Posts tagged: Lucifer reviews

Lucifer S01E08 “Et Tu, Doctor” REVIEW

Airing in the UK on Amazon Prime Instant Video, new episodes every Tuesday
Writer: Jenn Kao
Director: Eagle Eggilson

Essential Plot Points:

• Lucifer is becoming jealous of Dan still hanging around Chloe though he refuses to admit that it’s jealousy even when his shrink, Linda, tells him it is. He thinks it’s Chloe who needs the therapy to treat her addiction to douches.
• A lifestyle guru known as “The Cheater Therapist” is found dead. His shtick was that marriages could be fixed through the use of extra-marital affairs. Lucifer approves.
• Chloe needs to bring in a psychiatrist to help on the case. Lucifer manipulates matters to make sure Linda gets the gig. What he really wants is for her to “fix” Chloe, but she’s not playing ball.
• Chloe and Linda actually bond over their concern for Lucifer and both credit the other with helping to make him less of a dick.
• It turns out “The Cheater Therapist” was killed by a man in love with his wife. Lucifer gets to him to confess almost by accident at a group therapy session.
• Lucifer cannot see a parallel between the jealous guy and his own situation.
• Linda, who’s beginning to feel used by Lucifer, tells him that they must not sleep together any more, and their relationship must be kept professional.
• Lucifer learns about Amenadiel renting the office next to Linda’s and make the connection to Maze. He goes back to the Lux and dismisses her from his life.
• Meanwhile, Malcolm – the police officer who was saved from death last week – is recovering well and acting like a git, sneaking into Chloe’s house and warning her not to investigate the circumstances of his shooting further.
• His old partner appears to commit suicide, leaving behind a confession note about shooting Malcolm.
• Actually, Malcolm killed him and faked the note. He later meets Dan in secret. Turns out Dan was the one who shot Malcolm but for reasons yet unclear – leverage possibly – Malcolm doesn’t want to grass up Dan. Yet.

Review:

The green-eyed monster is everywhere this week. One of the tropes of American procedural drama – crime or medical – is having a lead character confront a case that reflects on their own life, usually a particular problem their experiencing at the time. So if a doctor in ER, say, is accidentally pregnant and considering a termination, they’ll end up treating a woman who has to have a hysterectomy. Or if a cop in LA Law has just been told they have early onset alzheimer’s, they’ll investigate a case involving a witness with dementia. It’s rarely subtle.

So you can’t help inwardly groaning a little when Linda diagnoses Lucifer with jealously and next thing you know he’s investigating a case involving a murdered quack shrink who encourages people to have affairs to fix their marriage problems. Of course the motive is going to be jealously!

However, things don’t pan out as you might expect. Lucifer doesn’t believe he’s jealous. He thinks there’s something wrong with Chloe for fancying Inspector Douche and tries to get Linda to analyse her. All these little lesson about jealously going on around him have no effect on him. Then at the big moment at the end of the episode – the point when the main character should learn from the “moral of the week” and become a better person – Lucifer just goes, “Nah, I can see no parallels between this guy and me.”

In other words, the show is taking the piss. And is does it very amusingly. It’s great fun watching Linda and Chloe ganging up on Lucifer, then watching Lucifer deflect their criticisms like water off a duck’s back. In fact, there is a slight re-emphasis on Lucifer’s character this week. Previously he’s been keen on gaining the human experience but now, having been through his “rebirth” he comes across as even more alien and disconnected than ever. What’s more he wants it that way, telling Linda he needs to put his emotional barriers back up. The result is subtly different Lucifer; even more devil-may-care, if that’s possible, and even less aware of how he affects those around him.

This leads to two highlights in the episode, both involving when Lucifer going off on one – all wrapped up in himself – and yet somehow ending up doing the right thing despite himself. The way he talks the guy out of committing suicide by telling him that his life couldn’t get any worse is comedy gold. Later he gets the murderer to confess by unwittingly pushing all the guy’s wrong buttons while delivering a monumentally self-absorbed monologue.

As with last week, though, it’s not all comedy at the expense of drama. Well, okay, when it comes to the crime plot it is a case of comedy at the expense of drama but you can let that slide because the crime plot is just plain ludicrous anyway; there was no way the investigation was going to be gritty and dark.

Elsewhere, though, the ongoing crooked cop storyline is darker, and largely, it works. It’s a bit of a shame Dan’s been revealed as the “missing link” because it feels like a rather obvious and cheap development. It also muddies the Lucifer/Chloe/Dan love triangle, potentially setting up a way to get Dan out of the frame. Unless, of course, there’s a noble reason for what he did which is more than possible. On the other hand, Malcolm has the potential to be truly interesting ongoing villain, especially if – as is hinted – he being manipulated by Amenadiel on some level. Certainly the arc plot is providing the real tension and trauma on this show.

It’s also good to see Linda take a step back from her involvement with Lucifer. She’s a clever woman and she seems disturbed by the way she’s let herself be used. It could be argued that what Lucifer is doing is form of rape but we doubt if a show as fluffy as this would ever want to open that can of worms. If it does, and opens Lucifer’s eyes to the fact compelling women to sleep with him is an abuse of their freedom of will, then we’ll be the first to applaud.

Lucifer’s had a run of good episodes now after a shaking patch. Hopefully this is a sign the writers have worked out the right tone and formula for a very unusual show.

The Good:

• Linda and Chloe ganging up on Lucifer.
• Loads of juicy arc plot developments.
• The two moments when Lucifer gets results without even trying (talking the guy out of killing himself and getting the killer to confess) were both brilliantly silly; the show should use Lucifer in this way more often
• A rebirthday is a brilliant thing to celebrate and we loved they way Lucifer had clearly stated on the invites, “Must wear wings!”
• “It’s like a fat man sitting on my chest… but not in a fun way.” There’s a fun way?
• “She’s verbal ebola!”
• “What are you? A girl band?”

The Bad:

• Dan being revealed as the mystery shooter feels like a bit of a cheap shot (excuse the pun).
• Lucifer working out that Dr Canaan is Amenadiel then making the link to Maze is all a bit sudden and convenient.
• Malcolm seems to be channelling Christian Slater just a little too much.

And The Random:

• This week’s devilish music includes:
  • “Rebel Rebel” by David Bowie – The opening scene at Lucifer’s rebirthday party at The Lux.
  • “Devil Like You” by Gareth Dunlop – When Linda goes to The Lux.
  • “Hellbent (feat Snowblood)” by Mystery Skulls – Lucifer confronts Maze at the end of the episode.

• There’s also a rock track playing when Dan and Chloe go to the bar where the cops are celebrating Malcolm’s recovery that is defying our Google-fu, but which contains the lyrics, “Call me up on your little black phone/Look for a big surprise.” More significantly, when Malcolm winks evilly, you can hear the lyrics, “Devil in your eyes”.

• Good grief Maze ought to keep an eye on where she’s pouring; this shot cuts away just at the moment she misses the actual glass.

• It may have just been an odd lighting effect, but are the soles of Lucifer’s shoes supposes to look a devilish red?

• When Lucifer says, “The royal ‘we’”, we did wonder if he actually meant that foul-looking gunk in the jar looked like “the royal wee”.

• The guy threatening to throw himself off a rooftop is played by Jim Rash, who played the outrageously camp Dean Pelton on Community.

• The Judge whom Lucifer shags to make sure Linda is assigned to the case is called Michelle Tourvel. Michelle Pfeiffer played Madame de Tourvel in the film Dangerous Liaisons which is arguably what the judge is involved in here. Meanwhile the list of names inside her file are once again all crewmembers on Lucifer; location managers and art department people mainly. As for why the murder victim’s wife is named after a ’60s pop singer – Sandie Shaw – we have no idea.

