Lucifer was one of two shows last year that I really liked — the other was Blindspot. In Blindspot’s case, it was an amped up approach to a procedural with huge mystery elements behind it. With Lucifer, the producers took the standard trope of “homicide detective paired with someone unusual” (Castle for a writer, Elementary with two genius consulting detectives, Forever with an immortal, etc.) and went big — Lucifer is not just named after the devil, he IS the devil.
The premise was awesome, and the main actor is fantastic. Secondary characters (the police) are all ho hum, although the main police detective woman has potential. But the tertiary characters — a psychiatrist, an angel, a demon protector — were all spot on. Made for some light banter with serious overtones. And Lucifer’s unadulterated narcissism is plain awesome. With the vulnerability added that when he’s with the cop, he’s mortal (he finds out he’s not bulletproof all the time anymore midway through the season). Sure some of the plots were thin, and some of the “twists” were obvious a mile away. But Lucifer is an ace character, delightfully delicious to watch.
At the end of the season, Lucifer takes a bullet from a psycho brought back to life by the angel to kill Lucifer and force him back into hell (oh, did I mention the reason Lucifer is in LA is that he retired and wants to start a new life?). But just as he’s dying, knowing that his death will lead to the death of his cop partner and his daughter, he made a deal with God — he gets to stay on Earth for now while he searches for his Mom. Who had been cast out of Heaven centuries ago, kept in Hell by Lucifer in prison, tortured by the demon protector, and now, has escaped!
The new season picked up with Lucifer believing his Mom is going to show up in LA to seek revenge, and sure enough, the first case post-escape has a woman killed by embedding metal horns in her head to look like a devil. The case itself is ho hum, but little threads abound. There’s a new forensic specialist who believes in God devoutly. The angel is losing some of his powers (he was mortally wounded at the end of the season, and saved with an angel feather at the last minute). The cop doesn’t believe Lucifer is the devil (mainly because his powers don’t usually work around her) nor does she think he is crazy, but she’s holding out to find out what his deal actually is simply because they work well together and close cases. Or in TV speak, “you make me a better detective”.
But it’s still all about Lucifer. Oh, and Mom came to say hi at the end of the episode.
