‘Lucifer’ Season 6 Premiere: A Godly Revelation & an Engagement (RECAP)
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Lucifer Season 6 premiere “Nothing Ever Changes Around Here.”]
When Lucifer picks up again, it’s been about a month since the titular devil (Tom Ellis) and his archangel twin Michael (also Ellis) faced off to determine who would take over for their retired father, God (Dennis Haysbert). Lucifer won and … he’s still on Earth.
But don’t worry, he plans to bid adieu to the City of Angels tomorrow, as he informs a motorcycle cop (the same one who pulled him over in the pilot). And so for his last night before his ascension, he takes Chloe (Lauren German) on a magic-filled date night (and tries his hardest not to hear how every trick is accomplished). But really, he’s in no rush to become God even if she’s looking ahead to what her new job as his consultant means.
Also on their last night on Earth? Maze (Lesley-Ann Brandt) and her girlfriend Eve (Inbar Lavi), with the former about to become the Queen of Hell. (D.B. Woodside’s angel Amenadiel offers to fly them down after Lucifer’s coronation.) However, when Linda (Rachael Harris) lets her therapist side come out at the dinner party she throws them, plans quickly change, but for better or worse?
A Magical Night, Interrupted
Try as hard as they might to avoid any truth-seeking on their date night, a case falls right in front of Lucifer and Chloe — literally. During the final show of Magnar the Magnificent, as he’s about to hand down the mantle to his protégé, a body falls out of a sarcophagus. Magnar is in a box, in which he was seemingly stabbed by swords; the body is the magician set to take over for him, Jared.
Forensic scientist Ella Lopez (Aimee Garcia) couldn’t be more excited when she sees Lucifer and Chloe at the crime scene; she’s missed them, though she and Detective Carol Corbett (Scott Porter) have a good thing going after his transfer into the unit. (She denies liking him to Lucifer, but it’s quite obvious where that’s going.) As much as Lucifer would love to move on to the next show, they must stick around to give their statements and, much to his displeasure, hear how the tricks are done and have magic ruined.
He also can’t escape the new job waiting for him, as Ella admits, “Lately, I’ve been praying a lot and it feels like nobody’s listening, like the big guy’s just not there or something.” (Oh, if she only knew…)
As for the case, a few suspects are crossed off the list, thanks to alibis: another magician (who could’ve been jealous), the victim’s assistant (with whom he was having an affair), and Lucifer. To be fair, the God-to-be does tell Corbett he knows how to use a sword (the murder weapon) and stabbed a man through the heart once (albeit with a demon blade). “It’s all very complicated,” he says. “Best not to dwell.”
While Chloe helps Corbett with his investigation (without, then with his permission, as she’s no longer with the LAPD), Lucifer gets a wake-up call from Ella. God doesn’t have personal matters, she explains, “The only thing that God cares about is caring about us.” (Lucifer quips, “Not the only thing, he did quite like NCIS.”) But it boils down to one simple fact: God’s supposed to be there for everyone.
So who killed Jared? It was Magnar’s son, Alan, an entertainment lawyer who was trying to make money off the act only neither magician would sell, and he takes Chloe hostage. “You are not worthy of your father’s legacy!” Lucifer yells at him (and himself?). When Alan drags Chloe into a secret passageway, Lucifer follows, only to find out she’s taken care of the threat herself. She kept Amenadiel’s necklace, which gives humans superstrength. “It helped me survive an angel-demon war, so I thought it might come in handy again,” she says.
Later, Lucifer reveals he’s not planning to head up to Heaven yet, due to the job description. God needs to be selfless and care about all of humanity. Yes, he died for her, but “I love you, Chloe Decker, I’d do anything for you, except give you up, give us up,” he explains. “Much as I claim to know what’ll happen to me when I become God, I don’t. I’m scared. I’m scared of what it’ll mean for us.” She has faith he’ll figure this out.
Plans Really Change
Linda raises a good question at the dinner party she hosts for her friends: What’s Eve going to do in Hell while Maze is ruling over it? Support her, run the social calendar, Eve suggests. But exactly who does she expect to be having this fun? The tortured, damned souls? Maze’s family? (The demon rules that out.)
To try to alleviate the tension as Maze and Eve argue about their future, Amenadiel surprises the others by announcing he’s joining the police force. Eve leaps at the opportunity for the distraction, while Linda wants to focus on the couple. Then Maze admits she doesn’t want to go to hell. “I like it here,” she says, and it turns out, she and Eve are on the same page. Her girlfriend was only going with her to make her happy. “I don’t need to go home to be happy. You’re my hell,” Maze assures her. “I love you, I love our life. I could do this forever. … I could marry you tomorrow.” And again, Eve’s on the same page, and they’re engaged!
After, Linda admits to Amenadiel that while she was encouraging them to work through their unresolved issues because she’s a good friend and therapist, it was for her own benefit as well. It’s hard to deal with normal problems after she had God himself on her couch. While he can understand that, given that he was a warrior angel and is now training to be a beat cop, he’s come to learn, “every act matters.” She’s not sure she’ll ever feel that way.
Hope Is the Worst
It’s at the end of the premiere that we find out what’s going on with Dan Espinoza (Kevin Alejandro), who was killed near the end of Season 5. Lucifer has created a new afterlife for him, a purgatory of sorts (it looks like the police station), where he plays ping-pong with Belios (Eddie Blackwell), and ordered the demons not to torture him.
Dan doesn’t know why he’s unable to leave since he’s dealt with his guilt. And unfortunately for him, even if Lucifer does become God, he can’t just beam him up to Heaven. (As Lucifer explains, if he acts against his wishes, no matter how unconscious they are, it’s the end of free will.) Because every time he sees Lucifer gives him hope, Dan asks him not to come back until he has an answer. “As you wish,” Lucifer says before leaving.
But then suddenly, after nothing changing all this time, something does and it storms. And unbeknownst to Dan, that’s not all that’s different: There’s someone sitting on the throne.
Lucifer, Complete Series, Streaming Now, Netflix