This episode centres around what Lucifer does best - offering deals and favours, drags up the sinnerman and goes into a genuinely weird place and leads us to some awesome Linda and Angel moments.
Because Linda wants to know what it actually means to be an angel, how each of the Archangels got their unique abilities, what it means -whether their powers leads to their personalities or their personalities shaped their powers. I actually like Lucifer’s confused indifference here - because what she’s talking about is his normal; and have her trying to draw some big divine meaning out of his very existence just seems odd to him
What is of note is Lucifer’s defence of his Desire power (which, yes, does seem quite mild compared to Amenadiel’s ability to stop time) - because to him desire is the ultimate expression of free will
And I can see it - his power is the ultimate “knowing yourself.” Your will freed even from the conditioning of society, what you think you should want: the very core of free will is knowing what you ACTUALLY will; perhaps even the very core of who you want to be and how you want to live. Several times during the episode Lucifer makes it clear he thinks his power is deep and important and he’s not wrong.
Also he teases Linda with the idea of angelic Hogwarts.
To the actual murder of the week: someone Lucifer gave a favour to has been murdered - and his body has been posed in a way that directly invokes Lucifer’s favour (he wanted to become a mob boss - so Lucifer introduced him to a crime family). Naturally there’s a level of guilt here and an assumption that Lucifer got the guy killed
Yet surprisingly little suspicion or unhappiness about Lucifer having mob ties from Chloe. Chloe, the person you work with every day has mob connections. This. Is. Concerning
They also call in Charlotte who decides as her new role as prosecutor she can totally help because she used to represent the mobster family and LEGAL ETHICS JUST DON’T EXIST! Ye gods, no, no it’s not ok to be involved in the prosecution of someone you used to represent!
Increasingly the legal shenanigans on this show are really enraging me
Also to add - I really really really loathe this whole meme of Charlotte turning from good to bad because she went from defence to prosecution. I really despise this and I know I’ve said it a lot but this is really appalling and desperately damaging to the justice system. I will never not be pissed by this.
Lucifer’s woo-woo power is very good for exposing that the mobsters didn’t do it - in fact they want to hunt down his killer because they really really really liked him.
This is confirmed when we have another death - a woman who wanted to become a hairdresser, went to Lucifer and became famous, rich and a trend setter - Lucifer’s favours have impact. Again she’s killed in a way that invokes her favour and everyone is convinced that this is aimed at Lucifer. And he, naturally, remembers the Sinnerman: which Chloe doesn’t believe but has little choice when Pierce also backs Lucifer up with his own experience. Ella also backs him up with DNA evidence which the Sinnerman is apparently leaving his DNA on every crime scene
This results in Lucifer running off half-cocked (which I understand because he is the devil, has every reason to believe he’s unbeatable: especially since it’s more true when he’s not near Chloe) when the Sinnerman calls him with ominous threats and walks right into the obvious trap. Because he’s Lucifer and has every reason to believe he is unbeatable and untrappable
But not by the Sinnerman - who knows exactly who he is, traps him in a freezer with foot thick walls and taunts him via television feed with sunglasses over his eyes to prevent Lucifer using his woo-woo (complete with Lucifer defending his ability and, rightly, pointing out how powerful his ability actually is to find people’s basic weakness).
Lucifer could possibly be locked there a very long time except Maze saves him - more on that later. He is now able to call Chloe and tell her what the Sinnerman looks like
She’s on a mission with Charlotte to try and get some information from the mobsters - who refuse to speak despite Charlotte’s connections: Charlotte thinks she’s failed but this is exactly what Chloe wanted: now the mobsters will hunt down the Sinnerman and they can follow them.
Charlotte is hurt she wasn’t let in on the plan but Chloe makes an excellent point that while Charlotte has maken a choice to change it takes time to earn trust. Just wanting to be good doesn’t mean everyone is going to trust you and accept you. In a genre full of sped up redemption trains, I do like this - the insistence that redemption takes time and effort and isn’t just a wand waved and goodness achieved.
