After what has felt like an eternity
Lucifer has finally gotten back to its Sinnerman storyline. It’s no secret that Lucifer has suffered this season with an inability to get traction because of all the leftover standalones. They’ve done their very best with the situation they found themselves in and have come out the other side of it looking pretty strong. This wasn’t a perfect episode, but it had a lot of great emotional beats that offset some of the weaker points. The most epic part of this episode was that it marked Lesley-Ann Brandt’s return from maternity leave meaning that Maze and all of her awesomeness finally returned to our screens. She didn’t singlehandedly make this episode great but came pretty darn close. It is so awesome to have Maze back in the mix and they found a fun way to slide her back into the story.
By having Maze return this way they were able to set up one of two potential love triangles. With everything else going on having two love triangles on a show seems a bit unnecessary, but at least this one is quite interesting. When Maze burst into Linda’s office she was thoroughly excited to see her friend. The interesting bit of this is that there was way more to that hug than a just friends thing. The way she grabbed Linda’s butt and gave it a little slap went beyond friendly and boarded on a bit flirty. She knew Amenadiel was there and it almost seemed like Maze did it to sort of mark her territory. Maze repeatedly denied wanting to get back with Amenadiel and seemed pretty certain about that. However, when talking about Linda, she stumbled over her words and made up excuses. Lucifer assumed Maze’s jealousy was regarding Amenadiel, but could Maze have developed feelings for Linda that go beyond just friends? That would be quite the interesting new twist and add in some fun new drama considering Amenadiel and Linda’s growing bond.
We saw that Linda and Amenadiel kissed, which wasn’t at all surprising since the show has been building that up for some time now. Where Linda is going to have issues is in the fact that she flat out lied to Maze when she said nothing would happen with Amenadiel, because something had already happened. Now Linda is caught literally between a Demon and an Angel, both of whom seem infatuated with her. This was one of the most interesting personal developments of the episode as it sets up what could become some great drama for this trio. That hopefully means lots more time on screen for all of them. So, now comes the question, which one will Linda ultimately end up with? Who should she be with? There are solid arguments for her being with either of them. They are both fascinating pairings. We know Maze has zero discrimination in who she sleeps with, but we’ve only ever seen Linda with men. With everything else that Linda has been through since meeting this group can she also handle dealing with her own sexual identity? The safe storyline is for Linda and Amenadiel to try out a relationship for a bit. The interesting storyline would be for Linda and Maze to hookup. And that would be okay because Rachael Harris and D.B. Woodside ooze chemistry. However, for a show with two blatantly unapologetically bisexual characters, we’ve never really seen any significant same-sex relationship on screen. It would be quite intriguing to see Linda and Maze together and the complications that come with being a demon and a human together. Given how curious Linda is it would certainly give her a lot to think about if she was with a demon.
That curious side of Linda came out in a big way in this episode as she tried to understand how each angel got their powers. That line of questioning led to several great scenes and brought up an interesting discussion. Why do they each have the powers they do? Is it like most of us develop a certain personality as we grow and that defines us? Lucifer and Amenadiel both had interesting ideas as to why they each have the power they do, but neither seemed quite certain of the validity of their answers. Given that this season is seriously lacking in good celestial storylines it could be interesting to see her dive deeper into the aspect of the brother. At this point, she might as well get to know their origins more intimately. And if that leads into some actual celestial storylines then that would be very welcomed.
The other triangle this episode solidified is that of Pierce, Chloe, and Lucifer. Though, Pierce is still a very hard character to get a read on or for the audience to connect with. It’s still not clear if that’s because of the secretive way he’s being written or the way Tom Wellington is portraying him, but something isn’t clicking. The initial introduction of the character was intriguing, but his every appearance since has just felt disjointed and out of place. The fact that they have Chloe becoming smitten by him is quite confusing since there was never really a spark between the characters. It is interesting that she finds herself inexplicably drawn to him. That could very well be a part of the overall story. He’s a very mysterious character and that’s certainly not helping the audience to connect with him or a potential pairing with Chloe. It’s that bit that makes this whole triangle just seem forced which is unfortunate because if they were going to keep Lucifer and Chloe apart this is a good way to do so. They are just struggling on the execution of this triangle. The prior mentioned triangle works because all of the characters have palpable chemistry. While Chloe and Lucifer have an insane amount of chemistry, Chloe and Pierce barely share a tiny spark of chemistry. That makes the triangle feel very lopsided with the writers trying to play too hard towards the side that isn’t working.
