Lucifer: Expire Erect
May 10, 2019 7:53 PM - Season 4, Episode 5 - Subscribe
After a collector of classic cars is killed, Lucifer and Chloe search for the culprit--as well as some closure to their relationship.
AV Club recap - In Lucifer's “Expire Erect,” the celestial word of the day is “closure” -- "They’re quite common these days, but you’ve still got to appreciate a good in medias res when you see one. In its initial context, this episode’s opening scene plays like a fever dream, like a funhouse mirror in corporeal form. Lucifer’s shallow breathing as he takes a drink and blood comes spills out, right before the reveal that he’s also bleeding out. Ella and Eve making out, which is definitely a shock of an episode starter. Chloe looking at a sub sandwich and saying, “This is the answer.” Before we know only one of these characters is tripping balls, it looks like they’re all tripping balls. The way director Viet Nguyen frames this version of the scene—beginning with the close-up shot of Lucifer—makes their bizarre behavior such a focal point that it’s even easy to miss at first that it doesn’t even try to hide the other hostages at all. It’s not that the scene is playing with perspective as much as it’s just fantastic at drawing attention to the foreground before the “36 HOURS EARLIER” chyron hits the screen and explains it all."
*In the penthouse, Lucifer gets spooked by Eve calling him her boyfriend. Dr. Linda counsels that he may need closure on his relationship with Chloe before he can start a new one.
*At the crime scene, Ella tells Chloe the cause of death for murder victim (Derek). Witnesses say they heard him arguing with someone over a car, and his texts reveal death threats from someone he outbid for a classic car at a grey-market auction, the MME, which Ella says you can only get into with a classic car.
*Chloe heads to Lucifer's to ask for his help (and gets a glimpse of another Tom Ellis butt shot), and when she mentions their terrific closure rate, Lucifer decides that working The Final Case must give him the closure he's supposed to get.
*At the MME, Lucifer and Chloe find suspect number 1, who is eliminated and gives them their lead to the next suspect (Sid).
*Amenadiel comes to the penthouse to return an inappropriate baby gift to Lucifer, and is surprised and concerned at finding Eve there. He brings up Lucifer having killed her son, Cain, but she says that she met and liked Charlotte in heaven, and that Cain probably deserved what he got.
*At the precinct, Lucifer gives a farewell speech to the cops and treats them to a goodbye (product-placement) lunch. Ella is worried that he's really leaving, after hearing that he's been with Eve all week rather than with multiple randoms. Maze impresses Dan with her latest bounty.
*Lucifer and Chloe locate the car of suspect #2 (Sid), but he's been murdered too. Back at the precinct, Ella tells Lucifer and Chloe that they've found a connection between Derek, Sid, and Marco the eyewitness from the first murder scene, that all 3 were soldiers together who committed a robbery, and Dan is already on the way to arrest Marco, so the case is closed, and Lucifer bids Chloe farewell.
*At Lux, Ella meets Eve and is charmed by her hug (and her Molly). In the penthouse, Amenadiel confronts Lucifer for not telling him of Eve's arrival, and says he fears she will lead him back to being the devil he was in back in the old days of the Garden of Eden.
*At Lux, Chloe meets Eve and realizes that she's Adam & Eve Eve. Then Marco arrives, shoots Lucifer, and holds everyone hostage with a bomb threat, demanding that Chloe locate his wife, Leona, who left him and disappeared when he was in prison for the robbery.
*Dan sets Maze to the task of finding Leona, which she does by finding the fake-ID-maker first. She and Dan find Leona, and Dan gives a heartfelt plea for her help in ending the hostage situation safely.
*At Lux, Eve encourages Chloe that she'll find a way to save everyone. Ella berates Lucifer for his 'Final Case' nonsense. The police deliver a sandwich to Marco but not the one he requested, and Chloe realizes it's a code from Dan that S.W.A.T. will be breaching Lux from the southwest.
*Leona convinces Dan to let her enter Lux to speak to Marco face to face instead of by walkie-talkie. Ella and Eve use the distraction of her entrance to sneak off so Ella can disarm the bomb. But during Leona's apology-embrace, she stabs Marco in the gut and grabs the detonator switch, and monologues to Chloe that she was the mastermind of the robbery. Chloe uses the evil-speech-of-evil time to maneuver Leona as southwest as she can, and the force of the S.W.A.T. team's wall-breach-blast knocks the detonator out of her hand. When Chloe can't get to it before Leona, she flings herself on Lucifer to shield him from further harm, but Ella successfully disarms the bomb before the Leona can trigger it.
