“So no horns?” – Chloe
“No. Afraid not. That’s the stuff of movies and TV… They always get it wrong.” – Lucifer
I’m beginning to think even more each week how Lucifer is my favorite show on television. It says a lot when there’s so many great shows currently running, but there’s something about this show that has me waiting anxiously for the next episode each week. This week’s episode, titled “Manly Whatnots”, didn’t let me down either. I think Lucifer gets placed in his funniest situation yet during this week’s episode, as he is the key to getting Chloe into an elite Players Club Event a suspected criminal is hosting. This episode is the first to have a surprisingly well done fight scene and had more laughs than ever. Let me resummon my thoughts on this fourth episode.
Warning: SPOILERS will follow!
Heaven vs Hell
It’s an uncommon occurrence that I can yell “I told you so” about a theory I made back in my 1×02 article (see: The Angel and The Demon), but I told you so! Amenadiel totally approached Mazikeen this episode to try and appeal to her want to have Lucifer back to his old self. While I’m only half right because Maz turned him down this episode, but I think she’ll eventually approach Amenadiel having changed her mind much later on in the season. I got to say though… the fight between the two was awesome. This is the first real choreographed fight sequence in the show, and while Mazikeen was fierce with the crescent knives she had, Amenadiel seemed like he could have taken her with a hand tied behind his back. This was a really awesome display of exactly how strong Amenadiel is and how adept he is in fighting. While we have yet to see Lucifer do anything like this, we do know he should have the same abilities… for now. The best part of this fight was towards the end when Maz licks Amenadiel’s face. This does something to him that I can’t quite figure out. It’s almost like he allowed himself to feel attracted by her or something in that moment, which could be a sinful way of thinking. Either that or demons have some powers that we don’t know about. We see the scene close with him touching where she licked him and looking pretty shaken by it. I’m really excited to learn more about Maz and what she did to Amenadiel. Also, does anyone want a wrong but hot romance between those two? Or is it just me?
Scarred For Life
The way this episode opened up was actually really nice. Sometimes I take issue when an episode shows flashbacks to things that had happened not too long ago, but I liked seeing Chloe’s memories of all the stuff Lucifer has done that she couldn’t explain. Between that and watching Lauren German shower, I was more than interested in the scene. When she gets out of the shower, due to hearing a noise in her should-be empty home, she pulls a gun from nowhere and ends up finding Lucifer in her kitchen cooking. The shock causes her to lose her towel as she points her gun at him in this all too common but always funny cliché. I think half of the reason I love this show is due to the sexual tension that’s slowly growing between our two main characters. Lucifer’s reaction to her being naked was funny and leads to him figuring out that he is starting to have feelings for Chloe. This is interesting because he doesn’t really seem to want those feelings and wants to get over them as quick as possible. This leads to the subplot of this week’s story of Lucifer wanting to have sex with Chloe in hopes that he’ll quickly get over the strange things he is feeling for her. They also expanded quite a bit on Dan’s jealousy of Lucifer, because Dan and Chloe are apparently still married. This throws an interesting mix on the dynamic of this show. We don’t know how long Chloe and Dan have been separated and why they were, so it’s hard to gauge whether or not Chloe will ever be able to start feeling any interest in Lucifer; or if the feeling is one sided. The best part of the episode was later on when Lucifer “evens the score” by showing Chloe everything God gave him. Lauren German’s acting during this moment made the scene. Chloe’s reaction was absolutely priceless. A mix of “I can’t take my eyes off of it” and “Oh my god he’s naked don’t look!” The part in this scene that matters the most though is when Chloe sees Lucifer’s scars on his back where his wings used to be. His reaction to her touching them showed us a crack in Lucifer’s usually amiable armor. One question my fellow writers Patricia wondered about was: “If other people can see Lucifer’s scars on his back or if Chloe is the only one?” Lucifer seems pretty proud of his body and often gets naked with a menagerie of people, so I can’t imagine that his scars haven’t ever been touched before. Unless others can’t see or feel them. I think this episode is setting the stage for a slow rolling romantic option between our two main characters. That is… if Lucifer being the King of Hellfire doesn’t keep Chloe from wanting to be with him. Trixie freaking loves Lucifer though, so he’s got that going for him.