Review by Dave Golder

• Read our other Lucifer reviews

Lucifer S01E07 “Wingman” REVIEW

Airing in the UK on Amazon Prime Instant Video, new episodes every Tuesday
Writer: Alex Katsnelson
Director: Eriq La Salle

Essential Plot Points:

• The family of the comatose cop, Malcolm, whom Chloe is investigating for corruption, has decided to switch off his life support. Dan urges Chloe to close the case before he dies or her colleagues will never forgive her.
• Lucifer is having trouble tracking his stolen wings. After Amenadiel refuses to help him Lucifer turns to Chloe. They agree to help each other on their respective cases.
• The FBI discovers that Lucifer’s wings are going to be sold at an illegal black market auction for (mostly fake) religious artefacts.
• Lucifer and Amenadiel (his sudden change of heart makes sense with the episode’s denouement) try to recover the wings before the FBI raids the auction. Lucifer discovers that the wings for sale are actually only replicas of his own real wings.
• Amenadiel discovers that Lucifer can be killed, which delights him; all he need so is arrange for someone to kill Lucifer to force him back to hell.
• Lucifer realises that that auctioneer has looked at the real wings and now cannot bear to part with them; that’s why he made the replicas.
• Lucifer pays the guy a visit, recovers his wings and learns who tipped him off about them: Amenadiel.
• Lucifer burns his own wings in front of Amenadiel to prove that he has no intention of ever returning to Hell.
• Chloe, meanwhile, discovers that Malcolm was not a bent cop; there was another cop (identity unknown) at the shooting.
• When Malcolm’s life support is switched off, Amenadiel secretly intervenes to save his life.
• Maze promises to support Lucifer whatever… but she’s kept a feather from his wings just in case.

Reveiw:

Hallelujah! “Wingman” is the best episode of Lucifer so far, which is somewhat ironic considering it’s also the least funny. That not to say it isn’t funny – there are loads of great lines – but previously the main reason to watch an episode was the devilish humour. This episode, though, is more of a drama with comedy than a comedy drama, and the result is far, far more satisfying.

Not that the crime of the week is any less pish but at least it has the decency to use up the minimum screen time necessary. And while the “detective work” is the usual combination of guesses and sheer dumb luck, the “crooked cop” plot also benefits from having a resonance beyond just this episode. It’s part of Chloe’s arc (which, if the final moments of the episode are anything to judge by, will start dovetailing with Lucifer’s arc plot in increasingly unexpected ways) and so immediately comes across as more engaging than most of the throwaway crime plots we’ve been served so far.

The real driving force of this episode, though, was Lucifer’s battle of wits with angel bro’ Amenadiel, and his search for… well, ultimately it wasn’t a search for wings. It was a search for self-realisation. Ironically, the wings were stopping Lucifer from cutting himself free rather than letting him fly. Amenadiel hoped his ruse would make Lucifer remember his priorities; instead it has the opposite effect.

The verbal sparring between the two angels is top notch, because it’s not just bitching, it is two centuries’-old acquaintances trying to figure out this new dynamic. It’s like one middle-aged guy who’s happy with his lot trying to figure out why another middle-aged mate has dumped his wife, bought a sports car, sleeps around and goes paragliding every weekend. They do argue, but there is camaraderie there too. It’s a respectful rivalry that makes the scene in which Chloe meets Amenadiel for the first time – and tells Lucifer that his brother got all the charm – all the funnier.

Until the final few minutes this is a great episode. Then it becomes a really great episode. The last few scenes lift it to another level. Chloe’s speech at the (too early) “wake” is gutsy and makes you like her all the more. Then there’s a lovely scene with Lucifer and Chloe at the piano where they feel genuinely at ease with each other for the first time. Then Maze reaffirms her loyalty to Lucifer… which is nice’n’all but what she reveals next is what you really want from Maze; she’s kept one of his feather, presumably as some kind of insurance policy if he ever changes his mind. (Can angel wings grow back from single feathers in some kind of divine Jurassic Park kinda way?)

Then the most curious but oddly spinetingling twist of all: Amenadiel saves the life of the dead cop. You’d like to think he did it out of the goodness of his heart but you can’t fearing he has something more devious in mind.

The Good:

• This image above. It had to be done.
• The arc plot is deepening, the elements of the show’s “lore” – Lucifer’s coin, Amenadiel’s ability to freeze/slow time – are being brought back into play at relevant moments.

• Amendiel taunting Lucifer about the fact that Lucifer being mortal means Amenadiel could just arrange for some thug to kill him; the dark look on Lucifer’s face is brilliant.
• The little bit of boding between Lucifer and Amenadiel over St Paul is not just funny, it reinforces with deft ease the idea they were once good buddies:
  “Paul’s wrists were too thick to fit in those chains.”
  “I know. That man never could pass on dessert, could he?”
  “He should have been the Saint of…”
  “Honey cakes?”
• The two twists in the episodes’s dying moments – Maze still having one of Lucifer’s feather and Amenadiel saving Malcolm’s life – both leave you desperate to know where this is all heading.
• Lucifer doesn’t get all the best lines. Amenadiel asking, “Maybe I can ask Father for some rain and make it a moment?” when Lucifer and Chloe flirt is an absolute peach.
• Chloe and Lucifer are finally feeling comfortable around each other. As we’ve been saying since episode fun, they’re more fun when there’s mutual admiration and it’s not Chloe trying to catch him out all the time.

The Bad:

• Not too many heinous crimes this week, but most of them involve the heinous crime plot. Chloe discovering the “secret” exit and the dropped key was so suspiciously convenient you have to wonder if a) the original team of cops that searched the place were all brain dead or b) it’s all a big set up. Maybe Amenadiel’s plans are even more devious than we thought!
• How did the auction guy knock up a pair of wings so perfect they could fool even Lucifer in the time he had? Amenadiel again?
• In fact, Amenadiel could be a really handy “get out of jail free” card for the writers when it comes to explaining plot holes, couldn’t he?
• Ecxcept… why doesn’t he just kill Lucifer if he thinks that will send him back to hell. Expect some clarifying theo-babble on this front soon.

And The Random:

• This week’s devilish music includes:
  • “Talking Bodies (Young Professionals Remix)” by Tove Lo – Maz seduces Segei at the start.
  • “Before The Light Takes Us” by Darkness Falls – Lucifer, Chloe and Dan go to the site of Malcolm’s shooting.
  • “Get Some Freedom (feat. Dragonette)” by Big Data – Lucifer meets with Amenadiel before the auction.
  • “Getting Surreal” by The Fratellis – Lucifer and Amenadiel at the start of the auction.
  • “Hurt” – Lucifer plays the Nine Inch Nails song made famous by Johnny Cash.
  • “Breathe Into Me” by Marian Hill – as Malcolm’s life support is switched off.
• Director Eriq La Salle Dr Peter Benton in the medical drama series ER, and was a recurring character in the final season of Under The Dome last year.

• Considering how crewmembers’ names keep cropping up on props in this show, we’d bet that the “Reynard” on the poster on the left in this shot is a reference to location manager Tracey Reynard.
• Did anybody understand Carmen’s “pun” about the sky’s the limit at his auction? Then again, this is the man who calls St Paul’s chains “the missing links” so his level of humour is very low…

• We’ve been a little disappointed at the blandness of the episode titles of late. They’re still taken from lines in the episodes but they’re not as much fun or as quirky as some of the earlier ones (“Lucifer, Stay. Good Devil” and “Manly Whatnots”). Personally from this episode we would have gone for, “I Miss The Dress”.

