“I’m always gonna be the consolation prize for you. You only care about me when you don’t have Chloe.”
After weeks of unstable behavior and flashes of anger and disdain, Mazikeen is ready to go home. After all, home is where they have to take you in.
One thing Lucifer hasn’t really touched on in some time is the difficulty of a demon, a creature whose Id is to revel in pain and pleasure, adjusting to a world with so many rules. It’s always been surprising how Maze has been able to control her baser urges, with her explorations into physical pleasures the only proclivity she can explore without taking into account human consequences. But the weeks have been unkind to her and she’s finally hit her limit. Home for her is Hell and it’s where she needs to be. All Lucifer needs to do is drop her back down and she’d be happy as a pig in…well, we all know the rest of that saying.
Of course, where would the fun be if it were that easy?
Though he wants to help her, Lucifer is really toeing the line since the bomb scare a few weeks’ back. He doesn’t want to do anything that could possibly displease God the Father so no more trips to the great below. But it’s not long before Lucifer finds himself on a mission to punish his most trusted demon after it appears she’s murdered a bounty in cold blood. As he often does, Lucifer sees the evidence and without a thought to other possibilities, sights Maze as one that needs to be punished. Luckily it’s not as cut and dry as that. Not only does the case involve someone’s attempt at framing Maze but Lucifer has to juggle his emotions regarding Chloe and Pierce growing closer by the day.
In all honesty, the Chloe/Pierce thing, while a perfect conductor for drama, doesn’t quite draw my interest as I thought it would…not until the end at least. Much of this is on Chloe’s behavior around Pierce. Ever since his arrival, she’s played the stuttering schoolgirl, taking away so much of the fire we had seen from her over the past couple of seasons. It’s a step back for her character and I’m not quite sure even when this love triangle hits its zenith if we’ll see a return of the strong-willed Chloe Decker, the one whose potential relationship with Lucifer was a most interesting will they/won’t they.
“You wanted the truth, well there it is.”
I’ve always thought that the most unique aspect of Lucifer, one whose history has always had him dubbed as the ‘Prince of Lies’, is his hankering towards honesty. He never lies and, even after years down in the muck with humanity, hasn’t even figured out how to obfuscate. So, when Charlotte comes to him in an effort to discern the truth of her missing months, Lucifer lays it out there for her, in all its unbelievably simple glory. Towards the end, as she is trying to decide if Lucifer and Amenadiel are being truthful or she’s going crazy, Charlotte is blessed with the truth in a way that only Dr. Linda knows. While he no longer has his devil face, Lucifer’s wings are in fine working order and the fallen angel shows them off for Charlotte. The relief she feels at proven sane is palpable but, better still, the possibilities now that a second person knows the truth are endless, both for the show’s dramatic and comedic moments.
“No one puts me first. Least of all you…none of you deserve me.”
Though we may appreciate Lucifer’s comic bent, the emotional finale to “Orange is the New Maze” is one of the most effective avenues the writers have gone down all season. It’s a culmination of Mazikeen’s unsteady behavior the last few weeks. Her lashing out has been her way of dealing with the continued fracturing of her heart as well as a major callback to Season One. With Lucifer seemingly done fighting for Chloe’s affections, he adds that his refusal to take Maze home is also because he doesn’t want to lose her too. Unfortunately, Mazikeen sees it not as he wants her but that he can’t have Chloe. It’s a heartbreaking moment for the demon; the betrayal she felt at Amenadiel and Linda’s relationship is one thing but the reminder that Lucifer, the one she has loved for so long, seems to see her as a consolation for his true desires, is the final hit to her now shattered heart.
Thus it comes as no surprise when, on Maze’s way out of town, Pierce tracks her down with an offer: “I can help us both get what we want.” In her current state, there’s no doubt Maze will jump at the opportunity to gain what she wants. After all, Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned…
Or, in the case, demon.
Post Script
- I must say that the writers seem to have done a better job over the last few months with the procedural aspect of While not always interesting, the murders-of-the-week do a better job integrating the characters’ journey for the particular episode. Having a previous bounty’s mother try to frame Maze ends up being the culmination of weeks of her feeling more and more isolated from those who supposedly cared for her. Which leads us to…
- The star of the week. There is no doubt this honor belongs to Maze. After weeks of lashing out in behavior that was getting a bit tiresome, her emotional break was both brilliantly portrayed by Leslie Ann Brandt and also heartbreaking for her character as a whole. Since the series began, Mazikeen has always come across as the strongest character. To see her so vulnerable, especially if one considers her inexperience in dealing with such raw emotion, showcases the potential depths left to explore for her character. Teaming her up with Pierce only adds more layers of potential to her journey.
- With the addition of Pierce’s storyline, his burgeoning relationship with Chloe (who seems to be all-in with the relationship), and Charlotte’s inquiries into her past, something had to give. Unfortunately for Dan and Ella, it’s been their screen time. With a few exceptions, the pair have been relegated to leading extras, with few lines of interest and zero importance to either the procedural or character aspects of the show.
