Lucifer season 4 came out on Netflix two days ago, and now that the dust has settled, it’s time for a proper episode-by-episode review of the new season.
Get a drink. Ready? Here we go!
This post contains spoilers. Each episode contains spoilers to that episode and any episode before it. In order to avoid spoiling the season, the episode reviews are separated by episode – do not read reviews for episodes you haven’t watched yet unless you don’t mind spoilers.
Episode 1 – “Everything’s Okay“
The new season picks up where we left off. Well… nearly where we left off. It’s been a month since the events of A Devil of My Word, and as it turns out, not much has happened in it. Chloe skipped town, taking her daughter, Trixie, with her and leaving the rest of the team in the dark. Lucifer has been coming to crime scenes ever since then in the hope she comes back so they can talk it out, but as this episode begins, he’s beginning to lose hope it’ll ever happen. Of course, that’s when Chloe surprises him by coming back.
To me this episode felt a bit like a slow start to the season, especially after that explosive season 3 finale, but perhaps it’s just meant to ease us into the new season. It almost feels like taking a moment to treasure everything we’ve almost lost – that adorable Ella/Lucifer relationship; Lucifer taking the wrong things from therapy; that Lucifer-Chloe banter (including her rolling her eyes at him, because it’s as natural as they come); the friendship between Maze and Linda; even Amenadiel flying down to join the gang. Nearly every element – be it a location, a relationship or a person – gets a moment to be the centre of attention. It’s a lovely touch for the fans, but it does lead to a slightly slow episode.
Lucifer’s behaviour in the episode is fairly, well, Lucifer. He’s clearly trying too hard with Chloe, but under the current circumstances, it’s understandable. His fear of being rejected by the woman he loves is clear throughout the episode, even when he does his best to hide it with jokes and witty remarks. To me, his best moments in this episode were the ones where he dared to be vulnerable: the very first scene, at LUX, where he’s trying to understand how Chloe feels and get a sense of who he is, and his very last scene, with Chloe by the piano (also at LUX). You can clearly feel his fear and pain there, and Lucifer’s admission that he’s not sure how he feels about his Devil face brings a new vulnerability to the character, as well as a new, previously-hidden depth. Clearly the realisation that he caused his own Devil face affected Lucifer deeply. As ever, Tom Ellis
Chloe’s behaviour, on the other hand, is somewhat strange in this episode. It’s obvious she’s not as okay with Lucifer’s identity as she claims she is, at least through most of the episode, but she keeps lying – to both Lucifer and Maze. She seems distant at first, but by the time they speak to the Witness Protection marshal she seems to enjoy being in on Lucifer’s “secret”. I suppose being torn between fear and familiarity is normal, but the fact she distances herself instead of talking to Lucifer about what’s clearly bothering her leaves somewhat of a bitter taste. And for someone who constantly insisted on Lucifer telling her the truth, it feels somewhat off. By the time you think she may have finally gotten over it and things are back to normal (that LUX scene in the end, yes), it’s revealed that she’s planning to do something to Lucifer, effectively betraying his trust (and seemingly lying to him about how she feels). It certainly seems odd.
Seeing Maze and Trixie together was absolutely lovely (easily one of the best relationships in the show), and Maze trying to reassure Chloe she wouldn’t hurt her was surprisingly sweet. Amenadiel’s reluctance to go back to Heaven was clear from the very first minute he appeared, and it was immediately obvious why, but his scene with Dan in the end was almost worth dragging out his return (what a lovely touch to tell him about Charlotte). Dan was fairly irritating in this episode – with the way he treats Lucifer, it doesn’t feel like it’s been a month – and it would’ve been great to see some more of Ella in this episode, but I suppose it’s just the beginning.
On the whole? A bit slow and felt a bit off-character at times, but it was a nice way to get back to the world and characters we know and love, and it was certainly fun to see familiar behaviours and known relationships. By the end of the episode things are clearly shifting, so perhaps it’s just a matter of time before the pace picks up and things become clearer.
Bonus: Singing Tom Ellis, and at the very beginning of the episode, nothing less. Netflix and the writers sure know their audience.
Questions: Who the hell is that priest, and what are they planning for Lucifer?
Final Score: 7.5/10; slow start but it’s nice to have everyone back.
Episode 2 – “Somebody’s Been Reading Dante’s Inferno“
Well. This has been an odd one.
