Lucifer just delivered a heartbreakingly poignant display of storytelling at its very best. It hit all right marks and dropped a couple big new plot points. This is a show that is playing the long game with all of their character relationships. Most shows would have already run through the big moments like Chloe learning about Lucifer or God taking on a human form. While I would be overjoyed to see those things the time just hasn’t been right for them to happen and the writers have such a good grasp on their show that they know that. When the right moment comes they’ll drop it in at the exact right moment and leave viewers stunned. I have faith in this fact based off of the way this episode ended. This was definitely the right moment to make the big reveal to Dr. Linda. Given her place in Lucifer’s life sooner would have felt rushed and much longer would have felt drawn out. The writers quite literally found the sweet spot in the equation and dropped in this grand revelation exactly where it could have the most profound impact at a moment when the viewers were already trying to process everything else that had happened. It was a heavy moment to end a heavy episode and I wouldn’t have wanted that ending to conclude any other episode. It worked perfectly for the tone of this one.
Before I get anymore into that huge moment, I have to talk about some of the other big developments. I’ve been not so patiently waiting to see Maze and Chloe as roommates and this episode delivered on that. Picking these two characters and Trixie to all live together was genius. Whoever came up with this idea is certifiably a genius in my book. Lesley-Ann Brandt and Lauren German have impeccable timing when bouncing banter off of each other. Their expressions and postures around each other accent the tension between the characters. They have all the right ingredients for a really dynamic friendship, but they do have a few cultural differences to get over first. For example, a sex swing may be okay in the confines of Hell or LUX, but the middle the living room with a young kid around might not be the best placement. Though, one must admit, that having Trixie swinging on it was pretty amusing. I do wonder just how the production team explains the context of a scene like that to a kid. Or, I imagine, they just told Scarlett Estevez it was actually just a swing and hoped for the best. I’m sure this isn’t the last time this arrangement will turn awkward for Chloe. Maze’s innuendo for Chloe to take a go at the swing proves that Chloe is going to be kept on her toes. The smirk on Brandt’s face definitely helped convey what Maze really meant. I think Maze would love it if she managed to bed Chloe before Lucifer. However, I’m not so sure that’ll happen given the fact that I think Maze is actually starting to appreciate her friendship with Chloe and won’t want to risk screwing it up just to screw with Lucifer again.
If this episode is any indication these women as roommates is going to be pretty epic. The final scene between the three of them set the stage for the evolution of their living arrangements. Seeing Trixie curled up on Maze and seeing Maze’s arm protectively around her seemed to give Chloe a certain amount of reassurance. At any given time her new roommate might erect a sex swing in the middle of their living room, but at the end of the day, her daughter couldn’t be in better hands. Given Chloe’s line of work and habit for finding trouble having Maze around might just be the best thing for the security of her daughter. That moment where Chloe covered them up as they slept was the single most adorable scene to ever grace the show. She looked at Maze with utter amazement and chose to allow the two of them to stay snuggled up without disturbing them. It was a clear acceptance of Maze in their lives.
Another big reason to adore them as roommates is the fact that Maze now has a real legitimate reason to hang around Trixie. After all, Trixie was her first real human friend. Granted it is an odd friendship, but Trixie’s naïve young innocence oddly works perfectly in regards to her befriending Maze. And now that Maze has likely permanently scared off Chloe’s babysitter I think more scenes like these are called for. While Maze is a big bad demon to just about everyone else to Trixie she’s just her cool adult best friend who lets her get away with things that her mom won’t, essentially she’s the ultimate babysitter for any kid. One of the purest examples of Trixie’s innocence and Maze’s need for that in her life is when they were out trick-or-treating and Maze revealed her true face. Probably for the first time ever someone wasn’t repulsed by her true form. For a moment I really thought Maze was going to shed a tear when Trixie reacted so positively. Trixie thought Maze looked awesome and was jovial with excitement over the fact that they were surely going to get extra candy. Not that they needed any extra help considering they were racking in candy plus a fair amount of cash already. It was a pure unbiased reaction that only a child could have. It also served as a stark contrast to the experience that Lucifer would have at the end of the episode. Perhaps Lucifer should have taken a note from Maze’s tactics and revealed himself to Trixie first. Either way, at least we know that when Maze’s secret is officially out of the bag one day Trixie will accept her for who she is without a care because to Trixie she’s just her friend and nothing else really matters. Seriously, that kid is just perfect, and despite how shady her dad can be you have to give both of her parent’s credit because only decent people could produce such a pure hearted child like Trixie. If everyone could be more like her, angels and demons wouldn’t feel such a need to hide.
