Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Lucifer, Season 3, Episode 14: My Brother's Keeper




We have diamonds, an ominous man in a suit and another man clearly involved in illicity activities since they’re all very nervous about a call from a cop

That cop would be Ella - calling her older brother Jay. Who is involved in Shenanigans

Of course like everything in Lucifer, this relates to an issue Lucifer has which he insists on externalising. Lucifer is still trying to kill Cain (and looks at the mark which Cain re-tattoos every few months, which reminds me very much of Lucifer obsessively cutting off his wings) and so decides to ask Amenadiel, as the oldest of angels and the one to pay far more attention to things like this. Of course, Amenadiel absolutely refuses to help, God cursed Cain, removing that curse goes against God so is very very very wrong. Amenadiel remains, as ever, a devoted servant of God’s

I’d actually like of love it if God has taken Amenadiel’s powers until such time as he develops into his own person with his own personality.

Lucifer gets the huff because he gave his word and Amenadiel is not respecting that - and his word is super important to Lucifer. So Lucifer is in a snit with brothers

So when Chloe et al investigate the dead diamond dealer and find Ella’s brother’s wallet at the crime scene, Lucifer is all on side for “let’s prove how evil brothers are.” What is good about this is Chloe instantly recognises what he’s doing (because he does this ALL THE TIME) and tells him to cool it and is definitely willing to give Jay all the benefit of the doubt.

Jay is a diamond assessor and valuer so obviously has good use for a diamond thief. Especially when they find stolen diamonds and track where they were stolen from

Chloe and Lucifer follow up a lead, playing soon-to-be-married couple to pretend to buy a diamond. Chloe is super suspicious because the shop claimed to have no footage of when their diamond was stolen but it has CCTV everywhere. After causing a massive scene with Chloe repeatedly calling Lucifer cheap and revealing the stolen diamond, they attract the attention of the proprietor. Suspecting an inside job, Lucifer uses his woo-woo to find out what she desires: the punching of millennials

Millennials, ethical consumers without a huge amount of disposable money, are not buying diamonds. Her business is suffering and, yes, she’s resorting to insurance scams and having her diamonds stolen: but the diamond thief was supposed to “clean” them (remove their ID numbers) and sell them back. So, thief and a fraud (and we drop in on the Insurance Inspector who further tells them about “cleaning” diamond).

Jay is definitely capable of cleaning diamonds. Chloe is becoming more and more worried that Ella may be heartbroken by her brother’s guilt.

Ella needs help to find her brother - so goes to Maze (who is teaching Trixie how to stab people and hamstring them and it’s adorable). As the best Bounty Hunter, she’s sure she can find Jay - though she says she’s charging Ella. To be fair, Maze doesn’t know Ella. They’re the ones who find the body and turn a missing person case into a murder case (Maze is duly disgusted that Ella called the cops. Chloe disapproving that they’re covering up crime. But like Lucifer’s drug use last episode, she’s pretty much given up on them not been evil at this point). As they follow the trail, Jay looks more and more guilty and Maze is more and more insistent that he’s not

She also talks about loving her family so much. Maze has thousands of siblings but they all hated each other… she’s moved by Ella’s talk of family


They do eventually find Jay - who insists on his innocence despite trying to hit Maze with a baseball bat. He claims he just saw the killer and gives a vague description mainly of shoes. When Chloe calls and asks Ella if she found him she lies to protect him

Which could be sad and tragic except it’s Ella and she Cannot Lie. Chloe, Lucifer and Dan all know she’s lying (and, kind of nicely understandingly, know WHY she’s lied and don’t hold it against her) and realise she’ll be returning to the crime scene to try and prove her brother’s innocence. Becuase, ultimately, Ella is passionate about her work

And that passion almost breaks her heart when she realises that Jay’s story of seeing the killer just doesn’t work with the way the room’s set up. He’s lied to her

While Maze does some exploration and finds the hidden diamond cleaning room. Chloe arrives and she and Jay point guns at each other - and Ella realises her brother must have been in the diamond cleaning room: he is a diamond cleaner and a thief. But he insists he isn’t a murderer. And he escapes because Ella stands in between the guns.

Ella is obviously heartbroken and she appeals to Maze to help prove his innocence. To which Maze refuses without more price. Ella is more heartbroken that Maze clearly doesn’t care: to which Maze brutally sums up Jay’s crimes and why she has so very little reason to care. Ella makes another plea for family - which clearly affects Maze - but Maze still leaves.

