lucifer season 4 cast

“Deep down, you know you’re a monster. And that you belong in hell where you will torture yourself with that truth for eternity. ‘Cause no matter what you tell yourself, you can’t outrun what you’ve done. What you truly are…”

It is a bittersweet yet hopeful feeling when a show’s season finale presents the best episode of a year filled with inconsistency. When said episode doubles as the unexpected series finale, well there’s nothing bittersweet about it. Just bitter…lots of bitter.

Alas here we are, presented with a Lucifer finale that teases us about a Season Four that could have been.

Picking up not long after last week’s shocker, the team is still in shock over Charlotte’s death. As in life, everyone has their own way of dealing with it; from philosophizing about the whys (Ella and Lucifer) to burying themselves in work (Dan), they soldier on with a determination that emphasizes losing one of their own. As an audience, we know who the killer is, and thankfully the characters finding out the truth—Pierce is the killer—doesn’t take up too much of the hour.  Yet, they must be careful, considering their lieutenant not only is leading the investigation but is also the infamous Sinnerman. It’s a cat-and-mouse game, one which frames its climax in what may be the most effects-heavy scene in the show’s history.

Since Season One, the Lucifer/Chloe ‘ship has always been a backbone of the series. It’s been a personal frustration that Lucifer’s never come clean with her, both from an emotional sense and an “I am the devil” angle. Sure, he’s always told her the truth and, early in Season One, tried proving his invincibility to her. Yes, she’s never questioned his bouts of inhuman strength but he never took that extra step to erase all doubts about the truth. In last week’s penultimate episode, Lucifer finally took the emotional doubt away and the pair shared a romantic moment that was three years in the making. Yet, as well and good as that was, it paled in comparison to Chloe realizing that all Lucifer’s devil talk was true.

But we’re getting a little ahead of things.

Lucifer ‘wings out’, protecting himself and Chloe from a hail of bullets.

One of the great moments of this show occurred last week when Amenadiel surmised that someone’s punishment, whether it involves their final destination (Heaven/Hell), or in his case, the stripping of his angelic nature, inherently lies within how they view themselves. The argument against this case would be those who feel no guilt or emotional connection to others—the socio’ and psychopaths. If Amenadiel’s theory is true, then that means there is a kernel of truth in someone’s soul, a kernel that, no matter how disturbed their mind may be, is a North Star of sorts that even their depravity cannot fool. From what has been established about the sufferers in this world’s Hell, it makes sense. It’s also why, as he watched Charlotte died, Amenadiel regained his angel-hood. He believed he deserved it, that he had made amends for his own perceived failures. It’s not so dissimilar to our own realities where we often punish ourselves for past deeds more than those around us.

As there is much in the philosophy of Lucifer, particularly in these last two episodes, there’s also a remaining plot to get to.

In possibly the last Lucifer ever, we get to experience Chloe’s sight of Lucifer’s devil face.

For much of the episode, Team Lucifer works against Pierce but the tipping point arrives when Lucifer confronts the World’s First Murderer. He demands the truth from the lieutenant and Pierce obliges, admitting that Amenadiel was the target. It’s here where Lucifer espouses on his brother’s theory of punishment and its relation to Pierce’s own immortal suffering.  It’s the capstone Lucifer later reminds a dying Pierce; the latter boasts that he has no regrets but remember that kernel I mentioned? Even for someone as vile as Pierce, a piece of him feels guilt for killing an innocent woman. And for that, Lucifer surmises, Hell awaits. Unfortunately for Lucifer, his own words bring forth his own truth.

As he taunts the dying Pierce on the fate awaiting him, Lucifer’s own reality changes and, despite working towards not feeling as if he were a monster, the truth is that Lucifer still believes it. The evidence is clear when Chloe arrives back on the scene only to see Lucifer Morningstar’s devil face.

“It’s all true,” she says in shock, “it’s all true.”

Yes, sweet Chloe, it is. 

Post Script

  • What is truth? That is a question philosophy often tries to define and, for three seasons Lucifer has continually dabbled in the quest for the answer. Several lines throughout the finale highlight that: “I always tell you the truth,” Lucifer says to Chloe at one point, “no matter what.” Later, when he reiterates this point, she comes back with “No, you tell me your truth.” It’s a testament that, even when duplicity is not being pursued, truth is not always as straight-forward as we’d like it to be.
  • “I’ve started to realize that we are the responsible parties…we’ve no one to blame but ourselves.” Lucifer defending his Father? It was a shock to him as well as the audience. For so long he’s railed against God and the unfairness of his punishment but, thanks in part to Amenadiel’s theory, it seems that Lucifer is finally taking responsibility for his actions.
  • “Emotions are hard. But that’s why they make you strong.” After months of being on the outs, Maze and Dr. Linda have reconciled. It took the drugged demon cutting through a dozen of Pierce’s henchmen to get back to her friend but, as someone who has disliked the direction the writers took Mazikeen for the second half of this season, it was good to see her back in the fold. Even if we never get to see her again…

Lucifer finale: “A Devil of My Word”