Devs Review: Episode 3 (Season 1 Episode 3)
One determined woman can make a difference. That’s the big takeaway from Devs Season 1 Episode 3.
It’s an expository hour that makes viewers feel as though very little has happened, however by the final moments of the episode, the revelation that something huge has happened leaves us all feeling triumphant for Lily.
Considering that we live in a time when tech giants like Mark Zuckerberg are forced to answer to the government for how they use their developments, it’s not even a little surprising that the government wants to look into Amaya and bring Forest in for questioning.
Devs hasn’t explained how Forest rose to such a quantum monopoly and how exactly he “stomped” out his competitors, but based on what we know he’s done to Sergei, I can’t help but wonder if it involved some murder.
This episode’s brief focus on Forest and his relationship to the NSA is only a blip. This episode belonged solely to Lily.
Lily’s refusal to work with Russian operatives to infiltrate devs at Amaya leads her to take on the investigation solo. Lily can’t trust anyone.
Based on what we saw on Episodes 1 and 2, I found myself paranoid Lily’s behalf, convinced that no one working at Amaya is safe. Her friend, Jen, even seems shady to me as she watches Lily out the window and tries to push her to talk to Kenton. I’m not sure how deep the Russian influence runs, or how many people around Lily have been placed there.
Somehow, Lily’s intuition is spot on, and she knows exactly who to trust, and exactly who to bring her most valuable and dangerous discoveries to.
I’m impressed by how Lily is written. Maybe it’s, in part, due to the pacing of Devs, but Lily is strong. Because she’s a coder she’s very analytical and considers the calculations that go into planning and research, which she applies to her everyday life.
Unlike other tech-nerd characters we’ve seen before her, though, Lily also stops to feel what’s happening around her while she’s processing, making her sympathetic.
I may not have totally followed her whole story to Kenton about her ex and the number of petals on his tattoo and how she knows that it’s linked to a cover-up… but I certainly felt her desperation while she choked out sobs describing it.
Being told that Lily has a history of schizophrenia feels wrong right away when it’s dropped on us but Sonoya Mizuno sells it. Despite me saying, “this can’t be true,” five minutes later I’m worried that this story is about to take an insane turn that incorporates mental health into tech espionage.
Of course everything I believed about Lily is true, ultimately, because she somehow does what Sergei failed to do. She elaborately manipulates Kenton into believing she’s not well, and distracts him enough to get the video footage of the night Sergei died.
Until Jen hands Lily that thumb drive, no lie, I think Jen is also a Russian operative coming after Lily. It’s a creative twist that just reminds me that I have no idea what’s about to happen next, even if I think I do.
Meanwhile, Forest has given the government a half-truth about what he’s doing. He’s predicting data, yes. Not about the weather or stock trends, or any other thing that might help the world.
Instead, his team is using prediction data to recreate Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe having sex, which is a moment of levity in an episode that features Lily ready to jump off of the roof.
This is what makes Devs kind of story I want to be entertained by. I love shows that make me comfortable with my expectations, only to twist them around and take me in a different direction. Every moment of Devs has done this, so far, and I don’t foresee that changing at all in the coming weeks.
What did you think of this episode of Devs? Were you just as surprised that Lily pulled off that performance? Will it come back to haunt her? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Devs streams new episodes Thursdays on Hulu.
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Christine Laskodi
Christine is guilty of watching Hart of Dixie more times than the average human will in their lifetime. She's the host of Long Live the Hart: A Hart of Dixie Podcast (available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!) as well as co-host on The Shipping Room, a podcast devoted to television's greatest relationships. You can find some of her older television reviews at TV Fanatic and IGN. Christine eagerly anticipates every cheesy holiday movie that networks can throw at her, and current favorite shows include The Good Place, The Resident, Shark Tank, and All Rise.