The One Where Lucifer Gets Naked and Then Gets Shot ("Manly Whatnots")
Image courtesy of Screencapped.net
Mmmmm.
Oh, sorry, what?
This episode is all about struggles. We've got the struggle to rescue a kidnapped girl - and Lucifer actually gets called in because he has an invite to the suspect's conference (a pickup artist convention).
Lucifer struggles with his inability to seduce Chloe. Chloe, meanwhile, struggles with all the strange things she's seen from Lucifer - still teetering on the edge of the Lucifer-is-actually-the-devil cliff.
And we got SO CLOSE. SO. CLOSE. [Spoilers coming, skip to the next paragraph if you don't want to see them!] There's a moment at the climax where Lucifer is getting ready to punish this week's culprit. Chloe comes in and sees his demonic reflection wavering in the mirror, which throws her into a panic. Lucifer finally sees her coming around and asks her to shoot him as proof that he really is the devil. So she does - and Lucifer bleeds. I'm crazy sad that the show didn't finally throw her off the cliff, but crazy intrigued as to where they're taking this.
Lucifer is really trying to get with Chloe though. There are several jokes about him using the pickup artist's techniques to try to seduce her. And he's getting there. The best moment, and the closest he probably was to winning her over, comes when he's naked (the scene pictured above). She, and we, see the scars on his back for the first time - the scars left behind by his wings where he had Maze tear them out. His sensitivity about those scars breaks down his normally suave exterior and makes him oddly vulnerable for the first time - and you can see Chloe responding. Again, SO CLOSE.
Meanwhile, Amenadiel is finally back - this time looking to strike a deal with Maze to get dear Lucifer back into hell. She refuses this time, but I don't think she will after the end of this episode. Interestingly, she seems to strike a nerve with Amenadiel by licking the side of his face. He clearly struggles with something when she does, and I'm excited to see where that goes next week.
All in all, this was a good episode, perhaps my favorite of the show thus far. It covered a lot of ground, and it introduced a lot for the characters to react to. I have a very strong theory on how the next several episodes are going to progress, and I both hope that I'm right and hope that the show won't be that predictable.
Here's to next week!
Other Assorted Thoughts:
It's nice to see an episode where Lucifer doesn't have to barge his way into the crime scene.
I really like the psychologist. A lot. She adds a great dynamic to the show by providing a method to externalize Lucifer's thoughts and, yes, his desires. Most TV shows can't get that deep into their characters' heads, but it works really well here.
When Chloe tells Lucifer she'll sleep with him when hell freezes over and he yells back, "I can arrange that actually!" OMG. Dying.
"The berries are ripe and ready to be harvested." One wonders if they didn't miss a blue berries joke there, but damn. Well played writers.
Chloe's kid is seriously too cute, and all her interactions with Lucifer are amazing.