A mass majority of the things that occurred were the direct result of Lucifer being in mourning, or more specifically, the fact that he was in denial over his mourning. He was trying to escape from the reality of what he’d done by reverting back to all of his old habits. Lucifer as a character is always going to be erratic and unpredictable, that’s just who he fundamentally is as a being. But thanks to Chloe and even Dr. Linda he had started to gain some semblance of humility and compassion. This week he tried his best to let go of all of that. He wanted people to see him as evil because inside that’s how he felt. After what he did he felt like the monster that everyone has always vilified him as. In his twisted guilt-ridden mind, he deserved to be treated as less than he actually is. It is sad because everyone knows that the childish exterior is mostly just an act to protect the vulnerable loving being under it all. Yes, he loves to dish out vengeance, but that’s because he secretly likes helping innocents and ridding the world of evil. He doesn’t exist to punish the innocent, but to punish the evildoers of the world. At any given time Dan has deserved to be punched, but in this case, he actually didn’t deserve it, which was actually very out of character for Lucifer. While it was interesting to watch Lucifer go off the rails it was also heartbreaking. When he even started to push Chloe away it was evident just how shattered he was on the inside. Chloe is the single most important human in his eyes and he didn’t even want her compassion. Even she could tell how badly he was hurting yet he was even blocking her out. In his spiraling mind when she benched him from the case it was just another confirmation that he was indeed a monster. The more he tried not to be a monster the more he was becoming one.
To be fair, this case was very trigger heavy for an emotional breakdown given how emotionally driven it was. When the episode started with a zombie themed wedding I was honestly dreading the case of the week. It just seemed like it was going to be some cheesy thing done just because of the fact that this episode was set to air on Halloween. Then the case started to come together and the rich emotional undertones became evident. This was one of the more intriguing cases of the week and it provided for some great moments of emotional self-punishment on Lucifer’s part. Near the end when he was begging to be shot he actually wanted it to happen. He knew Chloe was around, knew he was vulnerable to mortal wounds, and wanted the pain building inside of him to just stop. He was past spiraling and had full on hit rock bottom. He was just done with the entire situation he’d gotten himself into. It was truly heart wrenching to watch such a powerful character essentially want to end it all. Just goes to show that deep emotional trauma can break even the strongest of beings. Yet, as the guy would later tell Lucifer, he wasn’t the one who deserved to be punished.
That was a theme circling around Amenadiel as well. He felt like he deserved to be punished for the part he played in everything. In his distraught mind, the whole unfortunate situation was set into motion when he sinned last season causing him to be powerless when he needed his powers the most. Had he been able to stop Uriel during their encounter things would have never escalated to where they did. That’s what was going through his head when he was talking with his mom. He felt immensely guilty for his part in it all and felt as though he deserved to be punished. Now, here is where things got really emotional and very intriguing, when “Charlotte” took her son out to the woods to see where Lucifer buried Uriel they had a very interesting discussion. She seemed to be trying to sway him to her side by supporting him whereas he felt like his father was punishing him. As much as I want to give her the benefit of the doubt, because she does seem like she loves her children, moments like this give me pause.
A lot of my inability to get a feel for her intentions is thanks to the complex way the writers have written her and the extraordinary way Tricia Helfer is portraying her. Helfer portrays a very gentle side to the character when she interacts with those playing her angelic children. It was Ellis last week in several very poignant scenes and DB Woodside this week. Woodside, by the way, was extraordinary this week as well, he made Amenadiel’s plight feel so genuine that it was sad to hear him saying the things he was. Amenadiel genuinely blamed himself and that is a very heavy burden for even an angel to carry. As a big brother, he felt responsible for looking after all his younger siblings and felt he failed Uriel as well as Lucifer. The scene at the tree was not just visually stunning, but extraordinarily well acted. The fact that Lucifer’s haunting piano playing played over it gave the whole scene a whole extra feel of heaviness. Mix that with Woodside’s tears, Helfer’s steadfast performance, and brilliant writing it was just a beautiful moment.
I truly believe that “Charlotte” loves her children without fault and she would do anything for them. With that said, I also don’t think all of her intentions are entirely pure. She seems to be trying to launch a rebellion of her children against their father, though when you think about it, God did have her banished to Hell to be tortured by her own son. I can see where that act would cause someone to become very resentful. To be fair to God, we only know “Charlotte’s” side of the story and as they say, there are two sides to every story. Still, Uriel seemed pretty convinced that should his mom make it back to Heaven their father would take her back to his detriment. Given the fact he’d been hanging around Heaven a lot more than his brothers have lately, would indicate that perhaps he had a little extra insight no one else did. I don’t know if “Charlotte” can ever forgive her ex-husband enough to ever get back with him, but it would be the ultimate irony if they did reconcile with no consequences for Heaven. That would make Uriel’s death sadly ironic given his motives for trying to destroy his mom was to protect Heaven. This family is one big epic twisted array of drama. It’s no wonder some of their children have turned rebellious.
