Hello, everyone, and welcome to Part One of Fangirlish’s four part episodic review of Lucifer Season 5!
Before we get into the nitty gritty, I would like to give a small disclaimer and state that I am writing these reviews in real time. This means that, at the time of writing this review, I do not know what will happen in the episodes that follow.
I do not know if my complaints will be addressed in literally the very next episode.
I do not know if certain aspects of the plot are going to shift.
I do not know if my speculations are accurate or way off base.
I figured it would kind of spoil the fun of reviewing if I already knew what was going to happen next before I reviewed the episodes, y’know?
So!
Bearing that in mind, come on this journey with me, friends, and we will react to Lucifer Season 5: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.
The Good
There were so many things I loved about these episodes, but I think the main thing that I have scribbled all over my notes that I took while watching is that Chloe knows Lucifer.
She knew, almost immediately, that something was off about this guy – our Queen, the absolute legend that is Chloe Decker, knew instantly that that was not Lucifer. I really, truly appreciate that the writers didn’t allow that whole charade to drag on because we all know that Chloe is too smart to be tricked by a gag like that – especially when Michael was so freaking bad at pretending to be Lucifer.
As in love with Lucifer as she is, and as badly as she wanted it to be him, Chloe knows her devil. She knows him and she trusts him, and I absolutely love that about this ship.
And, listen…yes, I so badly wanted it to be Lucifer who came to Chloe’s rescue at the end of Really Sad Devil Guy, but you could tell from the moment their eyes met that it just wasn’t Lucifer (which is totally a nod to Tom Ellis’ acting, because these subtle differences between these two characters are just everything to me, and they really make the whole plot work).
Thousands of years spent apart or not, Lucifer has always and will always look at Chloe like she hung the moon. We have seen how Lucifer responds to Chloe being in danger – he becomes furious.
The man who “saved” Chloe was too cold to be Lucifer.
When he and Chloe locked eyes, that look of complete and utter devastating longing was completely missing. Their kiss was lackluster. You know that when Lucifer truly reunites with Chloe, he will be overwhelmed by her – he always is.
He would never, ever be able to seem cool toward Chloe.
Lucifer’s heart is completely exposed when Chloe is around, whether he likes it or not.
And, you know what?
I’m glad that wasn’t him, because I would have been devastated if that was their reunion, because no amount of time could ever, ever make Lucifer Morningstar unaffected by Chloe Decker.
We see evidence of this when he was in Hell, reminiscing about their time together – the time they lost. We see it as he desperately tries to help with her case from Hell because it makes him feel close to her, despite how torturous it is for him to be reminded that he isn’t on earth, in Los Angeles, working that case with her.
Lucifer has never stopped loving Chloe, even if he’s maybe forgotten everything she showed him about who he is, and what he does or doesn’t deserve.
Lucifer still hasn’t forgiven himself for humanities sins. Hell is Lucifer’s Hell loop, and he is bound and determined to punish himself for all of eternity because he believes it means that he can’t disappoint the people he loves – that they are safer without him.
He can’t see the damage his absence has done to the people he left behind. Chloe isn’t better off without him, Maze is an absolute mess. I don’t know what Linda’s deal is with Charlie, but she’s clearly putting entirely too much pressure on herself and Charlie to ensure that he lives up to his celestial heritage.
I love that the writers didn’t have everyone go on “business as usual” without Lucifer. His absence from their lives is noticeable, palpable, and I think that’s often something that shows skip over. It would have been such a disservice to Lucifer to have the people he loves move on with their lives without him like he left no lasting impact on them.
The Bad
Dan.
Like, okay, this isn’t a huge deal because it’s such a small, teeny aspect of the show, but I don’t like this watered down, peace and love, self-help guru version of Dan. I understand that Lucifer is meant to have comedic relief, but I just think that this Dan is a waste of his character and serves no purpose to the story.
