Lucifer Bonus Episodes

[shapinglight]

As of writing, the fan campaign to save Lucifer is still ongoing, mostly on Twitter. The showrunners have promised to tell the fans if/when they should quit, but they haven't done so yet. I'm not getting my hopes up, though.

So it could well be that these two episodes, which were meant to air in season 4, will be the last two episodes of Lucifer ever. All I can say is...

Spoilers behind cut



...that on first viewing (I haven't had the chance to re-watch), I wasn't too keen on either of them, and episode 24 - the final episode of season 3 - makes a better ending for the show as a whole.

That said, episode 26 (the AU Neil Gaiman as voice of God one), works fine as...well, as an AU, in which - it was claimed in the blurb - Lucifer had free will. However, I think God's rather smug narration rather belies that blurb, God being omnipotent and all. It's more like the episode was saying that, no matter what the circumstances, Lucifer and Chloe would end up finding each other eventually, even if 'Dad's' meddling was a bit less obvious than in the main Luciferverse.

The episode was quite fun anyway, though the ultimate message of it could not have been more at odds with the original comics series. Comics!Lucifer would of course never fall in love with a human woman, but if he had and had then discovered his father had set her in his path, he would have killed her himself rather than allow his free will to be compromised in any way (which, of course, is not really possible in a universe where God is omnipotent, which is why the original Lucifer comics series ends with Lucifer leaving the universe altogether).

Actually, it's more likely that Comics!Mazikeen would have stepped in and killed Chloe so Lucifer wouldn't have to. And later he would have thanked her for it.

But never mind. The show is a whole different animal, and huge numbers of the fans on Twitter who are still trying to save the show are Deckerstar 'shippers, so if Lucifer is picked up by anyone, even just as a book-ending TV movie like Farscape, it wouldn't at all surprise me if Modrovitch/Henderson et al felt obliged to end it with Lucifer turning human or something like that so he and Chloe could be together for ever (which I wouldn't like much, have to say) just to reward them.

So anyway, this episode was quite fun. Interesting to see the characters being different and interacting in different ways, and great to see Maze looking, and acting, more like Mazikeen in the comics.

As for the Ella-centric episode 25, though it offered the tiniest of clues to Chloe's reaction to the big revelation that Lucifer is really and truly the devil, just like he said (basically, she was a bit cool and eye-roll-y towards Lucifer when he was around but was still working with him, and admitted to Ella that she'd come across way weirder things than talking to ghosts) and Aimee Garcia as Ella was very good in it, the episode felt bitty and pointless to me, with the Lucifer/Dan stuff falling quite flat.

Still, it was nice to meet another of Lucifer's siblings, even if Azrael, the angel of death, did turn out to be not quite what I was expecting. Okay, I'd always liked the idea of her being Asian (in the American sense of that word, which this side of the Pond usually refers to someone whose heritage is from the Indian subcontinent), but I guess I was imagining someone more like Zhang Ziyi in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, all martial arts moves and (on the surface) cool ruthlessness, rather than a complete and total nerd. I think I could have got used to the idea if the character had been recurring in season 4, but as it is, her scenes with Lucifer didn't work for me.

Oh well, that's probably it. We'll see. If it is 'it', though, it's going to really frustrate me never learning what on earth made Lucifer think a brown suit was a good idea.

Comments

[yourlibrarian]

As for the Ella-centric episode 25, though it offered the tiniest of clues to Chloe's reaction to the big revelation

Yes, I also thought that was the most valuable bit of it, particularly if this is really the end.

all martial arts moves and (on the surface) cool ruthlessness, rather than a complete and total nerd.

I am assuming that for the most part this was her way of "relating" to Ella.

I think I could have got used to the idea if the character had been recurring in season 4, but as it is, her scenes with Lucifer didn't work for me.

The whole episode didn't work for me. About a third of the way through Mike asked me if I thought this episode had been the contractual one shows have to do with an outside writer. I could well believe it. I didn't even remember anyone else in the cast appearing in this besides Lucifer and Chloe.

One of the ways those types of scripts tend to stand out is that they often focus on original characters and/or a side character, and this one did both. It almost seemed like it could be a pilot for a separate show -- Forensic Detective and her Ghost Sidekick!

There were so many plot holes and awful clunky moments in this episode (such as the killer lurking by the dumpster just at the right time!) For example, the father says the kid in the closet rode his bike to his appointment. Where was the bike? Had the police found it, they would have wanted an explanation, but it's never mentioned! Why does the perfume matter at all since the mother wasn't the killer? How did it get into the psychologist's house? And why was it said she was having trouble with someone in her office when she appeared to work out of her home?

I kind of figured out Ray Ray's true nature before the reveal but I didn't see why they needed that utterly ridiculous moment of Ella using a line which, as Mike said, is spouted every week by Nelson on The Simpsons, and it's immediately taken as some big sign. Why did Lucifer have to know Ray was around before she appears in his penthouse? She could have just done so to ensure he would keep an eye on Ella.

They could have done more with this because there was an underlying message in it -- double down on your weirdness. The doc did it with her furry fandom, she urged the kid to do it with his music, and Ray urged Ella to do it with their interaction. And the killer is the bad guy because he wants to enforce his version of "normality."