Yet, even with that in mind, we’ve yet to encounter a truly evil angel or even demon this season. They are all usually misguided in some way, but not intentionally evil. This season there has been no Malcolm character that is blatantly evil. Even Uriel doesn’t really qualify as evil given that he thought he was doing the right thing. All of these characters are broken in some way and the writers have done brilliant work showing all the richly diverse sides to each of them. With all that said, this season may still yet get a big bad in “Charlotte” considering her indefinable intentions right now. It could also be that the show will pull a big one over on all of us and bring in some big epic big bad that will even concern “Charlotte” and send her scrambling to protect her family. A big enough big bad even has the potential to reunite the family as a whole again. One of the beautiful things about this show is that almost anything is possible and what we think the writers are going to do isn’t always what they have planned. They keep the audience guessing by thinking outside of the box. When the moment calls for it they’ll drop a big revelation on the characters that will heavily impact them.
That is exactly what happened with the closing scene of the episode. Even before Chloe had a go at trying to get through to Lucifer, Dr. Linda was trying. Lucifer even lashed out at her knowing that anything he said wouldn’t really matter because she didn’t believe him anyway. The sad thing is she’s the one person he needed to be opening up to in that moment instead of self-destructing. After the trying case and his emotional rock bottom spiral he’d been on he was just exhausted by the time the end of the episode came around. The usual jovial Lucifer was still absent, but at least he was ready to talk. Too bad Dr. Linda picked this moment to finally be tired of playing his games. As a therapist, she knew that at some point she was going to have to find a way to break him from what she perceived as his delusional life. Unfortunately, for both of them, it wasn’t a delusion. When Lucifer finally revealed himself it was both a liberating moment and one that went horrifically wrong. This was a moment that many had been hoping for, the moment a human finally got to see Lucifer for who he really is. And it could have gone better. To say Dr. Linda was in shock would be a huge understatement.
I have to give the utmost praise to both Tom Ellis and Rachael Harris for their work in this scene. Ellis was beyond phenomenal for the entire episode as he played Lucifer as over the top during his spiral, but in this revealing moment, he played his larger than life character as subdued. Lucifer took no joy in revealing himself but felt that it was time and hoped it’d make her understand him better. Not only that but he just seemed too tired to argue with her. For Harris, all I can really say is, wow. She took command of the scene as she led Dr. Linda to stand firm against Lucifer’s perceived delusion. Then when the truth was revealed the blank look of terror on her face was an immediate and powerful reaction. Her performance wasn’t just natural, but it was extremely powerful. Dr. Linda’s mind had just been opened up to what, only moments earlier, she had perceived as an improbability. She had just seen the face of the Devil himself and that was too much for even the most brilliant of human minds to process. From her terrified lip tremble to the pure blank stare of terror it was all brilliantly acted. The way the episode closed out with nothing but haunting music playing over Lucifer’s silent exit from her office really conveyed the weight of what just happened.
This entire episode, from beginning to end, played perfectly as the follow-up to the devastating events of the prior week. Not only that, but it just brought another character into the fold. Dr. Linda will now have to accept both Amenadiel and Maze for who they’ve claimed to be. She can now better counsel them as well as maybe even Lucifer’s mom. Granted that’s all depending on how she recovers from the shock. The way she chooses to treat Lucifer going forward will directly determine how much longer we all have to wait for Chloe to be let in on the truth. If Dr. Linda tries to completely shun him then I don’t foresee Chloe finding out anytime soon. If by chance, and I hope this is what happens, she seeks him out to talk things through with him and try to understand then he may be open to letting Chloe see his true face sooner than later. A lot is riding on what Dr. Linda does next. It’s been hinted that the Maze and Dr. Linda friendship will be further explored, so perhaps she’ll be the one to help bridge the gap after this shocking reveal. This episode seems poised as the launching point for a lot of storylines including Amenadiel’s rebellion against his father, Dr. Linda accepting the truth, the Chloe and Maze roommate situation, and most importantly Lucifer’s journey of self-acceptance.
Overall this was an emotionally haunting episode. The score throughout, including what appeared to be Ellis gracing us all with his phenomenal piano skills, helped to convey the emotional undertone that carried throughout. This entire season has been perfection, there is no sophomore slump for this show, but the big reveal at the end mixed with the heavy emotion scenes throughout made this episode just a little more special than all the others.
Tune into the next all new episode of Lucifer next
Monday, November 7th at 9/8C on FOX to see what happens in the wake of Lucifer’ big reveal.
Hit the comments with your thoughts about this episode. Were you expecting Lucifer to reveal himself to Dr. Linda? How do you think she’ll react? Do you love the roommate dynamic between Chloe and Maze? Did you like Trixie’s reaction to Maze’s facial reveal? What do you think will happen in the wake of everything that happened in this episode?
