The devil is back! After three seasons on Fox, Lucifer has made his new home on Netflix with a shorter ten-episode fourth season. We are about to round the hump with our thoughts here on the fourth episode as Eve comes into full view and the Chloe/Lucifer relationship gets more complicated.
As per the last few installments, you’re reminded that the entire fourth season is up to binge completely right now. No need to wait for me. Don’t worry I won’t be offended. Hell I might join you. I’ve been so surprised how much I have been enjoying this return. What was once a chore to write about is that no longer. So with that, Eve, baby wings, bubble wrap, excitement, despair, and yes that is Lucifer holding up the number 69. Let’s dive in!
1. Spinning camera = more money
So before we get into the content, I just want to note that this was the first episode that the higher production value really clicked for me. The first shot of the episode with Chloe and Dan walking into the airplane hanger to go solve a murder and all that the camera was spinning around them, and then settles straight on them as they approached the body. It reminded me of all the fancy spinning and movement that Star Trek: Discovery dealt with this whole last season and just is something I’ve started associating with higher production values and prestige television. I could totally be wrong, but that was a moment that this show felt crisper, or more experimental. That and the fight scene choreography in the cowboy bar with all its slo-mo and less stilted action. Everything just seems cleaner and more refined, which I have said I think almost every episode. I point it out, because in this case (unlike in some of the Discovery cases) it really added to my enjoyment. I loved this episode. Can’t believe I’m saying it.
2. “Paradise can get a little predictable”
Much of that love came from the introduction and full inclusion of Eve this season. Let me tell you, Inbar Lavi is a gem as the first woman, and just plays the biblical mother-of-us-all with such a sense of whimsy, excitement, awe, cunning, and naïveté all wrapped in one. Eve is back from heaven for Lucifer, who in this iteration…well, they make the joke. The apple wasn’t an apple, so much as a banana. Lucifer was Eve’s first love.
She’s back for Lucifer and for fun, decrying her chosen and created existence with Adam and trying to reclaim her agency. She wants some fun in her life and is tired of being dutiful, and she thinks Lucifer can get her out of the doldrum. The thing that I loved was when she was describing to Lucifer what she did in heaven at the beginning of the episode. Eve says she sat at the gates of heaven every day and listened to stories of the people who walked in, got to know them, asked questions, wanted to revel in their adventures and beauty. I don’t know if that’s grounded in any extra-biblical texts, but the thought that Eve would sit and listen to the tales of those she meets just seems so beautiful and sad at the same time. The woman created and damned, whose life was stolen from who and whose legacy we constantly tarnish, who only ever wants something of hers that’s chosen so she lives vicariously through other’s Edens. I just think it’s cool. I love Eve. She’s officially the best of the biblical inclusions.
3. Fighting, feuding, jewelry, yeah!
Right, so Eve lands on the other side of the world and manages to charm her way to LA and gets embroiled, by accident, in the case that Chloe and Dan also take on. Which also means Lucifer is in the mix too. The case was well executed, everyone’s trying to find diamonds, and there’s undercover shenanigans and brawls to boot. Lucifer and Chloe are still on the outs from last episode as she continues to (rightfully) process her experience of Lucifer with the knowledge that he’s the devil. This is good for a number of reasons. One, it gives Chloe and Dan a chance to play off each other and gives him something meaningful to do that’s not silly or contrived. Dan is back and he’s good again! Two, it gives Lucifer and Eve time to catch up and try to wrap the case on their own. It also let’s Chloe call back to one of Lucifer’s season one gimmicks which has been largely forgotten, namely, that a lot of people owe him “favors.” She calls in one with a crime boss on Lucifer’s behalf in sort of a brilliant touchstone to an earlier era of this show. Of course the whodunnit is not super surprising, they never are on this show, and on most cop shows, but the pacing was really good and it felt like the case was driving the plot rather than vice versa. It was also much less hamstrung metaphorically, unlike the first couple go arounds this season. I think I just really like Eve, although I’m less set on what will inevitably turn into petty fighting between her and Chloe over Lucifer. Hope we don’t go there.
Continued below4. Baby angel wings
Back on sideplot duty: Linda is still pregnant, it’s a boy, an angel boy though. Her and Amenadiel’s baby is gonna be one of those scary-looking cherubim in the paintings with the wings and arrows and diapers. I can just hear Will Ferrell say “Golden Fleece diapers” in the background. Anyway, there’s an ultrasound in this episode and Linda learns she’s going to be the first ever human to bear an angel kid. No pressure, huh? We also learn all the angels were created at the same time as adults and there hasn’t ever been an angel baby. Linda freaks out, rightly so, and goes on to safety proof the ceiling of her house for all those flying accidents. This is, I think, the first time we’ve seen Linda’s house, so this whole spiel is cool for that reason. But, it also gives the pregnancy a bit more stake, and it gets Amenadiel, Maze and Linda together and will let them drive their own subplot. Even the side story is more theological now!
This was the weakest part of the episode in an episode that was really, really strong. That’s less a knock, and more just saying I care way more about the Chloe/Lucifer stuff, but they’re trying really hard to get me excited about the baby things. It also does well to dovetail with the next point as…
5. “Do you want him in your life or not?”
Chloe learns that Linda knows the truth. How have they not commiserated together already that they both know they live in a world of angels and devils? Nonetheless, I am glad they had this moment. So glad. It didn’t take on the usual secret-spilling drama that shows often have, but was casual and fun and necessary. It brought Linda and Chloe together at her house for a great bonding moment. It showcased how far Linda has come from being the really weird, unethical therapist Lucifer traded sex with for sessions. That almost seems entirely forgotten.
It gets Linda to reflect on her life, and admit she wouldn’t regret any of it. She says, she got a best friend, the most interesting patient ever, and now a baby that she’s really excited about. Chloe is still just reeling from it all and they get to be honest in some of that fear and excitement. Linda asks Chloe, “Do you want him in your life or not?” which turns into the driving question for her this episode. She wants Lucifer, maybe as a partner, maybe as something more, and maybe she can’t accept it all but she kind of needs him. She’s comfortable with him. She ends up getting to Lux maybe a little too late…
That’s all for this week folks! We’ll be back with more Lucifer for you all next Monday!