Review by Dave Golder

• Read our other Lucifer reviews

Lucifer S01E06 “Favorite Son” REVIEW

Airing in the UK on Amazon Prime Instant Video, new episodes every Tuesday
Writer: Jason Ning
Director: David Paymer

Essential Plot Points:

• Somebody steals a shipping container killing a security guard in the process.
• Lucifer thinks the case is dull and refuses to play detective with Chloe until Maze points out that the stolen container belongs to Lucifer.
• At first he claims not to care about losing whatever’s inside but Maze says it will be bad for his reputation if it gets out that someone stole from the devil and got away with it.
• The warehouse from which the container was stolen is known to the police as a place where illegal goods are regularly stored, raising Chloe’s suspicions about Lucifer.
• When Lucifer refuses to say what’s in his container, Chloe throws him off the case and tells Dan to look into the accounts at Lux for anything dodgy.
• Lucifer goes off in a huff to see his shrink, Linda, but doesn’t like her advice so storms out of there as well.

• Amenadiel offers to help Linda help Lucifer; he advises that she treat him as if he really is the devil and gives her some Bible 1o1 revision tips.
• At the Lux, when Dan comes calling Maze knocks him unconscious then takes him to Chloe’s house and leaves him naked on the sofa. Maze thinks this will get them back together so Lucifer will lose interest in Chloe. Maze should never be a marriage guidance counsellor.
• Dan returns to the Lux and this time manages to go through the accounts, which are suspiciously squeaky clean.
• Anyway, the crime of the week plot is as rubbish as ever so there’s no point going into details, but it does involve Tom Sizemore as the leader of a dodgy biker gang who wants to go straight and start his own clothing line because being in the saddle all day is making his prostate problem even worse. Which actually sounds funnier when we put it like that than it does in the show…
• End result: Lucifer finds the slightly unconvincing biker who stole the container but the guy kills himself by jumping off a roof before he can say who put him up to the job.

• Chloe and Lucifer open up the container. Inside, there’s merely a chest of Russian dolls. However, after Chloe leaves, Lucifer opens a secret compartment…
• But it’s empty.
• Lucifer returns to Linda, who – unwittingly channelling Amenadiel – tries to convince him that he was always God’s favorite son, that his “fall” was, in fact, a gift and he should embrace his true nature.
• Lucifer, now clearly very upset, says that he can’t. In a cutaway, we learn that somebody has stolen his wings.

Review:

So, who’s swiped Lucifer’s wings, then? The revelation of what the trailer contained was a startling end to a meandering episode in which Lucifer did a curious 180° from “am I bovvered?” to “I AM SERIOUSLY, SPITTLE-SPITTING BOVVERED!”

Never before on the show has the poor devil been so harangued by all those around him about what’s driving and you begin to wonder if he knows himself. Linda – under Amenadiel’s tutelage – goes on the attack; Chloe admits she does like him but suspects she may have to arrest him at some point; Maze simply continues to be exasperated that he wanted to leave the fun of Hell at all. He tries to maintain his cheeky public schoolboy persona but increasingly people are seeing through it. He even tries to kid himself that he doesn’t care about the loss of his wings but when the possibility of them having been stolen becomes a dead cert reality, he cares very much indeed.

The key scene is Lucifer’s second visit to Linda, when he reveals what really motivated his decision to vacate hell. “He shunned me,” he says of his father forcing him to be the devil, “vilified me, he made me a torturer.” He complains that people perceive of him as evil but he has never manipulated people to do bad things. He’s merely the man who presides over the punishment. He’s fed up with centuries of bad PR, basically. Which is almost a convincing argument until you realise that what he’s actually saying is, “He made me do it.” If he was truly that bothered why not do something about it sooner? He may be God’s favourite son but he’s still acting like a spoilt child.

In one way it’s a great scene. In another way, it doesn’t quite come off, because Ellis goes into shouty, indignant mode which does little to dispel the “spoilt child” feeling. Maybe this was an occasion when some vampiric brooding and quiet anger may have served to make the character’s plight more sympathetic…

In fact, that’s exactly what we get all too briefly in the final few shots of the episode. Nothing says “brooding anti-hero” like a “framed against the city from a high angle” shot and the image of the amputated wings displayed like a pinned butterfly is haunting.

So the undercurrents of the arc plot are beginning to be whipped up into some exciting white water. The rest of the episode is business as usual. The crime plot is is dull and forgettable. Chloe rolls her eyes at Lucifer’s excesses and frets about Dan. Dan is the fall guy. There are some funny comedy bits and some clunky comedy bits. Trixie is cute but far too wise beyond her years. The end result is entertaining fluff but worryingly uneven. It still feels like a show in search of a consistent tone a real heart.

 The Good:

• The cross-cutting between Lucifer singing “Sinner Man” and the murder is a striking opening to the episode, even if Tom Ellis pulls some very silly faces while performing.
• You have to agree with Chloe that the biker guy’s greatest wish – to create his own clothing line – is wonderfully left field.
• The arc plot is taking some unexpected turns.

• It’s a fine episode for fans of the naked male torso. Is it after the Supernatural crowd?
• There’s the usual smorgasbord of great lines:
  • “Right, so, what unpleasantness filed this heap of unrealised ambition, then?” Lucifer is his usual tactless self.
  • “Just call me when you’ve got a murder with a pulse, or at least someone good looking.” Um…?
  • “I need your help like I need a third boob.” “Oooh!” “Wait. Don’t say a word.” Go on, say “Ding dong!” again.
  • “What was it, his memoirs? Some priceless porn collection?”
  • “Why would you think that putting me in her bed naked would get us to have sex?” “Always works for me.”
  • “This is the longest I’ve sat in a parked car and not had sex.” “Ew”.

The Bad:

• The crime plot is yet another case of interrogate/question suspect, learn name of next suspect, interrogate/question next suspect, learn name of next suspect, repeat until 42 minutes is up. Do the writers even care about the crimes of the week?
• “Howdy partner.” “We’re not partners.” Oh, we’re not back to that stage of the relationship again. Having Chloe as a constantly sniping non-believer is dull already! And this is before she learns that the container is Lucifer’s, so she doesn’t even have that excuse.
• Another scene in a bar, with Lucifer facing off against tough guys while Chloe rolls her eyes in the background. This show is fast coming a weekly checklist of its own repeated tropes.

• Lucifer’s rant at the end is a little… well, ranty. When it comes to Lucifer letting his “jocular” mask slip, Ellis has proved better in the past at understated anger and boiling resentment. Here the outburst is a little too broad.

And The Random:

• This week’s devilish music includes:
  • “Sinner Man” performed by Tom Ellis – Lucifer sings the traditional African American spiritual song (made most famous by Nina Simone) right at the start of the episode.
  • “Black Cloud” by Rise & Shine – when Maze presents Lucifer with the two Brittneys.
  • “Fame (Lovers Anonymous Remix)” by The Acid – when Dan returns to the Lux in Chloe’s clothes.
  • “Changed Man” by Michael Burks – Lucifer and Chloe head to Los Diablos biker bar.
  • “The Day Is My Enemy” by The Prodigy – Lucifer drives after Renny.
  • “Zvvl” by Chvrches – final sequence of the episode with Lucifer mourning the loss of his wings.
• You do have to wonder what that clientele at the Lux think when they go to the nightclub for some bitching dance grooves and they get the owner crooning instead.

