Now, this is the
Lucifer that fans know and love. After hitting some scheduling roadblocks in the first half of the season the show struggled to get good momentum going into their storyline. Now that the roadblocks are out of the way the show is back to its glorious self and charging forward with the Cain storyline. The other characters also got some nice development in this episode as well. The writers crafted a rather genius storyline for the season that would have been completely fabulously perfect if it hadn’t been for the repeated interruptions early on, but that’s more on the network than the writers. As a result, the Sinnerman storyline was drawn out a bit longer than it maybe would have been otherwise which left some viewers feeling a bit fatigued by it all. But now that the big Cain reveal has been made it was worth everything that it took to get to this point. In hindsight, the entire setup was well played. It was worth it to trust the writers that they had a bigger plan in place for Pierce.
Early on in Pierce’s arrival, it was quite confusing what his purpose even was. He was, to be honest, a bit boring and quite inconsiderate. There was no clear place for him in the story and it looked like the writers had no idea what to do with him. In all actuality, it was starting to look like the writers just threw Pierce in for the sake a love triangle. Well, to the writers who had to suffer through people making those erroneous observations, we as a fandom owe you an apology. A greater plan was at work and while in the moment the observations seemed accurate on the grand scale of a bigger plan at work we the fans should have trusted you more. Now, in defense of the fans and critics, the chopped up scheduling of the first block of Season Three episodes made it really hard to think big picture when the story didn’t flow long enough for us to get a feel for the bigger picture. It was all quite unfortunate, but the writers have come back stronger than ever and this Cain storyline has so much potential.
It is intriguing to find out that it wasn’t Cain who gave Lucifer back his wings or removed his Devil face. This might have been a way for God to stop Cain, but in the end, it might be the biggest mistake he has ever made. All he did was manage to unite his wayward son and the first human murderer in their common anger towards him. Cain and Lucifer may never be best friends but united they could be a force the likes of which God could have never anticipated. It will be interesting to see if Cain can hold off Chloe’s interest in him in order to keep in good standing with Lucifer. If anyone on Earth can help Cain figure out how to end his mortality it will be Lucifer. This odd couple duo could produce some truly interesting stories to come. Plus, and perhaps most importantly, it brings the celestial aspect of the story to the forefront. That celestial aspect has been missed and it’s nice to see it coming back in such a big way.
This episode also revealed that Cain wasn’t the Sinnerman we perhaps thought him to be. It would appear that the man Pierce killed was his right-hand man before going rogue. Still, the fact that Pierce killed him before he could reveal his side of the story is still suspect. As this show has proven time and time again, it’s not really wise to take any of these characters at face value. There is so much more going on under the veil that it’s really hard to know for sure what is going on with Pierce or if he is truly honest in the things he has conveyed to Lucifer. It seems as though he was being open and honest, but he is the first human murdered after all, so anything is possible.
While it’s hard to tell if his story is entirely accurate he is at least a rich source of information for Earth-bound celestial beings. It is not a coincidence that the files from “
Mr. And Mrs. Mazikeen Smith” (3x3) showed up in a flashback again just as the celestial part of the story is being reinvigorated. The file had a folder for Lucifer, Charlotte, Amenadiel, Maze, and someone known as Gaudium. It is the last two on that list that are the most intriguing. Who is Gaudium? According to the history of the comic book, Gaudium is a fallen Cherub that seems loyal to Lucifer. For Pierce to have a file on this person they must somehow be in Lucifer’s inner circle already. All the other people noted in the files were directly tied to Lucifer. So, if Gaudium is already a part of the story then who might they be? Gaudium is surely not going by that name in the real world yet Pierce didn’t have an Earth-bound name listed for this being. It is reasonable to think that this being might be making an appearance sooner than later but it shouldn’t surprise anyone if it turns out to be a character we’re already familiar with.
The other interesting tidbit from the files is regarding Maze. She was noted as Mazikeen of the Lilim on her file. According to lore, the Lilim are the children of Lilith. And Lilith has a rather sordid dark biblical history. Could Lilith perhaps be an up and coming big bad in the story? She would be a truly fascinating character to explore. It would also be quite interesting to see how Maze would handle her appearance. Essentially Maze would have to deal with her mother and parental figures of the celestial characters don’t have the best track records on this show. Lilith is to substantial a character to bring in without a strong build-up which seems like could be in the works. She could be a fascinating character for the writers to deep dive into next season, though it’s not without possibility that she could appear sooner should the writers choose to start diving deeper into Maze’s origins.
There is a whole world of celestial storylines that the writers have opened up. It feels like the season has turned a creative corner and great things are on their way. All of the celestial characters are on the path to some terrific storylines, but Chloe is still a bit of a wildcard this season. It would be easy to say that the writers don’t know what to do with her, but that same assessment of Pierce turned into a brilliant reveal. So, it’s hard to watch a beloved character without a clearly visible storyline, but these writers like to play the long game, so all we fans can do is sit back and at least pretend to be patiently waiting for some big game-changing reveals for her. It’s not easy because there is simply so much potential locked up inside Chloe, but it seems like the writers might be just on the cusp of throwing some new things into the ring. Hopefully, that will happen soon because Chloe really needs a clear purpose.
