Ok… it’s been a while
since Lucifer pulled this kind of drama off, especially with all the
annoying Lucifer whims of the week episode.
In fact, has Lucifer
ever pulled this kind of drama off?
This is an episode
that, in many ways, is not about Lucifer. (Though I do love the “how dare
you?!” when someone asks him if he’s Dan. And i question Chloe’s snark that
Lucifer may not be the best person to ask about what women desire. He’s
Lucifer, what everyone desires is kind of his thing) Oh he sits down with Linda
and she tries to push him to being a reasonable person and telling Chloe how he
feels (as well as pointing out that just because Chloe didn’t choose Pierce
doesn’t mean she chooses Lucifer - a lesson so many love triangle authors need
to learn) and he completely ignores that, of course, and instead insists that
everything is back to normal and to prove it he’s going to re-enact scenes from
Lucifer and Chloe’s past just to be really really really annoying.
This episode is far
more about Charlotte - who is getting more and more couply with Dan but still
tormented by her visions of hell and nightmares of all the criminals she
assisted. And I get that Charlotte’s assistance for criminals was rather more
than what a defence lawyer normally would do but it doesn’t change how her
whole characterisation is based on the demonisation of criminal defence as a
concept
Anyway, she talks
with Amenadiel a lot and they do a lot of thinking. Regardless of the good
she’s done she still feels guilty and worries that she’ll still go to hell.
Amenadiel has a brain wave - what if angels are the same? What if the whole
reason he lost his wings wasn’t god’s will- but because his own self-doubt and
guilt took them? What if angels and humans are actually very alike and
Amenadiel is setting up all his own tests because that’s what he thinks - after
all, he’s only guessing at the will of god. As Lucifer agrees, god never just
tells them anything
Lucifer, of course,
rejects this idea because his whole self image is based on how his dad
interferes constantly in his life and if it turns out god is busy doing sudoku
and not really giving a shit then his whole self-narrative collapses
Amenadiel also works
hard to convince Charlotte of her own redemption, of the small good she’s
constantly doing and recognising how she’s changed
Except the case of
the week is a dead woman - and her surviving husband is a man from Charlotte’s
hell vision/nightmares. She once disposed of a bloodstained bag for him at the
behest of her senior partner when she was a young lawyer. Of course, a 13 year
old bag and hell visions isn’t exactly probative. But Ella and Chloe follow up
on some other clues pointing to the man, Forest, having an affair and possible
stalker
While Amenadiel and
Charlotte decide to steal some legal files which is super illegal, but does
give Charlotte to have a big rant to her old colleagues about trying to do good
and changing while she can. They find out that Forest had very hefty
non-disclosure agreements with a number of women. Including one woman who was
murdered about the time of the agreement
And yes I did check
to see if any of the women were called Stormy.
They pull apart
threads and Chloe discovers and proves that the stalker was the man falsely
accused of murdering the woman Forest murdered - who then murdered Forest’s
wife when he thought he was alone.
While Lucifer
celebrates that they caught the bad guy, Charlotte seethes that it’s not the
real bad guy and she and Chloe set up a sting to get a confession and him
holding his current girlfriend at knifepoint (chain of evidence is likely to be
shaky here, but cop show and all that). He’s a serial abuser, the non
disclosures would keep it quiet and he killed Joanne while attacking her during
sex.
We need to catch up
some things around this - as I said Lucifer hasn’t really been involved here
and still saw them solve two murders. He realises Chloe doesn’t need him. Which
could be a stepping stone for so much angst but impressively isn’t - Lucifer
realises Chloe isn’t keeping him around because she needs him (which, good
gods, how do you make this sweet moment more narcissistic? Because Lucifer, of
course). She works with him because she WANTS to, because she chooses to.
Effectively, he realises she has chosen him. And we have the moment, the moment
where he tells Chloe how he feels and how he’s been hiding from his feelings
and how they care for each other and finally kiss. Finaaaaly.
Bad part -he also
tells her the truth that he’s the devil and how he’s afraid of her seeing the
whole awfulness of him… except he can’t show her (not even his wings?) so she
still doesn’t know he’s being literal. Aaaargh
They’re interrupted -
but I’ll get to that
Maze is still talking
Pierce and he drags up a plan b to try and stop Maze stabbing him in the face
repeatedly. He now wants Maze to stun Amenadiel with a drug and drag him to her
so he can murder Amenadiel to frame Lucifer and I think he may actually want
his mark back now. He’s not so keen on immortality any more - and killing god’s
favourite angel seems a good way to do it. And he needs Maze’s help because
even mortal Amenadiel can kick his arse to Canada and back.
Maze signs up, after
being taunted about going soft. Except when she meets Amenadiel he’s there with
comfort and understanding and assurances that he’s always there for her… and
Maze has changed and she can’t go through with it
Instead she goes back
to kick Pierce the kicking he deserves and, like Amenadiel, she’s waaaay more
dangerous than he is. But he does manage to distract her long enough (by
threatening Linda - oh he must die) to use the same drug on her he gave to use
on Amenadiel
And he goes to do his
own killing - shooting at Amenadiel with a gun. But Charlotte steps in the way-
protecting him and being short instead. She just martyred herself.
We get a truly
heartbreaking, utterly devastatingly goodbye scene from Charlotte to Amenadiel…
and of course Amenadiel gets his wings back. Another powerful scene in which he
takes her body (or some part of her anyway since her body is left behind) up
into the sky, taking her home
And for so many other
shows I would look at a woman being sacrificed for a man’s growth - but that’s
not what we have here. This is Charlotte’s narrative and Charlotte’s redemption
and her going to heaven is rather more powerful for her since it addresses her
most central fear than it is Amenadiel, even as Amenadiel has moved on to a
different stage of his own narrative
Of course it also
lends credence to Amenadiel’s theory that he lost his wings because of his own
doubts- and raises a lot of questions as to why Lucifer lost his devil-face and
gained his wings back
