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Lucifer: It Never Ends Well for the Chicken

"Once upon a time, the devil went to New York."

As soon as this episode finished, I immediately had to watch the next one. But not because it left on some massive cliffhanger and I had to see what happened next. No. Sadly, it was because I needed to wash the taste out.

That was a very strongly worded opening blurb, huh? Let's take a step back and work our way up to that. I'm going to start by talking about the craft of this episode because it was absolutely gorgeous. I spent a semester in college analyzing American noir films through the decades, and they nailed every aspect of the genre. Everything from the lighting to the use of silhouettes to the music to the costumes was simply spot on.

They also accurately mimicked the acting style, which... is what they were going for and I applaud them for that. It's a very different acting style than what the show usually does. I really did not enjoy it. I didn't enjoy it in college, and I didn't enjoy it now. Well, except for one very notable exception.

Lesley-Ann Brandt freaking killed it this episode. She absolutely killed it. Not only with her singing but also with how she brought Lilith to life. After spending so long hearing about the mother of all demons, it was lovely to actually see her in action. There was something just profoundly sad about her, but in a different way than the sadness that clings to both Dan and Maze. This sadness felt older. More tired. I fully bought that she was ready for it to all end. Maybe not end immediately, but after a few more decades of life with someone that she had connected with.

Except that didn't happen, did it? When Maze found her, she was old and alone and in a small apartment in Reno. But despite that, she still didn't seem to have any major regrets. She was still completely convinced that her actions in leaving her children to Lucifer were the absolute best actions to take, even with Maze standing right in front of her as proof that she was wrong. Maze might not have been cast out of the garden, but she still repeatedly felt the pain of abandonment. She still got hurt.

Beyond that, the Sausage Prince did get a few smiles out of me, even if he did sometimes cross over into farce. I assumed that he was somehow involved with the murders, but I didn't expect Gertie to be the mastermind. Maybe I should have considered that she was the only other one who really got significant screen time. And yet, somehow the case of the missing ring still somehow felt too convoluted. I think it's the sudden addition of Egyptian mythology and human sacrifices midway through, even if that also stayed very true to the genre.

But that's a lot of words that don't really describe why I had such a strong, negative reaction to this episode. I do think that most of it comes down to the acting and the dialogue. It's hard to move past that when you're cringing or rolling your eyes every other scene. I didn't particularly care about Jack and his marital problems, even when it was a very clear mirror to Chloe and Lucifer's current problems. As much as I love Tricia Helfer, even she couldn't save those scenes. Small things also kept distracting me.

Trixie asked for a gender-balanced narrative, but it wasn't actually gender-balanced. Jack and Tony were still male characters within the story. They were just played by our lovely actresses. Would it have been too much trouble for them to be Jackie and Antonia instead? Yeah, yeah, historical accuracy, but still. This is a relatively minor detail, so the fact that I'm focusing on it and nitpicking it is a bad sign for the episode. If I have the time and mental energy to nitpick, then I'm not focused on and enjoying the episode.

That is, unfortunately, what it all comes down to. As pretty as the episode was and as much as I enjoyed watching Lilith, I just didn't enjoy it. I don't want to rewatch this one, and will probably skip it when I go through the season again.

Random Thoughts

What a waste of Tricia Helfer.

I did really like how they shot the driving scene. I got a kick from the background behind them. It looked incredibly authentic to the time period. That might have been my favorite part.

Trixie doesn't know the celestial truth, right? So what did she think the story was about? Lucifer's father? Or did she assume that it was just some story? Did she even care if money was involved?

That being said, Game Night with Monopoly was very cute, even if Chloe didn't show up.

So... the ring now actually holds Lilith's immortality, right? Bet that's going to be important later on...

~~
An Honest Fangirl has dearly missed this show and is very, very glad to have something to binge again.

7 comments:

  1. Have to agree. As beautiful as it was, I was impatient and waiting for the ending. I took notes and this episode got only three words: "Explains Maze," and "Funny." I would have enjoyed Chloe's "Jack" a lot more if she'd been Jackie and wearing a forties-style dress while still married to Tricia Helfer. :)

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  2. I have been doing some serious binge and so I can say this episode wears better on a re-watch. Lesley-Ann Brandt really does kill it; some stuff gets explained; and I think it's fun watching the tiny Aimee Garcia play a mobster.

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  3. I rather enjoyed this although I'm not a massive fan on the whole noire thing.

    I agree it seemed a waste to put The Detective in a boring suit for gender-balancing or whatever but Maze was just superb. She really nailed every part of this episode.

    So the thing about Michael revealing the truth about Mazes' Mom.. I don't get why that would turn her against Lucifer? Just because he kept it a secret?

    The angels are all slowly being revealed as not very angelic at all. Not quite as bad a Supernatural but we're only on season 5.

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  4. This season is just too short for another detour into an “experimental” episode. These “off format” episodes are already more miss than hit for me (I liked “Once Upon A Time, could have done without “Off The Record” and “City of Angels?”, and hated “Boo Normal”). But to spend an entire episode with completely irrelevant characters is just infuriating when we know our main characters are in urgent need of working through their issues. The parallels between some of the noir characters and our main characters are pointless, because the resolutions in the noir story do not translate to our main characters at all.

    I agree that the only enjoyable part of the noir was Lilith. I am glad to have my curiosity satisfied about Lucifer’s ring, but it didn’t have to divert an entire episode. The framework in the “present day” was the best part of the episode, but that couldn’t have amounted to more than a few minutes of screen time.

    Disappointing.

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  5. Have to agree about this one. I liked the color portions with Lucifer, Trixie and Maze, but the noir storyline to explain Lucifer's ring I thought lacked imagination. I was let down and probably will only watch it one more time and then skip it thereafter.

    There have been other storyline missteps, particularly the unnecessary obstacles put in Deckerstar's way after he comes back from HELL, Maze's serial betraying and aligning with the Big Bad, etc. I could probably think of a few more.

    I loved Off the Record, but could do without the others, especially Boo Normal.

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  6. What you said about the taste needing to be washed out after this episode. I did have to watch another episode after this one hoping they would get the train back on the track. They did. But thne it fell off again down the line.

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  7. I'm so glad I'm not alone in disliking--or just not really liking--this episode. I should have loved it, but it didn't click for me, and I was bored for most of it.

    I am so, so curious to see if Trixie gets a character arc at some point! What kind of adult will she grow up to be?!

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