Devils Review: Season 1 Episode 2
Is it me or is Devils trying just a little bit too hard?
The series still has potential, don’t get me wrong, but even as the mystery surrounding Ed Stuart’s death becomes more complicated on Devils Season 1 Episode 2, the series is lacking in its ability to truly draw the audience in. Part of the problem comes with overly dramatic voice-overs and freeze frames on things like racquetball for narrative style.
Those elements ring a bit false and instead of adding to the drama and suggesting a theme — really, we get that he’s still talking about “The Devil” and drawing some parallels here — it just feels cheesy and overly indulgent.
The story itself is still full of intrigue, even if the parts regarding investment banking aren’t as interesting as they try to be. Patrick Dempsey’s Dominic is among the most interesting to watch, with his slyness and his ability to draw people in.
Quite frankly, he’s the character I’m most interested in learning more about, and it’s clear he’s got secrets as well as a few more tricks up his sleeve. It’s a role that Dempsey is playing incredibly well, and it’s fun to watch.
Mossimo is forced to make some complicated decisions himself, and as more comes out about Ed’s death, he worries if he’s the cause. There’s obviously a bigger mystery there, and that’s enough to keep us watching.
It turns out Ed had resigned, as opposed to being fired. That means, at least we assume, that there was no reason for him to kill himself — it must be that he was murdered.
And of course he was. We assume that, really, from the first episode of the series, and figuring out who did it should be an intriguing through-line for the rest of the season.
Tragically, Mossimo’s wife also dies on this episode, which is a really heartbreaking moment to watch. He gets the news over the phone in the midst of the rest of the chaos, and when he does, it’s as though his world stops around him.
We’ve still only gotten bits of what their relationship was like previously. There are flashbacks that all feel pretty idealistic — and warmer in tone than what we see in the present.
There are still questions about why she returned in the first place, and that’s obviously going to wind up being a significant through-line as well.
All of these pieces make for a really fascinating story, but if things don’t pick up a bit in terms of pacing and we don’t start to feel a little more for these characters, then those pieces aren’t going to matter all that much.
What did you think of this episode of Devils? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Devils airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.
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Ashley Bissette Sumerel
Ashley Bissette Sumerel is a television and film critic living in Wilmington, North Carolina. She is editor-in-chief of Tell-Tale TV as well as Eulalie Magazine. Ashley has also written for outlets such as Rolling Stone, Paste Magazine, and Insider. Ashley has been a member of the Critics Choice Association since 2017 and is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic. In addition to her work as an editor and critic, Ashley teaches Entertainment Journalism, Composition, and Literature at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.