• Contenders for single entendre of the week include, “Ooh, I love role play” (Lucifer) and, “If you come out back with me I’ll let you see whatever you want” (Maze). They really should have called this show Carry On Lucifer. Tom Ellis is more like a mix of Leslie Phillips and Frankie Howerd every week.
• There’s a moment in the episode when Linda appears to be able to resist Lucifer’s allure for the first time. Is this a side effect of Lucifer becoming “more mortal” or has Amenadiel surreptitiously given her some of kind of resistance? Either way Lucifer seems curiously unconcerned considering how much Chloe’s ability to resist him fascinates him.

Review by Dave Golder

• Read our other Lucifer reviews

Lucifer S01E05 “Sweet Kicks” REVIEW

Airing in the UK on Amazon Prime Instant Video, new episodes every Tuesday
Writer: Sheri Elwood
Director: Tim Matheson

Essential Plot Points:

• Lucifer, newly excited at his ability to feel pain, has become some bizarre sadomasochistic adrenaline junkie, desperate for danger so he can feel more human.
• Lucifer attends a fashion show where a shooter (apparently) tries to kill the designer, Benny Choi. Instead a girl is crushed to death as the crowd attempts to escape.
• Lucifer uses his charms on Chloe’s boss to let him help Chloe out on the case. Chloe reluctantly acquiesces.
• Lucifer is the only one overjoyed when it turns out that the crime involves gangs. He’d love to see the situation escalate into gang warfare just for the experience.
• Turns out that the designer Benny arranged the faux-shooting himself; no one was supposed to get killed but Benny was trying to frame a rival, Yellow Viper, who was just out of prison.
• Yellow Viper actually took the wrap for a crime committed by Benny a few years in the past; Benny got away with it back then because he made a deal with Lucifer.
• When Chloe learns this she tries to point out that Lucifer is indirectly responsible for the death of the girl at the fashion show for making deals with out considering the consequences. Her accusation falls on deaf ears.
• In bringing Benny to  justice Lucifer has helped Chloe’s boss in her ambition to be police commissioner. In return she makes him an official civilian consultant to the LAPD.
• Chloe gives in protesting and accepts that at least with having Lucifer as a partner she can keep her eye on him.
• Meanwhile we learn that Maze is duty-bound by her nature (or maybe her contract with Hell Inc) to protect Lucifer. She proves this by turning up at a crucial moment when gang warfare is about to explode and dealing with all members of both gangs single-handedly.
• However, she’s clearly starting to interpret the meaning of “protecting” Lucifer in a her own way. Fearing that his new lust for feeling human is endangering him, she wants him to return to Hell.
• So she meets with Amenadiel and tells him about Lucifer’s shrink. If he’s told anyone anything that might be useful to their cause, it’s Linda.
• So Amenadiel starts hitting on Linda, claiming to be a “Dr Canaan” who’s moved into the office next to her’s.

Review:

Finally, a regular episode that fulfils the promise of the pilot. The procedural plot is still utter pish but it’s also one of the least important things about the episode. Writer Sheri Elwood clearly knows this because at the crucial denouement she has the henchman breaking down in tears over the death of a pet pig. That pretty much sums up how seriously we’re supposed to treat the least convincing gang warfare plotline ever staged for TV. If this is “street” it’s Quality Street.

Instead, the episode concentrates on a) having fun, b) the arc plot, c) having fun, d) the character dynamics and e) …did we mention having fun? The best thing is, it’s not just Lucifer who gets to have fun. Thankfully, Mr Morningstar is back on fine form after last week’s worryingly clumsy attempts at comedy, but crucially everybody gets some great dialogue or moments to shine this time. Even some of the guest characters, including the befuddled barista who has to make a judgement call about the spelling of Mazikeen.

Chloe, especially, is everything you wanted her to be after the pilot but which she’s rarely been in the intervening episodes: sassy, smart, proactive and more than ready to give Lucifer as good as she gets. She’s now got the measure of the mouthy Mephistopheles, locking him in the car and telling him, “Act like a child get treated like a child.” Okay, he gets out but it’s the thought that counts. She also has no qualms giving him a slap when he’s going on about how he wants to know what it means to be human. It’s not her fault he enjoys it.

And, yes, the chemistry between them is back. The comic timing is back. The amusing exasperated expressions are back. They work so much better as on-screen couple with Chloe grinning and bearing the situation, rather than fighting against it.

The arc plot is also developing nicely in the hands of Amenadiel and Mazikeen. It’s easy to understand where Mazikeen is coming from and how she can argue semantics (redefining the context of “protect”) to push her own agenda. We need to learn more about her true nature, though. Lucifer’s speech about, “You exist to protect me. To know where I am and who I’m with at all times, whether you want to or not,” is intriguing. It makes her sound like a slave, but she appears to be a willing one. Why, exactly? The writers need to start joining the dots, because Mazikeen is now far too important an element in the ongoing plot for her to remain “enigmatic”.

It’s good to see that psychiatrist Linda has a bigger purpose within the show than just a running gag. Then again, she is falling for the charms of an angel again. It’s not like Rachael Harris being asked to call on a whole new range of acting muscles.

There are still cheesy moments, some clunky plotting and a couple of dodgy performances from the guest stars but “Sweet Kicks” feels like a show that rediscovered its groove after a few weeks of post-pilot teething trouble.

The Good:

• Chloe is finally on an equal footing with Lucifer when it comes to whose dominating a scene, even giving him a good old slap at one point (“I get it, you want to feel new things.” Whack! “How’s that?”). She also delivers the line that’s the whole crux of the episodes, responding to Lucifer’s butter-wouldn’t-melt assertion that, “People need to take responsibility for their own bad behaviour,” with a wry, “Yeah, people do need to take responsibility for their own bad behaviour”. This not only makes the central partnership more fun to watch, it also means Lucifer doesn’t have the monopoly on the best lines. Her snarky come-back to Benny was a class act – “I’m an artist. I process tragedy through my work…” “Would you prefer to process tragedy back at the precinct? ’Cause I have a holding cell that could really use an artist’s touch”.
• Lucifer still delivers some of the zingiests zingers though:
  “Excuse me. Hello. Firstly let me state that I am in no way standing up for my associate, detective Decker. But on behalf of myself and only myself, I think you’re a complete sack of ass.”
  “What is it with the men in my life.” “I’m a man in your life?”
  “There was immediate danger. He was about to leave this woman completely unsatisfied.”
• Lucifer even manages to make the innocent line, “Would you like a peek at my ledger?” drip with innuendo.

• However, best dialogue of the episode goes to Maze for her exchange with the coffee shop barista:
  “And your name?”
  “Mazikeen”
  “How do you spell that?”
  “Surprise me.”

• Better yet, the barista gets the last laugh.

• A “blinged-out pet pig” called Pig Diddy? Yep, there was some comedy gold this episode.

• Plus, Amenadiel proved that Lucifer isn’t the only immortal who like a bit of innuendo. Linda’s face is a picture when he says, “It’s settled then. You share with me, I share with you. A fluid exchange.”

• And though as a visual metaphor it didn’t make much sense, we did like the way’s Lucifer’s glowing eye became the tail lights on a police car.

• Depicting Mazikeen’s fight scene using shadows was a clever and visually effective directorial choice.
• Finally, the choice of Edwyn Collins’s mighty “A Girl Like You” for the final scene is truly inspired. When he sings, “You’ve made me acknowledge the devil in me/I hope to God I’m talkin’ metaphorically/Hope that I’m talkin’ allegorically” it near sends shivers down your spine.