I get it: Dan went through some serious shit and he needed to find a way to deal with those things in a healthy (debatable), constructive way, but this is just…
I don’t know, guys.
It just isn’t my favorite thing, thus far. I really hope they find a way to make Dan useful to the story again because, right now, he’s a bit of a throw away gag and it just isn’t doing it for me.
I’m also not on board with Maze betraying Chloe.
I understand her being angry with Lucifer for leaving her behind without so much as an explanation or a goodbye, but for her to be so willing to have Chloe, who has been by her side since he and Eve left her, be collateral damage so that she can get her revenge is not a good look.
And, I’ll be honest, there was a very brief moment when I was really scared that Maze wouldn’t step in to stop Michael from manipulating Chloe into sleeping with him. Frankly, I was disappointed that she didn’t immediately say something to Chloe when Chloe ran the idea by her. I’m glad she did, eventually, stand up to Michael and tell him she wouldn’t allow him to do it, but…
She should have told Chloe the truth about Michael right then and there.
Considering Chloe knew, at that point, that Michael wasn’t Lucifer, I imagine she was also pretty freaking disappointed that her friend and partner was going to let her go through with that.
It just left a really icky feeling in my chest and I really want to see Maze come back around because I was super looking forward to the Maze and Chloe duo.
The Ugly
Finally, we’ve come to the worst of the worst.
My biggest critique (thus far).
This one is a doozy.
It’s a major plot point that I am not loving, and I really hope they rectify this one as the season progresses.
It’s still early in the game, y’all – they can turn this around.
But here goes:
I don’t love Michael’s motivation for screwing with Lucifer’s life and loved ones. I think the writers were thinking far too small with that little nugget (and I do mean little).
While I was watching, I was taking notes for this review, and I was frantically scribbling down speculations and theories while I watched, and I found myself going off about why Michael became so intent on targeting Chloe, specifically.
I began to think about how Chloe is the only person who makes Lucifer vulnerable, which made me think about the ongoing rivalry between Lucifer and Michael, and Michael’s loathing toward Lucifer, and then…
Well, then I started to wonder if Michael was going to try to use Chloe to defeat Lucifer once and for all.
I thought that maybe Michael wanted to win Chloe over, manipulate her to his side, so that she might work alongside him to take Lucifer down (and, of course, by that I mean kill him).
Buuuuut then Michael himself said that he just…wanted to prove that Lucifer is selfish and unworthy of praise and that was all he wanted.
Like…literally.
That’s it?
Childsplay.
Complete and utter petty nonsense when this show has an entire celestial universe at its disposal – a rivalry that has existed basically since the dawn of time!
Two brothers who have gone to literal war against each other!
And we get, ”Lucifer sucks and I’m mad that people like him now – MEH!”
I found that pretty disappointing, if we’re being honest.
I hope that, in the episodes to come, as Michael becomes increasingly frustrated and jealous, we see his motivations and his plans grow and evolve to make him into the villain that I know he has the potential to be.
It’s just such a waste to just have him be this whiny pissbaby, alright?
A waste.
Final Thoughts
I loved these episodes.
I loved being in Hell with Lucifer, watching him work to help solve the same crime as Chloe, despite literal time and space and worlds separating them. I think that is such a cool way to keep Lucifer involved in the story taking place back on Earth while simultaneously prolonging his stint in Hell.
Despite my critique of his motivations, I’m really loving Michael as a character. That scene of him staring at himself in the mirror, practicing his Luciferisms, is so freaking chilling – I’m obsessed with it.
I really hope they delve a little deeper into Michael’s darkness and play around with that more in the episodes to come, because he has so much potential to just be this massive supervillain and I would really love to see him move away from just being the derpy, jealous, loser brother.
Based on Amenadiel’s warning to not underestimate him, I think it’s safe to say that we will see a lot more from Michael as the season progresses, and I’m so excited to see what he does next.
Bring on episodes 3 and 4!
Lucifer is available to stream on Netflix.