In the grand tradition of Lucifer, Deckerstar fans have been handed several presents, only to have them brutally taken away from us a heartbeat later (Quintessential Deckerstar and A Devil of My Word, anyone?). Chloe agrees to go on a date with Lucifer, only to reveal she’s secretly working with the priest to send Lucifer back to hell. The long-awaited date arrives (and is utterly beautiful to see), but is almost immediately stopped thanks to Chloe’s betrayal attempt going awry and Ella calling in with new details. And after the dust settles and Chloe tells the priest she’s not going to betray Lucifer, the priest decides to take another turn and go to Lucifer to ruin the romance instead.
Honestly, if that’s not Lucifer, I don’t know what is.
But let’s start from the beginning.
This episode gives some much-needed background on what Chloe has been doing for the past month. We discover she’d gone to the Vatican to find out more information about the Devil (fair enough), where she met Father Kinley, who – for some reason – is bent on Lucifer going back to hell. He attempts to convince Chloe that Lucifer is evil (how Christian) and that he’s responsible for all the greatest disasters in history (again, how Christian), although, at least at the beginning, Chloe seems to be holding her ground. The fact that eventually she caves and seemingly throws everything she knows out the window seems uncharacteristic, but I suppose it can be attributed to the shock she was feeling. If you’re not entirely convinced, that’s okay; I’m not entirely convinced either.
I’m not sure whether Father Kinley’s behaviour is a jab at the Catholic Church or it’s just cliche. His arguments aren’t convincing in the slightest (not to mention they don’t even make sense), the ideas he’s preaching seem to come from a 15th century book and it’s clear he’s either a self-absorbed fanatic or a conman. When he tells Chloe Lucifer would say whatever he needs to say for her to fall in his net, it’s hard not to roll your eyes and think, “Well look who’s talking”. If it’s a jab at the Catholic Church, it’s a particularly good one (look at the history books if you don’t believe me). If it’s not… well, it’s a shame, because he’s not a convincing villain and cliche just doesn’t work on Lucifer.
As said, Chloe’s decision to work with Kinley seems odd and somewhat uncharacteristic, especially once she starts having doubts. For someone who’s always said the right thing to do is to talk, she’s oddly quiet with Lucifer; all I could think throughout most of the entire episode was, “Just talk to him already!” Having her projecting on the case was also uncharacteristic, but given the fight within her about Lucifer, I think it’s actually natural.
Still, there were plenty of lovely Deckerstar moments during the episode. Lucifer’s awkward attempts at asking Chloe out were adorable, and his romantic date ideas (and attempts) were beautiful. We’ve seen a bit of Lucifer’s insecurities in previous “almost-sort-of-starting-dating” episodes (Season 2’s Love Handles immediately comes to mind), but this season it’s far more tangible, probably because now Chloe knows he is the Devil. That’s not to say it was a bad thing, though; it was beautiful to see more of that insecure, hesitant, scared-of-rejection and desperate-to-make-her-happy side of him again (though I doubt he understood the depth of those emotions). Seeing his scared-of-rejection side manifesting as pain/betrayal/anger at some of Chloe’s comments or questions felt extremely real to me; to someone this insecure, it’s extremely easy to read into every tiny little thing and see rejection in it. Admittedly, though, he dealt with it fairly well, and things went back to normal after every comment or question.
The culmination of the episode was, of course, the scene on set, where the cameraman – aka the murderer – threw an axe at Chloe, only to miss her thanks to Lucifer jumping to protect her. Immediately following Chloe’s “How is it that sometimes you’re vulnerable and sometimes you’re not?” question, it sort of serves as a lesson to Chloe about how far Lucifer would go to protect her. There’s such tenderness and vulnerability in that scene, with Lucifer practically admitting just how much he cares for her. He lets her press the blade to his chest – openly inviting her to do whatever she needs to do while trusting her not to hurt him – while telling her that yes, he knew he’d be vulnerable, and yes, he knew he could die when he made that leap, and truth to be told, he’d make that same choice over and over again if he had to. It doesn’t take the words “I love you” to show how much you love someone, and in Lucifer’s case, it’s very clear.
And in the end of the day, Chloe’s decision not to betray Lucifer and her offer of a make-up date showed that maybe sometimes all you need is a bit of time and perspective. All’s well that ends well for Deckerstar? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
While resulting in some funny scenes, Amenadiel’s storyline in this episode was pretty odd. Truth to be told, it felt like an excerpt from season 2, when he ended up in L.A for the first time; after such a long time with humanity, you’d think he’d know the basics (of course you gotta watch your wallet and not be a creep). Oh, and the whole Linda/Amenadiel baby storyline? Extremely Hollywood and I’m not sure is either good or necessary, but I suppose we’ll have to wait and see how it progresses (yeah, that too).
