"You did so much better than I would have done."
God has arrived. After years of hearing about Him, we finally get to see the Big Man in action. I wasn't quite sure what I was expecting when I went into this episode. Was Lucifer wrong about his perception of his father? Was he right? Was the truth somewhere in the middle?
It seems like Lucifer is definitely more right than not. It's easy enough to rationalize God's behavior when He wasn't an actual, physical presence on the show. It's harder now. I'm hesitating to say that God is emotionally abusive, mostly because that feels incredibly blasphemous, but... there is certainly an emotional disconnect and withholding of information going on. Amenadiel summed it up nicely: he would never want to raise Charlie the way that he was raised.
The highlight of the episode, of course, was the family dinner scene. I usually hate these kinds of scenes. I'm far too empathetic and I just cringe and feel incredibly uncomfortable during any kind of tense family drama. I'm very happy to say that it wasn't the case here, mostly because it didn't seem uncomfortable. It wasn't really a conversation as much as a chance for Tom Ellis to monologue and flex his acting muscles.
Gold acting stars just for that scene alone. And also gold acting stars to Dennis Haysbert. God cannot be an easy role to pull off, but he hit the perfect balance between warm grandfather, controlling patriarch, and supernatural presence. God is not at all as calm and serene as He initially appears. That storm during dinner was such a great way to show His true emotional state even as he outwardly remained fairly passive.
He also is apparently incapable of giving a straight answer, even when it's clearly cruel not to. Would it really be that hard to just tell Lucifer "yes, I do love you?" I assume that He does, at least. Usually, when people say "if you have to ask, obviously I am a bad parent," it's a shorthand for "of course, I love you." Lucifer didn't take it that way. To him, that's how he dodges questions so that he doesn't have to lie.
Which leads us to the most frustrating part of the episode. Lucifer has fully accepted that he is his father's son, which obviously means that he's incapable of ever loving someone. I'm sure that you can imagine what my face looked like when he told Chloe as much. Why? Why is this necessary? Can't Chloe and Lucifer just be in a relationship already and be happy? I know that Lucifer has a ton of trauma to work through and a relationship won't always be smooth sailing. This obstacle is just annoying, though.
Even though Michael was banished at the end of the episode, he clearly isn't going to give up that easily. I can't tell if he genuinely does like Maze or if he was manipulating her in that last scene. It's so hard for me to take anything that he says at face value, but he seemed actually apologetic. The introduction of God also made it very hard for me to take him seriously as an intelligent adversary. There's no way that God doesn't know what Michael's been up to on Earth, right? Right? Various characters have referenced God being omniscient, but is He really? I've been starting to doubt that.
They poked a lot of fun at some of the sillier aspects of the show, namely Michael's horrific posture and Lucifer's tendency to over-identify with cases. And while funny, it also made me wonder why we still have the procedural element, or the occasional cuts to black as if we were going to commercials. This is a Netflix show that's meant to be binged now. We can step away from the weekly format that network shows demand. It would make the show a lot stronger.
And it would give Chloe something more to do. Seriously, how did no one tell her that God came to visit?
Random Thoughts
We got confirmation that Charlie is mortal.
Ella is understandably having trouble processing the fact that she dated a serial killer. I don't like seeing her sad. It makes me sad!
Linda's insight into why everything tastes like chicken was a bit of clever writing.
Really, Linda just in general was fantastic during the whole dinner scene. Amenadiel too, with his wine drinking.
The guy who was shown dancing at Lux... that was the security guard from last episode, wasn't it?
Okay, I'm sorry, but did they really need to name the mini golf place "The Kingdom?" There's being cheeky and then there's going a step too far.
I continue to forget that Tom Ellis is playing both Lucifer and Michael at the same time. They're such distinct characters.
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An Honest Fangirl loves video games, horror movies, and superheroes, and occasionally manages to put words together in a coherent and pleasing manner.
Programming note: Reviews will be up every other day!
ReplyDeleteThe dinner party was classic. OMG, so funny. I particularly liked how off balance the seating was, as a reflection of how off balance the dinner participants were.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course, God cooks. And is all about the grandchild. But why wasn't Chloe there?
John Glover! Way too small a part.
I have to say it again… Tom Ellis is such a good actor. His Michael actually makes me forget that he’s not the hottest man imaginable and totally repulses me, while st the same time, Lucifer is still the hottest man imaginable.
ReplyDeleteI imagine the space for commercials are so that the stations with commercials can buy the use of various shows in the future.
ReplyDeleteComment on the Kingdom: the son who sacrificed himself for it was Chris, which to me seems like an obvious nod to Christ.
I thought the dinner scene, while good, went on too long.
ReplyDeleteAlso thought the Kingdom family interrogation montage went on far too long.
ReplyDelete" I'm very happy to say that it wasn't the case here, mostly because it didn't seem uncomfortable. It wasn't really a conversation as much as a chance for Tom Ellis to monologue and flex his acting muscles."
ReplyDeleteI agree! I kept thinking, "Wow, this is how the show defines an awkward family dinner? At least they're actually communicating their feelings!"
Your point about the "commercial breaks" is a really good one. I never understand how these things work, but the show is still produced by Warner Bros, right? Their shield appears at the beginning of every episode. Maybe it was part of their contract with Netflix: the show follows WB TV rules but airs on a streamer.