The Bad:

• The guy playing Diego is really crap at sobbing acting.
• The procedural plot is yet another case of “suspect A leads to suspect B leads to suspect C…”
• We really need to learn a little more about Maze.
• Tonally, the show is still all over the place. Some of the comedy sits very uncomfortably with the gang warfare material. It’s not quite dark enough for black comedy but played too straight for screwball comedy.
• If Maze is duty-bound to protect Lucifer, we can think of a few occasions in the series already when her appearance might have been useful.

And The Random:

• This week’s devilish music includes:
  “멘붕 MTBD (CL Solo)” by 2NE1 (at the fashion show)
  “Money” by The Delta Riggs (during the scene at the Paddock Bar)
  “A Little Wicked” by Valerie Broussard (Maze & Amenadiel scene at the coffee bar)
  “Ghostcity” by Thomas Azier (Dan talks to Lucifer at Lux)
  “No Entiendo Na (featuring Griffi)” by Toteking & Shotta (outside Diego & Dani’s house)
  “A Girl Like You” by Edwyn Collins (final scene – Maze visits Chloe)

• Did You Spot? The coffee bar where Maze and Amenadiel meet goes by the puntastic name, “Beelzebean”. Another sign at the counter describes the coffee as, “Black as the devil, hot as hell, pure as an angel, sweet as…” and we couldn’t read any more. Any suggestions?

• Here’s a screen grab of Maze’s “real” face because we know you like to get a better look at this kind of thing.

• This has to be a coincidence, but when Chloe’s car drove past a building numbered 664, we couldn’t help but think of that old joke about the “neighbour of the beast”.

Review by Dave Golder

• Read our other Lucifer reviews

Lucifer S01E04 “Manly Whatnots” REVIEW

Airing in the UK on Amazon Prime Instant Video, new episodes every Tuesday
Writer: Ildy Modrovich
Director: Matt Earl Beesley

Essential Plot Points:

• Lucifer lets himself into Chloe’s house to cook her breakfast. She is not cool with this (and neither is her ex, not that he should have any say in the matter).
• After Chloe chucks him out of her house, he seeks advice from perma-horny psychiatrist Linda. She says he feel threatens by Chloe and he needs to take his power back. He interprets this as “Have sex with her”. Is he seeking advice or justification?
• Chloe is given a new missing persons case. Being a homicide cop she’s slightly mystified until she learns the reason why; then she’s mortified. The last person the missing girl was seen talking to was a motivational guru (aka, macho shyster) called Carver Cruz, who won’t talk to the police. But Lucifer – being a local celeb – has been invited to his latest presentation.
• Chloe goes undercover to the event with Lucifer as his “plus one”.
• Lucifer finds Cruz’s presentation – how to find a woman by acting like a caveman – ludicrous. He has a very public argument with Cruz in which he blows Chloe’s cover. They are ejected.
• However, Lucifer offers Cruz his nightclub for the post-event party. There, after some gun-waving activity, they apprehend Cruz. He tells them…
• “Oh does anybody actually care about the police procedural plots on this show? To cut a dull story short the girl has faked her own kidnapping for utterly unbelievable reasons, partly as revenge for Cruz taking her virginity then dumping her, partly for the cash. But he’d forgotten all about her – didn’t even recognise her face or name – when she came back into his life and he secretly fell in love with her (secretly because a steady girlfriend would have ruined his image/business).
• Anyway, in the final confrontation, Chloe watches as Lucifer dishes out his spiel on “justice” and goes all glowy-eyed and devil-ly
• Sensing that Chloe may be on the verge of believing that he is the devil, he urges her to shoot him, because she can’t hurt him. That’ll prove his story.
• So Chloe does shoot him. Only in the leg luckily, because it does hurt him. A lot.
• Lucifer’s quite sanguine about it all, though. The fact that Chloe can harm him just makes her even more fascinating to him.
• Maze is mightily miffed about this and doesn’t mention that Amenadiel has been sniffing around again, trying to find ways to convince Lucifer back to hell.

Review:

This week the crime plot is more ridiculous than ever. Not just banal but downright unbelievably stupid, with a twist that couldn’t have been more obvious if the video of the kidnap victim had had “REVENGEY EX-GIRLFRIEND” in DayGlo captions emblazoned all over it. Let’s not even get into the likelihood that a scuzzy motivational speaker who tells guys how to “hunt” for girlfriends by acting like a caveman would suddenly fall for the self-same girl he once callously deflowered for research. Who also just happens to need him to fall in love with her for her plan to work.

But that’s okay. Because, as previous episodes have proven, you don’t watch Lucifer for the police procedural. You watch it because Lucifer is amusing. Um…

Except this week, many of the comedy moments fall flat. There are a couple of good lines (“Really kept things up since Hot Tub High School, haven’t we? Ding dong!” “Yes of course, payment first”) but at crucial moments the spark’s missing. Especially when Lucifer confronts motivational speaker Cruz at his presentation. This should be a stand-out moment, bristling with brilliant insults. Instead Lucifer comes across like the politest heckler in the world. The best he can muster is “miscreants”. Seriously?

The problem is, when’s he not funny, he’s not charming. And when he’s not charming he’s kind of a creep. Admittedly, having the power to charm any woman he wants would turn him into a creep as he doesn’t need to be charming. Maybe that’s the point but it doesn’t make for a particularly endearing lead character. Lucifer may not need to charm his conquests but he does need to charm the audience. Maybe we need an episode where he loses his powers completely, not just over Chloe, so that a whole queue of women can tell him that he makes them nauseous.

Luckily, there’s a luckily. Although Lucifer’s more twit than wit this week, he pulls out a new card to play to keep the viewer on his side – vulnerability. It’s a vulnerability tinged with a darkness, sure, but the cracks in Lucifer’s facade are beginning to be the most interesting thing about him. The more serious moments in the episode are the best, especially Lucifer’s reaction to Chloe trying to touch his wing scars and later his reaction to being shot. His tirade against fake kidnap girl about level of justice is another strong scene, while his final, defiant promise to Maze, that, “The fun is only just beginning”, is downright ominous.

He actually appears to relish the idea that Chloe can harm him. Since Maze has revealed earlier in the episode that she “loves pain”, you’d think she might be sympathetic to Lucifer’s sudden interest in sado-masochism, but it doesn’t look that way. She’s had her best episode so far, showing extreme loyalty to Lucifer in the face of extreme self-righteousness from Amenadiel, but it looks like that loyalty has its boundaries.

Chloe’s level of disbelief also feels better explored this week, and the brief conversation she has with Lucifer about her atheism was well pitched if a bit of a cop-out (she actually sounds more agnostic to us). At least by the time she does shoot Lucifer you’re totally willing to accept that she’s confused enough to actually do it.

So, a fairly naff episode saved by some unexpected and very intriguing developments.

The Good:

• There are a number of moments in this episode when it takes a more serious turns and the contrast with the surrounding silliness is very effective. It hints at the dark underbelly this series needs to exploit. After all, the devil might be having a vacation but he’s still the devil. There’s a lot of history there (all of history, in fact…)

• Most chilling of all is the moment when Chloe tries to touch Lucifer’s wing scars and Lucifer snaps at her. For a few brief seconds Tom Ellis’s performance does a 180-degree turn and there’s a real, scary demon hiding behind his eyes. Through acting alone, Ellis achieves what the somewhat hokey “Devil Face” effect never does. Also, there’s a deep, deep sadness there too.
• Ellis is also great when Lucifer is shot, desperate not to let his genial, prattish mask slip, but clearly genuinely shocked.

