High School Poppycock was an episode where Chloe and Lucifer’s relationship, how they complement one another, drew this faltering fan back in, and reminded me why I love watching these two work cases together. Speaking of complements, it was also an episode beautifully bookended with Lux scenes, and while both had touches of awkwardness, the final scene was by far my favorite of the two. But I’ll get to that…
In the opening scene, Chloe enters a dark, moody Lux. Lit with orange and blue hues, reminiscent of Hell, a distraught Lucifer, with his voice straining as he fights to take control, stands in the darkness, telling Chloe he can’t go with her, begging her to leave.
“I can’t make them go away.”
It’s here we see his wings start to peek out from behind his shoulders, and that this is a dream starts to become clear. Question is: who’s dream? Lucifer’s? Or is Chloe’s subconscious seriously putting things together?
Chloe backs away, falls over the railing, and although he tries, Lucifer is unable to save her, hindered by his blasted wings – which is a sure sign this is Lucifer’s dream. In Chloe’s, he’d be pulling her into his arms and soaring high above LA while she snuggled into him (or so fanfic tells me).
“And then I woke up,” he tells ever-patient Linda.
Lucifer argues that it isn’t about Chloe, it’s about him. But it’s all about Chloe. It always has been, even if he’s too stubborn to admit it out loud. And with everything he’s lost recently there’s an underlying fear that dear old dad might take Chloe from him next. He did give Lucifer Chloe to begin with. But it’s interesting how this sets the theme of this episode, of things that are given to us, and things that can be - or have been - taken away. Things like curses. Like eternal life.
Lucifer is determined to defy his father, to “remove Pierce’s immortal curse.” Thanks to the women in his life he might just figure out how to achieve this.
Should he be worried, though, that as retribution God will take Chloe from him? My gut says yes.
He thinks the case, the death of a writer, will provide him with the answers he needs once he reads the afterword in the manuscript, but again, all he really needs to do is to listen to Chloe. “There’s always a new angle to consider,” she tells him, when he cryptically speaks about the puzzle he needs to solve. While Pierce himself may not be in the episode, he’s very much present, his immortality the puzzle driving Lucifer through the case.
I like Chloe, I like this serious adult she is, but it’s sad listening to the things that shaped her. I did wonder how much of her character was set at conception by Amenadiel, and I still do, but hearing about her childhood, how as a child actor she had to learn to be professional from a young age and missed out on the high school experience explains a lot about who she is now. Chloe is, in every way, what Lucifer needs. A Chloe who acted like Ella would never ground Lucifer the way he needs to be.
Listening to Chloe gush about the books, caught up in the atmosphere of the reunion, it’s a fun parallel to Lucifer’s own darker obsession with getting his hands on the manuscript of the latest one. And he’s clearly a bit thrown by her behaviour, because he needs her to be the adult and help him. He may like to point out how often he helps her solve cases, but there’s so much about himself Lucifer would never solve without his serious, driven, focused Chloe.
“What is happening?” he questions as Chloe scurries off to start fangirling.
And the final scene of this episode really shows that well. Chloe heard what the people around were saying, and she gave being someone else an attempt, before finding a balance. She can be herself, there’s nothing wrong with who she is, but now she might be more open to trying new things occasionally. Chloe understand that yes, maybe she did miss out on a lot of high school experiences, but that’s okay. Those experiences can come later in other forms – like an impromptu prom at Lux.
Dan’s there this week just to be Lucifer’s verbal punching bag. This character doesn’t get enough love, and I’m growing tired of Lucifer constantly putting him down. It’s a pity Lucifer didn’t learn anything about high school bullying at the reunion, because that’s basically all he is to Dan. I desperately want Dan to be the next one to see Lucifer’s big reveal, to be privy to what Linda already knows. And then to handle it with intelligence and grace (and then watch him struggle with whether or not to tell Chloe, and how to go about it).
So I’m not thrilled with Linda and Amenadiel, but I’m thankful for Trixie (and Chloe for not being afraid to have serious conversations with her daughter), who breaks things down exactly how Maze needs it said.
At the restaurant, after Maze sets Linda up on a blind date, Linda puts it together that Maze knows about them – and there’s a lot of anger here. Linda’s still angry that Maze dared to tell her to stop seeing Amenadiel, a few episodes back, thus making her feel like the sneaking around was necessary. And Maze is angry, not even so much because they’re together (although that does hurt her), but because they hid it from her. Everyone here is at fault in some way, but not one of them alone will take responsibility, and it’s hard to watch these characters fighting.
“But you were my friend,” Maze tells Linda, and the use of past tense here, and the pain in Maze as she storms off, is heart-breaking.
Linda and Amenadiel decide to end their relationship, for Maze. I think, moving forward, once wounds heal from this, there’s no reason why Maze won’t mature to the point of not being so hurt by the idea of them together. Maze’s character development has been one of my favorite things about this show, and this won’t necessarily be a step back for her. Once she’s cooled off, and once her and Linda are speaking again, hopefully real conversations will take place, and she will have the maturity to tell Linda she’s okay with her dating Amenadiel. It just takes Maze a little longer to come around than it would a human, it takes her a little longer to accept things she doesn’t agree with. Maybe it will be Trixie who passes on that maturity. She’s good like that.
Who the killer is, and why, isn’t important (it was the editor, just btw). The case itself isn’t the most interesting thing about this episode. What’s interesting is how it pushes Lucifer way beyond desperation, and how the insight he collects from those around him during this case (Ashley’s line about Kathleen needing to “get back to her original inspiration”, for example) finally gives him the answers he needs. It warms my heart how used to the crazy metaphors Chloe is, and that she listens, despite probably wanting to roll her eyes, and takes it all seriously by answering him – and ultimately helping him.
“Detective,” he asks as he pins a corsage to her sweater in a moment that’s heavy with romantic tension, “Will you go to the prom with me?”
And Chloe’s answer comes as she places her hand in his and lets him lead her to the dance floor.
I get some serious Deckerstar feels as Chloe says, “I can’t believe you did this,” and begins to dance with him. But of course he did. He loves her and he just wants to see her happy - because seeing her any other way destroys him.
“If I’ve learned anything from this experience, it’s that it’s better to move forward than stay stuck in the past. It’s just like Kathleen realised: we can’t rewrite history.”
Lucifer gets his much-needed inspiration from Chloe’s words.
“You can’t. But maybe I can,” he replies.
It sounds so simple, when Lucifer explains that all he needs to do is undo Abel's death. But nothing is ever that simple, and I can’t help worry about the consequences of this should he be successful.
One thing I wish he’d focused on more: Chloe’s suggestion to move forward. These two need to get some real forward momentum going with their relationship, because this season, apart from one or two moments (like her birthday gift), they’ve felt stuck. I need a real shake up at the end of this season. I need Chloe at least seeing his wings for real. I hope that dream held some foreshadowing. I don’t think I can sit through another season (if it’s even renewed) of this. Don’t get me wrong, I do like the friendship they have. But I’m ready to see these two tackle a friendship where she knows he’s the devil – sees actual proof of that – and how they navigate the friends-to-lovers journey without that secret hanging heavy between them.
