Last night was the finale of Lucifer, titled “Take Me Back to Hell”, and it didn’t disappoint. It was great going into these last few episodes of this show knowing that there was going to be a season 2, and that last night’s episode wasn’t possibly the last episode we ever saw. The episode set up season 2 in a pretty exciting way and changed the dynamic of a lot of our favorite characters to allow for further character growth. While this episode didn’t play out as I had predicted, I did get a few things right, and I think the writers did a tremendous job wrapping this season up nice and neat. I’m going to resummon my thoughts on last night’s finale here and hopefully talk about season 1 closure and predictions for next season. Stick with me.
Warning: SPOILERS will follow!
Detective Espinoza
I’m going to start with one of the things I predicted in last week’s Lucifer Resummoned for “#TeamLucifer” (1×12), which was Detective Dan going to jail. While it didn’t happen exactly like I had guessed, the fact of the matter is, I’m glad they chose this route instead of killing Dan. Dan would be a tough character to keep in the main story after this season, so I’ve been guessing that he would die for most of the season, but the way they did it gives him an out that also makes things right for him. He came clean to Chloe (Lauren German) – about damn time – but he also took responsibility for all of his lies and cover ups. Not to mention that he did most of that not only for himself but also to help Lucifer (Tom Ellis) as well. I really loved that Lucifer called Dan “Detective Espinoza” instead of “Detective Douche” like he has been all season. I’m curious how much Dan will be in season 2. The charges against him are pretty egregious and I can’t see him getting off of those charges without some major lack of evidence or a cover up. I’d be okay just seeing Dan during the occasional jail visit scene during season 2’s main story. As the season went on, I found myself liking Dan more and more, but I like that he fessed up to his crimes so that maybe later he can be a morally pure good guy again. Also, bravo to Kevin Alejandro for his role as Dan. I wasn’t a big fan of him after his role in The CW’s Arrow, but after the full season of Lucifer, I can say that I’d be happy to see more of him in season 2.
Daggers and Feathers
The other point I made last week was something I actually got spoiled for me by the finale promo – which is Malcolm stabbing Amenadiel with the demon dagger. I was actually really relieved at how that scene actually played out. The scene wasn’t very dramatic and didn’t have any hints that Amenadiel (D.B. Woodside) was seriously going to die, so I actually let out a sigh of relief that the spoiler was so minor. Amenadiel has quickly – and I mean quickly… like maybe just over three episodes – become a character that I really, really like. I know some of you out there have told me how much you liked Amenadiel and hoped he wasn’t bad, and in the end you were all right. I feel like I was so caught up all season thinking Amenadiel was the big bad – which he kind of was for a while in a way – that I couldn’t bring myself to like him. I assumed the season would end in a big fight and Amenadiel would be the new angel in charge of Hell (more on this later because he kind of has been), but I actually prefer how the writers played this season out. Amenadiel and Lucifer have their issues, but in the end they’re still brothers, and I think the writers deserve a lot of credit for not using the much more predictable story. One of my favorite scenes in this episode was when the brothers were fighting the guys with guns. The choreography in this sequence was really well done. It was so fun watching these two immortal super-beings dismantle these baddies. An even more favorite scene was the couples therapy session the brothers got with Dr. Linda Martin (Rachael Harris). Holy hell. I really hope that we’re going to get way more of these sessions with the two brothers trying to work through a millennia of issues with Dr. Martin. It was hilarious. But back to the dagger, it was pretty easy to guess after Malcolm got the dagger that it would be used on someone. I liked that both Lucifer and Maze (Lesley-Ann Brandt) cared enough for Amenadiel that they had to let Malcolm get away just to make sure Amenadiel was okay. I really liked how the last feather from Lucifer’s wings came back into play, as I had almost completely forgotten about it. Maze admits to not understanding her feelings for Amenadiel and why she would use the feather she kept for her own reasons to save his life. I feel that this season did a great job at ending with me feeling super positive about Amenadiel, and I hope to see more of he and Maze together as well as more bro-ing out with Lucifer.
Goodbye Bad Guy
Boy, Malcolm was all over the place during this episode. He had successfully framed Lucifer for killing the priest, but then it seems like his plan ended there. Throughout this episode, our two teams who were searching for Malcolm, were following the clues of his chaotic attempt to get a new identity and flee. You’d think that he’d have figured that out already. I guess it really was Amenadiel pulling the strings before, because Malcolm sure doesn’t know how to execute a good plan. I’m glad that they showed his wife again this episode, because I’ve been wondering about his family and how they were getting along since Malcolm’s resurrection. Seems like Chloe’s family isn’t the only one that Malcolm is trying to destroy. The scene in Malcolm’s house with Maze and Chloe was fantastic and provided some much needed one on one time between my two favorite ladies. I knew the person shooting at tham would be Malcolm’s wife, but I really was glad to see Chloe and Maze team up for just a little bit. Kevin Rankin did a pretty great job this season as the gradually becoming more unhinged big bad. The scene where he’s hunting down Chloe in the helicopter hangar was like something from a horror film. The showrunners did a good job as well at making me unsure whether or not Chloe was far enough away from Lucifer for him to be able to survive a bullet. I was pretty shocked that he was actually dying. Luckily for Lucifer, God didn’t have it in his plan to let Malcolm get away with his scheme, so in the end Lucifer got back up and knocked down Malcolm, giving Chloe the chance to fill him full of lead. The reveal that the Pentacostal coin wasn’t going to be helping Malcolm was a nice touch as well. It makes me wonder how much control Lucifer has over his magic coin. He seemed to be pretty sad that he gave it away back in “St. Lucifer” (1×11), but if he could always make it magically disintegrate like that, why was he sad then? In the end, of course Malcolm goes back to Hell permanently. There’s a special place in Hell for people who would threaten little girls as adorable as Trixie (Scarlett Estevez) and he’s being starved there right now.
