Lucifer Season 2 Premiere Review

“If she’s not coming to kill me, then I don’t know what she’s doing, and… that’s truly terrifying.”

It was an amusing point of contention nine months ago when Birdy wrote the First Impressions for Lucifer’s pilot. I say amusing, because I largely agreed with his conclusions, and the only reason I was annoyed was because I had forgotten to properly call dibs. The first season, although technically a crime procedural, relied more on interesting characters and drama than it did on having strong and interesting cases. While I greatly enjoyed season one of Lucifer, I will acknowledge that I can barely remember the specifics of a single one of its cases. But the cases were just the backdrop. They were an excuse for Lucifer Morningstar to prance around like the prince of darkness that he is, annoying Decker, frustrating Amenadiel, insulting Detective Douche, and just being a ton of fun. Now that Lux has opened its doors for a second season with Everything’s Coming Up Lucifer, I can honestly say it’s nice to have Tom Ellis as Old Scratch back on the case.

The season kicks off with a bit of a refresher on everything that was going on back in the first season, and it isn’t until the series takes the time to lay out all the important narrative beats for you, that you realize how much the show has already established. There is a decent amount of mythology that the show has built up over the course of only 13 episodes, all while maintaining a case of the week structure. The episode kicks off proper with Lucifer and Amenadiel searching for their enigmatic “Mother.” Lucifer seems convinced that, once she takes a human form, she will be coming after him, but their search has proven fruitless. However, when Lieutenant Decker brings Lucifer along to investigate a dead television stand-in who was found with iron bars jutting from her head, Lucifer is convinced it is his mother’s doing. Lucifer’s relationship with his mother, and his attempts to shift blame serve as the primary theme of the episode, and the scenes where he attempts to wrestle with his feelings on the issue serve as the high points for the narrative.

Less effective is Chloe’s attempts to get a grasp on what she witnessed during the season 1 finale when Lucifer came back to life. She mentions throughout the episode that she had taken a sample of his blood to be tested, but is apparently conflicted on whether or not she wants answers. It’s all interesting in theory, but her inner debate seems to get sidelined in favor of other story lines. Amenadiel attempts to intervene, because humanity cannot be allowed to have evidence of the divine, but runs into trouble. His powers appear to be fading, and whether this is due to his relationship with Maze in the last season, him questioning his faith, or some other as of yet undeclared reason remains to be seen. However, Everything’s Coming Up Lucifer’s most clumsy narrative beat comes when it is revealed that Dan, a.k.a. Detective Douche, is still part of the police force. He explains it away at the beginning of the episode by stating that, in the wake of Malcolm Graham’s actions, the department wanted to simply sweep all the unpleasantness under the rug, so they simply demoted him. It is an explanation that gives off air of contrivance, and the show doesn’t really approach the subject again over the course of the episode. It may have proven advantageous for Lucifer to have stalled on introducing this particular story line until it had the time necessary to devote to it.

From the production and casting side of things, everything remains consistent with what we’ve come to expect. Tom Ellis’s performance as Lucifer remains the linchpin of the show, and the surrounding cast has, over time, proven capable of keeping up and giving him great characters to work off of. The only new cast member who is properly introduced in this episode is Aimee Garcia’s Ella Lopez, a forensic investigator for the L.A.P.D. Her character comes off a bit strong in this episode, and I can’t honestly say I was a fan, but maybe she’ll grow on me. She has a slightly manic quirky quality to her that didn’t quite feel at home in this episode, but perhaps it will get played down in future episodes. The soundtrack for this episode actually seems somewhat sparse when compared to the series premiere. The only notable musical beat comes at the end of the episode with a rendition of “All Along the Watchtower” ostensibly performed by Tom Ellis. I say ostensibly, because the episode does a rather poor job of trying to hide the fact that he is clearly not the one playing piano. The fault here lies largely on the editor, as the framing of the scene almost seems to be attempting to draw attention to the fact that a hand double is being used. It may seem like I have a lot of complaints regarding this episode, but Everything’s Coming Up Lucifer, despite being rather cluttered, is still a fun and exciting way to kick off the season.

Before I wrap up, a few Notes and Nitpicks:

• Aimee Garcia had previously been a main cast member of the Rush Hour TV series from earlier this year, which you had probably already forgotten was a thing.

• Lucifer’s mother who is seen briefly at the end will be portrayed by Tricia Helfer who is best known for her portrayal of Number Six on Battlestar Galactica. She also voiced EDI in the Mass Effect series, and Sarah Kerrigan in the StarCraft II trilogy.

• Trixie doesn’t make an appearance in this episode, not that I’m complaining. I like her character, but the episode has enough going on as it is.