The Mystery
Speaking of Chloe and having questions… I am starting to change my theory of why she isn’t affected by Lucifer. At first I theorized that maybe she was a half-angel or something, but I think that would be a bit too simple of an answer for a show that has been very well written up to this point. During the episode we have a scene where Lucifer and Chloe are doing a stake out and Chloe says “I don’t believe in all that Bible stuff.” She says she isn’t an atheist and admits to a more agnostic way of thinking. This leads me to believe that maybe Lucifer can’t affect Chloe because she doesn’t believe in the devil. While there are obvious holes in this theory, it at least seems like a place to start. Chloe will eventually begin to believe Lucifer is who he says he is, and after that I doubt his powers will work on her still. Otherwise it would ruin the intrigue of her character and make their attraction less natural. So it can’t be as simple as not believing. That would mean that everyone who Lucifer seduces is Christian, which wouldn’t always be the case. I do think that this has something to do with it though. She also reveals that he doesn’t scare her, but I’m not so sure of that towards the end of this episode. While Lucifer tells her he doesn’t bleed during this scene, his bleeding later on will do a bit of work convincing Chloe that he isn’t actually immortal either. I’m a bit worried about Lucifer losing his immortality, because that would mean he wouldn’t be as self-confident as he usually is during the tense life-risking moments. Maybe the writers are just wanting to raise the stakes and give us a reason to fear for Lucifer’s health. From the looks of the next episode it looks like Lucifer is welcoming the danger to his life.
The Player
This week’s case was an interesting one that dealt with a Players Club Event speaker named Anthony Paolucci who is suspected in the disappearance of Lindsay Jolson. This cases subject matter allowed for the writers to craft some hilarious interactions between the so-called players at this event and Lucifer; a man who can literally get anyone he wants except Chloe. This also worked into Lucifer’s plans as he decided to test Anthony’s knowledge as a player to figure out why he can’t get Chloe to sleep with him. Everything about their time at this event was funny. Watching Lucifer publicly humiliate Anthony while interrupting his speech on “Manly Whatnots” was funny because we all know Lucifer is a far better player than any of those guys. It set Anthony up to look like a total asshat as well, which came back around later when we realized that Anthony was in love with Lindsay and someone had kidnapped her. This all comes to a head when it turns out that Lindsay and her brother were just scamming Anthony for his money; due to Lindsay losing her v-card to Anthony during one of his one night stands and never calling again. I get her wanting to scam the guy, but Lucifer threw a wrench in her plans and caused her to come out with a gun. It was a pretty foreseeable twist that Lindsay was setting him up, which has become a common thing with this show, but it was still a fun twist in the end. It was interesting hearing Lucifer berate Lindsay for her wanting to deliver justice that’s much harsher than the crime; mainly because he does the same thing to her in a way. He eventually shows Lindsay his devil face and drives her into an insane level of fear like he had done to Jimmy Barnes in the Pilot (1×01). This episode’s case was good but I think I ended up being far more interested in everything that happened in between it this week. I could watch a show of just Chloe and Lucifer hanging out.
While they were technically on the case the whole episode, this week it felt like all of the plotlines were about the same size in terms of attention given to them. It was a nice balance of Tom Ellis’ delightful humor, mixed with Chloe interacting with Lucifer, Lucifer interacting with Dr. Linda Martin, and Mazikeen fighting Amenadiel. Overall this was a highly entertaining episode. I can’t stop trumpeting the praise for this show. Every episode so far has been an absolute delight and I can’t wait to see more. I’d love to talk with more fans about it!
Let me know what you thought of this episode at @TheEverwritten on Twitter!
Check out this preview for next week’s episode “Sweet Kicks” below!