Review by An Honest Fangirl
I'll start with the Case of the Week this time around since it gave us two wonderful match ups. Lucifer might not be able to stand kids, but his relationship with Trixie has always been rather sweet. And now we get a little more substance to it. Lucifer was very understanding when Trixie talked about being scared because of Chloe's poisoning. They've both been there. They've both started lying to their mothers in order to keep them from worrying. (More on that later.)
We also had the wonderful, beautiful pairing of Maze and Chloe this episode. How much did I love these two in this episode? Let me count the ways. Maze might not be very good at human emotions, but she's definitely a ride-or-die kind of friend. I honestly can't believe that we've gotten to the point where Chloe and Maze are best friends. It's a beautiful thing. I was grinning the entire time that they were undercover as Trixie's moms. It was just so much fun. They made quite the team. I also love how much Maze cares about Trixie too. She's more than willing to teach Trixie knife skills. I honestly can't think of a better teacher.
What we didn't get was a lot of interactions between Chloe and Lucifer. Their opening exchange about them getting back into the swing of crime solving was adorable, but that was really all we got. While Chloe was focused on the case, Lucifer was much more focused on controlling his emotions. Except that's impossible to do. Linda hit the nail right on the head: Lucifer might be pretending that he's fine for the sake of everyone around him, but he's heartbroken inside. He lost both his mother and his detective in one fell swoop. Of course he's heartbroken.
That final scene was incredibly moving. He used that pain to ignite the Flaming Sword. Briefly. Lucifer couldn't sustain it, probably because he's not ready to let down all of his emotional walls just yet. I gained a lot of respect for Amenadiel in that scene. He saw what Lucifer was channeling, and was instantly on his side. I can't think of another time when he explicitly took Lucifer's side over Charlotte's. It really demonstrated just how far their brotherly relationship has come. Sure, they still fight, but Amenadiel has Lucifer's back when he needs it most. That's an incredibly amount of positive growth and development since last season.
They finally addressed Amenadiel's mental state, and it was about where I thought that it was. Amenadiel isn't the Lightbringer. He isn't a special, chosen son. He's the eldest, yes, but that hasn't really translated to anything. He's lost his mother's attention, his father's attention, his powers... it's no wonder that Amenadiel is starting to develop some inferiority issues. Amenadiel's impotence has dominated his arc this season. Last season, he was the driving force of most of the divine/supernatural actions on the show. He's lost a lot of agency this season. But he hasn't integrated into humanity either. I'm curious to see what happens when they do finally get to the Silver City. Especially if Lucifer tries to carry out his plan.
Lucifer wants to throw Charlotte in Heaven and lock the gates behind her with the hope that she and God would achieve some form of mutually assured destruction. I'm surprised that Lucifer doesn't want a direct confrontation with his dad, if only to ask Him why He would put Chloe in Lucifer's path. (Also, can we talk about how cutting the gates open and then locking them shut seem like two mutually exclusive actions?) I'm curious to see how his plan plays out, or more accurately, I'm curious to see where his plan will fly off the rails. Because there's no way that this all goes according to plan.
Charlotte's degradation will probably play a role in that. The previews for this episode had given away the reason why Charlotte was in such a rush to get back into Heaven. Something is happening to her body. Can it no longer contain her? Or is it that she can only be on Earth for a certain amount of time due to her not being human? I kind of like this turn of events. Her motivations are starting to appear far more blatantly selfish, but it's also making me sympathize with her. Charlotte has occupied this weird quasi-villain slot all season. She's definitely not all good, but she has never tipped into full on Big Bad territory either. Like Amenadiel, I'm curious to see what decisions she makes as the season draws to a close.
Random Thoughts
For a second, I thought that Azrael was attacking Lucifer in the parking garage. I really want to meet her!
Trixie wanted to learn how to drive the corvette. I approve.
I'm starting to really like Lucifer and Ella's flirty conversations.
Not a lot of Dan this episode.
I loved Maze's choice in music.
I kept waiting for Maze to come out of nowhere and tackle the killer. I laughed so hard when she finally did.
I just realized how many people on this show are open about the fact that they're in therapy. That's really awesome to see.
Apparently, Lucifer and Candy got their marriage annulled. I wish we could have seen Chloe's reaction to that.
This was definitely a very cute episode, and it just flew by.
9.3 out of 10
~An Honest Fangirl
Personally, I would have called this episode "Trixie Morningstar."
ReplyDeleteI had exactly the same thought!
Normally, Lucifer's lowkey LA satires don't do much for me, but between the Sunset Strip in the previous episode and hyper-competitive parenting in this episode, it's knocking it out of the park. For a while, I had a job that involved interacting with the "superwealthy high-pressure parents of normal children they call exceptional" demographic, and it's clear that the writers and directors of this episode are familiar with the attitudes and character types of wealthy schooling in the LA area. Chloe and Maze's reactions to the grief mixer (or whatever it was called) were spot-on.
I'm starting to feel quite bad for Lucifer, though. And also for Chloe. Until she really understands that he is the devil, she'll never get any sort of access to his interior life. It's amazing she puts up with his mysterious (to her) mercuriality.