• The Amenadiel/Mazikeen scene is excellent stuff too, not just because of the fight (Slow motion! Pointy weapons! Cod martial arts! Super-fast editing!) but because of the verbal sparring between the two. Maze’s very pointed, “No means no,” is her best moment of the series so far. Makes you wonder if she’s immune to an angel’s charms too…
• On a lighter note, the Lucifer nude scene was amusing and very aesthetically pleasing to a large percentage of the audience, no doubt.

The Bad:

• Some of Lucifer’s one liners this week are terrible (“When hell freezes over…” “I can arrange that actually”) and the gags about “dad” are wearing thin fast.
• This “twist” in the procedural case is embarrassingly obvious (mainly because there are no other guest stars who could possible suspects).
• Trixie is far too spookily “wise beyond her age” to be cute. We think she’s Yoda in disguise.

• Right, we admit that Lucifer’s interpretation of psychiatrist Linda’s sage advice is funny (“You need to take back your power” “I need to have sex with her”) it does make him come across like a phenomenal douche. The show needs to be careful with the the character because there’s thin line between making him a charismatic rogue or simply a creepy prat.
• The gag with the security guard fancying Lucifer was a decent enough gag until the script decided to pummel the subtlety out of it by having the guy go, “I’m gay!” YEAH WE GOT THAT THANKS!

And The Random:

• This week’s devilish music includes:
  “The River” by The Darcys (during the opening shower sequence)
  “Chains” by Rose Cousins (as Lucifer bursts into Linda’s office)
  “What Makes A Good Man?” by The Heavy (Lucifer and Chole walk to the Players Club)
  “Eye Of The Tiger” by Survivor (the subtle intro to Carver Cruz’s presentation)
  “Pro Anti Anti” by Liars (during the Amenadiel and Mazikeen scene)
  “Stay in My Corner” by The Arcs (Chole walks into Lucifers apartment and finds him naked)
  “Savior” by Sneakout (at the Players Club after party)

• Two name tags at the Players Club presentation are labelled Luke Barlow and Kelly McGlaughlin. Luke Barlow is an assistant cameraman on Lucifer, and while we can’t find a Kelly McGlaughlin in the credits we’re betting they work on the show in some capacity too.

• Although the “shower shot” is a now a cliché for building on tension in films and TV shows, rarely has one evoked Psycho so directly (even some of Chloe’s postures are similar to Janet Leigh’s in the Hitchcock film) without being direct pastiche.

• Also in the shower scene were clearly shown Chloe’s bullet wound scar from the injury she received in episode one. Later it’s also clearly on show when she wears the red party dress. One one level this is just a pleasing piece of continuity; however it’s now also a motif linking Chloe and Lucifer as they’ve both been shot. More to the point, Chloe shot Lucifer and and he shouldn’t have felt it. So we don’t think so many shots of Chloe’s scar this episode are a mere coincidence.

Review by Dave Golder

• Read our other Lucifer reviews

Lucifer S01E03 “The Would-Be Prince Of Darkness” REVIEW

Airing in the UK on Amazon Prime Instant Video, new episodes every Tuesday
Writers: Jason Ning, Jenn Kao
Director: Louis Milito

Essential Plot Points:

• At a swanky LA party Lucifer convinces a virgin sports star called Ty to spend a night with a lady who’s making eyes at him.
• Next morning the girl is found dead in Ty’s swimming pool, but Lucifer doesn’t believe Ty is responsible, so he calls in Chloe to help investigate.
• Together they discover that the guy’s agent paid the girl to sleep with Ty in order to make a blackmail video (his “no sex till marriage” shtick being part of his public image). But the girl liked Ty too much to go through with it and the agent “accidentally” killed her when he got angry.
• Meanwhile, an imposter has stolen Lucifer’s identity and is going round LA spending his money and ruining his reputation as a sex god.
• When Lucifer catches up with the imposter, he scares the living daylights out of the guy but Maze is pissed off that Lucifer doesn’t kill him horribly.
• Lucifer’s shrink points out that he’s starting to enjoy eking out justice rather than revenge. Lucifer is having none of that.

Review:

Here we go with that “difficult third episode”. After a show’s pilot introduces the concept and the second episode establishes the weekly formula, third episodes tend to be a case of “treading water”. That’s one hundred per cent what we’ve got here. The series is, for now, relying almost exclusively on Tom Ellis as Lucifer to tempt us back every week and once again the devil gets all the best lines – he is immensely fun to watch. But in all other areas this is simply “episode two take two”.

The Chloe/Lucifer relationship especially is just a re-iteration of everything from last week just in case we weren’t paying attention. There’s such a lack of progression it actually feels like a regression. It’s a bizarre holding pattern that could be played for laughs: there’s a lot of irony to mined from the a situation where Chloe doesn’t need to investigate Lucifer’s “secret” because he hasn’t got one – he’s been telling her the truth all along, she just doesn’t believe him. Instead the show seems intent on showing Chloe with furrowed brow earnestly performing background checks. Where exactly is that going lead? Up a dramatic dead end, surely, with Chloe looking like some weird obsessive.

Likewise the the fact that Maze thinks Lucifer is going soft is re-emphasised in a couple of scenes involving the Lucifer imposter. They’re decent enough moments in themselves – and it’s fun to see that Lucifer is more concerned that his sexual prowess is being put into question than his bank balance is being emptied – but they reveal nothing new about Maze or her relationship with Lucifer.

The procedural plot is another serving microwave meal drama: reheated, reconstituted, conveyor-belt-produced pseudo-nourishment. It’s easy to consume and acceptable if you’re not too demanding but really, we deserve something a little more inventive. If you judge a man by the quality of his enemies, then Lucifer should be judged by the fiendishness of his cases, and for the moment he’s getting things too easy.

It’s a shame to have to be picky about the show, and it’s certainly still an amusing way to pass 45 minutes, but it’s rapidly squandering the potential it displayed in the pilot. It needs something to shake it out of the comfort zone it’s so easily slipped into. Go on, episode four – surprise us.

The Good:

• Mostly the “good” this week comes in the form of Lucifer’s one-liners, including:
  “I’d be careful with that thing in the guest bedroom. There’s a good chance you’ll go blind. Unspeakable acts. We got a little carried away.”
  “Do I look like I’d eat a zany wing?”
  “Finally I get my Father’s beef with graven images.”
  “I can assure you he is in no way meteorological inclined. Apart from the whole Noah thing, and that was a one-off.”
• But especially: “Do I get a code word? You know, for when you take her down. If so, might I suggest monkey bottoms. Because trust me I can work that into any sentence quite naturally.”
• Lucifer’s shrink scenes remain amusing.

The Bad:

• It’s all very well expecting us to be invested in Lucifer’s transformation, but we haven’t witnessed him doing anything really horrible on the show so it’s difficult to care.
• The procedural plot is less than thrilling again.
• Chloe needs to have more of character than, “Irritated by Lucifer.”
• Lucifer’s barbed comments to Dan are so mean-spirited (and not particularly funny) you end up feeling sorry for Chloe’s ex.

