Lucifer: The Would-Be Prince of Darkness
February 9, 2016 3:37 PM - Season 1, Episode 3 - Subscribe

Lucifer leads a rising-star quarterback into temptation at a party, which the morning after leads to a dead girl floating in the quarterback's pool. Chloe investigates, while Lucifer serves as immoral support and go-between for shadiness.

Meanwhile, Chloe does her homework on Lucifer's seemingly supernatural abilities; Lucifer's psychiatrist-with-benefits analyzes his motives; and a Lucifer Morningstar impersonator is ruining the real Lucifer's good name as the lord of darkness.
posted by nicebookrack (16 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Entertaining enough. I don't know about the "Chloe does her homework" arc, though. It's not as if he's lied to her and she has to figure out who he really is, unless this show takes a quite unexpected turn and he's not the devil after all (which definitely doesn't seem likely given the whole time-stopping angel bit).
posted by axiom at 4:49 PM on February 9, 2016 [1 favorite]


This one kind of felt like a bit of a catch-all for a couple of weak-ish ideas, just keeping everyone busy until the big "shattering" event. And Chloe really needs to dial-down the intensity a couple of clicks. It felt like her every line was delivered at a shout.

More screen time for Rachael Harris would be nice, too, please.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:00 PM on February 9, 2016 [1 favorite]


It's not as if he's lied to her and she has to figure out who he really is, unless this show takes a quite unexpected turn and he's not the devil after all (which definitely doesn't seem likely given the whole time-stopping angel bit).

From the multiple comments by Maze, Amenediel, and the shrink about how Lucifer is changing, not to mention the previews, it seems like they're going to go the route of him losing some of his divinity and becoming more human the longer he stays out of Hell. So Chloe may never get more definitive proof of his otherworldliness than she already has, and may start seeing things that will make her rationalize away what she's seen before.

I wonder what the writers want the final endgame to be? For Lucifer to become so human that he will eventually want to go back to Hell and start punishing the wicked again? (out of love for humans, I mean not in the "being mortal sucks, get me off this plane of existence and back to where I'm in charge!" sense) It's a moot question, since I don't expect the series to run long enough to get a planned ending, but I am curious.
posted by oh yeah! at 5:11 PM on February 9, 2016 [1 favorite]


I am completely enchanted by Rachael Harris' psychiatrist character (Linda?), despite her being the most obnoxious kind of stereotype character: a woman who literally exists only to have sex with the male protagonist and talk about his feelings. That she works anyway I attribute almost entirely to Harris' performance. It is super-entertaining that Linda clearly does not give a fuuuuck about Lucifer's baby feelings or his manpain, and she seems to both accept that he is the Devil and not care about it either way.

I hope that we see a lot more of Harris/Linda and that she doesn't turn out to be a secret angel spy from Heaven or whatever.
posted by nicebookrack at 5:20 PM on February 9, 2016 [3 favorites]


Maybe she'll turn out to be God and this cotton candy show will take a real weird, oedipal turn. That would be amazing, but let's not kid ourselves, it's on a network so that would never happen.
posted by axiom at 7:36 PM on February 9, 2016 [6 favorites]


More screen time for Rachael Harris would be nice, too, please.

I'd like an episode with just Linda and Maze being thrown together and having their own adventure.
posted by homunculus at 7:38 PM on February 9, 2016 [5 favorites]


homunculus: That would be amazing (hee!), not least because Linda seems to have taken on some of the roles that Comic-Mazikeen played, like "trusted confidante who Lucifer has sex with" and "person who does not give a fuck about anything except getting Lucifer what he wants." TV Maze has had comparatively little to do beyond run Lucifer's bar and nag him about returning to Hell. Her malicious glee over Lucifaux causing embarrassment was the first spark of character she's shown.
posted by nicebookrack at 11:39 PM on February 9, 2016 [2 favorites]


This episode was pretty, with the worst aspects of the 'police procedural' riding high and mighty. It just keeps pulling at my disbelief to have Lucifer just hanging out a crime scenes with a detective. Like shouldn't people be questioning that?

