“It’s not like God sent his favorite son to reign over hell before is it? Oh wait sorry! Forgot.” – Lucifer
So I’ve been waiting for months to see a new episode of Lucifer and last night the wait was over. Episode 2 titled “Lucifer, Stay. Good Devil” picked up shortly after the pilot ended and began to flesh out all of the main characters that were previously introduced to us. While this episode featured the typical weekly case format that most crime dramas use, there was enough entertaining side plot and character moments spread throughout the episode that it felt fresh and fun. I laughed and was smiling for the majority of this episode as Tom Ellis continued his otherworldly charming acting and Lauren German really stepped up and delivered a greatly improved performance than we saw in the pilot. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the start of a promising show.
Warning: SPOILERS will follow!
The Preacher
The episode picks up a few weeks after the events in the pilot, and Lucifer is finally starting to feel more like his old devilish self as he taunts a street preacher yelling for people to repent. One of the things I love about this show is the undertones and subtle messages that the writers convey about humanity and society in terms of how we reason out the things we do. The street preacher yells “[The devil] is in every moment of weakness… the sin, the lust” which prompts the amazing line from Lucifer, “Don’t give me credit for all that! You humans do plenty of that on your own,” which I find quite poignant due to the truth in the line. There are a handful of lines like that in the two aired episodes that have really hit the mark and it’s the part of the show that I really enjoy. The fact that Lucifer is living in the City of Angels, Los Angeles, is another fun nod to the thoughtfulness that went into the character and setting (credit probably to Neil Gaiman and Sam Kieth). It’s these painfully truthful and subtle messages that Lucifer depicts that are causing viewers who can’t handle the heat, to boycott supporters of the show like Olive Garden because the Italian restaurant lent advertising support to the show. These extreme religious groups are saying that supporters of the show are “supporting sympathy towards the devil and glorifying Satan.” They simply aren’t paying attention to anything other than the fact that Lucifer is the devil. There’s a warm and fuzzy feeling that comes from the character moments in this show and from some of the acts of Lucifer himself, that only feel that way because of the positive messages that this show is sending. The fact that the detractors of the show are protesting because they felt sympathy for Lucifer means that the writers are hitting the mark dead on to where they are probably aiming. Lucifer is an anti-hero in this story. We’re supposed to love him because of his charm and his intrigue into why we normal folk can still perplex him, but feel questionable about his methods and top level reasoning. This makes Lucifer the perfect show to dish out hard truths and morals because of its subject matter, while still delivering a wildly entertaining story. The people missing that point because of their blinding ignorance are really missing out on some great writing and storytelling… and it’s only just beginning.
The Devil
This week revealed a lot about Lucifer’s character. I was expecting much more of this to come from his therapy sessions with Dr. Linda Martin, but this episode we saw most of the revelations conveyed in Lucifer’s actions. Whether or not is was only written in to get in the “devils three-way” joke or not, Lucifer set up an arguably pro-LGBT character in having Lucifer swing both ways in the same way Constantine did. We also see Lucifer acting slightly more nefarious at times this episode; especially when Chloe isn’t around. Lucifer showed his true form in various different ways this episode, not only in terms of looks, but also in terms of his actions. Taking more matters into his own hands is something that wasn’t seen during the pilot due to Chloe always being around, but we got to see how Lucifer handles things alone this episode using his own measure of conscience. While Chloe’s ex-husband portrays a by-the-book dealer of justice, Lucifer’s methods would be considered pretty illegal if he didn’t get away with them. I loved the ending resolution where he and the increasingly more annoyed Maz (Lesley-Ann Brandt) take the two main suspects of the weekly case to see who will kill the other first. The interesting bit here though was that Lucifer left the actual killer’s gun unloaded. This shows that Lucifer does know judgement and right from wrong, but also that his “right” was giving the innocent “dung beetle” a loaded gun. In probably the coolest scene yet, Lucifer uses his brother Amenadiel to help him correct the situation after Chloe causes Lucifer to see the error of his ways. I really loved seeing the evolution of Lucifer so far and it’s only been two episodes. Whether or not the writers can keep this character development rolling for 11 more episodes is the question. We can only pray.
