The Devil's Hour spoilers follow.
The final credits have rolled on Tom Moran’s The Devil’s Hour, as the twisty time-travel adventure came to an end. The show packed a lot into its six-episode run, and while it’s unclear whether there will be a second season yet, there are plenty of dangling plot threads that suggest we’ll see Peter Capaldi's Gideon Shepherd again.
Capaldi's charismatic Gideon plays second fiddle to Jessica Raine’s Lucy Chambers – a déjà vu-afflicted social worker who has a mysterious tie to the killer. Also along for the ride are DI Ravi Dhillon (Nikesh Patel) who is hunting Gideon, as well as Lucy’s equally troubled son Isaac (Benjamin Chivers).
In the end it turns out that Lucy and Isaac’s problems come from echoes of their past lives, which have been caused by an oddly noble Gideon interfering.
There’s a chilling narration from Gideon saying "I’ve died more times than I care to remember," with time going in a loop like a never-ending record. The problem is, skips like the ones Lucy and Isaac are witnessing are a result of Gideon’s actions.
Flashbacks explain that Gideon and his brother were killed by their abusive father when he drove their car off a cliff. Instead of dying, Gideon was returned to his body and time performs a loop. He managed to break the loop when he didn't pick up a pinecone at church, and also avoids his cliff death by brutally stabbing his father.
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Every time Gideon is caught by the police he takes his own life and everything resets — although he keeps the memories of his past life. Surviving on the run, Gideon went full Back to the Future and placed bets on sporting events he knows the outcome of.
He also does the odd execution.
The string of murders he’s committed in this reality are all bad people. He killed drug dealer Aiden Stenner because he stabbed a pregnant woman (in a previous reality loop). Harold Slade was a paedophile and Shane Fisher an abusive husband who’d go on to murder his own wife if not for Gideon.
The Devil’s Hour wrapped up plenty of its mysteries – like why Lucy was seemingly being haunted and constantly waking up at 3:33 am. The latter is because 3:33 am was when her mother shot and killed herself in the "original" timeline. This trauma was Lucy’s "worst moment" and pushed her to become a police officer.
Gideon waited 25 years in prison to meet with Chambers and learn about her mother’s death, which explains why he’d only speak to her. Killing himself to reset, Gideon sabotaged the gun and saved Lucy’s mother’s life, therefore stopping her from becoming an officer and being able to catch him.
This would have worked, but Lucy’s déjà vu means she inadvertently has the skills to catch Gideon, meaning she still teams up with DI Dillon in her social worker (altered) timeline.
Gideon’s My Name is Earl list grows with each round, although Lucy is a thorn in his side. Both Lucy and Isaac experience ripples of The Warrens in their house. This explains haunting footsteps, a child’s picture on the fridge, and one of Isaac’s "imaginary" friends being Meredith Warren.
In Lucy's police-officer timeline, the Warrens live at No. 7 instead of being Lucy’s neighbours. The family is important because we see them again when Isaac is "kidnapped". In reality, he has the ability to jump between timelines and pops up in the Warrens' home. There’s the tragic scene where DI Lucy Chambers is unaware of who he is because he doesn’t exist in this reality.
Isaac’s reality-jumping powers are key to the fiery finale and could give him a way to return in a second season. In the altered timeline, Isaac’s abusive father pours beer on him, which leads to the young boy drying his shirt on the heater. The house catches fire, and instead of saving Isaac, Mike (Phil Dunster) leaves him to burn. By the time Lucy returns home, the house is engulfed and she dashes inside.
Their fates are left up in the air, and while it’s likely this version of Lucy perished, Isaac might have used his powers to transport himself to the original reality where the Warrens own the house. The problem is, their house is also on fire.
If you’re looking closely, the house Lucy dashes into in the altered timeline is the Warren house. Images of her detective life flash before her eyes, including her marriage to Ravi in the original timeline. She lies on the floor about to pass out while the flames engulf her. We see Debbie Warren having her burns tended to when DI Lucy Chambers turns up and realises she’s seen this before.
It’s unclear whether the burned body of altered-timeline Lucy is inside the house or she’s miraculously survived, but the ending implies the timelines have merged when DI Chambers says she’s had a case of déjà vu. Either way, it’s one hell of a mind melt.
As for Gideon, he asks for a shoelace to show her the concept of time being a loop. Giving us similar vibes to the end of Joker, Gideon uses the shoelace to murder his guards and escape into the night.
Ravi arrives on the scene, but it’s too late, meaning Gideon’s fate is yet another unanswered question. We’re left to assume he gets on with his mission to save the lives of the unfortunate.
If we come back for season two, expect DI Chambers and Gideon to work together, with Isaac likely having survived the fire and being key to all these timeline troubles.
The Devil's Hour is available to stream now on Prime Video.
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Tom Chapman is a pop culture-loving writer and NCTJ-accredited Broadcast Journalist with over seven years of experience covering the small and silver screen.
Starting his career with a post at Movie Pilot in Berlin, Tom took on freelancing full-time with regular stints at Digital Spy, Screen Rant and Comic Book Resources.
These days, you can still find him covering all things Marvel and Star Wars at Digital Spy, while dipping his toe in bylines at Yahoo! and IGN.
Tom likes to think his spirit animal is a cross between Gale Weathers and Olenna Tyrell.