*Outside, Lucifer is readied for the ambulance, and tells Chloe they're back to being partners again. Ella excitedly tells Dan about how she asked God for a sign when she was trying to disarm the bomb, and didn't get one, because she realizes now that there is no God.
*Chloe talks to Amenadiel, for the first time since she found out the truth about Lucifer, and asks him if Eve is evil, but he says she isn't, and Chloe says that she can see how much Eve cares about Lucifer and thinks she might be good for him. Amenadiel tells Chloe it's no wonder her father is so proud of her.
*Back at the penthouse, a cheerful Lucifer tells Eve he is her official boyfriend. He offhandedly reveals the secret of his lack of invulnerability in Chloe's presence, and Eve looks troubled.
AV Club recap - In Lucifer's “Expire Erect,” the celestial word of the day is “closure” -- "They’re quite common these days, but you’ve still got to appreciate a good in medias res when you see one. In its initial context, this episode’s opening scene plays like a fever dream, like a funhouse mirror in corporeal form. Lucifer’s shallow breathing as he takes a drink and blood comes spills out, right before the reveal that he’s also bleeding out. Ella and Eve making out, which is definitely a shock of an episode starter. Chloe looking at a sub sandwich and saying, “This is the answer.” Before we know only one of these characters is tripping balls, it looks like they’re all tripping balls. The way director Viet Nguyen frames this version of the scene—beginning with the close-up shot of Lucifer—makes their bizarre behavior such a focal point that it’s even easy to miss at first that it doesn’t even try to hide the other hostages at all. It’s not that the scene is playing with perspective as much as it’s just fantastic at drawing attention to the foreground before the “36 HOURS EARLIER” chyron hits the screen and explains it all."
*In the penthouse, Lucifer gets spooked by Eve calling him her boyfriend. Dr. Linda counsels that he may need closure on his relationship with Chloe before he can start a new one.
*At the crime scene, Ella tells Chloe the cause of death for murder victim (Derek). Witnesses say they heard him arguing with someone over a car, and his texts reveal death threats from someone he outbid for a classic car at a grey-market auction, the MME, which Ella says you can only get into with a classic car.
*Chloe heads to Lucifer's to ask for his help (and gets a glimpse of another Tom Ellis butt shot), and when she mentions their terrific closure rate, Lucifer decides that working The Final Case must give him the closure he's supposed to get.
*At the MME, Lucifer and Chloe find suspect number 1, who is eliminated and gives them their lead to the next suspect (Sid).
*Amenadiel comes to the penthouse to return an inappropriate baby gift to Lucifer, and is surprised and concerned at finding Eve there. He brings up Lucifer having killed her son, Cain, but she says that she met and liked Charlotte in heaven, and that Cain probably deserved what he got.
*At the precinct, Lucifer gives a farewell speech to the cops and treats them to a goodbye (product-placement) lunch. Ella is worried that he's really leaving, after hearing that he's been with Eve all week rather than with multiple randoms. Maze impresses Dan with her latest bounty.
*Lucifer and Chloe locate the car of suspect #2 (Sid), but he's been murdered too. Back at the precinct, Ella tells Lucifer and Chloe that they've found a connection between Derek, Sid, and Marco the eyewitness from the first murder scene, that all 3 were soldiers together who committed a robbery, and Dan is already on the way to arrest Marco, so the case is closed, and Lucifer bids Chloe farewell.
*At Lux, Ella meets Eve and is charmed by her hug (and her Molly). In the penthouse, Amenadiel confronts Lucifer for not telling him of Eve's arrival, and says he fears she will lead him back to being the devil he was in back in the old days of the Garden of Eden.
*At Lux, Chloe meets Eve and realizes that she's Adam & Eve Eve. Then Marco arrives, shoots Lucifer, and holds everyone hostage with a bomb threat, demanding that Chloe locate his wife, Leona, who left him and disappeared when he was in prison for the robbery.
*Dan sets Maze to the task of finding Leona, which she does by finding the fake-ID-maker first. She and Dan find Leona, and Dan gives a heartfelt plea for her help in ending the hostage situation safely.
*At Lux, Eve encourages Chloe that she'll find a way to save everyone. Ella berates Lucifer for his 'Final Case' nonsense. The police deliver a sandwich to Marco but not the one he requested, and Chloe realizes it's a code from Dan that S.W.A.T. will be breaching Lux from the southwest.
