Devil’s Advocate Review (2023): Devil’s Advocate (محامية الشيطان / Muhamiat Alshaytan) is a crime-thriller series directed by Essam Abdel Hamid and stars Haya Abdulsalam, Ali Kakooli, Noor Al-Dulaimi, Mohammed Al Dosari, Nouf Al Sultan and Sara Salah, alongside others. The series has 7 episodes, each with a runtime of around 35 minutes.
– Devil’s Advocate Review Does Not Contain Spoilers –
Devil’s Advocate Plot
When a famous footballer’s wife ends up brutally murdered, and he becomes the primary suspect, attorney Loulwa can’t not help the man she thinks is innocent. However, is the story as simple as Bader being simply innocent? Or are there layers of truth that Loulwa hasn’t uncovered yet that points to a painful relationship?
Devil’s Advocate Review
Devil’s Advocate starts off with us believing wholeheartedly that Bader is the good guy and that there are some crossed wires here that we are not seeing. For a good chunk of the runtime, the series is all about how Yousef is the jealous ex who can’t separate his personal and professional life. However, with every episode, the series slowly lets out more and more information that flips the “truth” on its head and lets us know that there is more happening in the background than we are made aware of.
Truly – Dalal’s death is sort of a mystery at first. Is it murder or suicide? What was happening in Dalal and Bader’s marriage? Can this soft-spoken man really be capable of it? Although at first you think not, there are moments wherein you see a twinkle in his eye and wonder whether he has some hidden personality that we are yet to uncover. Of course, we get all the answers in the end, but you can’t help but doubt each and every person surrounding the situation.
That being said, Devil’s Advocate is a rather slow-burn show; not a lot happens for a lot of the runtime, and we are given small amounts of information and then given backstories for extended periods of time. Which, you know, is fine. But the series is a drama peppered with crime and thrill instead of being the other way around. It’s a very slow show that gives us a rundown of every one of the secondary characters, and we get to know people who don’t really factor into the central mystery. This is a little weird and really slows the pace down so much that you’d want to fast-forward some sections.
We are also made painfully aware of every couple’s personal issue, regardless of whether or not so much detail is needed. Ok, Dalal and Bader’s relationship is an important aspect for us to understand, but anyone else feels a bit much, especially when we spend minute after minute focusing on them for no apparent reason. Loulwa and her father talk incessantly, more or less, about the same thing in every other episode, and it really goes nowhere; unfortunately, we are made to watch it over and over. And sure, it showcases how she is very close to her father, but I think we got that within the first episode itself.
Apart from that, as usual, Devil’s Advocate is about rich women going through stuff. And although being murdered is quite bad, the series still focuses on the more fortunate of society, and we don’t get to see those who are less fortunate facing the justice system and wanting justice. Although it tries to tell us that it’s a feminist show and believes in equality, it’s quite surface level, and the topic is mostly used as an afterthought and a prop to make the show feel catchy and relevant. There’s also a mental health aspect here that we also don’t properly focus us, except to vilify the victims.
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Another thing that drove me almost to my wit’s end is how randomly people try to make sense of two different situations by dropping something horrible that happened in their lives. I am not going to divulge which incidents because it might constitute a spoiler, but either way, it’s absolutely insane how randomly people just try to justify being abjectly wrong without any proof and make us believe that just because some horrible truth has come out in the open that we now must believe the other facet as well.
Yousef, an apparently good police officer, speaks without any proof and expects Loulwa just to drop the case because he says so. Her father, a good man in general, also gets agitated without any proof as well. The series doesn’t give us anything concrete to blame Bader with, and regardless of whether or not he turns out to be a murderer, it just wants us to believe the men in the show… just because.
Yousef is by far the worst written character I have witnessed in a long time – he is just so selfish and makes a tragedy that destroyed his family into something that is solely about him. And interestingly enough, he is also forgiven in an instant. Like, how absolutely cheap is it to demand forgiveness so that you can get peace for yourself? Are we, as an audience, supposed to feel some sort of sympathy here?
This isn’t to say that the female characters are any better. Dalal and Loulwa are simply exhausting to follow as they constantly find something or the other to moan about. Everyone finds suicide as a viable option rather easily, and the smallest of problems in their lives result in them doing something drastic. The end twist comes out of nowhere and for no reason and seems to exist just to make a point. It’s frustrating and annoying to no end.
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This is what I meant when I said that the series gives this false sense of feminism, whereas, in reality, the vibe is just about how the men on the show are right and should be listened to, although they have nothing to prove their point. On the other hand, the women are hysterical psychopaths who have nothing better to do than cry over the men. I think the problem is also that people continue to hound one person thanks to their own vested reasons that they don’t share with us. We don’t know why these people dislike Bader because they don’t share that with us and keep everything to themselves.
And I get it; you want to give a shocking twist at the end. But simply screaming that this person is a murderer doesn’t cut it if you’re not giving a reason behind it. It tries to be edgy but falls into the same repetitive pit of a thousand crime-thrillers that pop up on different streaming services these days and adds literally nothing to the genre. It does provide a twist in the last episode; it is so bizarre that in turn of being shocking and leaving you scratching your head, it, in turn, makes you question “why”.
In the end, Devil’s Advocate rushes through everything in the last episode, and 20 things happen altogether. Either way, it’s the condescending attitude of several characters that make this absolutely annoying watch and the fact that nothing really happens for most of its runtime. Had the show cut down on its runtime (in spite of being a really small series anyway) and done away with unnecessary facts, then it would’ve probably not felt like such a chore.
The camera angles of Devil’s Advocate are just so weird as well – we are constantly up in people’s faces, which you’d think is ok when there’s something tense going on and a character is about to uncover something utterly shocking. But when we are in people’s personal spaces while they cry over their abusive husbands as well as their friend’s death, it is unnatural and uncomfortable. Every frame is so tight that it feels unnerving and doesn’t let you feel the sadness you are expected to feel in a situation such as this.
Devil’s Advocate Review: Final Thoughts
Above all else, Devil’s Advocate will anger you beyond words. The series is extremely slow and wastes time behind unnecessary discussions and situations that don’t add anything to the central plot. On top of that, the end twist is just bizarre to an insane degree and makes you question everything that you have watched till then. Considering the thousands of shows that come out of the genre, this one is far too annoying and exhausting to watch.
And all this for a cliffhanger ending!
Devil’s Advocate is streaming on Netflix.
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