It was nice to see a bit more of Linda and Maze’s friendship, and it was good to see the effect of Pierce’s threats on Linda (there’s an effect to everything), even though it was more amusing than threatening. Dan kept being annoying, which, again, feels like a step backwards for him – I really thought we’d gotten past that point. I don’t know about you, but I really don’t like this storyline.
To me, one of the best things about this episode was Ella’s fangirling over The Cabin. It was so fun to see Ella being a lot like us, especially since we’ve learned she’s doing whatever she can to be “normal” (Season 3 bonus episode Boo Normal). You see? Being a fangirl isn’t abnormal. Or weird. It’s just part of who we are. Go Ella.
Bonus: Shirtless Tom Ellis. Yes please.
Questions: How is that even possible for an angel and a human to have a baby? And what’s going to happen when (because it obviously will happen) Lucifer finds out about Chloe nearly betraying him?
Final Score: 8/10.
Episode 3 – “O, Ye of Little Faith, Father”
If you’re in total misery over Chloe’s betrayal and deeply feeling Lucifer’s pain in your heart, know this: you’re not alone.
Putting Chloe and Lucifer aside for a moment, there’s been quite a bit going on in this episode. We got an explanation; seen a change of faith; a slightly surprising (although hardly new) team-up; and some attempts at dealing with a surprise. This episode, everyone had their hands full.
Following his conversation with Father Kinley, Lucifer goes down to the bar at LUX, where he finds a shocked Amenadiel trying to process the news of Linda’s pregnancy. While Lucifer initially intended to talk about himself (how Lucifer), upon hearing the news, he stops to help his brother make sense of this strange occurrence. As it turns out, a human-angel baby isn’t a normal thing (thank god); in fact, the Angel and Devil had no more idea that it could happen than we had.
Lucifer’s explanation, though, certainly makes sense. It still seems like a Hollywood-y move (at least that’s how it feels to me), but at the very least, it makes sense, given what we already know about the Lucifer universe. It’s also nice to see Amenadiel being both happy and nervous about having a child – angels are certainly very much like us. His intention of taking it seriously and being with Linda throughout the whole thing feels a bit like an attempt to find himself a new purpose (the goal he talked about the previous episode), but it’s very characteristic, so it seems right.
This episode’s case certainly touches some sore spots, and not just for Lucifer (as usual). For Dan, the case reminds him of Charlotte, and he goes from being resentful and angry (towards Ella, of all people) to frustrated and determined to stop the killer – whatever it takes. If it takes teaming up with Maze (for the first time since season 2’s Quid Pro Ho), taking on an entire gang and beating the crap out of them in a very-not-cop-like manner… well, then, so be it. I can’t say I’m surprised; we’ve seen bits and pieces of darker Dan over the years, and losing Charlotte was a painful thing that obviously affected Dan deeply. I even kind of like this risk-taking justice-oriented Dan, as long as he’s not being a douche the way we’ve seen so far this season. The whole douche regression, though? Blaming Lucifer and snapping at Ella and Maze? Not a fan.
Meanwhile, Ella is still trying to find herself. Over the first two episodes we’ve seen hints about Ella’s current faith: in the beginning of the season premiere, she told Lucifer she’s “not on good terms” with God, and in the second episode, she told Chloe she stopped going to church. All, it seems, has been leading to her scene with Dan, where she admits she’s not sure she believes in a “greater plan” anymore. She even takes off her cross necklace, and I think it’s only right that she does. We’ve seen already that Ella has more to her than that cheery self (season 3’s My Brother’s Keeper and the bonus episode Boo Normal both showed us different sides of Ella), and it’s not easy to keep believing when there’s a lot of pain involved. It’s natural to question the existence of god and the point of life, especially after everything that’s happened. And it needs to be said – Aimee Garcia balances Ella’s pain and doubt with her “normal cheery self” beautifully.
Linda had also gone through quite a bit in this episode, and not only thanks to our favourite Devil. As she’s trying to get used to the idea of pregnancy, she finds herself dealing with both Maze (who only makes things worse by telling Linda about how they used giving birth as torture in hell) and Amenadiel (who has no idea how to help but tries to nonetheless). I’ll admit that seeing Amenadiel’s reactions to things that seem obvious to us (like the books he brings Lina) or his attempt at a proposal is really amusing, and it’s nice to see him trying to get involved, but I’m glad Linda’s holding her ground. She’s a strong, independent woman, and I’d hate it if she suddenly started needing Amenadiel just because of the pregnancy. That being said, it was nice to see her agreeing to accept some support from him in the end; difficult as it may be, sometimes we have to accept that some people are here to stay, whatever happens. Till the end.