With that said she had a lot of great material this episode. Playing with her disappointment and anger in Lucifer led to some great interactions between the two of them. Lucifer is really at his best when he’s trying to make things up to Chloe. And he’s done plenty lately that he needs to make up for in regards to her. The problem is they are using her character to propel Lucifer’s story forward. It’s great that Lucifer learns so much from his interactions with her, but there is definite room for improvement. When she accepted his reasoning for wanting to help her and she truly seemed to have this moment of understanding with him it was the first bit of genuine good character development we’ve seen in a while. It was so great because it was more about her than him. Those are the moments that the show needs to provide more of. These are the moments, no matter how small, that show off how special Chloe is in her ability to forgive and understand.
In the meantime, the other characters actually had some great moments in this episode. Dan who has been playing things sort of low-key this season got some really great material to work with. The whole surfing thing was something new about Dan. And it was about time that he actually got to play a serious role in a case. The paddle out ceremony was a really nice moment in the story. The whole thing with the Orcas goes to show that it’s not wise to make snap judgments. Plus it all helped to further build up Dan as a character and add another aspect to who he is. He’s come a long way from the man he was in the first season. The last few episodes have given him a fair bit of stuff to do. With his career starting to progress again and his potential coupling with Charlotte things are starting to come together for him.
And the more they develop Charlotte the better partner she appears to be for Dan. Charlotte wasn’t in this episode too much, but what she did to help Ella was quite generous of her. She’s really working hard on this whole reform thing she’s got going on. But the nice thing about all these changes is that Charlotte hasn’t lost her edge it’s just that she’s now using it in a different way. Instead of defending obvious bad guys she’s now trying to defend people she thinks have been wronged. The fact she cared enough to observe something was wrong with Ella than attempting to give her guidance showed a huge amount of character growth. Then she added to that moment by looking out for her friend when she confronted Pierce. Charlotte is indeed the woman you want on your side. She even managed to make Pierce stop and listen to her. There is a lot of hope for Charlotte’s tainted soul to be redeemed.
Now, as for Ella, she is a sensitive soul and was heartbroken by Pierce yelling at her. It impacted her in a way that perhaps she didn’t even realize it would. It was kind of hard to see Ella so down and quiet. Yes, she’s a perky character and sometimes annoyingly so, but that’s who she is and that’s what makes her special. No one should ever try to make themselves into the people others want them to be. Ella wasn’t made to be a quiet reserved woman. She is perky and upbeat and she brings a lightness to the show. Aimee Garcia played the depressed Ella so well that Ella’s inner monologue of self-loathing was deafening. Through Garcia’s eyes and body language, one could almost see Ella internally scolding herself and it was sad to watch. But it also provided for a really nice arc for her in the episode. Ella learned to embrace who she is and also learned that confrontation really isn’t her strong suit in life. By the end, she was back to her happy super sensitive caring self and it was nice to have the old Ella back by the end of the hour.
While the episode ended well for Ella with a nice forgiving hug with Pierce things didn’t end as well for Maze. The look of fiery anger in her eyes when she discovered Linda and Amenadiel kissing could have put the flames of Hell to shame. In fact, Linda and Amenadiel might be wise to find a hole and hide in it for the rest of eternity or until Maze cools down, so yeah, all of eternity sounds about right. All sarcasm aside, this is not going to go well for either Amenadiel or Linda. The question is which one Maze will take her anger out on more. On the one hand, she loves them both in different ways while on the other hand, they both betrayed her by virtue of lying to her. There is no way that any of them win at this point.
Linda tried her best in a bad position. She definitely felt guilty regarding it all and genuinely didn’t want to hurt Maze, but at the same time, she struggled with denying her own feelings for Amenadiel. She was so very close to getting out of this situation without any proverbial or actual bloodshed when she tried to break things off with him. But it is easy to see why she couldn’t resist Amenadiel. The question still remains if this is pure jealousy on Maze’s part where she doesn’t want to be the third wheel or if she is truly harboring feelings for one of them and doesn’t want to share that person. It sort of looked at one point that those feelings could be geared towards Linda, but that’s not quite as clear now. Maze still seems inclined towards Amenadiel as well. It will be truly interesting to watch this storyline play out because the ultimate outcome of this new conflict really is anyone’s guess. One thing is for certain, Maze is going to be on the warpath and until something major happens to calm her down or distract her they would both be wise to avoid Maze especially when she is armed.
This was a really nice fully rounded episode. It had a lot of great character moments and did a lot to move the celestial storyline forward. Pierce has now made a literal deal with the Devil and what comes next is anyone’s guess. The writers took time to carefully craft the start of the Cain storyline, so it’s almost certain they have some big grand plan for the rest of the season. Almost all of the characters have a lot of things in the works that could lead to some major character growth and exploration. If they keep going this way then the back half of this season could prove to be quite epic.
Don’t miss the next episode when it airs
Monday, January 29th at 8/7c on FOX.
Hit the comments with your thoughts about this episode. Will Lilith make an appearance at some point? Who is Gaudium? What will Maze do in retaliation for Linda and Amenadiel lying to her?