I'm also curious where this goes, as it doesn't seem like it has a lot of multiple seasons potential. Having lots of sex and drinking while looking fabulous can only go so far, trust me.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:13 AM on February 10, 2016 [3 favorites]


It just keeps pulling at my disbelief to have Lucifer just hanging out a crime scenes with a detective. Like shouldn't people be questioning that?

I assume you mean that this is the standard "aspect of the police procedural" that Lucifer has made more egregious by blatantly flaunting it? Because "literal demon with the supernatural powers to charm people" is easier for me to believe than most of the other "[insert character type here] hanging out with the cops at a crime scene" characters who populate police procedurals: such as the "bored mystery novelist" (Murder She Wrote, Castle), "time-traveling illegal immigrant with no legal identity" (Sleepy Hollow), "fake and/or real psychics" (Psych, The Dead Zone), etc., etc.

If Lucifer lasts long enough to acquire a series arc, it would be well-served to lay out the rules and limitations to his powers. As it is, Lucifer could plausibly be expected to magically do anything, "because Satan," and that's boring.
posted by nicebookrack at 9:26 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]


Well, judging from the preview for next week, it does look as if Lucifer is turning a bit mortal the longer he stays away from Hell.

Oddly, I don't think a word was spoken this time about his interest in why Chloe isn't susceptible to his power. I sort of assumed that would be a regular thing.
posted by Thorzdad at 10:47 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]


I'm sort of hoping they pull the same stunt that Piers Anthony did in the Satan book of Incarnations of Immortality - Satan leaves Hell so a New Guy is put in charge. Said New Guy is so bad at the job that Satan is brought back. In this case, the New Guy would be bad enough that Lucifer, with his now mortalish tendencies, would go back out of guilt. Or maybe they could do a Sandman Slim and have a civil war break out in Hell as various New Guys try to claim the top job. Or maybe they could just follow this comic I read called Lucifer.

Or maybe next week a lawyer could get killed and Lucifer could make a joke about it.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 11:55 AM on February 10, 2016 [2 favorites]


"...despite her being the most obnoxious kind of stereotype character: a woman who literally exists only to have sex with the male protagonist and talk about his feelings."

I think the difference is that, really, from her perspective, Lucifer exists only to have sex with her and she talks about his feelings only because the great sex is dependent upon her doing so. Basically a role reversal.

I'm suspending my disbelief and other feelings about a therapist having sex with a client because, hey, the show is pretty unapologetic about her being a woman who knows she wants great sex and making sure that she gets it. The show has done absolutely nothing to signal any negative moral judgment on her for doing so and for this I will give it a lot of leeway.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 1:00 PM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]


Wow. Read the comic. It's brilliant and will answer your questions. They can't do the full comic on tv for reasons, but it is so good.
posted by syncope at 3:21 AM on February 11, 2016


Not sure who's questions you're referring to, syncope, but given how far the show has strayed from the comics setup, I don't see how reading/re-reading them will shed any light on on the showrunner's intentions.
posted by oh yeah! at 4:12 AM on February 11, 2016


There was a really weird disconnect in the whatshisface's performance as Lucifer in this episode that my wife and I both noticed. It sort of played like in the first act or so, he had decided to play the role as gay in a very particular way and then it went away somewhere during the episode. Now I want to stop right here and say that: a) it's entirely irrelevant to me what Lucifer's sexuality is, so I don't note that out of gay panic; and b) if I did care, I'd probably agree with the assessment that his willful hedonism probably makes pansexual the most logical orientation. That said, the actor didn't seem to be playing Lucifer as someone who happened to be on the LGBTQ spectrum, he was playing him in a very specific, 1999 basic cable, fabulous gay man caricature. And then POOF it was gone. The tonal shift into that was unexpected and then it was abandoned just as quickly.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:53 AM on April 1, 2016


Lucifer's irritation about the fake ruining his brand was amusing, but not actually doing anything to the guy? Come on.
I felt bad for Ty and his ex. Poor dude is trying to hold onto his virginity for....whatever reason, throws it away in one night and it's all about blackmail? Yeah, Lucifer should feel a bit bad about his role in all of this.
Chloe, he saved your life and he did the window thing. Clearly something weird is going on here.

Of course, I am talking about a show in which a dude goes up to everyone introducing himself as exactly who he is and everyone is probably all "that's LA for ya."
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:38 AM on June 19, 2021


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