And The Random:

• Sofia Vassilieva, who plays Ty’s on-off girlfriend Debra Macall, played Ariel Dubois, oldest daughter of Allison DuBois (Patricia Arquette) through all seven seasons of Medium.
• Seems that the episode naming convention on this show is to use a “quirky” line from the script.
• Music this week includes:
  “Beat Of My Drum” by POWERS (at the party after the girl jumps in the pool)
  “Monster” by Colours (at the party when Lucifer talks to the girl who doesn’t believe he’s Lucifer)
  “Delta Rice” by Oil Boom (between Lucifer leaving the crime scene and returning to his nightclub where Maze teases him about his imposter)
  “Back To The Way I Was” by Emily Bell (Chloe arrives as Ty’s agent’s workplace and discovers Lucifer is there already)
  “Where The Devil Don’t Go” by Elle King (during the sting on the fixer at Lucifer’s club)
  “Too Little Too Late” by PINS (while Chloe is studying the CCTV footage of Lucifer throwing Ty’s agent through the window)

Review by Dave Golder

• Read our other Lucifer reviews

Lucifer S01E02 “Lucifer, Stay. Good Devil” REVIEW

Airing in the UK on Amazon Prime Instant Video, new episodes every Tuesday
Writer: Joe Henderson
Director: Nathan Hope

Essential Plot Points:

• Chloe is trying to figure out Lucifer’s secret but he knows she’s been checking up on him.
• He also points out he doesn’t have a secret; he’s told her he’s the devil and it’s not his fault if she doesn’t believe him.
• On the other hand he’s still obsessed with discovering why his powers of persuasion don’t work on her, so he insists on tagging along on her next case to see what makes her tick.
• The case involves the murder of a film star’s son by the paparazzi. An paparazzo, Nick, who once had a run-in with Chloe (snapping her at her father’s funeral) confesses but neither Lucifer nor Chloe believe him.
• Amenadiel turns up, doing his freezing time trick as usual, to remind us that he’s in the show and pissed with Lucifer… and to set up the climax.
• The real murderer turns out to be one of Nick’s proteges, Josh, who’s been going to extreme lengths to make sure he get the scoop first, and he’s even engineered a death of someone famous to make sure he on the scene when it happens.
• Mazikeen taunts Lucifer about becoming too human, so Lucifer decides to enact his own form of justice on Josh.
• Lucifer springs Nick from jail and takes him to Josh. Then he gives them both guns and waits to see who’ll fire first.
• Josh pulls the trigger but his gun has no bullets.
• Chloe arrives and implores Nick not to shoot…
• …But he does…
• …But Chloe (to Mazikeen’s disgust) has gotten through to Lucifer who…
• …Summons Amenadiel who…
• …Freezes time (as is his wont) allowing Lucifer to stop the bullet hitting Josh.
• Oh, and Lucifer kicks Josh in the nuts for the hell of it.
• When time starts running again, Chloe hasn’t a clue what just happened but arrests Nick and Josh anyway.

Review:

“Lucifer, Stay. Good Devil” is almost the copybook episode two of a new US drama: the good elements from the pilot remain but they don’t seem quite as sharp and the bad elements seem even more annoying. It sticks to the blueprint to establish the formula. Annoyingly, though, the blueprint the writers seem to want to establish is one of the least promising things about the show: the police procedural.

Because once again we get a blistering performance from Tom Ellis as the “Jack the Lad” Lucifer with only the faintest grasp of human social niceties. He’s not just the show’s MVP he practically is the show. But his Lucifer is so masterful and witty and cunning and powerful that when you stick him in the midst of the kind of banal crime plots we’ve seen so far it almost seems an insult to him. This episode visibly strains under the pressure of not letting Lucifer solve the case in the first 10 minutes and – in striving to string the investigation out – lays bare the inherent dramatic pitfalls in the show’s central concept. The main pitfall being: you have to make the devil look a bit crap to stop him solving every case in the first act.

All of which suggests that if the show is going to settle for a weekly procedural formula, the fun could wear pretty thin very quickly. Especially if the procedurals remain this humdrum.

But there remains a lot to enjoy. It’s still very funny. There’s some genuine warmth between the lead characters, even if Chloe is trying to maintain her distance for the moment (that ain’t gonna last). And there are a couple of more chilling moments that suggest Lucifer’s perky persona is a mere mask he chooses to wear and that we could be seeing a far darker side to him in coming episodes. Indeed, when the mask falls off in a brief scene that he has with Mazikeen, there’s a great piece of acting from Ellis as Lucifer doesn’t just snap back into his public face when Chloe arrives; he visibly struggles to return to it for a couple of seconds.

There also seem to have been a couple of slight changes of emphasis from the pilot, one of them good, the other… well jury’s out. The good one is that Chloe’s ex, Dan, is no longer just a straightforward dickhead. He’s actually really supportive of her investigation this week. Good move, as the “antagonistic ex” shtick was already irritating by the end of the pilot. Also, it seemed that there was already a kind of sneaking bond and admiration between Lucifer and Chloe developing in the pilot but here Chloe is just downright suspicious again. It’s a shame because the Moonlighting vibe (“they bicker but they really love each other underneath”) worked well on a tonal level. However, that dynamic suits the cosy, unadventurous “cop buddies/police procedural” formula more, whereas with Chloe determined to get to the root of what the devil’s doing in LA there’s a lot more potential for interesting arc plot material to mine.

The Good:

• Lucifer is still very funny, and wonderfully schoolboyish at times (“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours”). And you know we said last week he reminds of the Eleventh Doctor at time? Never more so than, “Hello again small human.”
• But there are hints of a darker side to his characters which are clearly going to come more to the fore.
• “How do afford this place? Are you taking bribes?”
• Summoning Amenadiel at the climax simply to make use of his collateral time-freezing powers is a clever ploy.
• Lucifer turning the con-man street preacher into a “believer” is hilarious.

• Chloe’s continued embarrassment at having appeared in Hot Tub High School is very amusing (we’re bound to get to see a clip in a future episode, surely?)
• Good to see that Chloe’s ex is no longer being played purely as a dick with a chip on his shoulder. That was a bit of a shallow cliché in the pilot.

The Bad:

• The police procedural plot is a bit dull again.
• The antagonistic relationship is a little bit of a step back from the first episode.
• So what exactly are Lucifers powers?
• Trixie is a little too wise beyond her years to be true. Very cute, though.
• The typography on the film poster is no way an ’80s font.
• And “How will you graduate?” is a really rubbish tag line for Hot Tub High School. It’s supposed a raunchy comedy but where’s innuendo in “How will you graduate?”
• Nick’s motives for taking the rap for Josh are never convincing.

And The Random:

• Aside from Penelope Decker, all the other names on the poster for Demon Town appear to be people working behind-the-scenes on Lucifer. Shanna Mair (costume designer), Sean Rooney (Gaffer), Michael Bevis (construction co-ordinator), Randy Casano (construction foreman) and Tony Richardson (lamp operator) are all in the credits for this episode, while Mikal Williams (carpenter) and Marie Hock (costume assistant) are both listed on IMDB as currently working in US TV production and so presumably do work on Lucifer uncredited (for the moment). Susan Davis, though, is too common a name to be sure if she’s the same Susan Davis who does make-up work on films and TV.

• And here’s the top of the poster since we only got a very glimpse of it in the episode. Great monster!
• Oh, and it’s clear we’ll get to see Penelope in a future episode and already we’re thinking she’ll be a pushy nightmare.

