Devil in Ohio ending explained: Is [SPOILER] actually evil?

If you’re looking for a quick watch that’s suspenseful and entertaining, we’d recommend checking out Devil in Ohio on Netflix this weekend. The new thriller, based on the 2017 book of the same name written by Daria Polatin, follows a teenager named Mae Dodd (Madeleine Arthur) who escapes from a cult and finds herself in the care of a sweet hospital psychiatrist, Dr. Suzanne Mathis (Emily Deschanel).

As Suzanne tries to find out where Mae came from and how to keep her safe, secrets about Mae’s upbringing start coming out, and they’re not pretty. It quickly becomes apparent that her town of Amontown is active in the occult, specifically in worshipping the devil. And because Mae is marked and considered the “special” one, her family needs her back.

Spoilers ahead for Devil in Ohio.

The eight-episode series grips you and is a pretty enjoyable watch from start to finish, with the penultimate episode ending on a tense note as Suzanne believes Mae has been taken. After being crown the “Harvest Queen” at the school dance, Mae disappears. She had seen white roses in her bouquet, a symbol of something back home, and it freaked her out.

Suzanne leaves her daughter Jules (Xaria Dotson) at the dance, frantically calling the detective on the case, Alex (Gerardo Celasco), before driving away to go find Mae. In the finale, we watch as the ceremony in Amontown unfolds, up until a fire breaks out. Suzanne is able to help Mae get away and the two escape unscathed, but there’s a lot that Suzanne doesn’t know. As we learn in the final moments, Mae is not who she seems.

Devil in Ohio twist ending explained: Did Mae trick Suzanne all along?

Throughout Devil in Ohio, Mae is portrayed as an innocent, naive girl who doesn’t deserve what has happened to her. While the latter might be true, we find out in the end that she’s not as clueless as she seems. In fact, she’s actually been tricking Suzanne. At the show’s end, Suzanne and Mae are getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner alone, as the rest of Suzanne’s family is now living in an apartment while she seeks therapy and help for her mental health.

But before they can dig in, Suzanne receives a call from Alex who drops a major bomb on her. That bouquet of white roses that allegedly triggered Mae at the dance was actually purchased by her, in an attempt to trick them into thinking it freaked her out. She then stole a car and drove herself back to Amontown, voluntarily.

Suzanne is understandably freaked out as she starts to come to terms with the truth, but before we can see what happens between her and Mae, we’re then taken into the woods outside the Mathis house, where there’s a shrine all set up. In the center, there’s two photos — one of Mae, and one of Suzanne. The screen cuts to black then, not explicitly answering our questions, but we can take a few guesses as to what this means.

There can be a couple of interpretations to this ending. Some might assume this means Suzanne and Mae are set to be the next sacrifices of the cult. Others might think it means Mae is just obsessed with Suzanne now and Suzanne won’t ever be able to escape.

So did Mae trick Suzanne all along? In one interpretation, yes. It’s hard to trust anything Mae said or did now looking back, especially because she’s openly been such a devout member of the cult. She manages to convince Suzanne and her family that she does not want to die and that she wants to stay with them, but her loyalty might have still been with her own family back in Amontown.

On the other side, many might think she did not trick Suzanne all along, if she just wants her for herself and has actually cut ties with her cult family. She’s been stuck to Suzanne’s side since meeting her, and maybe she just wanted a mother she could trust after her own mom betrayed her. In any case, Devil in Ohio certainly ends with a very creepy tone.

We had a feeling this one wouldn’t end on a happy note! Because Devil in Ohio is billed as a limited series, it’s not probable that there will be a second season. But with an interesting ending like that, we’re sure viewers will be begging Netflix for more! Only time will tell if it gets renewed or not.

Devil in Ohio is now streaming on Netflix.