This was my least favorite episode this season and I can see why they were in no hurry to air it.

it's going to really frustrate me never learning what on earth made Lucifer think a brown suit was a good idea.

Hah! I noticed that too, not his color.

That said, episode 26 (the AU Neil Gaiman as voice of God one), works fine as...well, as an AU, in which - it was claimed in the blurb - Lucifer had free will. However, I think God's rather smug narration rather belies that blurb

Ah, is that who it was.

it wouldn't at all surprise me if Modrovitch/Henderson et al felt obliged to end it with Lucifer turning human or something like that so he and Chloe could be together for ever (which I wouldn't like much, have to say) just to reward them.

That seems to go a little far but I suppose if they're pitching it at the fan base, it's possible. Though I'd think the fan base would prefer that Chloe become an angel rather than Lucifer become human, or else why bother watching a supernaturally focused show? I speak, too, as a Loki/Tony reader. They face a similar issue and I have hardly ever seen Loki be human at the end as opposed to Tony also becoming immortal, even when Loki spends most of the story as a human as part of his exile from Asgard. Then again, it's not a het ship, and most of them have an overwhelming number of endings with babies and weddings and such, so...

I was wondering when this was shot as it seemed likely to me that Maze was shown as she was because she was still pregnant? (I assumed the whole Phantom of the Opera groupie getup was a nod to the comics).

I also liked this better, in fact as an overall episode I liked it fine. I suspect we weren't meant to like Chloe's dad much (and given his attitude with Dan's laziness and running a station apparently rife with corruption, I'm thinking he wasn't great at his job either). I rather liked Ella's new role, in fact I liked it rather better than her usual one. Everyone got a part (except, thankfully, Pierce) though I thought Amenadiel got the shortest shrift. Mike could not overcome his scoffing at how NASCAR was presented but I won't go into that.

Two things jumped out at me. One was that either the writers were really committed to Dan and Charlotte or they couldn't think of anything else to do with them than put them together. The other was that apparently AU Ella does not understand the word fan if she's such a huge one of Chloe that being one altered her life trajectory and yet she couldn't be bothered to finish a whole movie.

[shadowkat]

Agree on your reactions regarding episodes 25 and 26.

Particularly the Ella episode -- it did not work for me either. I also don't understand why the writers always do this -- they deliberately kept Lucifer away from Ella/Ray-Ray all the way through the episode...until it came time for the big reveal. I found it frustrating and contrived.

Why not do the reveal early on and have more fun with it? As it was, it felt rather cliche in places, and clunky.

I'd agree - least favorite of the season. And I was a bit disappointed in the depiction of Azrael for the reasons shapinglight discusses above.

[yourlibrarian]

Why not do the reveal early on and have more fun with it?

Yes, exactly! We rarely run into members of his family and they are rife with baggage when it happens and then this.

[shadowkat]

Instead they chose to focus the entire episode on the procedural? I can't help but wonder if it was meant to show the network that they could do the other format?

I learned something last night from a writer's pod-cast, that FOX and ABC are notorious for making lots and lots of notes on writers scripts. Marti Noxon and Jane Espenson both stated that it got to the point in which they felt they were taking dictation. I can't help but wonder if that happened here? The network started to interfere with the series.

[yourlibrarian]

I suspect you're right.

[shapinglight]

About a third of the way through Mike asked me if I thought this episode had been the contractual one shows have to do with an outside writer. I could well believe it.

I vaguely remember that this was a new writer, yes. Have to say, if the show does go forward in any fashion, I hope they won't come back. The plot holes didn't bother me for their own sake. I just thought, the procedural element is even more boring and stupid in this episode than usual.

Though I'd think the fan base would prefer that Chloe become an angel rather than Lucifer become human, or else why bother watching a supernaturally focused show?

I agree, though I'm pretty sure if the show had continued on Fox the network would have seen it differently.

I was wondering when this was shot as it seemed likely to me that Maze was shown as she was because she was still pregnant? (I assumed the whole Phantom of the Opera groupie getup was a nod to the comics).

This was actually the last episode ever shot. Kevin Alejandro directed it. But yes, Maze's costume is a tribute to Mazikeen in the comics. She wears a mask to cover half her face because that half looks like the face Maze showed Trixie in the Halloween episode in season 2.

[yourlibrarian]

This was actually the last episode ever shot. Kevin Alejandro directed it. But yes, Maze's costume is a tribute to Mazikeen in the comics. She wears a mask to cover half her face because that half looks like the face Maze showed Trixie in the Halloween episode in season 2.

I'd think it surprising that they shot this after the finale, but it did feel like a sort of alternate ending to the series. And that makes sense about Maze's mask.

[shapinglight]

It was definitely the last episode shot. It was meant to be shown in season 4, after all.

[yourlibrarian]

Interesting! That certainly suggests how they were going to head in S4 then.

[shapinglight]

Well, I hope not. I think it was just meant to be a fun one-off.

[shadowkat]

I agree with everything you stated above on the season and the last two episodes. Had exactly the same reactions. Somewhat disappointed, and wishing they had done things differently. Oh well.

[shapinglight]

Never mind. If they do, by some miracle, get picked up by some streaming service, maybe these episodes will be declared apocryphal.