Lucifer - S2E18 - The Good, The Bad, and the Crispy

Previously on Lucifer, “Sympathy for the Goddess”

Lucifer’s Mother and the No-Good, Horrible, Very Bad Day

Sometimes you have to staple your stomach back together and get rid of the burned body of the guy you killed with your celestial light. Mondays, amirite? Lucifer picks up right where we left off with The Mother dealing with Chet’s burned corpse and her newfound “burning mortals to a crisp” power. Her powers are increasing and that means that her human body is in danger of combusting and taking out anything in the vicinity that is exposed to her celestial light. It’s also making The Mother really cranky.

The Mother has Chet’s body disposed of by a cleaning service so when it’s found the hair has been removed, the body has been bleached, and there’s little evidence to go on; but as Lucifer tells his mother, Chloe will definitely figure it out because she’s relentless. He finds his mother at Dr. Linda’s office because despite all of last week’s drama, Dr. Linda is still kicking it with these guys and The Mother doesn’t realize that being a therapist doesn’t mean the doctor knows anything about sutures. While Lucifer tries to speed up his plan to get everyone back to heaven before his mother explodes in Dr. Linda’s office, Amenadiel is now rethinking their plan since he realizes that he’s God’s favorite.

Moving Forward

Lucifer tries to get Amenadiel to give him the final piece to the sword by telling him the plan to get their mother to heaven and let mum and dad work on their relationship, but Amenadiel is still reluctant to believe that Lucifer doesn’t want to exact revenge on God. As The Mother grows more unstable, she starts to suspect that Lucifer is working against her so she returns to Dr. Linda’s to get the truth. This is where the whole episode kicks into high gear.

The Mother unleashes her light on Dr. Linda, leaving her in critical condition by the time Maze finds her. Then she goes to find Chloe in order to force Lucifer to get the sword. Once Amenadiel realizes how volatile The Mother has become he gives up the location of the last piece of the sword, which he hid with Dan. And when Amenadiel finds Maze and a dying Dr. Linda, he stops time giving Maze the chance to save Linda and Lucifer the opportunity to confront his mother without Chloe and Dan witnessing his powers. Lucifer cuts a hole in space and time and convinces his mother to move forward, instead of seeking revenge, so she empties her celestial light into the void and leaves Charlotte’s body. I really, really hope they find some ridiculous way to keep Tricia Helfer around because the looks on Dan and Lucifer’s faces when Charlotte didn’t remember them were heartbreaking. 

Post-Mortem

With Charlotte gone, Lucifer goes to see Dr. Linda and apologize. Surprisingly, she doesn’t blame Lucifer at all and tells him that she went into all of this knowing she could get hurt. Rachael Harris truly sells this scene. Although her character is often played for laughs, she’s the only human in Lucifer’s life who knows what he is and chooses to be there for him anyway; at the risk of her job and now her life. You can tell it has a profound effect on him and since he’s all about moving forward, he calls Chloe to tell her that he’s ready to tell her the truth. Too bad he’s knocked over the head and wakes up in the desert, miles from civilization, and with fully restored angel wings. See ya next season!

We did not get the epic angel battle I hoped for and I think that’s indicative of how this last batch of episodes has felt: slightly dissatisfying. Despite the immense character growth, each episode has felt like it was building to something bigger without a lot of payoff. Introducing characters like Candy Morningstar or things like the Flaming Sword felt more significant than they turned out to be. The actors always manage to give emotional weight to the material, but the lead up did not match the payoff.  Even Lucifer tossing the sword into the void felt pat. The emotional moments notwithstanding, this season ender felt too neat and tidy. Hopefully, next season’s winged Lucifer has more in store for us.