But Ella has another ally: Chloe. Looking at what Jay said she realises they have another suspect: the insurance adjuster in his distinctive shoes. They head to him but force Ella to stay in the car because she is too close to this.

Which means she is alone when the Insurance Adjuster comes down with Jay held at gunpoint (Jay tried to confront him to make him confess. Which… did not go well). Ella confronts them and is 2 seconds away from being shot - when Maze kills him. Yes she followed Ella. Yes she saved Ella’s life. And yes she runs before there’s any kind of emotional moment

That just leaves Chloe to cover things up for Jay and Ella to be all happy. And for Lucifer to confront Jay trying to gather one of his illegal stashes. Jay’s excuse is he is the older brother. He’s always had to look out for his siblings, which has needed money (especially since their younger brother is a criminal stealing cars). This sounds very martyrish but Lucifer spies the armani suit he’s wearing
But Lucifer isn’t going to tell Ella and nor is Jay. Because lucifer is clear - that would hurt Ella. But he does leave with a threat - backed by demon eyes - if Jay disappoints Ella again Lucifer will hunt him down.

And I kind of forget how menacing Lucifer can be.

So let’s catch up on the older brother. At Lux, Cain catches up with Amenadiel to confront him about the mark. He rightfully guesses Amenadiel, the eldest angel, was the one who put the mark on him. Which Amenadiel agrees is true - but he’s still just the messenger, he cannot remove the mark and has no idea how. And he wouldn’t even if he couldn’t. Cain decides to prove this by first threatening Amenadiel at gunpoint. Which doesn’t move him. But then threaten to shoot innocents in the bar

Amenadiel’s protests convince Cain he’s telling the truth, as he shoots the ceiling and drives out the crowd. But he still has a grudge against Amenadiel so attacks him

There follows a long fight which trashes Lux and has Amenadiel kill Cain again and again and again and again and again. Because Amenadiel may not have his powers (apparently. I am sure we saw some super strength there) but he’s still God’s first and chosen warrior who you Do Not Mess With.

Cain does make a comment on how Amenadiel tried to kill his own brother (which could be referring to Lucifer or Uriel…) which at least hits some guilt in the angel.

This scene was interesting in that it reminded us who Cain is. It can be easy to focus on him as the poor badly done to victim - but he was just willing to shoot an innocent to coerce Amenadiel - the first murderer is not a nice guy.

We also have a replay of Lucifer and Amenadiel. Amenadiel warns him working with Cain will piss off god. Lucifer reminds him that’s the point. Amenadiel reiterates that he is determined to save Lucifer and Lucifer reminds us he will consider Amenadiel to be an enemy or “in his way” if he does. They’ve had this conversation before

So let’s go to the last storyline which is more poignant - Linda. A deeply traumatised and hurting Charlotte seeks Linda for therapy, advised by Lucifer who heartily recommends Linda as the best therapist ever

Except Charlotte, when possessed by Lucifer’s mother, brutally tortured Linda. Linda is utterly horrified and visibly terrified by her presence. She says she can’t help and chucks Charlotte out. Which crushes an already crushed and broken Charlotte even further

Linda confronts Lucifer about why he did this - and he’s surprisingly kind and gentle. He assures Linda that his mother is gone and that Charlotte is just an innocent woman who needs help. And he sent her to Linda because he meant it - she is very very good at what she does. I like the sense of guilt and responsibility and care Lucifer clearly feels towards both women here

Linda goes to Charlotte and Charlotte guesses Linda is someone she hurt when she lost time. Linda agrees to help her - to help heal them both - but does prick Charlotte first to make sure she isn’t bleeding white light


I like how everyone, even Maze, is thoroughly invested in protecting Ella and her feelings come what may - because it’s Ella!

I really liked Maze this episode - not just for all the hilarious violence, but the way she addresses emotions. You can tell she is affected, you can tell she cares, you can tell how much the whole idea of family touches her - and each time she runs. Maze simply cannot deal with emotions and certainly can’t communicate them. She cares but can never talk about it


Amenadiel and Lucifer and Cain are all wonderfully complicated layers of clear wrong, but proportionality and the ongoing hot mess of Amenadiel deciding to save Lucifer no matter what Lucifer actually wants. I also loved the clear competence of Amenadiel after so long trying to make him into little more than the comic relief.