• When Chloe’s spying on Lucifer in this night club he begins to play “King Of Pain” by The Police on a piano. Now, some people think “King Of Pain” is a reference to the devil (and about 95% of all music in Lucifer’s night club is devil related) but, to be honest, the song’s lyrics never seem to back that up. Instead it just seems to be about a man suffering from depression (with some lovely metaphorical imagery). However, maybe the real in-joke here is in the name of the band; Lucifer is playfully letting Chloe – a police woman – know that he knows she’s there.
• Other music this episode includes “Valkyrie” by Battle Tapes (“Dancin’ with the devil sweating gasoline”); “I Need My Memory Back”  by The Glitch Mob (feat. Aja Volkman); “Devils” by Say Hi (“the devil got my number and the devil got my size/And the devil got my head and the devil got my eyes”); “Fuji” by Minuit; “Sweet Providing Woman” by Paul Otten; “Ten-Twenty-Ten” by Generationals; and “Here Comes The Sun” by Jeremy Abbott & Louise Dowd.

• Since we got a better look at Lucifer’s Satan face this week we thought it was worth a screen grab as the internet like such things.

• Jeremy Davies (who plays Nick Hofmeister) is best known as Daniel Faraday in Lost, though recently he also played a recurring character, Ritchie Simpson, in Constantine.

Review by Dave Golder

• Read our other Lucifer reviews

Lucifer S01E01 “Pilot” REVIEW

Airing in the UK on Amazon Prime Instant Video, new episodes every Tuesday
Writer: Tom Kapinos
Director: Len Wiseman

Essential Plot Points:

• The devil, Lucifer Morningstar, is bored of tending Hell just because his dad told him he had to, and takes a vacation.
• He becomes a night club owner in LA (the city of Angels now has a bona fide fallen angel).
• He’s a very benign devil. Although not averse to using his powers of persuasion to his own advantage he also likes helping those he likes to achieve their potential. Even if this sometimes means tough love.
• So when a woman he helped to become a pop star is murdered outside his nightclub by hired hitmen he is determined to track down whoever paid them to do it.
• In the process he teams up with Chloe Dancer, a cop who used to be an actress, who’s also investigating the case.
• Lucifer recognises her because he’s seen he topless in Hot Tub High School.
• But her breasts aren’t the main thing he finds fascinating about her; she is also immune to his powers.
• Eventually they find the culprit; the pop star’s record producer who figured her death would increase sales of her album and his royalties. When they try to arrest him he repeatedly shoots Lucifer who remains unharmed. Chloe finally believes he may be the devil… especially when she gets fatally shot too and he saves her life.
• (Side details: Chloe has a daughter who instantly adores Lucifer despite the fact he hates kids; she also has an idiot of an ex who’s also a cop and who constantly tries to belittle her.)
• Oh, and another angel, Amenadiel, keeps turning up and trying to get Lucifer back to hell where, apparently, things are going to… erm… hell (sorry).

Review:

Lucifer is a comedy drama. On the basis of this first episode it’s nailed the comedy part of that combination but may have some work to do on the drama. There’s no denying this opening episode is massively entertaining, but the by the end of the pilot we have yet another investigative duo comprising a “quirky” male and a female cop, like we haven’t have enough of them already (Castle, The Mentalist, Sleepy Hollow, etc, etc, etc…). Which wouldn’t be so bad if the case-of-the-week had something special to offer. It doesn’t. It’s serviceable but ploddingly linear.

Luckily the show has a central character more than capable of carrying the show in the absence of a thrilling plot. Hell, not just carry it, but throw it into the stratosphere. Admittedly, a horny devil (gag © The Witches Of Eastwick) is an easy character to write, but Tom Ellis’s posh public schoolboy take on old Nick oozes charm, even when he’s being a complete dick. There’s the definite sense that without his powers his chat up technique would be deeply creepy but also that Lucifer himself is unaware of this, and the resulting misplaced self-confidence becomes oddly appealing in itself.

If anything, this devil is like Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor (but with more of a sex drive); not quite as in touch with the world as he thinks he is, not quite as tune with what makes people tick as he thinks and charming in a childlike way. Never is this parallel clearer that when he tells Chloe that he hates children, then remembers that she has one, and backtracks,“Yours is fine. I’m mean, nothing to crow about but nothing to be too embarrassed about either so that’s quite good, isn’t it?” But also when Chloe’s ex tells him, “I don’t know whether to laugh or shoot you,” and he replies, “Surprise me,” he sounds suspiciously like a certain Time Lord. Maybe it’s the accent. Even Chloe asks if he’s from “Planet London.”

Lauren German impresses in the more difficult “straight man” role. It’s actually quite refreshing to spunky female character who isn’t all kick-assy. Sure, she waves a gun on occaions, but Chloe’s more interesting because of her obvious inner grit and determination and he ability to call Lucifer out when he acting like an idiot. She casts a spell over the viewer every bit as much as the devil does.

So it’s slick, witty, glossy, sexy, fast-paced fun with a hint of will-the?/won’t-they? and the occasional smuttiness. But for once, the devil is not in the details; this is not a show that deals in subtlety. From the reveal that bar-demon Mazikeen is being pleasured down below during her opening conversation with Lucifer, to Lucifer pondering out loud, “Now do you think I’m the devil because I’m inherently evil or just because dear old dad decided I was?” and Amenadiel threatening all-out war in the coming plot arc, this show lays it on thick.

But you know what? If future episodes remain as beguiling bonkers as this opening one, it’ll probably get away with paper thin plots and gear-crunching plot mechanics. Sometimes broad comedy is preferable to deep themes.

The Good:

• It’s very funny in places. The comedy highlight has to be the way Lucifer convinces 2Vile’s butler to let him into the house:
  “I’’m here to see the man sadly known as 2 Vile. Is he in?”
  “I’m sorry sir, he’s unavailable. He’s in mourning, I’m afraid.”
  “I have narcotics for him.”
  “Right this way sir.”
• Though you have to love the fact that Lucifer doesn’t moderate his language with kids:
  “My name’s Beatrice. But everybody calls me Trixie.”
  “That’s a hooker’s name.”
• The psychiatrist is hilarious too.
• Tom Ellis makes a very amusing, roguish and charming Lucifer with just enough cracks in the veneer to stop him being a complete caricature.
• Lauren German is great as Chloe Dancer too. Better yet, there’s a great chemistry between the two of them. Let’s hope they don’t get too mushy too soon because the Moonlighting-style bickering leads shtick is very watchable.

The Bad:

• The police procedural plot is wafer thin. If the show’s going to be case-of-the-week it’ll need to sharpen up in this department.
• Lucifer describes himself as, “I’m like walking heroine. Very habit forming. It never ends well.” Which is an excellent line but actually he seems more like walking Rohypnol, using his charm to make overpower women and make them want to sleep with him. Okay, this may be taking things to a PC extreme – and he is the devil, so he’s supposed to be a dodgy geezer – but there’s something a little distasteful about the way women throw themselves at him. Hopefully Chloe will call him up on it in a future episode.
• Occasionally it tips over from funny to downright stupid. The 2Vile scene could only work in a comedy because it would never play out like that in a straight drama.

And The Random:

• Lucifer is very, very loosely based on the character created by Neil Gaiman for The Sandman comics, though the series owes more (though not an awful lot more) to the Lucifer spin-off series written by Mike Carey.
• Director Len Wiseman also helmed the four Underworld movies, plus the pilots for Sleepy Hollow and the new version of Hawaii Five-0.

• DB Woodside is previously best known for playing Principal Robin Wood in the final season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Wayne Palmer (brother of President David Palmer) in 24 and Jeff Malone in Suits.

• The symbol of Christ on one side, and symbol of the Devil on the other. Two sides of the same coin, geddit? This show really doesn’t do subtlety.

• And talking of not doing subtlety… FALL1N1… fallen one…?

• Dear lord, what is that mutant Duckman/Spider-Man plastic statue thing? It’s freakier than a season of Hannibal.

Review by Dave Golder