lucifer

“You want to die because you don’t want to be alone anymore.”

It truly looks as if Lucifer has found its stride.

You’ll have to thank the electric chemistry from the most unexpected couple in the show’s history for that…

And yet, “Til Death Do Us Part”, unlike what’s been the norm for Lucifer lately, contains fun and pertinent subplots. Hell, even this week’s procedural aspect is framed in a way that offers fun and some hefty character development between Lucifer and Pierce, a pairing that has really set the show on fire the last few weeks.

Getting right into the starting point, Lucifer’s determined to find a way to kill Pierce. Sure, there’s nothing altruistic about wanting to help Pierce; instead, it’s his way of getting back at God. The problem is that Pierce has tried (and failed) to stay dead since the Bronze Age. “I have tried everything,” he tells Lucifer and when one of those includes jumping into a volcano, I’m pretty sure everything is covered.  Even demon steel is no match for God’s curse on the World’s First Murderer, so what’s a guy to do?

As with life, things don’t just pause for the LAPD. Chloe and Dan introduce us to the case of the week; a suburban teacher is found dead in a wood chipper. Seems a bit cut and paste as things go…until we find out the victim was living under an assumed name for the past three years and her true identity was that of Sandra Jane, a chemist who worked for the Korean Power, a gang known for their distribution of K-Pop, a powerful form of Ecstasy, better than all the others. But how do you find information on a woman who was so good in keeping herself hidden?

Undercover brothers…or a celestial and a cursed human.

Just look at that “happy couple”.

Let’s not mince words, “Til Death’s” greatest strength is the fabulous chemistry between Lucifer and Pierce. We’ve seen hints of this from the beginning but now that the two are actively working together, the wonderful back and forth between them is even more pronounced. Pierce himself has, to me, been a bit of a boring character. His relation to the others—Ella, Dan, even Chloe—often come across as forced, stilted. True, part of that is purposefully done by him to prevent from forming attachments to people but it goes deeper than that.

Still, Lucifer brings out the energy in Pierce and their interactions as the new couple on the suburban block are both hilarious and poignant. Bravo to the writers as they cleverly weave in conversations between the two gents that, to them, is focused on their new partnership and Lucifer’s promise to Pierce, while the other folks see two men in love. It may not be sophisticated but I’ve found that oftentimes the simpler scene designs are often the most effective.

While Lucifer and Pierce steal the show, the subplot involving Charlotte, Dan, and Maze is also very well done. Even after months of readjustment, Charlotte’s still not quite back into a sphere of normalcy. Said normalcy comes under attack when Mazikeen comes across Charlotte and senses something wonderful on the woman. Her gaze towards Charlotte is like that of a lion approaching a wounded gazelle. That palpable sexual tension Maze often carries is dialed up further when she interrupts a date between Charlotte and Dan, not hiding her desire for things to become a bit more intimate…

It’s no surprise a demon can scent a person’s suffering and find it intoxicating.

That is, until Charlotte opens up to her on things. She is still out of whack and doesn’t know how to get back to being herself. It’s not surprise that the pain Charlotte feels is a beacon of deliciousness for a demon. Surprisingly though, Maze backs off, realizing that it wasn’t Charlotte she was attracted to, rather “it’s just my old life,” a life she doesn’t want to go back to.

The case itself is solved in two-fold: Sandra’s killer is Anya, part of the original couple that introduced Lucifer and Pierce to the neighborhood. Anya thought her hubby Brian (who was the neighborhood watchdog) was having an affair with Sandra. As it turns out, she was just his dealer. So case closed, where do things go from here?

One thing’s for certain is that while Chloe and Pierce may have had a moment a few weeks back, he’s not interested in furthering their relationship. We know part of that is his beaten down world-weary view. Thousands of years of getting close to people, only to watch them die has to be a draining experience. Pierce even explains this to Lucifer in one of the better scenes of the season to date. Lucifer understands that Pierce wants death because he can’t stand being alone and losing people anymore. The funny thing is that Lucifer doesn’t want to be alone either. But Lucifer doesn’t quite get the depth of Pierce’s pain. He’s only been on Earth for 5 years and has yet to truly experience loss. But the two solidify their partnership and are ready to move things forward. Pierce even allows the chainsaw back into play.

Compromise: the cornerstone of a great relationship.

Post Script

  • As a follow-up to the Charlotte/Dan thing, it was good to actually see some forward momentum between the pair. Charlotte admits to being a mess and Dan is very understanding, promising to be there when she finds her feet, because she’s worth it.
  • More and more it seems like Chloe is being relegated to a background character and I’m not sure why. Early on in Lucifer’s run, Chloe was a strong character. Sure, she can be boring but when you have a guy like Lucifer around, that works well. I understand the titular character should get the lion’s share of the juicy plot bits but even with what they’re trying to do with her ‘ship with Pierce, it’s almost as if the writers have lost interest in her.
  • This show may have found a true gold mine with the Lucifer/Pierce dynamic. Every time the pair are on screen together, the energy picks up. There’s no doubting these two have become the cornerstone for Lucifer going forward. And that’s not a bad thing.