Spoiler Warning: Devil in Ohio
Devil in Ohio follows Mae, a young girl who escapes from a satanic cult after having a pentagram carved into her back. While in the hospital, Mae meets Suzanne, a psychiatrist who works to gain Mae’s trust and help her feel safe. Suzanne then becomes Mae’s guardian and works with a detective on Mae’s case. Mae slowly opens up about her experience being raised in a cult and attempts to fit in with the Mathis family.
In the final episode, Mae wins Harvest Queen at the school dance and is given a bouquet of white roses. These flowers are one of Mae’s triggers, and after receiving them, she disappears and ends up back with the cult. Suzanne infiltrates the cult to rescue Mae and succeeds in bringing her back home. The two settle in while the rest of the family lives elsewhere, afraid that Mae’s affiliation with the cult could put them in danger again.
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During Thanksgiving dinner, Suzanne gets a call from Detective Lopez, who informs her that he discovered it was Mae who switched out the bouquet of flowers from red roses to white ones. And it was also Mae who stole a car to drive herself back to Amontown. The episode ends there, leaving fans to wonder what this means about Mae’s intentions.
Did Mae Manipulate Suzanne to Save Her?
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By switching out the flowers, it becomes clear that Mae is not completely innocent, but whether her intentions were good or bad is left up for interpretation. It is possible that this was a last-ditch effort to get the family to save her. Suzanne had promised Mae that she would never betray her, but when Peter told Suzanne to send Mae away, she agreed that Mae had to go and was disrupting their family. Mae was undoubtedly hurt by this, as she had been trying very hard to fit into the family in the hopes that they would welcome her into their family and protect her.
Throughout the series, Mae appeals to Suzanne’s maternal instincts and strong desire to save and protect her. However, she is unsuccessful at earning her place, and Suzanne arranges for Mae to live elsewhere. By orchestrating the trigger and stealing a car to return to the cult, Mae essentially manipulates Suzanne into rescuing her. And simultaneously sends the message that if Suzanne is not there to protect her, then Mae will be in danger of being captured (or returning) to the cult, thus guaranteeing that Suzanne wouldn’t try to send her away again.
However, if the white roses were such a strong trigger for her, how did she manage to switch them out without becoming triggered? Mae went to a shop, ordered the flowers, and then hid them until she could get them switched out. If she was able to do all this, then it may be that she played up the trigger, and it didn’t affect her as strongly as she made it seem, lending further merit to the theory that she was manipulating Suzanne and the Mathis family.
Was Mae Trying to Protect the Mathis Family?
Throughout the show, Mae is seen creating a shrine and stealing things from the family to make offerings to the devil so that she could be granted her wish to stay with the Mathis family. It is apparent here that although Mae has escaped the cult, she wasn’t able to truly leave behind its belief system. This could lead her to believe that if she couldn’t be accepted into the Mathis family, then the cult was the only place she belonged. To the cult, she was special and had a purpose.
So it could be that Mae’s intentions were less devious; instead, she understood that she was putting the Mathis family in danger. The cult desperately tries to get Mae back and sends people to threaten the Mathis family. They take extreme measures, burning down a family-owned property, sending Mae’s brother to kidnap Jules, and leaving symbols on the family’s car and house as a warning.
Despite Mae’s attempts to fit in, she couldn’t manage to be normal, and the cult’s influence and brainwashing were strong enough to affect how Mae viewed her relationship with the family. So she planted the trigger to force herself to return to the cult, ensuring the safety of the Mathis family.
The public display of the trigger was perhaps a way to send a message to the Mathis family that she was going back and would finally be out of their lives. If she couldn’t be of value to them, she would return to a place where she was valued, even if it meant her death. It’s possible she truly didn’t expect Suzanne or Detective Lopez to come after her, and this time she was genuinely willing to be the cult’s sacrifice since she had ruined and endangered the one family that had tried to protect her.
Ironically, her wish came true when Suzanne saved her and perhaps strengthened her belief in the devil. This can be seen by how elaborate her shrine has become in the final episode.