Now, with that said, this could very well be all part of the bigger story that we’re not yet privy to. So, hopefully, as things are revealed this will all make sense, but in the moment right now it’s just not meshing. Even when he was confessing to Chloe about his brother, and it should have been a great emotional moment, it felt like he was holding back which impacted the depth of the scene. It’s not unheard of for someone who has been traumatized by a serial killer to actually end up following in the footsteps of that person. It’s easy to dismiss this since they have the supposed Sinnerman in custody. It just seems highly unlikely that a man who has done so many horrid things across so many states and managed to trap the Devil himself would be taken into custody so easily. It’s becoming quite a coincidence that Sinnerman keeps showing up wherever Pierce is. The Sinnerman also managed to sideline Lucifer long enough for Pierce to slip in and buddy up with Chloe. Things simply don’t add up with Pierce and it would not be at all surprising if he ended up being some bad guy hiding under their noses.
While all this love triangle stuff was going on there were a lot of other great and dynamic moments that filled in the rest of the episode. One of the big plot points was Charlotte quitting her job and joining the District Attorney’s office as a prosecutor. It’s a step in the right direction for her, but she’s certainly got her work cut out for her to break from her old ways. As Chloe noted, Charlotte has to earn their trust back. Chloe took Charlotte along to meet Frankie simply because she knew Charlotte wouldn’t stick to the plan which would actually play right into her hand. Chloe had every right to keep the full plan from Charlotte and Charlotte had every right to be frustrated by it. Charlotte is a very captivating character and that’s so much in part to the way Tricia Helfer is playing her and the way the writers are developing her. There is such a rich redemption arc in her and to see her actually struggling with being redeemable and terrified of the consequences makes her story all the more captivating. Charlotte’s journey is one of the most engaging storylines this season so far.
Charlotte’s struggle also allowed for the writers to set up a possible rekindling between Charlotte and Dan. It’s clear he still has feelings for the Charlotte he knew and she seems to feel something for him. If nothing else he has become a good friend for her. And let’s face it; Charlotte doesn’t have many friends right now. Though, Ella might sort of count as a reluctant friend. She seems to have accepted her place as a spiritual guide of sorts, but only because she wasn’t given much of a choice. While it’s fun to watch them interact, poor Dan needs something to do, so he needs a defining storyline more so than even Ella right now. At least Ella has the promise of some sort of potential celestial connection while Dan really has nothing going on right now. He's been the character slinking around in the background. So seeing him go and try to be there for Charlotte was nice. Kevin Alejandro has been criminally underused this season, so with any luck, this new bond with Charlotte will give Dan more to do than just hang around only to pop in for a couple lines here or there.
With Maze back, the writers might even be able to tie his character to her as an awkward crime-fighting team. They've always been hilarious in all their past interactions so it could be nice to see them work together more Before Maze can do anything she has to deal with Lucifer, Amenadiel, and Linda first and figure out where she stands with all of them. The chat that she and Lucifer had was a nice moment and so hilariously on point. It felt so good to have their banter return. They annoy the literal Hell out of each other yet they need one another. He actually gave her solid advice despite his annoyance with her while Maze managed to inadvertently save Lucifer while pissed off at him. Maze can always be counted on to come through in a pinch. With Maze back in the action full time, it’ll be great to see her interacting with everyone again. It’s always been obvious she is a big part of the story and it was even more obvious when she was missing for so long. The writers have so many different angles they can use to continue to grow Maze’s story from this point.
The case of the week was integral to the overall arc of this part of the season, but the fact the Sinnerman was taken down relatively easily sort of negated that fact. However, his final surprise made things very interesting indeed. Gouging out his own eyes to avoid letting Lucifer have power over him was an unexpected gory twist. Despite that big crazy action things still don’t seem right. Sinnerman knows Lucifer is the Devil, knows what he can do, took away his Devil face, gave him his wings back, and managed to capture him, yet he managed to get caught by two humans? Something just isn’t adding up here and it’s likely because the man they captured is not the real Sinnerman. To do all he has done to Lucifer the real Sinnerman must be some celestial or demonic being himself. The man they captured appears to be very human with a little bit of informational guidance from someone else. What happens now? The man they captured, no matter who he really is appears to be straight up crazy, so he’s certainly not going to make it easy for the team to investigate and find the real Sinnerman.
Next week’s continuation of this Sinnerman story is full of promise as the season delivers its big fall finale. Last season it was at this point that Linda learned the truth. Is it too much to hope that this year it’ll be Chloe’s turn? It’s starting to seem half the team either knows or suspects who Lucifer is while Chloe keeps denying everything she sees. Maybe something in the fall finale will set her character on the path to an actual storyline this season. At this point, even if she doesn’t find out about Lucifer, something will be better than what is going on. That’s the one big hope for the fall finale is that it will finally give a spark of forward character development to Chloe. No matter what, though, the next episode should be quite epic and will hopefully give all of us plenty to discuss over the Christmas break.
Don’t miss the fall finale when it airs on
Monday, December 11th at 8/7c on FOX.
Hit the comments with your thoughts about this episode. Who do you think this Sinnerman works for? Do you think Maze want Linda instead of the presumed Amenadiel? Are two love triangles to many for one show? What do you think will go down in the fall finale?