Charlotte is upset about this and cries in bathroom there but Dan is there to provide comfort and a linked narrative: yes she has to take time and effort but people also don’t expect her to be perfect, he has made mistakes himself (uh, if you can call being a crooked cop a mistake). Her trying is acknowledged.
Back to the action - Pierce takes over from Charlotte and he and Chloe talk about the Sinnerman and Chloe rightly guesses the vendetta is personal. The Sinnerman killed Pierce’s brother. Chloe shares her own dad’s death on the job and talks about how she caught the bad guy who did it and did the right thing by arresting him rather than shooting him. This continues the theme of Lucifer’s powers - urging Pierce to consider what he really wants. Which is when they see the Sinnerman
This is now a pretty standard “is the good cop going to kill the bad guy” trope complete with far-too-long dramatic moment with the cop pointing the gun at the bad guy but not actually doing it. Of course he doesn’t.
So this happens and the Sinnerman is taken into custody. Which is Lucifer’s chance to go in and use his mojo to find out exactly what the Sinnerman knows, why and what his motives are… except the Sinnerman has actually carved out his own eyes rather than meet Lucifer’s gaze
Which raises so many questions - who is this man, why is he gunning for Lucifer, how does he know what he does and why is he so fanatical he is willing to carve out his own eyes?
But we also have personal character development. After asking Lucifer about his angelic mojo, Linda also asks Amenadiel. They have a great interaction with lots of humour and fun and he says he has his power, he guesses, because it made him a better emissary of god: able to intervene without being noticed. Linda thinks this is lonely because he never interacted with humans (personally I think it’s sad that while Lucifer’s reason for living is inherent to his powers, Amenadiel’s power is all about his ability to serve and be a tool). Which never interested him until now
Yes we have Amenadiel and Linda kissing. She stops says they can’t and he apologises and then they kiss again. I think it’s worth noting Linda is the one who leans in here - she doesn’t say “no” and Amenadiel move in again.
Which is when Maze visits, realises that Something Is Going On between her ex and best friend and is super weirded out by this
She goes to see Lucifer to talk about this and he dismisses her as usual. And I cheer because Maze hits back that what she has to say could also be important, because she matters and Lucifer is absolutely not right to dismiss her or not care about her life
Yes, this Maze matters. This push back matters. After so long of Maze being a servant to Lucifer, having her insist their relationship be reciprocal matters. Doubly so because we have a genre full of best friends/family/servants who do nothing but follow the protagonist around.
Lucifer dismisses her anyway because he’s all Sinnerman distracted - so when she goes to save him from the fridge she first locks him in and makes him listen to her. And care. They have an excellent conversation about Amenadiel and Linda; with Lucifer making several good points (them talking in Linda’s office means nothing since talking to people in her office is literally Linda’s job). And why does she care anyway (she makes it clear that no she’s not interested in Amenadiel or jealous). He asked her if this is a “I don’t want him but no-one can have him” thing which she also rejects because Lucifer’s tone is clear about how much he disapproves of that nonsense. She protests that she wants to know what’s going on and Lucifer continues the theme of the episode:
“What would you do if you knew? And what do you truly want here?” Lucifer is really pushing these meme this episode. Which is great because I like it - but I think it should have been pushed more throughout the season.
Maze examines this and goes to Linda to explain her point: while Amenadiel was an ex of her’s it was just a hook up. But she feels left out by Linda, her best friend and Amenadiel, her ex being together.
Linda nods and smiles with a frozen look on her face that, to me, screams “Amenadiel is naked and hiding behind the sofa”. Which is unfortunate because I think Linda, the awesome therapist, to talk to her about how unhealthy this is
I do have to add that Linda is a gem to this show and every one needs an awesome therapist like her.
I have to say I really really didn’t expect the Sinnerman storyline to go here - I have no idea where Lucifer is going with this.