#TeamChlocifer
There was a few moments during the finale when people should have been freaking the heck out but didn’t really seem to. Like for example when the cops open fire on Lucifer at the start and he literally disappears in the blink of an eye. It’s hard to guess how much Chloe believes in Lucifer’s persona as the devil, but she sure as Hell should have been questioning that disappearing act a bit more. If she doesn’t believe that he’s the dark lord after seeing that then I don’t know what else he can do besides show her his demon face. In fact the only person with the kind of appropriate action – though still far too subtle – was Dan, when the angel bros pulled the disappearing act from inside his own office. Either way, I loved that this episode picked up from the second that last week’s episode ended. We ride the emotional rollercoaster of Chloe betraying Lucifer, to Dan having to prove Lucifer’s innocence, to Chloe having to win Lucifer’s trust back. It was a great ride. Unfortunately we didn’t get any great #Chlocifer moments in this episode due to all of the mistrust being thrown around. What we did get was a super-hot moment between Chloe and Maze, but that’s a ship in another sea. Lauren German did a good job this episode, as she was given quite a few very difficult emotions to portray in most of her scenes. I didn’t feel like her argument with Dan was heated enough though, and it’s possible that we were just seeing the end of it, but I felt Chloe should have been far more angry at him for all of the lies. I found it a bit of a stretch that Chloe was able to get the huge bag full of cash back out of evidence and out of the police headquarters without being seen or questioned. I think that she’ll get in trouble for that but be found innocent after a case has been made that her daughter’s life was in danger, so she was under duress but I still feel that it was super risky considering Dan just got cuffed. I loved Lucifer’s cop impression. She was crazy to think that he was going to fall for her “I have to take care of something” response to him as she was leaving the precinct, so when the cop started on the loud speaker I immediately guessed it was him. The best (almost #Chlocifer) scene we got with these two was when Lucifer prayed to his father that he keep Chloe safe. As much as Lucifer doesn’t want anything to do with his dad, I really loved that Chloe is worth having to break that silence. Maybe now that Dan is in the clinker, Chloe will have more time to invest in her relationship with Lucifer. That’s what I’m most excited about for season 2. Bring it on!
God’s Plan
So from what I’ve researched about the comics, it seems like they’re moving away from the idea of showing God as a being with a form like the angels and demons, and instead using him in a way that religious folks might be more familiar with, by having him send messages in a non-verbal way. Lucifer does actually die for a bit this episode and we get to see how awful Hell really looks. As Lucifer walks his way through the crevices with ash falling from up above, and he realizes that someone has escaped their cell in Hell. Because of this, Lucifer ends up waking back up in his Earthly body somehow, and goes to finish off Malcolm, but he later reveals that it was because of God’s plan for him that he’s still alive. The set up for next season is that Lucifer’s “Mum” is the one who escaped, and that God apparently needs Lucifer on Earth to deal with her. This is the first time we see actual fear on Lucifer’s face. We don’t get to see the Amenadiel’s reaction to their mother being out, but I assume he would have the same look as Lucifer. I’m not even sure if they share the same mother. One thing we did get from this exchange was that Amenadiel has actually been in charge of Hell this whole time. The reason their mother was able to escape was due to Amenadiel being incapacitated during this episode. So I was kind of right about the theory that he’d rule Hell while Lucifer was gone? Kind of. I take credit. After a bit of digging around on the internet, the name Lillith is being thrown around quite a bit, as she’s apparently the one person who would be worthy of causing such fear in Lucifer, but from what I can gather, she isn’t Lucifer’s mom in the comics. I know Amenadiel is actually a few different angels crammed into one, so it’s possible they could shape her to fit the comic villainess while changing who she is, but I actually hope that she is a brand new character. One thing that has been holding some Lucifer fans back from truly enjoying this show is that it deviates too much from the comics. If they were to create a new villain just for the show, they could slowly pull the show away from the comic book stories and start giving it a life of its own. As someone who usually nerd rages about TV adaptations not staying true to the source material, it may be a bit hypocritical, but I think this show is great even though I’ve never read a single Lucifer comic, so I’m more on the side that it shouldn’t hold back from trying new things. I love that Amenadiel and Lucifer are able to hang out and have a drink together now, and I hope that this relationship continues to heal as season 2 plays out. It’s possible that the brothers could be divided again by the influence of their mother. I also think that if Amenadiel is going to keep a relationship with Maze, he’s going to need to stay chummy with Lucifer.
I don’t know what God has in plan for Lucifer, but I plan to rewatch this whole season and record a podcast special with a few of my fellow writers at TheGWW.com who also love the show. So be on the lookout for that. I want to go back and rank each episode and think about them now knowing how it all plays out. I feel like “Favorite Son” (1×06) was still my favorite and the strongest episode by a mile, with second place being too close to call because of a few really good episodes. This show was so fun to watch and the community around it that helped get it renewed has been a blast to be a part of. Like most of you, I can’t wait until season 2 details start to come out. I’m guessing that the season won’t start until January again, so we’ll have to wait until Hell almost freezes over to watch it again, but until then tell everyone you know to watch the show. If more and more people watch season 1 during this downtime, then by the time season 2 starts the viewer count will be high enough that FOX won’t take their sweet time renewing it for a third season. Let me know what you thought of this finale and the season as a whole in the comments below! Also, tell me what your favorite part of the season was! Thanks everyone who read my articles for each episode! I appreciate you all, and I’ll definitely resummon myself back to write them for season 2. Until then… follow your greatest desires.
You can also find me on Twitter @TheEverwritten where I’ll post the Lucifer podcast in the future!