The Good
The whole concept of Lucifer
has always been good: the devil living it up in LA, making deals is fun. But
therapy - actual useful therapy rather than the hot mess it became? Therapy to
deal with his issues, throwing in Maze and Amenadiel’s own sessions and Linda
bouncing awesomely between them? It worked. Charlotte and Linda’s world
shattering revelations worked (how many urban fantasy shows us the existence of
gods and angels and the supposedly ignorant human is so blase over something
that should rock their world to the core?). It has so much immense potential
Throw in Tom Ellis.
Because he is PERFECT in this role. Honestly perfect. His Lucifer is A class
combination of sinister menace and grade A charm with a hefty layer of sexy to
finish it off. In fact all the characters, when allowed to be, are excellent: Amenadiel,
Maze, Chloe, Linda, Ella, Charlotte, even Dan. When given the chance all
completely ruled their roles. They just needed more of a chance.
The Bad
The problem I have
with Lucifer is that I’m sad about it leaving because of what it could
have been rather than what it actually was. I can’t say I look forward to this
show, certainly not in the later season. There’s so much I really really wanted
from Lucifer, so much that Lucifer could have actually been. But
instead we just got episode after episode of the same annoying pattern: Lucifer
would make some random decision, usually due to his daddy issues. He then
obsesses over this particular facet to the point of utter irrationality while
the rest of the characters manage to limp the plot along. It reminds me a lot
of the worst iZombie episodes when Liv gains some weird brain tropes and
annoys everyone while everyone else gets on with things
It doesn’t mean good
stuff doesn’t happen on Lucifer but it tends to happen around him -
Lucifer is actually getting in the way of the actual plot line of this series.
Interesting stuff happens despite him, or around him: he is an obstacle to the
interesting stuff. And he’s the protagonist. Your protagonist cannot be the
least interesting person there; but Charlotte, Maze, Linda and Amenadiel all
have more interesting conflicts and development and more meaningful storylines.
On top of that we
seemed to get far and far less of the supernatural element. In season 1 Lucifer
was a terrifying even sinister force. His deals were near supernatural, his
charisma magnetic ensuring a following everywhere, he could throw people
through walls, his desire power unearthed all secrets: he was the devil and he
oozed the power of that. By the last season he occasionally pulls out his
desire power - which backfires most of the time - and that’s it. The whole
supernatural oomph of him is completely missing; same with the depowered,
wingless Amenadiel.
It becomes only more
bitter when we have the season finale teasing us with everything it could have
been and will now never be. We needed more of this. So much more: more Lucifer,
more Linda and Maze, more Amenadiel with his wings, more Lucifer showing his
satanic might, more Chloe into the secret, even more Dan being something other than
the one note comic relief he became.
I've said it before but I'll say it again - I hate the whole depiction of criminal defence as evil or corrupt. Criminal defence is vital for our justice system, an already flawed system that hurts minorities especially. Police shows on TV repeatedly demonise defence lawyers while lauding law enforcement for ignoring the rules: those rules that protect innocent people, those rules we need in a world where the police don't always flawlessly find the guilty party. This demonisation has real world consequences as we continually view legal defence as an impediment to justice, rather than its last stand
Diversity
On the face of it Lucifer
has pretty good diversity. Chloe, Charlotte, Ella, Linda and Maze are all
excellent female characters - all very different, all strong in their own way
and they all get on well: in fact they make a great team together. Linda, Maze,
Chloe as friends together is great fun. Ella and Dan are latino, Maze a woman
of colour and Amenadiel a Black man giving us a decently high percentage of POC
among the main cast: without the tropes that normally drag a lot of minority
characters down (and I like that god’s favoured son is a Black angel)
My main issue with
these is the space Lucifer gave them. Because the show did give them
characterisations, conflicts, their own storylines, histories and relationships
- even Ella and Dan which were moreside characters. But they didn’t get the
space to explore them - too much time was eaten by Lucifer’s shenanigans of the
week nonsense. In some ways it made these characters more important because they
became more interesting: but because Lucifer’s latest nonsense usually focused
on Chloe and very little else we didn’t get them on screen in as much depth and
involvement as I’d have liked
There’s also an issue
with both Maze’s and Lucifer’s bisexuality. Normally I’d be swinging from the
rooftops over an LGBTQ protagonist - but it’s so terribly downplayed; rendered
as invisible as much as possible in a blink and
you miss it portrayal. This is especially galling because, unlike other shows that played
this game (Sanctuary, Witches of East End, Librarians), sex is such an
overwhelming part of these characters lives. Maze has a lot of sex, especially
when acting out against Chloe she invites a whole (male) biker gang. Lucifer
constantly has casual sex, we see an endless string of women in his bed (often
in multiples), we see an endless amount of flirting. Both of these characters
unashamedly embrace their sex lives with wild and joyous abandon, leaving
ecstatic partners in their wake. But we don’t see their same-sex partners. The
idea they even have same-sex partners is theoretical at best. It’s annoying to
see bisexual Cassandra on Librarians not really have any romance with
women - but she doesn’t have a whole lot with men either. Seeing Lucifer notch
the bedpost so many times its virtually kindling and ALL of them be women is
far more glaring
What We Wanted?
More. So much more.
More supernatural, more of these storylines. More overt bisexual representation
But I particularly
wanted more supernatural development - we saw Uriel, I would have loved to see
more of his other siblings. Where are the other archangels? The other angels?
More demons. The more season 3 was demagiced the more I wanted to see more of
it - more divine, more infernal powers. More woo-woo. I wanted to see how
Amenadiel and Lucifer reacted to their other siblings, how they reacted with
Linda and Charlotte… and Chloe (with her centrally involved). Even Ella with
her overt religiosity. So much of this show was so well done that “more” is
really the best thing I can say: More characters, more plot, more supernatural,
less shenanigans.
