NOTE: This is not something we do very often but we decided to post this little write up from Lucifier fan Berit from Germany.
Disclaimer
Please note that the views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpoilerTV.
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Just a little hint for my part: English is not my mother tongue so I have to excuse myself for mistakes.
Some thoughts of a LuciFan
It's been more than a week now that Fox announced the cancellation of its TV-show Lucifer what seemed to be shocking to both cast and crew members as well as to fans of the show. But apparently the fandom didn't want to accept this seen that the third season ended on a huge cliffhanger and so the #SaveLucifer campaign was born. Motivated and updated by cast and crew members of Lucifer this campaign still keeps making noise, trending the two hashtags #SaveLucifer and #PickUpLucifer again and again in the worldwide Twitter hashtag trending, informing everyone interested about the possibilities to show strength. There have been several interviews on serious TV channels of cast and crew members and fans had the possibility to participate in different polls and petitions.
But why is this? Where does this passion comes from? Well I only can make a guess by thinking about what affects me watching the show, what makes me loving this show and what do other fans think about Lucifer.
When I first saw the trailer in Germany on TV, the show was already in the middle of first second season in the US. It sounded interesting to me but for some reason I missed the first four episodes of season one and I wasn't even thinking about that. Then three weeks after its Free TV premiere in Germany I watched the fifth episode more by chance than intended. But this episode enthralled me in a inexplicable way. So I kept watching it week for week and in between I rewatched the two episodes of the respectively last week available in the media center of the channel and I watched videos, scenes on YouTube. After the season finale on TV I created an account for amazon so that I could buy the two seasons available there as well as some of the songs used in the episodes. I re-watched the first season twice, first in German, then in English and I started watching the second one in English as far as it was available and continued when the last four episodes were available. I normally don't watch TV shows in English, but this time I somehow preferred the original voices and furthermore I just couldn't wait for the German free TV premiere of season two was in January; how would I've been supposed to get along with a whole year waiting for something that already exists?
As I'm studying romance languages and my English got a bit rusted due to a pause of three years and concentration on other languages than our lingua franca, I felt so happy being able to understand not only the words that are said but also jokes and subtle plays on words. And I got even more excited noticing that this kind of reconciliation with that language and relating it to something that I really appreciate gave me some safeness and self-confidence about my language skills. When the third season premiered last autumn I've been far away from my home in Germany: participating in a University Exchange Program I stayed for some months in a French Oversea Department in the Caribbean (besides their Mardi Gras is devoted to the "Diable Rouge", the red devil, and everyone wears red and black or dresses up like a devil 😉). And I can tell that the WiFi in my apartment worked slower than at a snail's pace (or not at all). So watching an episode of Lucifer easily could take four to five hours- but I watched and rewatched them all because it felt so familiar even if there was a whole Ocean between me and everyone I knew and because it always made me feel happier after a long day or after difficult situations. I just returned home when there was a three week break and the show returned the day I arrived in Spain for my second University Exchange.
That's my story and I'm sure everyone has sort of his or her own story and relations between life events and the show- be it a family foundation like it was for Lesley-Ann Brandt, playing Lucifers' demonic bartender Mazikeen, or be it a weekly family reunion or Monday motivation. I think that this is a first reason why it feels so hard to accept its cancellation, not to mention that the cliffhanger introduced to a whole new chapter of the entire story with many narratives to be told and many new questions to be answered. It seems more like this scene wasn't "The Beginning of the End" but much more the end of the beginning. Lucifers' actor Tom Ellis said that the story is kind of Beauty and the Beast but in reverse. I agree, but this idea made me think more about it and I found another rather wll known story that reminds me of the show: 1910 the volume of a french novel written by Gaston Laroux was published after having been published as a serialization in a french daily newspaper and today this novel is more known as a famous musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber- The Phantom of the Opera.
Just a brief summary: A man escaped from a circus of cheap showmanship where he was exposed as son of the Devil for his deformed face and suffered disdain from everyone. Hiding in the vault of the Parisian Opera House he finally earned respect by scaring and squeezing people as Opera Ghost aka. Phantom of the Opera. Musically a genius he discovered the chorine Christine in which he fell in love. But when she took away his mask that hid his monstrous face she got very scared. But despite being engaged with a handsome man that she loves, she keeps seeing the good part of the Phantom although she is also aware of his dangerous and scary side. In the end when the Phantom tries to force her to choose him, he got overwhelmed by her kindness and decides to let her and her fiancé free for good and disappears before being discovered himself.
I think some parallels are pretty obvious: a man whose qualities are left unrecognized and who is reduced to some bad actions he did caused by rejection by his own family and later by the humans, a man struggling with a nasty side, hiding a monstrous face behind a mask trying to show his qualities and fell in love with a beautiful woman which he helps to improve her own qualities, a woman figuring out who this mysterious man truly is, a woman missing his father but trying to keep strong, a woman trying to find out whom to love and how and fascinated by the Phantom. In the musical you even have some connections to a possible celestial universe calling the "Angel of Music". "Stranger than you dreamt it- /can you even dare to look /or bear to think of me: /this loathsome /gargoyle, who /burns in hell, but secretly /yearns for heaven/ […] /Fear can/ turn to love- you'll/ learn to see, to/ find the man/ behind the monster/ this repulsive/ carcass, who/ seems a beast, but secretly/ dreams of beauty […]"
This citation taken from the musical scene directly after the unmeant revelation of his unmasked face shows all the struggle that the Phantom is dealing with and I think it could be applied to Lucifer as well in a certain way. He is always trying to be accepted and seen for his doings, not for his stigmatized reputation he has, being the rebellious son of God and the Lord of Hell. And when he got at this point the revelation of his true identity endangers everything. Even if he never pretended not to be the Devil since the beginning he frankly told it everybody- the regard on him could change completely after Chloe having seen the truth.
I'm pretty sure that there are many more stories, tales or novels telling this kind of story but I' also rather sure that only few- if any- are having such a broad diversity and specific composition that make this show exceptional: you can find basic philosophic questions about existence as well as theological questions that most of us were confronted with some time in our lifes: Is there a life after death? Is there someone above watching us and pulling the strings? And most important: What if? Applicable on many more questions. Those questions are paired with a good dose of humour, charismatic, multifaceted and developing characters played by great performers. Furthermore thrill, darkness, love, friendship, trust and action are all involved in one show. Writers, producers and everyone else involved in creating this show also deserve a huge compliment for this work.
I think those all are just a few reasons why this show is such passionated supported by fans, crew and cast and we all can identify with one or another situation in which we also don't understand humans.
😊
