’s got a kid named Isaac who’s utterly emotionless. She also has her old mother who has dementia and schizophrenia.

Mike, the father of Isaac, doesn’t live with the family on account of not being fond of his son at all. He loves Lucy dearly, though, frequently trying to be together but not putting in any effort to love Isaac the same way he does Lucy.

DI Ravi Dhillon is investigating a murder that strangely ties to an unsolved kidnapping case from years ago.

Following the investigations, Dhillon and his colleague Nick track down the suspect’s staying place and find chilling leads that connect to Lucy Chambers and her son.

Meanwhile, Isaac goes missing and Lucy, along with Dhillon and Nick solves the mystery with the help of Lucy’s visions and dreams that somehow show her the memories of experiences she has never lived.

Isaac is eventually found and the prime suspect Gideon is detained. He only wants to talk to Lucy and so she has to lend him an ear, for she also wants to know why all this transpired and also the mystery of these visions gnawing at her.

Gideon makes some extremely absurd and unbelievable claims involving Recurrence and being able to remember his previous lives.

Ravi doesn’t buy into it but Lucy starts to, as she has always been inflicted by the echoes of a life she doesn’t fully remember having lived.

Gideon eventually unfurls a secret that’s always been at the back of Lucy’s mind. Now she must contend with her fate and make peace with it, while Gideon tries his best to break free from captivity.

Performances

The Devil’s Hour thrives off of not only a great story but also great characters. Peter Capaldi does a terrific job portraying the chilling character that is Gideon, nailing even the subtler expressions with ferocity and panache.

Jessica Raine is incredible as the mother of an emotionless child and a carer that rarely gets the same amount of love from the world as she puts in. In moments of scare, grief, bravado, and curiosity, Raine is an absolute treat to watch.

Nikesh Patel as the compassionate investigator does a solid job as well, playing Ravi Dhillon with a level of commitment and love that’s needed to truly do justice to his story and the overall prominence he has on the events.

The supporting cast of The Devil’s Hour is just as competent and just about everyone plays their parts to perfection.

Benjamin Chivers is tremendous as the creepy little child but it’s the moments with his cruel father where he absolutely wrecks one’s heart with the visage of an innocent little life vying for nothing but familiarity in a world he doesn’t belong to.

Positives

With a concise six-episode run, The Devil’s Hour doesn’t indulge in filler content. The moments of eery atmosphere and ambiguous scares all help the story instead of simply filling for time.

The show is great at scaring one without having to resort to jumpscare for the true horrors of this story are not in a surprise development but in the inevitability of fate and the characters’ contentions with said inevitabilities.

The show succeeds where a lot of other efforts at a similar story fall short in their ambition, often compromising heart for the logistics and logic of the high concept.

Thankfully, The Devil’s Hour traverses the high concept at the centre of its premise with a ton of heart. From a technical standpoint, the show is just as flawless, with the editing being one of its standout strengths.

Negatives

The finality of events in the show could’ve done with clearer resolutions and revelations, ones that don’t hold the viewer’s hand but also make the point of it all, a bit more tacit.

Verdict

The Devil’s Hour is scary and touching while dealing with the profundity of deep philosophical questions and concepts.

At the heart of this tale of fate and humans’ contentions with it, is a story of acceptance and love, of embracing the card you’re dealt, even if it’s the same card over and over.

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Also Read: The Devil’s Hour ending explained: Does Lucy die?