There’s a lot going on in this week’s midsesaon finale. Lot of different tones and genres, music and mythology as we close the case of The Sinnerman, but open up a whole new can of worms. Also, of course, spoiler alert. Let’s dive in!
1. Interrogation
The episode opens with Lucifer being excited tomorrow is interrogation day for the Sinnerman so he can finally get his wings off and his devil face back and continue to protect Chloe before the Sinnerman takes more away from him. When we get to the interrogation Tom Welling, Chloe, and Lucifer argue over who gets to go into the box with the Sinnerman and then Chloe takes first crack at him while Pierce and Luci argue over Moby Dick. As Chloe gets going we realize this is bigger, Sinnerman has an accomplice there’s a girl trapped in a river or some mess and the episode takes off.
The first part of this episode has the most focused, and not stupid funny Lucifer I think I have ever seen on the show. Sure it devolves a little bit when we get down to the torture, but tonally Lucifer can be ridiculous and also be helpful. When the writers lean into the crazy parts of Lucifer over the parts that make him a good detective, the show gets into more trouble. Anyway, the episode starts strong, changes into a Guardians of the Galaxy spoof, and then finishes with the same tone. Speaking of…
2. Cherry Bomb/Ocean’s 11
I wonder if it was intentional on the writer’s parts to pick some of the music from Guardians for this episode? Either way it signals a departure from the interrogation, as Lucifer and Chloe head to a roller derby rink to try to find out who kidnapped their vic. Who would have thought Chloe would love roller derby? The whole scene that unfolds is really great as one of the girls tries to run, Lucifer buys a beer and spills it so she crashes, all in good fun. This middle interlude, while well done, seems odd, and really the whole roller derby plotline seems out of place and a bit confusing. But, Lucifer trying to speed through the actual detective work to get to where they bust the Sinnerman out to find the girl seems a change for him that really works here. They find the victims car, it’s rigged, blows to pieces, now cue the George Clooney,
As the two get back to the precinct, we get another shift as the episode does the whole Ocean’s 11 thing with Lucifer and Chloe talking about how to break the Sinnerman out while cutting to those actions happening. It all leads to a fake bomb on Dan’s desk, the trio in a bomb squad car, and Pierce in on the whole thing. Again, well done scene, any other episode would’ve been awesome, but that whole plot seems tonally odd compared with everything that comes after.
3. B Plot
The side plot of the week also seems to not really go hand in hand with everything else that is going on in the episode. Trixie ends up having a day off from school and Dan’s babysitter died (yeah she actually died yeesh) so Trixie ends up getting dumped on Charlotte for the day. It’s cute and the two clearly have some chemistry and watching them do each other’s hair is adorable. Really Trixie with every character is awesome and I don’t think there have been bad scenes with her in this show. Lucifer needs more Trixie, and more scenes of her and Maze and her with other cast members. Again, it just feels out of place with the intensity of the threat that the Sinnerman is supposed to be. I thought for sure she was going to get captured Chekhov’s gun style and be important to what happens with the Sinnerman, but everything was completely separate. The fallout of the whole thing, of Charlotte wanting to see her kids again and the possibility of more her and Dan romance is all fine, but it took the focus of the fun stuff for the week.
4. Torture
So of course the Sinnerman escapes when they take him out to find the girl, and it turns out Lucifer is the orchestrater, maybe? He takes the Sinnerman when it’s clear the girl is safe, she confesses to asking for favors, not from Lucifer but from the Sinnerman, and then the episode turns into a manhunt for Luci through his multiple properties. This is the part the whole roller derby thing starts to make less sense as a framing piece.
Continued belowLucifer gets Maze to torture the blind man after Lucifer draws eyes on him, and they argue. Luci wants to kill him, thinking God will be pissed enough to give him his devil face and take his wings away since angels can’t kill humans and Amenadiel lost his powers in season one for being “murder adjacent.” Lucifer then tries to bring himself to kill the Sinnerman and can’t do it; he’s changed too much. Eventually Pierce and Chloe find them, and Pierce kills him and Lucifer is pissed. Chloe gets mad at Lucifer for being a ridiculous loose cannon like always, and when Lucifer looks like he’s actually about to have an emotional moment with her she isn’t having any of it. He thinks he did all this to protect her, just like with everything. All of this leads to Lucifer trying to make meaning of the whole situation, and leads us to…
5. Cain
Pierce is revealed to be Cain.
Lucifer invites Pierce back to Lux after figuring out he must be immortal and he was the one manipulating the Sinnerman thanks to seeing his tattoo and figuring out it’s Cain’s mark. Lucifer stabs Pierce, and he stays dead long enough for you to think the rest of the season will be about Lucifer getting it wrong. Turns out this is way better. We go on hiatus for a few weeks as the pair get a drink.
Now obviously this is a big deal, not only from a fun religious perspective, but from the comics perspective as Cain and Abel have a long history at DC Comics and Vertigo with their ties to the House of Mystery and House of Secrets and all the other mystical and magic sides of the DCU. Does this open the possibility for the House of Mystery to make an appearance? Could we potentially see Dream or the other Endless or other “Sandman” characters like the Corinthian? Could Swamp Thing appear? Would Constantine crossover and Matt Ryan make his mark on a third network? The possibilities are endless, and while some are far more likely, considering the grounded nature of this show, it’s fun to speculate.
Either way, the mystery of Cain’s appearance raises a ton of in show questions. Why did Cain take Lucifer’s devil face and give his wings back? Or did someone else do those things (the Corinthian maybe)? What does Cain really want? Why have Luci and Cain not met before? Why are Ella and Chloe so attracted to him? Also why did he spend weeks in the hospital from being shot and then he gets stabbed here and everything is fine? We have 16 more episodes to ask and answer all these and more.
That’s it for a few weeks folks, sound off below your thoughts on the addition of Cain to the show, and come back in January for the rest of the season!
