We get some typical standalone fair this week, and the first Maze sighting all season as she steals the show. But is that ok? Let’s dive in!
1. Holdover episode
There’s some weird things going on here in this episode, and in trying to reconcile who some of the characters diverted to about mid-second season characterization (which I like more), I figured out why. The second season of this show was originally ordered to be 22 episodes but then was cut back to 18, so the show has four unaired episodes, which the writers have stated are more standalone fair. This happens to be the first of them and was originally supposed to be episode 19 of last season, which makes me wonder how they were going to get from Lucifer in the desert with wings to this, or if that was shoehorned into episode 18 and was supposed to be 22. But I digress.
Everyone in this episode seems a little different than the first two episodes of this season, Lucifer and Chloe are a little more “feely” which makes me think they were supposed to make a breakthrough, Dan is still Dan but is taking a vacation to Hawaii in what is assumedly October which is odd, and Maze and Trixie show up for the first time all season. I read somewhere that Maze actress Lesley-Ann Brandt is on maternity leave after the birth of her first child in July, so congrats to her! But nonetheless it makes this episode really inconsistent to how these characters have been the first two episodes of the season and really cements this as a one-off. There’s no Tom Welling, no Ella, no Sinner Man, oddly no Amenadiel which is weird because family is a huge part of the theme of the episode, and Lucifer is not back on his devil bullshit like he was supposed to be going off to do. Nonetheless, this is a really good episode, and is the perfect balance of detective-ing and hell stuff that this episode can and could be. In fact this is probably the best episode of season 3 so far. So pluses and minuses all around.
2. Mazikeen the soulless
The main crux of this episode revolves around Maze searching for meaning and heading to Canada to bounty hunt a killer who escaped into The Land of Moose and Snow. It focuses in on one tiny detail from last season when she let slip that she doesn’t have a soul, and so most of this episode focuses on the tension between feeling soulless and worthless. It’s really good. Maze ends up falling for her prey, who of course turns out to be innocent because how could he not be since they just have so much in common. By the end of the episode we get a good look in Maze’s psyche and the family she’s created for herself out of the crappy situation Lucifer has put her in. The Maze/Trixie relationship is one of my favorite things about this show period, so anytime they’re on screen together I’m sold. I think this episode is great in highlighting Maze and what drives her, it just feels weird that her first episode all season is all about her.
3. Dan the man
Poor Detective Douche.
The guy is really tragic actually. I mean he’s kind of an idiot, but his life is really sad. Dan finally gets enough frequent flyer points that he can take a vacation to Hawaii for a couple weeks by himself, and is super excited to be going, but has to fly with three layovers which is hilarious. He actually is laid over in Vancouver which is why he can come help Maze. Poor guy would drop everything for Chloe, for his kid, he should be in jail honestly, but he means really well. I really want this season to evolve him into something more important and help him move beyond this sort of really sad person. I want Dan to win again, and he kind of does here. But until then Dan, never wear that shirt again.
4. Lucifer and Chloe the mother
This episode also highlights how Lucifer and Chloe, really at their core, are very similar, both super worried and concerned about Maze in their very different ways. Both comment to each other that they’re being the overprotective mother, but when a friend up and heads to Canada to hunt bad guys maybe it’s hard not to be? Lucifer is worried out of his sense that Maze still belongs to him, and Chloe out of the safety of her roommate and friend. It’s really charming actually, and fun to see the links they go to, questioning suspects and arresting a crooked cop. There’s so many crooked cops on this show though.
Continued below5. That ending?
I don’t know what to make of the ending, but surely it had to be filmed later and tacked on to the end of the episode, because it seems to be the only inkling of something resembling a thread in the season long plot. It seems someone, in the precinct, has files on Lucifer Morningstar, Amenadiel/Dr. Canaan, Mazikeen of the Lilim, Charlotte Richards, and Gaudium. This is weird because we have Amedadiel’s doctor name which he hasn’t used since season one, not Maze’s fake LA name, Charlotte Richards (former goddess of all creation and Lucifer’s mom) hasn’t been seen all season and is no longer divine, and a character I had to Google that may give us some insight into where we’re headed this season. Gaudium is a character from the “Lucifer” comics from Vertigo and is a fallen cherub. Maybe there’s some connection to the Sinner Man? Either way it’s an interesting list, makes no sense here, but should be fun going forward. I still have no idea where we’re headed this year.
That’s it folks, sound off in the comments below about what you thought of the episode!