Or at least, until they betray and reject us.
Admittedly, this isn’t just because of Chloe. Chloe’s decision to lie to Lucifer about talking to Kinley about him and her attempts at making him “better” – while understandable after her conversation with Dan – are some of the worst decisions she could’ve possibly made. Since she returned from Rome, she’s been lying to him and nearly betrayed him, and now, right around the time all secrets need to be told, she keeps lying and tries to change him? How could she possibly think any of it was a good idea?
But it’s not like Lucifer is innocent. Instead of talking to Chloe or confronting her early on, he lets things get worse by attempting to guilt her into talking or punish her, whichever one comes first. Admittedly, this sort of behaviour is something we’ve seen before from Lucifer (season 2’s Candy Morningstar, anyone?), and I can understand his anger and his sense of betrayal – wondering if he can believe someone who lied to him before – but that hardly helped matters. While on the personal level I fully understand and relate to Lucifer, objectively it needs to be said that he’s also responsible for how wrong things got. It takes two to tango, after all.
And as situations like this go, it ended up with an explosion, as a furious, betrayed Lucifer confronted Chloe about Kinley and the plan to send him back to hell. Furious as he was, you can still feel Lucifer’s pain, radiating from him throughout the scene (those tears in his eyes in the car were the end of me). Even confronting the suspect – and as always, very much projecting his own issues on the case – you can feel his pain through the anger with which he speaks and acts. It was, however, beautiful to see Lucifer holding himself back, thinking through the fog of anger, separating his own emotions from doing what’s right. It just shows how far he’s come in those three seasons.
Understandably, Lucifer is reluctant to trust Chloe after everything that’s happened (must like I’ve been feeling through the first two episodes), but lets her put their conversation off while she goes after Father Kinley. In an extremely satisfying moment, Chloe arrests him and the priest he was talking to volunteers to testify against him, thus getting Kinley his just desert. It was very satisfying to see Chloe finally seeing him for what he is – a liar and a fanatic.
That being said, that satisfaction is nothing in comparison to the pain of the following scene. With Kinley arrested, Chloe goes back to Lucifer’s penthouse to talk everything through (which is what she should’ve done in the beginning of this episode). She explains how everything happened and how once she returned to L.A she remembered who Lucifer really is, but this is exactly the wrong thing to say at this point. That simple statement – “you’re not that guy” – taps into the inner argument Lucifer has been living with for the past month, since the return of his Devil face, and his question, “What if I am that guy?” is filled with so much pain and self-doubt that it brought tears to my eyes. It still does, even just writing this review.
Chloe keeps on saying the wrong things and tells Lucifer he can change (why on earth would you think that’s the right thing to say?), but after a month of back-and-forth debate within himself as to whether or not he can change and her betrayal, he – understandably – doesn’t really believe her. He spent the past three seasons slowly learning to become a better person, thanks to – and very much for – her, and now with her betrayal, he’s lost the will to fight for it. He pressures her, demanding an immediate answer as to whether or not she can accept him as he is, but you can see in his eyes that he already knows what she’s going to say; in that attacking manner he almost dares her to tell him something other than the truth, that she doesn’t know. His heart is clearly already broken, and this admission doesn’t help. In fact, it seems to be the end of their relationship for him, as he says, “Then I have my answer” and turns around, indicating the conversation is over.
I don’t know about you, but for me, that scene was heartbreaking and extremely difficult to see, simply because it was done so well. Lauren German brings out Chloe’s fear, desperation and pain very clearly; Tom Ellis makes Lucifer’s pain and self-doubt almost tangible, even when he says nothing (those tears in his eyes were my undoing). When he speaks, you can hear that “Who am I?” battle within Lucifer, and even through his anger, even when he’s shouting or acting violently, you can feel the underlying pain and betrayal. For the first time this season, this episode felt very much like I’m somehow watching someone else’s life, not like a TV show at all, and I was utterly heartbroken by the end of it. Emotions aside, it was written and done in a very realistic manner, which I’m happy about, because you don’t necessarily see a lot of that around. Doesn’t make it any less heartbreaking, though.
Bonus: Maze and Trixie having a scene together, short as it was, has to be one of the highlights of this painful episodes.
Questions: What the hell is that prophecy? And that can’t be the end of Deckerstar, right? RIGHT?
Final Score: 8.5/10, mostly thanks to Lucifer and Chloe.
Second part of the episode-by-episode review, about the second stage of this season’s storyline, is coming soon.
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