When one thinks of Fall, the first thing through their minds is start of football (college and pro). While I do the same, for me, Fall also signifies the return of first run prime time television. Such an exciting time. This week brings us the sophomore season premiere of Lucifer and while “Everything’s Coming Up Lucifer” is a bit slow in spots, we get glimpses of a few of the changes coming…and there are some doozies.
For those scratching their heads on how season one ended—here’s a quick recap of the season one finale:
- Detective Douche, errr Dan turns himself in for removing a gun from Evidence
- That same gun is used by Malcolm, the detective Amenadiel resurrected to kill Lucifer to, well, kill Lucifer
- Except Lucifer makes a deal with ‘Dad’ (or God if you will) to go back to Hell if he can just save Chloe and Trixie from certain death
- Chloe ends up killing Malcolm while Lucifer shares with Amenadiel (who was saved from dying by Mazikeen) that a five-star prisoner has escaped Hell. That prisoner? Mummy Dearest…
And here we are, two days later with Lucifer and Amenadiel teaming up to track down their Mum, who can only inhabit the body of the recently deceased. The search comes up snake eyes until Lucifer and Chloe fall into the first case of the new season: the death of Jillian, the stand-in for Amy Dodd, a teen superstar in the vein of Miley Cyrus’s Hannah Montana. It’s not a surprise that Luc sees his mother in it, taunting him with the retribution to come. Only (SPOILER ALERT!), it’s not his mother, just Roberta, Amy’s former disgruntled drug dealer and supposed friend/mentor for Jillian.
While the procedural piece doesn’t give us much, we are introduced to Ella, the new CSI who just so happens to truly be into her faith. She’s one of the only bright spots in the dull case-of-the-week and her perky, somewhat quirky disposition looks to offer a new voice and potential ally in Lucifer’s eternal gripe of being misunderstood.
But let’s talk about the most important aspect of the show—our characters. Chloe’s still trying to figure out what’s going on with our titular anti-hero, as he’d been bleeding out on a warehouse floor a few days ago. Now that she has his blood, she wants to find out once and for all what the hell’s going on. Luc doesn’t mind it one bit but Amenadiel reminds his brother that humanity cannot have proof of the divine. It won’t take much for him to freeze time, sneak into the police station and remove the blood sample, right? One small problem though…seems like his ‘Reality Freeze’ in on the fritz, a concern that hints at some bigger issues, similar to Lucifer’s vulnerability in Chloe’s presence. Even without getting the sample, Amenadiel shows a bit of angelic ingenuity in order to throw Chloe off the truth about Lucifer.
Making a spectacular return is Mazikeen who prevents a hooded figure from stabbing Lucifer. Initially she doesn’t tell her boss where she’s been, though hints at spending time with a female someone who’s helping Maze find her place in this world. She shares the same truth with Amenadiel, adding the need to get a bit of space from him as well. It hits the angel where he lives but, as mentioned, he has bigger issues on his plate with his powers starting to misbehave.
On to Chloe, it’s good to see our spotlight detective asking questions and not being so easily led astray. She knows something’s up with Lucifer, even going so far as to ask Ella on faith, doubts, and the truth behind the divine. Nothing’s decided by the hour’s end, but Chloe still has the vial of blood; we’ll have to see where she takes it but sooner or later she has to find out the truth. My bets are on the latter.
Now, to the star of our show. At first, it seems like nothing’s changed with Mr. Morningstar: everything is about him, including his usual tirade on how “it’s everyone else’s fault but mine”. It’s a tired spiel, one that needs an upgrade—characters need to evolve—and based on his admissions to Dr. Linda near the end of the episode, he may be coming to a realization that his choices have consequences, for good or ill.
And then Mummy Dearest walks through the door…
Yes, ladies and gentlemen…business is about to pick up.
Hit or Miss
- If you didn’t know, Lucifer always has some of the best lines on television and the Season 2 premiere is no exception. In his first conversation with Dr. Linda, Lucifer is quite distressed about his mother’s escape. “My mum’s gonna kill me. And before you say it, that’s not a metaphor. She’s literally going to kill me; she’s not the forgiving type.” Add to that, we hear the ‘once upon a time’ tale of Lucifer’s parents. That’s a HIT all the way.
- One of the issues with the tail end of season one was the apparent stagnation of Lucifer’s character. Sure, Tom Ellis was still great and his lines were wonderful but there seemed to be no character development—he never learned. Now, it’s only one episode but maybe, just maybe Lucifer will start to see that he’s partially to blame for his predicaments. So far, this is a HIT.
- Consistency is something many shows struggle with in regards to physical acts. No matter Chloe’s presence, Lucifer has always maintained his strength. Last year he tossed a 200lb man ten feet through the air. But this time around he can’t escape the clutches of an older woman choking him out with a poker? 100% MISS
