We are at the foot of the canyon one more day with Lucifer! After yesterday’s review and 5 scenes you can’t miss, it’s time to review Lucifer 5×12 “Daniel Espinoza: Naked and Afraid.” An episode that is filler, that has a wonderful premise but that they don’t know how to execute as it deserves and ends up being an episode which passes without pain or glory.
Here we go!
You know that Lizzie and I are taking turns in reviews. She would probably be much nicer than me to Lucifer 5×12 review: “Daniel Espinoza: Naked and Afraid” but this review is mine so …
Yeah, I didn’t like this episode. No way. It’s just bad. Like…SO BAD.
I think it is an absurd, ridiculous episode, funny at most and absolutely far from the enormous quality that Lucifer has, especially Lucifer Season 5B. It is my least favorite of this part of the season.
For me, it is an episode similar to episode 4. A special episode, one of those that you only watch once and because they are part of the season. But you don’t repeat again because it just … doesn’t make sense to do it.
From Lucifer 5×12 “Daniel Espinoza: Naked and Afraid” only the final scene between Lucifer and Dan is worth it. Nothing more. If you want to save almost an hour of your lives, go straight to that final scene. I wish someone had given me the same advice.
Being a Dan-centric episode, I didn’t know what to expect but not … this. I have to say that the plot of Lucifer’s revenge against Dan seemed pretty absurd to me from the second one. I mean, from the moment we saw Lucifer preparing revenge in episode 8, the scene where he laughs evilly made me roll my eyes. It seemed like a ridiculous plot to me.
So you can imagine why centering Dan’s episode on that revenge, making it so important to dedicate an entire episode to it, didn’t work at all for me.
And it makes me sad. I mean, Dan deserved better, considering everything that happened afterward. But an episode that is so bad and so absurd that it makes you laugh just for that was not what Dan deserved as a big send-off in Lucifer Season 5B.
I understand the premise, I really do. Dan needed to learn that he made many serious mistakes in his life but that he is not a bad person. Dan had to learn that his first instinct is not to be evil, but to try to do the right thing. But did they really have to show it like this? The answer is no.
There are literally many other plots to show this by showing us a funny and emotionally deep episode, but it’s not utter ridiculous. I was about to stop the screneer several times because I was just tired of nothing making sense. And that’s not a good sign.
The problem is not comedy. That is, Lucifer has always mixed comedy with drama and emotionally insightful situations. For sample, it is not necessary to go very far. Episode 11 was the perfect balance between that comedy point that makes you laugh out loud and scenes that just bring you to tears.
The problem is that they focus an entire episode on something that should have remained a mere anecdote and they intend leads us to some kind of emotional epiphany about Dan that is simply not achieved in Lucifer 5×12 “Daniel Espinoza: Naked and Afraid.” I have to connect emotionally with the character, with the plot, with the episode, to have that emotional epiphany, for it to work for me.
In this episode I didn’t connect at all with the character, or with the story, or with anything. It is as if they have taken the show and detached it from everything, leaving it completely empty. Just comedy, nothing emotional, nothing remarkable, nothing that leads to something more complex. Just hoping that we will at least laugh at the situations Dan has to face.
And I don’t watch Lucifer for the comedy. It’s part of the show, which gives it that spark that makes the difference, but I don’t watch it for that.
And we laughed? Probably yes. But only because it is such an absurd and implausible situation that a smile escapes you. I think it’s the only thing about this episode. Which can be described as “fun”.
That and Kevin Alejandro who shows us one more facet as an actor and you can really see that he is perfectly capable of developing in several different registers and appreciating him much more as an actor, giving him the credit that he deserves and that he is rarely given.
But I expected much more from an episode that must have been key to the character of Dan and his farewell after so many years. And I’m sorry that they have not done justice to the character or to his story. It saddens me that this was his farewell. And I’m sorry that they did not even know how to connect the viewer with this emotional epiphany that we needed to have about Dan or, at least, have shown it as they should.
So Lucifer 5×12 “Daniel Espinoza: Naked and Afraid” is a strange episode. With a promising and really good premise as is the fact that Dan realizes that he is a good person and that his old mistakes don’t define him, but they lost that premise trying to force the episode to be super fun.
This being the case, yes, we can define the episode as funny … but also as hollow, empty, like a shell that you open and it has nothing inside. That is never good. It’s not a good sign when you can only define one episode as “funny.” It is not a good sign when I want to stop an episode or when I often think “what am I watching?” You don’t have to force things. Lucifer never does and they always offer us episodes with tremendous quality.
It is too noticeable that in Lucifer 5×12 “Daniel Espinoza: Naked and Afraid” they tried to force a comedy that did not fit with the episode, or with the tone, or with the plot or with anything and is not even balanced. So this episode doesn’t work for me and it just makes me roll my eyes and occasionally pull out a smile.
The only thing that works is that last scene. Dan and Lucifer. Dan has that epiphany that he needed about himself. He needed this. He was somehow very lost since he lost Charlotte. He had never found his place in the world again. The ground rose over his feet in that moment and he could never bring it back together.
But now he can start to do it. He can be more sure about who he is and try to get rid of that guilt that he carries because he is not a bad person. He’s just a good man who made mistakes. He is only human.
And I absolutely loved this conversation between Lucifer and Dan. Lucifer may still consider him “detective douche” and may continue to pick on him but in reality, he appreciates him and would be willing to do anything for him.
This revenge was hardly a game, a practical joke. Lucifer appreciates Dan and vice versa. And thinking about where we started with these two and where we have arrived … that does put tears in my eyes.
So yeah, funny episode but nothing more. Dan deserved more. We deserved more. It is a pity that Dan’s beautiful and necessary epiphany has been shown in such a way devoid of emotion.
Take my advice and save yourself this episode, go straight to the final scene. If you don’t, it will be wasted time that you can never get back.
Special mention to the money Lucifer spent to make this revenge possible. I mean, we knew he was a millionaire but, my gosh, not so much. And Dan and Trixie are the cuteness.
And here ends our Lucifer 5×12 “Daniel Espinoza: Naked and Afraid” review. We will be back tomorrow with a new one!
Agree? Disagree? Don’t hesitate to share it with us in the comments below!
Lucifer Season 5B is available to watch on Netflix.
