Dr. Suzanne Mathis (Emily Deschanel) works as a psychiatrist at a hospital in Remmingham, Ohio, a Cleveland suburb. She and her family have hectic schedules, so when she is called in early one morning to meet an unnamed patient who isn’t communicating, she had to rush out.
Her real estate flipper husband Peter (Sam Jager), blazer-wearing oldest daughter Helen (Alisha Newton), and sullen middle daughter Jules (Xaria Dotson) appear to be acclimated to it, but Dani (Naomi Tan) is still furious. “Why is mum constantly working?” a depressed Dani wonders. “Because she goes out of her way to help everyone,” Jules explains.
The teen girl (Madeline Arthur) who was thrown out of the house is the patient at the hospital. She’s not talking and has large cuts on her back; she’s from Amon County, where a secluded Amish-like population exists. She has clearly been subjected to severe and ongoing abuse.
She won’t even reveal her name, so she’s been branded “Lauren Trauma.” But Suzanne gets through to her, and she discloses that her name is Mae. Suzanne resolves to keep Mae with her family until she can find her a foster home as the hospital prepares to discharge her.
Suzanne’s family, on the other hand, may not be prepared for such a disturbance; Jules, a contemplative photographer, is failing socially at school, to the point where even her older sister refuses to sit with her at lunch.
And the buyer of the house Peter was renovating abruptly backed out, leaving Peter deeply in debt and with a high-priced house he had to sell. There are additional external considerations to consider: The scary Amon county sheriff (Bradley Stryker) is looking for her, as is Detective Lopez (Gerardo Celasco) from the Remmingham PD.
What shows will it make you think of? Netflix’s Devil In Ohio is similar to The Following in that cops are investigating cult leader’s followers, but one of the group’s victims appears to turn lives upside down.
Daria Polatin conceived and wrote Devil In Ohio based on her novel; because Polatin has vast TV experience (Jack Ryan, Condor, Heels), she avoids rookie showrunner blunders. When it came to translating her novel, she also didn’t fall in love with her own material; the first episode proceeds with the tempo of a strong network thriller (one of the reasons we compared it to The Following) that doesn’t dwell on things for too long before propelling the story along.
At first glance, the tale asides Polatin indulges in during the first episode, such as Jules’ failure to fit in at school or Peter’s business swiftly plunging into debt, appear to be unnecessary.
The central plot appears to be Suzanne’s efforts to save Mae, who is on the run from a deadly cult. But it’s Mae’s presence in the Mathis family’s life that will upend everything, which is why these side storylines must be introduced with Suzanne’s intertwining with Mae.
Of course, anyone who saw Bones throughout its 12-year run on Fox knows Deschanel is very capable of playing a lady of science who keeps her calm and appears to be able to compartmentalize.
Suzanne may be more emotional than Dr. Temperance Brennan, but Deschanel’s portrayal of her makes her appear to be fulfilling the unachievable ambition of “having it all.” She has a high-stakes, demanding career, is a loving wife, can make a family meal after a long day, give Jules loving counsel, and still have time to take in this odd girl and persuade her family that this is the correct thing to do.
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Everything seems a little forced, especially in the 2020s. The only explanation we can figure out is that Suzanne is set up in such an unrealistic way that when things with Mae get tricky. If that’s the case, we’ll be able to forget about Suzanne’s “beautiful” appearance at first as the defects in her personality and family life are revealed.
Sleeper Star: Xaria Dotson is intriguing as Jules, a film camera enthusiast who carries around her Pentax K1000 and has her own darkroom.
She looks to be more mature than her years, which is why she doesn’t fit in, but she does seem to be finding a simpatico personality in Sebastian (Evan Ellison), who wants her to write a photographic section for the school paper.
When Dani is introduced to Mae and told she’ll be staying until Suzanne finds her a foster home, Dani comments, “I was a foster kid.” Do you recall the recent tornado outbreak?”
