There’s very little TV that I keep up with anymore, given that it takes two years or more to produce additional seasons in today’s Hollywood landscape. You’d think a critic would have the time to spare to keep up with everything, but even if I did, it’s getting more and more difficult to care when there’s not only the threat of cancellation looming over everything (looking at you, Netflix), but also a massive wait to see what happens next, in which my interest might completely subside altogether So for a show like The Devil’s Hour to come back with a second season two years after its first and grip me in exactly the same way it did the first time around, I’d consider that a major success. The first round of Prime Video’s mystery thriller series remains some of the best television I’ve ever seen, and with such a strong premise and a double-season renewal behind it, my excitement for it never wore out, even through many, many one-season cancellations in the meantime.

Season 2 picks up right where its predecessor left off, with frazzled (now single) mother Lucy Chambers (Jessica Raine) waking up with memories of what seems to be a past life after a near-death experience and encounter with Peter Capaldi’s serial killer Gideon. Having divorced her husband, she’s left reeling over memories of a life she had no idea she’d lived when she made a deal with Gideon (who’s lived hundreds of lives) to save her mother in exchange for stopping a terrible catastrophe. She’s left with an uncertain alliance and a target on her back, all while trying to take care of her son Isaac, whose strange behavior from last season still lingers.

‘The Devil’s Hour’ Season 2 Takes a Hard Left Turn

The Devil’s Hour Season 2 is a change of pace from the first, less of a slow-drip, atmospheric thriller and more of a procedural, a step-by-step battle against time to prevent disaster. The dour hand of fate still hovers over the entire thing, but if you’re expecting an identical copy of Season 1, you may walk out a bit confused. (This is especially true given that Prime Video is still advertising Ted Lasso’s Phil Dunster as a part of the main cast, when in reality he only appears in one small sequence in Episode 1.)

That’s not to say it’s not as thrilling as ever. Despite the tonal shift, it’s clear that creator Tom Moran has a planned throughline for Lucy and her fate, and isn’t just plodding along, making things up as he goes. (That might have been obvious when Prime Video renewed the series for two additional seasons, but still.) The new direction makes sense, now that we’ve drawn back the curtain on Lucy’s “first” life and know what it took to get to where she is in her second.

Not that it’s a clear direction, to be fair — at least not for the audience. My written notes are less commentary on the quality of the season and more attempts to keep things straight, with more than one set of question marks scribbled in the margins as Gideon lays more and more of his cosmic plan. In the most complimentary way possible, The Devil’s Hour is a show that forces you to pay attention, to dissect and analyze and use your brain as much as Lucy is as she tries to unravel the tangled web of her past. It’s a logic puzzle as much as it is a mystery, an exercise in active listening that’ll leave you questioning your own sanity — or at the very least give you a headache.

Peter Capaldi and ‘The Devil’s Hour’s Cast Don’t Disappoint in Season 2

It’s rare that anything Capaldi’s in turns out to be less than stellar – he knows exactly how to pick roles that work for him — but this one feels especially rich. Gideon is less like your bog-standard criminal and more like some unknowable, cosmic enigma, imbued with a kind of mystery only Capaldi could pull off. (It’s not dissimilar from his performance in Apple TV+’s Criminal Record, just on the other side of the law.) The Doctor Who star gets to play rage and violence in a way not often afforded to older actors, and even if I hadn’t gotten into this series entirely for him, I’d know he’s the piece that hooks you anyway, especially now that the show’s let Gideon out of his (literal and metaphorical) chains and given him space to experiment.

Capaldi’s not the only one who isn’t pulling his punches this season. Nikesh Patel gets his own leading man turn as DI Dhillon steps up to the plate, in a way that’s nearly swoon-worthy despite the nauseating confusion of the rest of Season 2. Anyone who’s seen him in Starstruck with Taskmaster alum Rose Matafeo won’t be surprised by that, but it’s a great turn for him, a foil to Dunster’s surprising performance as a complete and utter binbag of a human being in Season 1. I’m nothing if not a sucker for star-crossed lovers, and his performance perfectly complements Raine’s as she balances two different versions of Lucy, both in love with Ravi and both desperate for answers. The dual timelines work in her favor, giving her a chance to breathe a bit more than she had been. DI Lucy — her life in the first “loop” — doesn’t just feel like our Lucy but slightly to the left, and Season 2 is very clearly written to her strengths, both on her own and when paired with Capaldi, who’s the ideal pessimistic foil for her strung-out desperation.

If there was one thing I walked out of Season 1 thinking, it was just how incredible a future young Benjamin Chivers has in the industry, echoing — and I say this as a massive credit to his talent — every creepy-ass kid from horror films that kept me up at night and made me very sure I don’t want any little ones of my own. The same is true of his performance this season; he lends Isaac a wisdom that’s both heartbreaking and eerie, and he’s truly the centerpoint of this season, not only for Lucy but everyone else as well. He’s given a mountain of responsibility and shoulders it admirably, and it’s a credit to writer and creator Moran that he gives his cast such a solid framework to operate on.

The Devil’s Hour never doubts itself for an instant, and even when it’s hard to keep things straight — which, I won’t lie, happened more than once for me — you’re never in doubt that it knows what it’s doing, that it’ll come to some kind of conclusion that feels right, even if it might not be totally satisfying. But that’s the point of The Devil’s Hour as a whole: life isn’t easy or perfect or satisfactory, and neither are the choices we’re forced to make, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to see them through to the end, whatever the consequences.

The Devil’s Hour Season 2 premieres on Prime Video on October 18.

Season 2 of The Devil’s Hour on Prime Video improves on an already great formula, with the cast stepping up its game for the second chapter.ProsSeason 2 expands on the show’s premise without stalely retreading the same ground.The cast is impossible to fault, particularly Peter Capaldi and Benjamin Chivers.The show has a clear throughline and knows exactly what it’s trying to do. ConsCertain sequences may be confusing for viewers who haven’t rewatched Season 1 recently.

The Devil’s Hour is a psychological thriller that premiered in 2022, exploring the life of a woman who wakes up every night at exactly 3:33 a.m. and experiences unsettling visions. As she seeks answers, she becomes entangled in a series of mysterious events that challenge her perception of reality. The show’s intricate narrative and atmospheric tension offer a compelling viewing experience.Release Date October 28, 2022 Cast Jessica Raine , Peter Capaldi , Nikesh Patel , Benjamin Chivers , Phil Dunster , Talia Walker Bassols , Rhiannon Harper-Rafferty , Alex Ferns , Thomas Dominique , Meera Syal , John Alastair , Barbara Marten , Ramanique Ahluwalia , Rosie Jones , Kim Allan , Sandra Huggett , Kyle Rowe , Caroline O’Neill , Harley Broomfield , Carys Gaylor , Cecilia Blair , Muki Zubis , Tom Ashley , Leona Allen , Jane McCarry , Brandon Bendell , David Angland , Sidney Livingstone Main Genre Crime Seasons 1 Creator(s) Tom Moran Writers Tom Moran Streaming Service(s) Prime Video Directors Johnny Allan , Isabelle Sieb , Shaun James Grant Expand

Watch on Prime Video