Lucifer

[shapinglight]

I was going to make a big, long post the other day about all the movies I've watched recently (mostly on long haul flights), but it just got too unwieldy, and then I sort of lost the will to live and deleted it. ;) So, since yourlibrarian asked me what I thought about the show, some thoughts behind cut on Lucifer season 1.

Spoilers.



Should firstly say I've never read the comics series this show is based on (though I intend to), but have gathered enough (thanks, Wikipedia) to know that the show is very, very different from them.

For a start, I'm pretty sure the comics are not a police procedural, and (to my knowledge) there is no improbably beautiful female cop character with a slightly too cute daughter and a cop ex-husband in them.

That makes it sound like I don't like any of these characters, when I'm okay with them really. I mean, they're a bit cliched, but that doesn't mean they can't be interesting. What I do dislike, though is the conceit of Chloe being so good and pure and noble, or whatever, that she's immune to Lucifer's powers - mostly because it means the show can spin out the whole Chloe Doesn't Believe Lucifer Is Who He Says He Is thing ad infinitum, and I'm tired of it. In fact, I was tired of it the minute Chloe accidentally shot Lucifer and he ended up with an actual gunshot wound.

Of course, the whole denial thing works both ways, but I find the Lucifer Is In Love With Chloe But Won't Admit It To Himself plotline equally tedious, not to mention a bit unconvincing. Though of course the person who is perceptive about everyone but themselves is another well-used cliche and this is just another iteration of it.

Anyway, I'm not a Chloe hater, or anything, even though I find Lucifer's interactions with Amenadiel (and potentially Maze, on which more in a moment), and his love/hate relationship with 'Dad' more interesting.

Speaking of Maze, I've been very disappointed with how that character's been written. I don't think the actress is particularly good, and I really dislike that she's been made (I assume) to play Maze as this awful racial stereotype of the over-sexed, half-savage POC woman. Whoever was responsible for that should be ashamed of themselves. I also don't like (don't like at all) that her relationship with Lucifer has been downgraded from consort and fearsome warrior queen in the comics to some sort of superior servant - though I think if the actress were better, or the writing for the character were more nuanced, that effect could have been partially mitigated at least.

But despite the above (which the people making the show could rectify quite easily if they wanted, but that assumes anyone but me has a problem with it), I did (mostly) enjoy the show, though I found some of the MotW episodes somewhat dull. That I do enjoy it is pretty much all down to Tom Ellis as Lucifer, who injects just the right amount of menace into his louche, decadent persona to give the character an edge the show has so far failed to find.

Because it could do with more of that - edge, I mean. As long as it can get it without descending into Game of Thrones levels of horrific violence, or whatever.

I also really like the sparring between Lucifer and Amenadiel, and admit I get a kick out of their puzzlement when people don't believe they're brothers. It's all a bit Spike/Angel in AtS season 5 (though I couldn't say which of them is which). I do hope it turns out 'Mum' is the mother of both of them. I'd like it even more if (as I saw suggested somewhere) Gina Torres were cast in the role.

So yeah, (mostly) enjoyable fluff with potential. If the potential will ever be realised, who knows? I suspect not, but I live in hope.

Comments

[slaymesoftly.livejournal.com]

Somewhat to our surprise, we've been enjoying Lucifer all season. As you say, much of that is down to Tom Ellis, who I didn't expect to like after the first episode. The whole "Chloe doesn't believe him" is getting a bit old, to be sure, but I guess there had to be a potential love interest in it.

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

Sums pretty much up what I felt too. Without Tom Ellis I doubtt I would have continued, now I enjoyed it. And I agree about Maze and I'm a bit miffed we never get to see her true face apart from a brief glimpse when she contemplates killing a sleeping Chloe.

[shapinglight]

Well, sure. I'm fine with that. I just hope they don't spin the denial (on both sides) thing out too long.

I also quite like Dr Linda. She's smart and funny, and I like the fact that Lucifer doesn't act like having sex with her is a trial to him because she's not impossibly young and beautiful (though of course, this being TV-Land, she's pretty glamorous).

[shapinglight]

And I agree about Maze and I'm a bit miffed we never get to see her true face apart from a brief glimpse when she contemplates killing a sleeping Chloe.

Yes, me too. I honestly don't know what they're trying to do with this character. I just know I don't like it. Even her affair with Amenadiel seems clumsily handled and fake.

They could have made her, and her relationship with Lucifer, so much more interesting.

[yourlibrarian]

mostly because it means the show can spin out the whole Chloe Doesn't Believe Lucifer Is Who He Says He Is thing ad infinitum

True, which is often overdone. So far it's not bothering me too much but if it's still going for another full season, forget it. I do wonder, though, why he hasn't made it obvious to his therapist that he's not being metaphorical. I also fail to understand why the disappearing act in front of multiple people in the finale wasn't sufficient to make everyone think something very weird was going on.