The Angel and The Demon
Amenadiel’s scenes this episode were interesting. While he still gives off an antagonistic vibe, Amenadiel played a much bigger role this episode in terms of dialog and later on with just his presence. His chat at the start with Lucifer clued us in at how well Amenadiel knows Lucifer and will hopefully shed more light on how Luci was as the ruler of Hell vs how we see him during his vacation. This episode, the conversation was about how much Lucifer has changed with Amenadiel saying “Usually you’re the one controlling the change, this time you’re not. Now does that scare you? Because it should.” This seemed to bother Lucifer and bring him out of his mocking attitude; probably due to the truth of the statement. Maz even talked about how Lucifer had changed this episode. Both Maz and Amenadiel seem to be wanting the same goal as well… for Lucifer to return to his former self as ruler of Hell. This leads me to think maybe Amenadiel and Mazikeen will end up with some kind of twisted alliance to turn Lucifer back down his dark path. It almost seems like if Lucifer won’t return to hell that God would then force Amenadiel to deal with Hell instead, which raises the stakes and reveals the motivations for Amenadiel’s character. I would like to predict that as Lucifer refuses to return, that Amenadiel will begin to turn darker and more hostile to fit his newer position as substitute-Satan. This may or may not turn Maz against Lucifer. I really liked Maz’s role this episode as Lucifer’s evil conscience, and I hope they continue to flesh out her character as well. It was awesome seeing how easily she kicked the crap out of Josh Bryant as well. I wonder how many more times Lucifer will be able to use Amenadiel’s slow down time trick to his advantage. This could turn into The Boy Who Called Wolf.
The Law
Like I said in my introduction, Lauren German really took it up a notch and delivered a great episode as Chloe Decker. A lot was revealed about her character as well as we build onto the knowledge the pilot gave us. Chloe’s having a hard time (rightfully) believing that Lucifer is who he clearly is saying that he is. This seems like it’ll be the first story arc of this season, given how the episode ended with Jimmy Barnes having gone insane. The question is: How will Chloe react when she finally realizes that Lucifer is who he says he is? Chloe is obviously someone special. What that is, we still don’t know and probably won’t know for a while. My theory (having not read the comics) is that she’s some sort of half-angel or something that makes her human still, but with a supernatural twist to it. We learn that her dad died two weeks after Hot Tub Highschool released in theaters, which Chloe may attribute to the movie somehow? Or maybe she and her father got in a huge fight following the film because of her showing her breasts in it? We’ll find out more later, but for now we can begin to understand why she hates being reminded of the film. We also learn that she’s living in her mother’s house, but I saw no sign of her mother nor was there mention of her other than the movie posters. Her mom was apparently “the queen of 80’s cheeseball sci-fi.” Chloe didn’t give any hints that her mother was dead however, so I would hope to see her at some point in the future. We also get a cute scene at the end with Trixie revealing that she’s seen Hot Tub Highschool and actually really liked it. I like the balance in Chloe the detective and Chloe the person/mom. I can see myself caring a lot for this character as the season progresses.
While “the case” this week was kind of weak, given that they gave way too long of a shot on Robert Ri’chard’s character Josh Bryant taking paparazzi pics while discussing the crime. I totally figured it out within the first 15 minutes of the show after seeing the obvious focus on Bryant. Jeremy Davies played Nick Hofmeister aka dung beetle who was pretty much the same character in general as most of Davies’ other roles. I’m glad that the other parts of this episode got seemingly a bit more precedence than the weekly case otherwise it could have been dragged down by it. While it was a great case thematically with Los Angeles, and I know paparazzi is a problem, I hope next week’s case is more exciting. I can’t forget to mention how god damned sexy Rachel Harris is in this show as Dr. Linda Martin. She acts the Hell out of all of her scenes. I just hope they include her more than they did this episode, because her scenes are really a highlight for me as her character and Lucifer interact so well together. If this episode was anything to go by, I think we’re in for a treat as the season progresses. I ended the episode thinking how damned good this show was, and after writing my thoughts out, I can see that there is still room for it to get even better. Forget the protesters and just enjoy this show (preferably with some Olive Garden) because it’s a sinfully fun show. The devil is in the details. See you next week.
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Check out this preview for the next episode “The Would-Be Prince of Darkness” below!