Lucifer - S3E20 - The Angel of San Bernadino

Previously on Lucifer, “Orange is the New Maze”

No Rest for the Wicked

This week, an angel seems to be doing good deeds around Los Angeles and Lucifer is afraid it’s him. It all starts when a woman who collects angel figurines sees a shadow of an angel during a home break-in. When Lucifer finds that angel figurine in his loft, he’s convinced he’s sleep-saving people. Dr. Linda says it’s because he has unresolved feelings over Chloe and Pierce’s relationship which has accelerated quickly. He tries to handcuff himself to a statue and sleep so he doesn’t do it again but when he wakes up, the cuffs are loose and an angel was spotted saving a family from a fire in San Bernardino.

In the wake of this, Lucifer goes to the opposite extreme, deciding not to sleep at all. He stays up doing cocaine and Adderall, building furniture, having sex, riding a tricycle, and finally settling on a marathon of Bones on cable (I mean, we’ve all been there). And when he emerges from his chrysalis, a week later, Chloe is slightly closer to finding the killer but Lucifer has completely lost it from lack of sleep and, in addition to telling her that Bones is basically a documentary of their lives, he mentions that he doesn’t trust Pierce and Chloe nearly admits that she’s in love with him.

Bones and Boos

Okay, now, come closer, writers because I need to talk to you … what the hell is the pacing of this season? I’ve already gone off on the fact that this season is 24 episodes (unnecessary) but they spent at least six of them having Maze be mad at Amenadiel and Dr. Linda just for her to team up with Pierce and in ONE episode, it’s revealed that she and Pierce decided to make Lucifer think he’s saving people as an angel to distract him from the fact that Pierce is trying to get Chloe to fall in love with him to remove his mark so he can die. That’s the plan. It’s not a bad plan, but we spun our wheels for at least six episodes just to have Maze and Pierce team up, execute and reveal their plan in one episode. It’s madness, but at least Maze’s new hair looks great.

Of course when Pierce realizes that Chloe is in love with him (so much so that she wants to introduce him to Trixie), he tanks the plan because he has feelings like a real boy and of course this is the selfless act that finally removes his curse. Too bad, Lucifer is ready to kill him for hurting Chloe right when he might have found something to live for.

Setting aside the horrible pacing of this season, the episode itself was good. My grade reflects my overall frustration with the show. We knew going into the final stretch of this season that things would have to ramp up, but we found out Pierce was Cain in episode ten. We’re now at episode twenty and everything that was set up in between seems like a waste because Maze and Pierce started working together last week and Chloe and Pierce started dating an episode ago and now she’s in love enough to remove his eons-long curse. This episode confirms that no television show needs a 24-episode season except Agents of SHIELD who knows how to use it.