Lucifer is on a winning streak right now delivering one outstanding episode after another. It’s no secret that the start of the season struggled with momentum. The Pierce storyline was, to be frank, frustrating. They had a talented actor like Tom Welling and it seemed like they were squandering the opportunity to build a great character for him. That’s the thing with this show, they like to play the long game with their storylines. For an example of this one doesn’t have to look any further than the frustratingly slow build-up to Chloe maybe one day accepting the truth about Lucifer. The slow pace at with which they execute some of these storylines can be immensely frustrating, but they make the payoff worth the torture of the wait. Pierce is a prime example of that. He went from a subpar character who was annoyingly arrogant at best and an epic-sized jerk at worst to a complex multi-layered character with important ties to the overall story. This episode’s main storyline was about diving deeper into who Pierce is and the writers succeeded in displaying some different sides to him. This was also an episode about self-analysis which led to some impactful character moments.
When it comes to Cain we know what God wants us to know. We know that Cain was the first human murderer and as a result was punished with immortal life. But that’s the story that God wants humans to believe. What if there is more to who Cain really is? God clearly took an interest in Cain, but why? Throughout history, there have been many more men and women like Cain. Why didn’t he punish them in the same way as he did Cain? Could Cain be yet another pawn in God’s plan to carve his son into the celestial being he wants him to be? It seems as though Chloe was blessed into being in order to play a part in Lucifer’s life. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to think that Cain was put on this path for a very similar reason, to play some big part in Lucifer’s life. In this episode, Maze points out that Lucifer’s father loves to play head games so it shouldn't surprise anyone to find out that Lucifer and Cain are more tied together than either currently realizes. There is no doubt that Pierce is a very abrasive character, but unless he has changed a ton over the millennia he has been alive he doesn’t seem like a cold-blooded killer. He supposedly killed Sinnerman because he had gone rogue and was going after innocents. Now, to be objective, that could have all been an elaborate lie he carved out to get Lucifer on his side, but from what we know it seems a very plausible story. Then again, he has been alive so long that lying would basically be second nature to him at this point. The writers of this show have a way of making it impossible to tell if a character is good or evil, so we likely won’t know his whole true story until the end of this particular storyline. One thing is undeniable and that is that we don’t yet know the full true story of what happened between Cain and his brother.
By having Lucifer obsess over figuring out how to kill Pierce the writers were allowed to dive more into the inner workings of who Pierce is. One surprising thing is that there is a bit of a soft side to him. He does actually care and he does actually want to solve these cases and do some good. This is done all the while knowing that nothing he does will end his eternal life sentence. Whatever ends up coming of Lucifer helping Pierce, we all owe the writers a big thank you for pairing up Tom Ellis and Tom Welling to work together on this storyline. They are playing such opposite characters yet they have a terrific onscreen energy that translates to some hilariously funny scenes. The kiss being high on that list. Even though it fell directly after a big serious moment by Lucifer it was the way Pierce reacted that sold the moment. Pierce better get used to these sort of Lucifer antics because it seems like he and Lucifer are stuck together as partners on this journey for the foreseeable future. It's a bit funny that of the Chloe/Lucifer/Pierce triangle, Lucifer and Pierce actually have better chemistry than Pierce and Chloe. Only this show could take the formula of a normal love triangle and continually turn it on its head.
Every scene that Pierce and Lucifer shared while undercover was golden. They shared a lot of hilarious moments but had an equal number of sincere moments. What is interesting is that despite everything these two seem to be forging a rather complex but honest friendship. When the time comes will Lucifer actually be able to end Pierce? Could Lucifer end up being Pierce’s vulnerability? That of all things would be the ultimate irony. They are searching so hard for the vulnerability that will allow Pierce to be able to end his immortal existence and to find out that the being helping him is the answer would be downright poetic in nature.
Lucifer is becoming more and more attached to the idea of helping Pierce and it’s starting to look less and less about getting back at his father. One might dare to say that Lucifer is starting to see Pierce as a genuine friend who he wants to help. That’s why it hurt him so much when Pierce called him out on his inability to keep up his end of the bargain they made. Lucifer is a man of his word and to have his honor challenged never goes well. He usually becomes broody after having his honor questioned, but the fact he stormed off was different. He usually reserves his storming off in frustration for Chloe when she calls him on his honor. Perhaps it was because Pierce's words held some truth and Lucifer realized that. The truth is that Lucifer has no idea how to truly help Pierce and that is as frustrating for Lucifer as it is for Pierce. Lucifer doesn't like to not know what to do and he likes it even less when others realize he doesn't know the answer to a problem. As Lucifer himself admitted, he is a "giver" and to not be able to give someone what they most desire hurts him. Perhaps this is where the lesson lies. Maybe what God wants his son to realize is that he can't always help every soul. But if that is what God was trying to do his little lesson might backfire on him because Lucifer doesn't give up easily. The fact that Lucifer ultimately admitted that he didn't have all the answers shows that Pierce has already left an impact on him, but all that admission signaled was the start of even more intensive work to help Pierce. Lucifer won't give up until he can fulfill his end of the deal.
