Mama Morningstar is back!
After a surprisingly early skip week following the season premiere (thanks, Presidential debates), Lucifer is back on track and our titular antihero has the one person he doesn’t want back in his life on the other side of the table, so to speak: his Mum.
But Mama Morningstar (or Mama M)–played by the brilliant and beautiful Tricia Helfer–has had a time of it; we see this early on as she walks Luc through her trying time in finding a body. Of course, he doesn’t believe her, and why would he? She did abandon him when she needed him most. After a bit of back and forth where Mama M is wont to point out her new body’s “exceptional ass” that establishes some great chemistry that’s on par with what Luc has with Chloe, the pair backtrack Mama M’s story. They find another body which leads into the secondary story arc. Mama M’s current body belongs to Charlotte Richards, the primary owner of a big time Beverly Hills law firm. There’s nothing too interesting about the case, save for Lucifer’s emasculation of Charlotte’s Croc-wearing cuckold of a husband—though if he’s already a cuckold, isn’t Lucifer’s dressing down of Mr. Richards moot?
Anyway… while Luc may not be too excited to see Mama M, Maze is more than happy to re-establish her role as Hell’s torturer here on earth and, when tasked as the babysitter, she’s ready to get her medieval on but underestimates Mam M’s craftiness. Mama M escapes but gets tracked down by Liam, a twelve-year associate at the firm whose resentment at not being promoted was the driving force behind Charlotte’s murder and Mama M’s new body.
Like I said, not too interesting.
But that’s not to say there aren’t some very good stories on the periphery. Aside from Lucifer projecting his mommy issues onto Chloe’s handling of Trixie (more on that later),
Amenadiel is searching for answers on his powers coming up short and gets a pretty good dressing down by Dr. Linda. It’s good to see the writers didn’t forget about her emotions and how she’d feel after her supposed friend used her to get what he wanted. Though his initial explanation dismisses her anger out of hand, he eventually owns up to his poor behavior, asking for her forgiveness. He’s visibly surprised when she grants it but then we see that he has much bigger problems: at first glance, it’s as if his wings are moulting but taking into account the mystery surrounding his power loss and the wretched state of his wings, they look more like they’re dying than anything else.
Chloe is very much on the periphery in this one, her disciplining of Trixie putting Lucifer in mind of his own abandonment issues—why wouldn’t it, considering everything is always about him?—and, while not terribly original, it does give Chloe another peek into the oniony layer that is Lucifer Morningstar.
Yet the heart and soul of the headscratchingly bad titled “Liar, Liar Slutty Dress on Fire” is the story of a boy and his mum trying to make amends. Throughout the episode, Mama M always seems to be holding back but, after taking care of her meat suit’s would-be murderer (for a second time) and falling back to the club, she opens up to Luc. “I want what your father took from me,” she tells her son, “I want my home back.” It’s not enough for Lucifer though and he tells her as much. He needs more and she gives it to him in a major way.
It turns out that, after Lucifer’s little Rebellion, God wanted to destroy him but in her motherly wisdom, Mama M had the suggestion of banishing him to Hell. At first he’s put off by the admission but her sincerity combined with Chloe’s earlier statement about sometimes what’s best for a child won’t make him or her happy is enough to crumble that wall of anger and resentment Luc has harbored for so long. He doesn’t quite say it outright but, for Lucifer, it seems all is forgiven and mother and son are on their way to rebuilding their relationship. But can it really be that simple?
The final shot of Mama M is her staring up at the sky and her omnipotent ex, with a sly grin unequivocal in what it says: I’m coming for you, Hubby. And there’s not a damn thing you can do to stop me.
That begs the question: does Mama Morningstar truly want to mend her relationship with Lucifer or is it a means to an end? Is her greatest priority, her Moby Dick so to speak, taking down God? If that is the case, how well do you think Lucifer would handle a betrayal of that magnitude for a second time?
Those are a lot of questions but no answers. Lucky for us season two’s just starting and my estimations are that things are gonna get a whole lot worse before they get better. When it’s all said and done, somebody’s going to Hell. And maybe, just maybe, someone else will stop down from Heaven.
Talk about a family reunion for the ages.
