TV Review—Lucifer Season 6 (spoilers!)
It seemed only fitting to begin a review if the TV series Lucifer with a quote from the main character’s least favorite work of fiction. Of course the TV show Lucifer has shown a knack for resurrection that the main character never manifested; it was killed after three seasons by Fox, came back for two seasons on Netflix, and then Netflix decided that wasn’t enough and gave it another season. But it looks like this is definitely the end for Lucifer.
And frankly, it may be time.
Season six was a letdown; not bad by any standard, but a step downward
from the dizzying heights the show had reached in season 5. The show fell back on some old habits that it
had cast off and relied a little too much on an appealing cast and a reputation
for making bat-shit crazy decisions. The
result was a satisfying conclusion, but one that was less interesting than it
might have been.
Season 5 ended with an angelic battle for the right to sit
on the celestial throne as, well, God, with Lucifer (Tom Ellis) coming out the
victor. Season 6 starts with Lucifer
finding excuses for delaying his ascension.
This is an old failing of the show during its time on FOX; either the
producers or the network would come up with any old excuse to keep Lucifer and
his love, Detective Chloe Decker (Lauren German), from progressing in their
relationship. I understand that the relationship couldn’t have been allowed to
progress too fast—I remember as a fan of the series Chuck that fans wanted
Chuck and Sarah to hook up immediately, which would have ruined the show. The problem was that the reasons for the one-step-forward/two-steps-back
plotting were frustratingly arbitrary. So
it is here, where Lucifer has literally battled a host of angels to become God but
now he has second thoughts, just because.
The main plot of season 6 is the appearance of a fearsome
young woman named Rory who is an angel whose wings are steel-tipped razors and
who bears a grudge against Lucifer. The
explanation of who she turns out to be is the one genius inspiration of the
season, and I won’t spoil it here. The
ten episodes wind along pleasantly enough, but the plot moves ahead in fits and
starts with character motivation seemingly arbitrary. The show does fall back on another
unfortunate habit; I used to joke in seasons 1 and 2 that not only did the show
not know how real cops solved crimes, but they also didn’t seem to know how
fictional cops solve crimes. The show’s
stupid gene reappears as a major plot point is that a prisoner serving time for
murder is able to escape simply because his cell door didn’t completely shut,
as if there would be no other locked doors between his cell and the outside
world.
One bullet that was dodged was that the show does what a lot
of long-running shows do, give cast members a shot at directing. The results can be indifferent (the episode
of The X-Files directed by Gillian Anderson was a low point) but here the
results are positive. DB Woodside
(Amenadiel) does a good job capturing the visual style of Lucifer in the
episode he directed, and Kevin Alejandro (Dan) had already proven to be an
excellent director on episodes he directed in prior seasons.
The ending . . . what to say about the ending, other than it
rivals All That Jazz as the longest death scene since Carmen. But, given that the bulk of the final episode
featured only Lucifer and Chloe, it was nice to show all the other characters
progressing with their lives. There is
even a nice shout out at the end to the episode Off the Record, my pick for the
best single episode of Lucifer.
If I was to pick an MVP for season 6 it would be Rachel
Harris as Dr. Linda Martin, Lucifer’s long, long suffering therapist. One of the first things I liked about Lucifer
was that he wasn’t just about sleeping with gorgeous models, he
enthusiastically agreed to have sex with Harris’ Dr. Linda even though she is
in her late 40’s and could hardly be called leggy (don’t get me wrong, I think
Harris is gorgeous, but by tv standards she should be playing someone’s
mom). She had the best running plot
thread in season 6, her writing a book entitled Sympathy for the Devil, and she
always managed to be funny without ever seeming to try. I also like the fact that the show once again
demonstrated that she is a “middle-aged” woman with a healthy sex drive as she
is shown waking up from a drunken hook up after Maze’s (Leslie Anne-Brandt)
wedding.
When one of my favorite series, Angel, was unceremoniously
canceled, I reacted to the fan demands that it continue with the observation
that anyone who had watched the show should realize that living forever is not
necessarily a good thing. I will miss Lucifer, a show that started weak and
somehow got better; few shows do that.
But a show as imaginative and audacious as Lucifer had to run the well
dry at some point, and that point seems to have come. Adieu Lucifer! I will keep watching you on Netflix as long
as the good lord is willing.