I also agree that Maze hasn't added much of anything to the series unless we count the final episodes. It makes me think of the "sexy lamp" issue. (Sidenote: I hadn't heard of the Sphinx test but that sounds pretty applicable to Maze too)

I definitely agree that without the right person as the lead in this show there's really no reason at all to watch because the writing is nothing special. I think Chloe is fine but there's not enough about her alone to make the series work. Unfortunately Ellis' delivery is starting to seem like a caricature of itself the longer I watch. We'll tune into S2 but I think it's going to have to develop a real arc to keep me interested and to make the characters stretch into new areas.

I also agree that in the final episodes the potential of having Amenadiel as a regular character finally came to fruition. I quite enjoyed their showdown in the warehouse and the fact that they started really seeming like people with a history. For most of the season Amenadiel might as well have been a collections guy.

The setup for next season seems promising in that respect because it seems likely they'll be working together more, and that we'll get more backstory on them. I'm assuming that Mum is Lilith, but I know zero about the comics history. I definitely see what you mean about the S/A similarities though.

I have my doubts about its development just because it's a network series, however Gotham has had more of an underbelly than one might expect so it's possible. But I completely agree with you that edge is what it needs.

[shapinglight]

I also fail to understand why the disappearing act in front of multiple people in the finale wasn't sufficient to make everyone think something very weird was going on.

Agreed, and I also am not sure why he's not pressing the point with Dr Linda. Maybe he finds her too useful and thinks if he does she'll run away screaming?

I'd not heard of either the sexy lamp or the sphinx test but agree they both apply to Maze, which is a great pity. Mind you, I'm really not convinced the actress is up to nuance, but I could be being totally unfair to her. With the material she's been given, she's hardly been able to display whatever acting chops she has effectively.

I don't mind Ellis's delivery most of the time, but the nudge, nudge, wink, wink way he talks to Chloe gets old for me pretty quickly. I do like that he's playing what is, in some ways, the stereotypical Hollywood posh Brit villain but is actually the hero all along. That appeals to the part of me that's sick to death of American TV villains with Brit accents. ;)

I do hope that season 2 will continue the current detente between Lucifer and Amenadiel. They don't necessarily have to be nice to each other, but I'd rather see them as bickering sibling allies than as adversaries (like Spike and Angel again, I suppose). Amenadiel in the comics is Lucifer's enemy flat out, I believe.

But I completely agree with you that edge is what it needs.

Very much so, and a proper season arc - which the 'mum has escaped from hell' development suggests could happen. We'll see.

[slaymesoftly.livejournal.com]

Yes. She's been great fun. I like her quite a bit.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Yeah, had basically the same reaction to the series. I like the relationship between Lucifer and his brother, Lucifer and Dad, and everyone and the psychologist. I like Maze for the most part, but the characterization keeps disappointing me. I was hoping for more of a buddy relationship and less servant relationship with Lucifer. The actress playing Chloe saves the character for the most part -- I don't consider her that pretty though -- too skinny, she makes me think of a bird. Like her ex-husband, who I've seen in another television show but can't quite place him. There's a bunch of tired television formula/buddy detective cliche's that I could do without. But Ellis makes the series work. And there's some good one-liners here and there.

I didn't know it was Mum. Closed Caption had Blum. I couldn't make it out. Sounded like Blum. Which makes no sense. Mum, actually does and makes things a bit more interesting. (Hmmm...Lilith?)

[sueworld2003.livejournal.com]

All I have to add is I still haven't seen this. :)

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

I think her best scenes were with the psychologist and, rather surprisingly, with Chloe in the last episode. Their chemistry was much better than Maze with both Lucfier and Amenadiel. But on the whole she felt rather mis-used.

[shapinglight]

I agree her best scene was with the psychologist and, to my surprise, I rather liked her declaring that she'd made a friend in Trixie. I liked the fact that she didn't differentiate between adults and children.

I suppose I like best those elements that stress Lucifer, Maze and Amenadiel's otherworldliness. I don't want any of them becoming too human.

[shapinglight]

It passes the time. In fact, it's quite fun. It could be so much better, though.

[shapinglight]

Like her ex-husband, who I've seen in another television show but can't quite place him.

Kevin Alejandro's been in lots of things, including Ugly Betty and True Blood, where he played Lafayette's boyfriend.

I didn't know it was Mum. Closed Caption had Blum.

Heh! Maybe the closed caption writer doesn't know any Brit English and didn't realise Brits say 'mum' instead of 'mom' so they just wrote what they thought it sounded like.

It could be Lilith. If so, it's contradicting Hebrew myth, in which she was Adam's first wife, created from the same dust as him, rather than mother of the angels, or whatever. But I don't know who else it could be.

Maybe Lucifer meant Maze's mum rather than his mum. Mazikeen is a daughter of Lilith in the comics.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

They aren't following Hebrew or Christian myth or the comics all that closely, appear to be doing a hodge-podge of all three. Which actually I find sort of interesting.

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

I suppose I like best those elements that stress Lucifer, Maze and Amenadiel's otherworldliness. I don't want any of them becoming too human.

Me too! I hope they won't become too human next season!

[nucleosides.livejournal.com]

I SO want to watch Lucifer.

I just need to finish House first, I'm like 75% of the way through that. :P

[shapinglight]

I've never watched House. I probably should. Is it on Netflix, or Amazon?