*Leona convinces Dan to let her enter Lux to speak to Marco face to face instead of by walkie-talkie. Ella and Eve use the distraction of her entrance to sneak off so Ella can disarm the bomb. But during Leona's apology-embrace, she stabs Marco in the gut and grabs the detonator switch, and monologues to Chloe that she was the mastermind of the robbery. Chloe uses the evil-speech-of-evil time to maneuver Leona as southwest as she can, and the force of the S.W.A.T. team's wall-breach-blast knocks the detonator out of her hand. When Chloe can't get to it before Leona, she flings herself on Lucifer to shield him from further harm, but Ella successfully disarms the bomb before the Leona can trigger it.
*Outside, Lucifer is readied for the ambulance, and tells Chloe they're back to being partners again. Ella excitedly tells Dan about how she asked God for a sign when she was trying to disarm the bomb, and didn't get one, because she realizes now that there is no God.
*Chloe talks to Amenadiel, for the first time since she found out the truth about Lucifer, and asks him if Eve is evil, but he says she isn't, and Chloe says that she can see how much Eve cares about Lucifer and thinks she might be good for him. Amenadiel tells Chloe it's no wonder her father is so proud of her.
*Back at the penthouse, a cheerful Lucifer tells Eve he is her official boyfriend. He offhandedly reveals the secret of his lack of invulnerability in Chloe's presence, and Eve looks troubled.
When Amenadiel says "Your father is very proud of you.", could he be talking about himself? I seem to recall from S1 that he helped create Chloe in the first place.
posted by Mogur at 5:32 AM on May 12, 2019
posted by Mogur at 5:32 AM on May 12, 2019
I seem to recall from S1 that he helped create Chloe in the first place.
Nah, I don't think he'd consider himself her father for just blessing Chloe's mom's womb - it wasn't the first time he'd done that on God's instruction if I recall correctly, and he's taking his angel-baby-fatherhood as a pretty serious first. It was just a sweet confirmation that Papa Decker has been in the Silver City watching over her since his death.
posted by oh yeah! at 6:02 AM on May 12, 2019 [4 favorites]
Nah, I don't think he'd consider himself her father for just blessing Chloe's mom's womb - it wasn't the first time he'd done that on God's instruction if I recall correctly, and he's taking his angel-baby-fatherhood as a pretty serious first. It was just a sweet confirmation that Papa Decker has been in the Silver City watching over her since his death.
posted by oh yeah! at 6:02 AM on May 12, 2019 [4 favorites]
Makes sense!
In other thoughts: I am normally not a fan of the cheap trick where a show shows someone in peril and then immediately cuts to "Four days earlier...", but this one really paid off - a shot that means two entirely different things without and then with context.
posted by Mogur at 2:53 PM on May 12, 2019 [2 favorites]
In other thoughts: I am normally not a fan of the cheap trick where a show shows someone in peril and then immediately cuts to "Four days earlier...", but this one really paid off - a shot that means two entirely different things without and then with context.
posted by Mogur at 2:53 PM on May 12, 2019 [2 favorites]
I'm still confused (in general) about Lucifer's physical vulnerability when he's near Chloe, but only the aftermath bits. Like when he got a huge wooden spike directly through some major muscle area, but then is perfectly fine afterwards. Does he go back to having supernatural healing power if he just gets away from her after he's been injured? That doesn't seem to be the case when we look at his bandaged hand after he was shot through it, but here he's been gut-shot and just walks away (after what I assume is a trip to the hospital that must have confused the hell out of the doctor/surgeon). Is there any internal continuity to his vulnerable/invulnerable/healing, or is it just whatever the writers need that day?
And have we ever gotten an answer as to WHY God had Chloe, specifically Chloe, created to make Lucifer vulnerable? It's an odd choice from either a Watsonian or Doylian perspective.
posted by tzikeh at 8:05 AM on May 14, 2019
And have we ever gotten an answer as to WHY God had Chloe, specifically Chloe, created to make Lucifer vulnerable? It's an odd choice from either a Watsonian or Doylian perspective.
posted by tzikeh at 8:05 AM on May 14, 2019
When Amenadiel says "Your father is very proud of you.", could he be talking about himself?
No, he means that he’s been to heaven (because he has his wings back and took Charlotte there), her father is there, and Amenadiel has literally spoken to him.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 3:24 AM on June 10, 2019
No, he means that he’s been to heaven (because he has his wings back and took Charlotte there), her father is there, and Amenadiel has literally spoken to him.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 3:24 AM on June 10, 2019
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The scene between Amenadiel and Chloe was really sweet.
Final-Case-Mode-Lucifer was kind of cringe-inducing. I mean, I know he's meant to be insufferable when he's got the oblivious self-involvement turned up to the max, but, it's always been on the cringe-humor edge for me.
posted by oh yeah! at 8:07 PM on May 10, 2019