While this whole storyline with Pierce and Lucifer is fascinating it seems like Chloe is once again being pushed into a supporting role. She gave Lucifer an incredibly moving speech and was fierce in her determination to solve the case, but it didn’t seem like anything much came of her own storyline or lack thereof. What might be playing out right now with her is the same close to the vest approach that the writers took with Pierce early on in the season. One can only hope that there is a big grand plan in the works for her that and as the back half of the season evolves will slowly suck her back into the core of the storyline. They will hopefully throw some big major event at her that will catapult her storyline back to the forefront. Until then, it’s easy to become frustrated with what the writers are doing with Chloe. But Pierce continues to be a shining example of what can come from these frustratingly slow reveal storylines, so hope remains for something great to happen later in the season. At this point, the big event doesn't even need to be Chloe learning about Lucifer, though that would be nice. They just need to give her some storyline that is all her own. Until then, the wait continues for any signs of actual Chloe character evolution this season.
Even though the wait continues for Chloe there is some great evolution ongoing on the Charlotte side of things. Each episode she seems to be making headway in leaps and bounds in her quest for redemption. She is even working hard to cultivate a relationship with Dan. These two seem like such an unlikely pair yet they have a very natural ease with each other. Dan seems to genuinely care about Charlotte, but one can’t help but wonder if he’s going to end up getting hurt by all this. She is trying so hard, and does seem to care about him, but will she be able to overcome what she’s been through to be able to truly commit to a serious relationship with him? It also doesn’t help that Hell is still very much a part of her no matter how hard she tries to shake it. He has been super patient with her so far, so hopefully, that'll last and he'll stick with her through all the inevitable trials and tribulations coming her way.
However, given that the stench of Hell on her is still so strong that Maze easily sniffed her out doesn't bode well for her. It was the ultimate aphrodisiac for Maze, but a sign that Charlotte still hasn’t escaped a potential return there. This storyline gave Lesley-Ann Brandt and Tricia Helfer some brilliant scenes together proving that these two need to work together way more often. Much like Ellis and Welling they have very opposite characters and bring a different energy to their partnership yet that’s what makes their stuff so hilarious. They simply just work together without much effort needing to be put in. With the chemistry between the actresses, it’s not hard to imagine a future storyline where Maze and Charlotte could at the very least have a friends with benefits type of relationship, but the writers were right not to go that route right now. Both characters have way too much going on in other storylines at the moment. It was, however, interesting that Maze’s excuse for backing off of pursuing Charlotte was because she didn’t want to go back to Hell either. For someone who so fondly reminisces about her days in Hell torturing damned souls and defeating celestial beings, it's fascinating how valiantly she has worked to avoid going back to Hell.
Perhaps the desire to avoid Hell will be where the writers can further unite the storylines of these characters. But first, before anything like that can happen, Maze has to deal with her feelings regarding what is going on with Amenadiel and Linda. Since she used helping Lucifer brainstorm ways to kill Pierce as a way to brainstorm dealing with her own problem it’s clear that she is still stewing over what she witnessed. When that storyline comes to play out all Hell is literally going to break loose.
Overall this was a fun episode. The dynamics of Pierce and Lucifer, as well as Charlotte and Maze, led to some really funny moments. There were also great moments of honesty and sincerity built into each storyline. Lucifer got a cool action sequence where he got to take down the gang members. Maze got to hilariously flirt with Charlotte while Charlotte got to have some great thoughtful moments of reflection. And Pierce was forced to realize that he does need to be more open with Lucifer for their mission to be successful. This was very much an episode about these four characters. Dan got a few funny awkward moments with Maze and Charlotte. And Chloe got to play mediator between Pierce and Lucifer. It was actually quite nice to see the usual dynamics changed up a bit. It provided some great character moments for the four of them. Still, even though they were all awesome, the other characters that weren’t in the episode were missed and it would have been nice to see Chloe play a bigger part in things. Overall if an average was to be taken this episode scores high. It wasn’t perfect, but it is worthy of being called an outstanding episode.
Don’t miss the next episode, and the last one before a long Olympic induced break, when it airs on
Monday, February 5th at 8/7c on FOX.
Hit the comments with your thoughts about this episode. Did you like the different pairings? Do you think Charlotte and Maze could be a good pairing or is Dan the better choice for her? What will Maze ultimately end up doing about Linda and Amenadiel? Will Lucifer be able to end Pierce when the time comes?
