The ‘Lucifer’ Reunion Isn’t What Chloe Expected (RECAP)
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 5, Episode 2 of Lucifer, “Lucifer! Lucifer! Lucifer!”]
“Hello, there. I’m Lucifer, Lucifer Morningstar. Hello, Detective. I would never lie, not to you.”
It is absolutely chilling how Tom Ellis plays Michael, Lucifer’s twin brother who, as we learn in Episode 2, is posing as the devil in Los Angeles. And to continue to fool Detective Chloe Decker (Lauren German), just like he did in the “reunion” in the premiere, he works a case with her. (Just the way he holds himself is different!) “Lucifer! Lucifer! Lucifer!” offers some insight into why he’s doing just that and reveals who sees through the façade.
Meanwhile, Dr. Linda Martin’s (Rachael Harris) encounter with Michael-as-Lucifer digs up something painful from her past, as he turns her concern for who’s watching over the demons in hell (since Lucifer left to do just that) into a query about her fear of being a bad mother. (Because while Lucifer seeks a person’s desire, Michael looks for the fear.) He gets the feeling she has a good reason for it, he tells her, and as the episode ends, we see Linda looking at a photo of what looks like herself holding a baby, from 1994.
Motive & Opportunity
Tech billionaire Anders Brody, via his aerospace company’s Red 2 Mars Project, is set to take a group of civilians and a biochemist to be the first Mars colony if tests go according to plan … but then the scientist, Judy, is murdered in the simulation dome. No one is allowed in or out, so it had to be one of the five civilians. But forensics specialist Ella Lopez (Aimee Garcia) checks their suits (and finds no blood), and the camera footage has been wiped. She does find a hair in a bloody footprint.
(Netflix)
It’s at the crime scene that Chloe learns that “Lucifer” (whose real identity we’ll learn shortly) has reconsidered his stance on lying after thousands of years in hell. When Chloe turns to Linda with this information, the therapist suggests that he just needs time to remember what his life on Earth is like, so the detective tries to do just that by throwing him into the interrogation room with their suspects (including Sharon Osbourne, who thanks Lucifer for what he did for Ozzy).
But to her surprise, that doesn’t work. She continues to witness odd behavior from him, even as she encourages him to do something impulsive, inappropriate, or sinful. As for the case, the civilians all insist they didn’t kill Judy, even if some of them didn’t like her. And it seems they’re telling the truth since Ella identifies the hair as belonging to a sheep; someone brought it in from outside the dome.
Those running the program are more helpful when it comes to speaking about being isolated from loved ones and returning home; one of them was part of the Red 1 Mars Project and isn’t sure he’ll ever be the same. They do point Chloe and her partner in the direction of a former employee, Donovan, who threw a fit when Judy was promoted over him and was fired.
After, “Lucifer” assures Chloe that while he may have changed in his time away, his feelings for her haven’t. It’s when he returns to the apartment over the nightclub Lux and runs into demon Maze (Lesley-Ann Brandt), angry with Lucifer for returning home without her, that he identifies himself as Michael (proven with his dark wings).
He’s there to right a very serious wrong, he explains, after hearing that his brother returned to hell voluntarily and has grown. All he hears is “Lucifer! Lucifer! Lucifer!” and it makes him angry that his brother’s being praised for doing what he’s supposed to do without whining. He’s certain that once Lucifer hears that someone’s playing with his “toys,” possibly “breaking” a few, he’ll return to L.A. Maze doubts that he’ll be able to pull it off, especially around Chloe, but Michael has a plan. He’ll up his Lucifer game until she’s hooked and then break her heart. And he thinks that Maze should join him so she can get Lucifer in front of her to beat up instead of his piano.
Secrets Revealed
When angel Amenadiel (DB Woodside) sees Michael-as-Lucifer, he worries about who’s watching hell and keeping the demons that wanted his half-angel, half-human baby to serve as king under control. They’re all being good little demons, Michael says, assuring him he doesn’t have to be afraid for his son.
(John P. Fleenor/Netflix)
To Chloe, her partner is more like his regular self as they stake out Donovan’s apartment. Their suspect takes off in his car when Michael calls out, and Chloe speeds off after him. When they get out of the car, cornering him at a dead end, Donovan chooses to speed right at them. Michael grabs Chloe and flies over the car.
After, in interrogation, Donovan explains he thought they were repo men. All he’s guilty of is being in debt; he has an alibi for Judy’s murder. However, he also tells him that Judy was having an affair with Brody, who’s married. There’s a motive. Brody has access to the cameras and could have removed the footage.
With Brody unreachable until the following morning, Chloe delights in having the evening off but is unsure if “Lucifer’s” comment about having dinner by himself is an invitation. When she shows up with takeout, she’s shocked to find him in bed with Maze. He chases after her, claiming that he lost who he is while in hell and promising the demon means nothing to him. He may lie now, but not to her, he promises, before smiling to himself as she leaves. It looks like the pieces of Michael’s plan are falling into place.
Chloe ignores his attempts to talk to her the next day as they question Brody, and to her surprise, rather than ask the suspect what he desires, her “partner” wants to know what he fears. It turns out Brody hates space. He’d started the project for the publicity, and yes, Judy found out and threatened to expose him, but he talked her down because he’d been left with no choice but to go through with the trip.
Michael seems to have an explanation ready for Chloe with regard to the “change” in her partner’s technique, but she says she gets it: it makes sense that fear and dishonesty followed him back from hell. She’s ready to accept the new Lucifer — completely, as she tells Maze, because she plans to finally sleep with him. And so Chloe gets up close and personal with him as she brings up moving forward together after the case.
Speaking of, the murder is then solved rather quickly; there’s a reflection of the suit the killer was in on the camera footage they do have, leading them to the man who had been part of the Red 1 Mars Project. But it turns out that it was his girlfriend who killed Judy because she thought they were having an affair. In truth, he’d been working with the scientist to expose Brody’s publicity stunt.
(John P. Fleenor/Netflix)
With the case solved, Michael’s more than happy to get ready for his date. When Maze tries to stop him from going through with it — Chloe’s a good person, she protests — he reveals he’s changed his mind. In time, he’ll tell the detective who he really is, but now, he’s going to take Lucifer’s life, not break it. To keep the demon from interfering, he knocks her out and hides her in the back of the apartment.
When Chloe arrives, he’s more than eager to continue playing Lucifer, including “remembering” their last conversation there and the words of love (which Lucifer actually didn’t exactly say). But then to his surprise, she pulls out her gun and shoots him. “Once I shot Lucifer to prove he was the devil, and now I’m shooting you to prove you’re not,” she explains. She knows he’s not Lucifer!
Chloe knew something was off the first time she kissed him, she reveals, but she wanted to believe his lies. However, once she saw him with Maze, she knew. Lucifer would never do that to her. Michael officially introduces himself, and she shoots him a few more times to make herself feel better. Now she knows she doesn’t have to fear Lucifer’s changed and that what they have is special. But then Michael drops a bombshell on her: she’s a gift God made for Lucifer.
When Michael heads downstairs, Amenadiel greets him at the bar by name. (An earlier conversation with Linda about fears opened his eyes.) But Michael doesn’t think the angel really wants him to go home so quickly, not when he could spill the beans about Charlie, who doesn’t belong on Earth. Still, Amenadiel knows how to get to him, with his own fear: Michael’s terrified Lucifer’s better than he is and knows he’ll always win.
If you’ve been wondering how long Lucifer will remain in hell, the end of the episode teases his return to Los Angeles, as Amenadiel pays his brother a visit and tells him it’s time to come back.
Lucifer, Season 5, Part 1, Streaming Now, Netflix
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