OTPs make the world go round – and TV go round. And yet, very rarely are OTPs presented in an actual healthy, functioning way. There’s a lot of will they/won’t they, an abundance of drama, and who can forget the love triangles? Those are everywhere! And then, there are the exceptions. The ships that are established, that get the time to grow. The ones that suffer setbacks, yes, but that remain firmly rooted in friendship.
The ones that, when they finally set sail, you feel like you’re seeing the only way the journey could have gone. Yes, you’re excited, but you knew it. They were always headed there.
Deckerstar became one of those OTPs in Lucifer Season 5A, and we all rejoiced. It was particularly heartening that, with one season and a half to go, the show was finally going there. It presented us with the possibility of a lot of episodes of these two together, dealing with issues as a unit. It made us dream of seeing them as a supportive, understanding couple, instead of a drama filled OTP.
You know, basically the same thing they had always been, but with more touching, more kissing and less eye-rolling.
Then Lucifer Season 5B came, and the expected problems popped up. Lucifer’s Daddy issues reared their ugly head out, and for a moment there, it seemed like Deckerstar might become one of those on/off/on/off couples. Instead, the show, and the writers, made a groundbreaking decision. They decided to portray their OTP as realistically as possible, even in the midst of some very unrealistic setup. They decided to show them being supportive of each other.
Chloe, particularly, gets a chance in Lucifer Season 5B to take all that they’ve been through together, internalize it and use it to basically say: You know what, Lucifer? You’re not your worst parts. You are not your doubts. You are not your fears. And even if you want to believe all those bad things about you, I won’t.
I’ll just be here, supporting you, while you figure out the things you need to figure out.
Sounds shocking? It shouldn’t, because if we’re being honest, the show has done it before. Though Lucifer’s issues have always been at the center of this show, the truth is that we’ve spent 5+ seasons of Lucifer basically doing things for Chloe Decker’s sake, things that he didn’t think he wanted to do, or was even capable of. He’s made a fuss about them, which is why it’s sometimes hard to separate action from intention, but Lucifer has indeed always been there for Chloe.
Physically, by standing in front of danger for her, even when that put him in danger. Emotionally, by truly working on how to put her feelings above his, even when he’s lived a millennia convinced his feelings were the only ones that mattered. And though this hasn’t been a straight line, the truth is that by Lucifer Season 5A, Lucifer had indeed gotten to the place where he could be there for Chloe. Where he could be the support she needed, her safe port in a storm.
In Lucifer Season 5B, it was the other way around, it was Lucifer who truly needed her support. And not in the way he always has, with his petty grievances or his tiny misunderstandings of the way life actually works. No, Lucifer needed her support when it came to doubts about who he was, and who he could be. Parents always bring out the issues, and Lucifer’s Dad being present really did a number on him.
And he got that from Chloe. In fact, he got it in a way he didn’t even understand or felt like he deserved. He got this woman who loved him, who had faith in him, and who literally would not accept him selling himself short. “I am incapable of love,” he said, and Chloe was like, pfff, I know you, you are not incapable of love, next issue please.
But Chloe wasn’t a doormat this season, not that Lucifer would ever want her to be. She wasn’t just there to give him what he needed, she had her own arc, her own thoughts, and when needed, asked for what she wanted. But being in a relationship and recognizing that, sometimes, your partner needs you to focus on them, to support them, to believe in them, doesn’t make you any less your own person. Chloe recognized that, and so did the show.
In the end, what makes Deckerstar magical is that through five full seasons, and going into the sixth and last one, we’ve seen a couple that learned how to be partners, learned how to be friends, learned how to be a team, and are now navigating the relationship waters, and throughout it all, have proved that support, softness, caring …aren’t things that make a relationship less.
Fans don’t care less if a couple is supportive and good to each other. Fans don’t lose interest if people support each other through their issues. Fans appreciate couples that are written to be the standard, to be the exception to all the drama rules of TV. And Deckerstar is certainly that. This isn’t the only reason we love them – the list would be too long for a single article – but it’s certainly an important one.
Lucifer Season 5B is available to stream on Netflix.
