After a long hiatus, Lucifer is finally back. When we last left Lucifer, Chloe had barely survived being poisoned and Lucifer had discovered that his father specifically put Chloe in his path. Lucifer is someone who absolutely hates being lied to and he hates being manipulated and so he simply took for two weeks, not telling anyone where he had gone.
An upset Chloe spent most of the time calling and leaving messages but getting no response. After not hearing from Lucifer, Chloe decides that it's time to get back to her life and so begins to investigate a new case. Chloe examines the dead body, and when she looks she spots Amenadiel briefly. In Lucifer's absence he has charged Amenadiel with looking out for Chloe.
Chloe isn't the only one upset at Lucifer's absence. Charlotte really feels abandoned by Lucifer given that she went to hell - the place that she's most afraid of to help him. This however hasn't stopped Charlotte from being the party girl that she is and freaking out a random mortal that she decides to make out with.
Lucifer finally makes an appearance at the precinct to resume his job as a civilian consultant and things do not go well. At first Chloe is relieved to see him because she was naturally worried that something had happened. Lucifer easily brushes aside her concerns because he has some news he wants to share. This is when Candy Morningstar makes her first appearance. It seems that Lucifer took his break in Las Vegas where he married an exotic dancer. This clearly wounds Chloe deeply because before he left, the two of them were getting closer and clearly becoming so much more than friends. Unlike almost everyone else that Lucifer interacts with, Chloe doesn't know the truth about Lucifer. All that she knows is that he constantly pushes her away, and has a tendency to be erratic when he's upset about something. This kind of inconsistent behaviour is pretty much what Chloe has been subject to since meeting Lucifer.
Lucifer spends most of the episode trying to ingratiate himself into Chloe's life once more, with a little help from Dan of all people. It seems that since detective douche has spent so much time on the outs with Chloe, he empathises with Lucifer. Lucifer's mea culpa comes complete with a less than stunning rendition of Eternal Flame.
Chloe however is insistent that she doesn't need him and has learned to work without a partner in his absence.
Chloe isn't the only one having a really hard time with the new Mrs. Morningstar. Charlotte decides to take her new daughter in-law on a shopping trip to see if she can get to the bottom of Lucifer's secret plan. Much to Charlotte's frustration, Candy continues with her air head routine. A frustrated Charlotte turns to Amenadiel to talk about her inability to break Candy. Charlotte surmises that Candy is either secretly a genius or, she's well truly broken Lucifer and he's turned to Candy out of despair. The very idea that she has really harmed her son, upsets Charlotte greatly and she starts to question her abilities as a mother. It's one of the few times that Charlotte has stepped out of her comedic role to show some real concern for her children.
Seeing their mother so upset, Amenadiel decides to confront Lucifer. Amenadiel is upset that Lucifer had him standing guard over Chloe, only to go off and marry Candy and how this as affected their mother. Lucifer admits that he married Candy to protect Chloe because he believes the feelings Chloe has for him are not real. The lack of agency is something Lucifer is truly disturbed by. This is a first given how much time Lucifer spent in the first season pushing himself on Chloe. Amenadiel suggests that Lucifer go and see Charlotte, because they have a lot in common - both have hurt people that they care for because they thought they were doing the right thing.
Having established who the killer is, Lucifer and Chloe head to his home. Lucifer being immortal casually enters, only to be grabbed from behind and choked. The killer warns that Lucifer will die if Chloe doesn't lower her weapon. Lucifer suggests that the man might as well kill him now because Chloe no longer cares about him and sees him as dispensable. Chloe shoots the assailant in the shoulder. Lucifer while never actually in peril is somewhat relieved. Chloe tells him that he can show up at work tomorrow. It seems that Lucifer has made his way back in.
Lucifer heads to see Charlotte, who's in the middle of writing him a letter. Lucifer begins by telling Charlotte that while he doesn't forgive her, what she did to him wasn't nearly as bad as what his father did. Lucifer is also willing to take into account that Charlotte did in fact go to hell for him. Now that she's been forgiven, Charlotte once again bring up going back to the silver city but Lucifer doesn't want to hear about it because he already lost the battle. Charlotte however believes that Lucifer only lost because he didn't have a particular sword which as it turns out they are now in possession of because it's Azreal's blade.
Lucifer's next stop is to see Candy off. Now that he knows what his mother is up to and and has established boundaries with Chloe, there's no more need for the sham of a marriage to continue. It turns out that Candy was just playing the role of a dim wit the entire time and was in on the plan. Candy is perceptive enough to realise that something is going on between Chloe and Lucifer and warns him not to mess it up. As a parting gift, Lucifer allows her to keep the expensive engagement ring along with his wedding ring.
This episode pretty much put a reset on Chloe and Lucifer's relationship so that they can go back to the will they or won't they status. The moment the writers allow these two to become a couple, the show is going to have to change. More often than not, the establishment of couplehood tends to ruin shows like this because what audiences really love is the anticipation, rather than the pay off.
My biggest issue this week was the continual slut shaming of Candy by Chloe. Yes, Chloe was hurt by Lucifer's marriage but that doesn't justify the slutshaming. It didn't help that Candy played up the role of bimbo. Too often sex workers are portrayed this way and it dehumanises them. The fact that Candy was faking along and clearly became more sensible when she took on her own persona simply exacerbated the problem.
