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 inching towards the end here with episode seven, which acts as a part two to last week‘s installment, and we spend more time wondering exactly who Lucifer is.
Of course we are well-passed the time that you could’ve watched all these episodes. You could’ve done it twice, and surely some of you have. Or some people have, maybe not the people reading me. But, fellow reader, if indeed you fall into that category, drop into the comments, and we’d be humbled to hear your thoughts. But with that, let us dive in to angel antics, justice and punishment, and, oh yes, the end of all life as we know it.
1. Two-parter
This episode picks up, and basically continues, the narrative from last week in a way that’s actually really fun and exciting. I’m having a hard time remembering if this show has done a lot of two-parters in its time, outside of maybe some of the season finales. Season one maybe? I don’t know I can’t remember.
Also the first thing I thought when we had the obligatory, “Here’s the body” scene, was that those gutters or sewers or whatever looked straight out of Grand Theft Auto V. Then I rememebered the game’s based on LA…
Anyway, we left off last week with Lucifer having possibly killed Julian, the devil of the week, and we pick up here knowing that, no he’s not dead he just has his back broken. Yeesh. New devil of the week winds up being Julian’s dad, Jacob Tiernan who puts a bullet in another guy’s head who he thought might’ve paralyzed his son, and things go wrong from there.
In my opinion though, things go very right. This is a great episode, and after Lucifer’s dip last week and backslide into being a much worse bastard than he was in season one thanks to the beckoning of Eve, it’s great to see Lucifer struggling with all those questions again. I’ll talk more about that in a second. We also get a different kind of case where we know who the killer is, there’s no bait and switch like a lot of cop shows, and this allows a lot of the other character interactions to open up and flourish. Dan’s a prick but he has things to do. Chloe is Lucifer’s moral compass. Eve becomes more than just the edgelord rage-queen I thought she was about to become after last episode. Trixie’s back! And Linda, Amenadiel, and Maze keep doing side-celestial things. Which is the weakest part of the episode but is also still so solid! There’s barely enough room to talk about Remiel and Amenadiel duking it out and her bailing back to heaven. I don’t yet know how Linda’s kid stuff ties into all that’s coming, but it gave us a fun fight scene, and some Maze movement. All in all, this is really great, and with three episodes left it really seems like it’s going to ramp up.
2. Left shoulder/right shoulder
The featured image depicts a scene from early on with Chloe, Eve, and Lucifer in Tiernan’s office interrogating him, with Eve urging him on to beat the crap out of him, and Chloe trying to remind him of justice. Eve is going full-throttle early on, coming off the high of her and Lucifer punishing Julian and really wanting to do it again. She’s like a hero that goes too far and beats a criminal too hard and wants to keep going. You know the trope. Those first few scenes with her like that are a little farcical in the most Lucifer way, but then here is where it gets good.
It hadn’t occurred to me until this episode that Chloe and Eve are Lucifer’s angels on his shoulder. In this scene Eve is wearing red and Chloe in white, just like how the cartoons always depict the angel and devil on the shoulder. Eve’s not evil she’s just got a black and white view of evil, and Chloe has a little more room for the grey that comes with having rules and laws. And Lucifer is sitting in the middle. Eve remarks early on that Lucifer helps the LAPD to hurt and punish people, and Chloe tries to appeal to his better angels, as she always has. He likes to help people and be moral. She’s even reminded, and reminds him, that he was an angel first. The devil doesn’t delight in doing evil, the devil delights in evil getting what is due. Eve gets a little reminder too that Lucifer has changed and things are different now, and that she’s more than the causer of evil or sin as well too when Lucifer’s penthouse is invaded and she saves Trixie. They’re not just bad, she’s never just bad, she just wants Lucifer to be happy as she says. And she thinks punishment or truth might make him happy, but he’s changed, or he’s evolved, and he knows he has to be better.
Continued below3. Trixie’s still the best
I love Trixie. Every time she shows up it’s just the best. Chloe calls Linda to tell her that Lucifer needs some help, and Trixie decides he just needs a friend, and takes it upon herself to be that person. Her running around the apartment is the cutest thing. She just cares so much, and then Lucifer tries to parent her and almost raises his voice like a dad and then stops and it’s just…oh my heart. And then Eve saves her, and Lucifer stops the people who have come to kill him. He tells Chloe he’d do anything for Trixie, and it’s just great. It’s all great. I wish there were more Trixie on this show, she’s only been in this episode and the first. But she should be in all them. Yup that’s it.
4.Oh Dan….oh…Dan…
So speaking of Trixie, Dan screws up, and then…well just screws…Ella. So Dan is dead set on Lucifer getting what he deserves after he puts Julian in a coma, and he finds the evidence to prove it was definitely Lucifer. He goes to Tiernan to tell him that it was definitely Lucifer who hurt his son, which is why Lucifer’s penthouse gets invaded. Seriously, how is it so easy to get up to his house. You’d think there’d at least be like a key on the elevator or something.
Anyway Dan messes up real bad. He’s been investigating Lucifer, and hasn’t kept track of the case, and doesn’t know that Tiernan had the victim killed and maybe telling him Lucifer effed up his son is a bad idea. He inadvertently puts Trixie in danger, and is just even more of a mess. He’s been a mess this whole season, since, as Chloe reminds him in the beginning of the episode, Charlotte died. And now his rash decisions, which might we add parallel some of Lucifer’s dumb and rash decisions, have put the one person he cares about the most in a ton of danger.
And then by episode’s end him and Ella take comfort in each other’s arms, and well, probably break company policy cause I imagine sex at work is a no-no but you get the drift. They, and Maze, have been the two most underutilized characters thus far, and if coupling them works then it works. I’m curious if this will be more than a one-time thing. I like the pairing and am interested in where we go.
5. Welcome to the end times
So the episode throws a ton at you, and then it throws some dynamite. Father Kinley (remember him) has been trying to call Chloe cause there’s bad things afoot. I honestly forgot, since I’ve been watching this show one episode every week and being all sensible and modest with my consumption (really a counter-cultural act in this “binge culture” age, I know I’m a saint) that Graham McTavish was still around. Kinley let’s Chloe in on this prophecy that’s been motivating him, all the while Lucifer calls Linda to come over in a rush. Kinley tells her, “When the devil walks the Earth and finds his first love, evil shall be released.” Oh shit it’s Eve. Oh crap bad things are coming. Aww dang Lucifer has his red devil wings, and looks as devilish as he’s ever looked. Honestly, this is a great hook, and it just says as bombastically as possible that whatever is coming is not going to be some toned down supernatural bullshit, but we’re getting the real thing. Bring on the apocalypse!
That’s all for this week folks! Sound off in the comments, and come back next week as the countdown clock moves to only 3 episodes remaining!
