Lucifer - S3E11 - City of Angels

Previously on Lucifer, “The Sin Bin”

God Is In the Details

We start the new year with a look back at the beginning. It’s Lucifer’s first day in LA and apparently he hasn’t visited since the ’70s because he is wearing a horrible polyester suit. He falls into his usual debauchery and hedonism, but Amenadiel shows up ready to shut that shit down. Lucifer convinces Amenadiel not to interrupt him mid-coitus and while Amenadiel is waiting, he witnesses an apparent mugging and is shot and robbed himself. And this is where our story takes off.

The interplay of this episode is all of our characters brushing against each other, some without even knowing, and while Lucifer believes he is finally becoming free, God is moving the pieces of the puzzle together. Amenadiel is robbed of his necklace (which will later turn out to be the missing piece to the Flaming Sword) and he convinces Lucifer to help him retrieve it for a favor to be returned at a later date. Parallel to their investigation, Dan, who is a detective, is working with Chloe, who’s a beat cop, to find the mugger/murderer who killed a famous MMA fighter, Aidan Scott.

Everything Happens For a Reason

Lucifer is mainly trying to delay his return to hell but the investigation brings some revelations. He talks to a porn star who tells him how coming to LA helped her get free from her family’s expectations. When Amenadiel calls him evil, it only reinforces how he feels he’s perceived, as a demon. When Lucifer finds out that Aidan’s killer is a man who was “like a father to him” but killed Aidan for not following his plans, that’s the last straw. At his core, Lucifer is driven by two things; a need for justice and a need to be more than what his father has planned for him. So naturally, this case leads Lucifer on exactly the path his father has planned for him.

God, if he is the one truly behind all of this, has really moved all the pieces into place. Chloe’s tenacity in pursuing this case is her first break as a cop and leads to her becoming detective. Maze joins Lucifer in LA because on Earth she gets to choose her methods of torture while in hell, they are prescribed by the damned person’s guilt. By helping Amenadiel retrieve the necklace, Lucifer can stave off his return to hell because Amenadiel vowed to grant him a favor and an angel cannot break a vow (I’m sure that will come up again so be prepared). By episode’s end, Lucifer is kneeling in the sand so Maze can cut off his wings and I imagine God is somewhere rubbing his hands together like Mr. Burns.

The Devil Is Laughing

There were lots of funny interactions like Amenadiel in a mismatched outfit trying to convince Officer Chloe to go after his mugger with a child-like drawing of a masked man, as well as Lucifer almost masturbating to Hot Tub High School, Chloe’s one and only feature film, but I want to give a shout-out to whoever wrote every scene where D.B. Woodside took off his shirt. You’re the real MVP.

I think I’m prone to seeing Lucifer’s father as far more malevolent than benevolent. Part of it is that even if he does have some grand plan for Lucifer and Chloe, the way he’s letting him flail about is heartbreaking. I can’t tell if he’s trying to drive Lucifer to something or if he really is giving him the freedom to choose and either way, it’s hard to watch. That aside, it was fun seeing our characters before they met each other. Hardened criminal lawyer Charlotte, and Chloe and Dan as the happy couple thinking they invented Taco Tuesday. They’ve all come a long way.