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Lucifer: Off the Record

Review by An Honest Fangirl

"You forgave the Devil! Why can't you forgive me?"

At some point in every show's life, you get an episode that follows some random character that we've never seen before and will never see again. Doctor Who did this a lot, and the quality could range from "Blink" to... "Love and Monsters."

"Off the Record" falls somewhere in-between those two extremes. It wasn't a bad episode, but it was confusing more often than not.

Did this entire episode take place in Hell? Was this obsession with Lucifer and getting Linda back the guilt spawning event that keeps him trapped there? That's a rather long loop, although I suppose we haven't really seen enough of Hell to properly judge that. Regardless, it is a very clever idea. The final reveal was one of the most emotionally effective moments of the episode for me.

Reese was not a good person, but it's hard not to grow attached to a character when you spend a whole episode following them so closely. Patrick Fabian did a great job, and he played wonderfully off of Tom Ellis and Rachael Harris.

The scenes between Reese and Linda were simply fantastic. They were deeply uncomfortable for me, but I mean that in the best way possible. They felt real to me, and grounded in a show that often delves into the fantastical. It's easy to forget that most of our characters are humans who have just been thrown into this world, but those scenes helped me remember just how insane these characters' lives really are.  

This was a rather depressing episode now that I'm sitting down to really think about it. Reese was a very tragic figure, and his own fatal flaws are ultimately what killed him. They're what drove away Linda, fractured his professional relationships, and killed an innocent young woman. We spent the entire hour watching his downward spiral, and by the end of it, I wasn't sure how I was supposed to feel about his death. Satisfied that he "got what he deserved?" Sad that he died? Both? It's a complicated moral and ethical dilemma that I wasn't expecting to face.

The serial killer was also very, very good. Lucifer does good serial killers. My only complaint was that we didn't get more of him. He would have made a very good episode in his own right, but as it stands, he was a good foil to Reese. They both sought to expose frauds and liars, but in an unhealthy, illegal and unsustainable way.

My one major issue with this episode was that I was incredibly lost for the first half or so. It wasn't until Reese had the time skip that I finally realized what was going on. I like the concept; it was nice to revisit Lucifer when he had his devil face and Linda before she knew the truth. But it could have been set up better or made clearer earlier.

Random Thoughts

Reese had the episode title.

Dan and his pudding saga continues.

MAZE! MAZE! MAZE! MAZE! (I miss her.)

Reese's conspiracy board was great. I loved what he wrote under Charlotte Richards.

And see! I'm not crazy! Reese thinks that Ella has a secret too!

I absolutely loved the quick shot of Lucifer's face when Linda was explaining to Reese how she knew that he was the devil and didn't care.

Quotes:

Reese: I know this sounds crazy, but he's the devil. And I don't mean in a douchebag club owning kind of way. I mean he's the actual devil.

Linda: It's none of your business who I sleep with!
Reese: It is if it's the devil himself!

Lucifer: Don't think I haven't noticed you watching me. I know what this is about.
Reese: You do?
Lucifer: Yes. And the answer is, no, I will not sleep with you.
Reese: Excuse me?
Lucifer: It's not because you're a man. It's because, well, I don't find you attractive.

Lucifer: These are boobs! I'd know them anywhere.
Chloe: Please don't... juggle the evidence, Lucifer. But it's okay if he does, because they've already been processed.
Lucifer: They're called fun bags for a reason!
---
An Honest Fangirl loves superheroes, science fiction, fantasy, and really bad horror movies. 

5 comments:

  1. Yes, I was thrown for the first half of the episode, too. But it did all make sense eventually. It was certainly different. I really liked the way Linda stood up for Lucifer, too.

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  2. Uau this episode was sooo confusing i don´t know what to think of it, at the end i understand but...

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  3. I think the most ironic thing about the episode is that in a certain way, the serial killer was actually more down to earth than Reese. He was a monster who took many innocent lives, but when he was caught he admitted that he knew what he was doing was wrong, and simply accepted the game was over, he was just off his meds and couldn't control his impulses. Reese, too, could not control his impulses, but unlike the serial killer he kept insisting he was a good guy who was going to "get the girl", the hero of the story, and that Lucifer was the real villain, despite Linda's, Lucifer's and even the killer's calling him out on his delusions. That he's still in hell means that deep down he knows he's guilty, it's just that he's too much of a self-righteous, self-deluded romantic to admit it.

    I really liked this episode, and the reveal at the end managed to surprise me despite being a fair one, which isn't that common. We all saw that he had a "brush with death" at the beginning of the episode, and yet we just forgot about it despite the fact that something like that ought to be important...

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  4. Um... was I the only one who clearly heard Lucifer saying he started consulting with the police two weeks ago? I'm not sure they could communicate the "it's all in the past" thing any clearer.

    This was a very good, very solid episode. I expected Ella to pop up and become a continuity error (she clearly stated in the beginning of Season 2 that it was the first time she met Lucifer), but she only did after we fast-forwarded to more-or-less present. So, kudos to the writers. In the show that frequently prefers Rule of Funny to consistency, this was very consistent.

    And it appears that the person we've seen filing information about Lucifer, Amenadiel, etc. was not Sinnerman. It was Reese. So... what do we actually know about Sinnerman?

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  5. I can't believe that it has taken me this many episode to connect Lucifer's obsession with people's "desire" to my favorite quote of all time, from Dante: "Without hope, we live in desire."

    Poor Linda's husband, desiring the wrong things. I wonder if he still would have wound up in hell if he'd desired to defeat the devil instead?

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