Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Lucifer, Season One, Episode Nine: A Priest Walks Into a Bar


Lucifer holds a party at Lux.  When the pizza boy arrives, naturally being the devil, Lucifer cannot help but invite the man in to enjoy an orgy. Normally, Lucifer would join in the sexcapades but for some reason, this time he doesn't. A confused Lucifer heads to see Linda and she suggests that the real problem is that Lucifer is lonely. It seems that his break with Mazikeen has left Lucifer without any real friends. Even the devil needs to feel that at least one person gets him.

When Lucifer returns to Lux, he meets with Father Frank Lawrence. Yes, a priest came to the devil for help.  Connor, a young protege of Father Lawrence's is being pulled into the drug trade at a local community center and after exhausting his resources to help the boy, Father Lawrence turns to Lucifer. Seeing as how Father Lawrence represents God, whom Lucifer deems to be his enemy, Lucifer rejects the assignment and instead sets himself to the task of proving that Father Lawrence is the one who is corrupt.

Lucifer ropes Chloe into checking out the community center but when they arrive, they find Arietta dead with a voice modulator laying by his side.  Lucifer is immediately convinced that Father Lawrence is guilty of murder, even as Chloe points out that they don't have enough evidence yet. On the way out, they chat with Doyle, another counsellor at the building and Connor, the boy Father Lawrence was so concerned about. Lucifer and Chloe learn that the Father is a little bit obsessed with Connor and that earlier in the day, Father Lawrence got into a fight with Arietta.

Lucifer and Chloe head to the church to question Father Lawrence, who quickly admits to punching Arietta that morning but denies killing him.  Father Lawrence has his alibi confirmed by a parishioner. Someone does a drive by on the church, trying to kill Father Lawrence, causing him to admit that he is being threatened by someone named The Spider and that Connor is already heavily into the drug scene.  Chloe manages to trace the drive-by plates back to the community center.

Back at the station, Malcolm, who is even more slimy has reported back to work, much to a surprised Dan.  Malcolm's first act is to select a new partner and of course he has picked Dan for the sole purpose of keeping an eye on him.  Malcolm has Dan steal a gun from holding.  Later, Malcolm meets with Amenadiel, only to find that the angel has no patience for him. Amenadiel makes it clear that he brought him back to a life for a reason.  It's clear that since Amenadiel learned that Lucifer is now mortal, his plan is to have Malcolm kill Lucifer.  What I don't understand is why he would specifically need Malcolm to be the one to pull the trigger because it's not like there's a shortage of people who refuse to kill for money or other reasons.

Father Lawrence has been taken back to Lux for his own protection.  Alone with Lucifer, Father Lawrence admits that he used to be a musician and that he was in an accident which killed Connor's parents and his own daughter.  This is what brought Father Lawrence to God.  Lucifer and Father Lawrence play the piano together and it's clear that a relationship is beginning to develop between the two.  Lucifer and Father Lawrence are interrupted by Chloe, who has a lead on The Spider.  They all head to the location but Connor escapes by causing a crowd to panic by discharaging a gun into the air.

Later, Father Lawrence gets a call and takes off without telling anyone where he is going.  What he doesn't know is that the call was overheard by Mazikeen and she informs Lucifer and Chloe that it was Connor.  It seems that Father Lawrence has headed to the church for a meet up.  When Lucifer and Chloe get there, Conner, under the guidance of Doyle, is holding a gun on Father Lawrence.  It seems that Doyle is taking over the drug trade and as a test of loyalty, wants Connor to shoot Father Lawrence.  Connor wavers and eventually puts the gun down admitting that he cannot kill Father Lawrence. Doyle decides to kill Connor for his disloyalty and Father Lawrence jumps into the path of the bullet to protect Connor. Chloe then shoots Doyle.

Despite all of his disdain for Father Lawrence at the beginning of the episode, Lucifer is extremely upset. Father Lawrence admits that God brought them together not for his sake but for Lucifer's. Before he dies, Father Lawrence reminds Lucifer that God always has a plan. An enraged Lucifer turns his focus to Doyle and begins to choke the man.  It's only Chloe's intervention by telling Lucifer that Father Lawrence wouldn't have wanted this that saves Doyle's life.


Later, we learn that Connor confessed everything to the cops and will be receiving a light sentence at worst. This officially closes the case.

Chloe and Dan get together to discuss the fact that they shared a kiss but both are too distracted to really have a good conversation.  Chloe instead goes to visit Lucifer, because she senses that he might need a friend.  The two play a little on the piano.

Malcolm is in a diner and it looks like he has ordered everything on the menu.  When Amenadiel arrives, all Malcolm can talk about is how good food tastes now.  Amenadiel however is not interested in chit chat and reminds Malcolm what the thirty seconds he spent in hell felt like, before making it clear that if Malcolm doesn't come through, he is headed right back. A worried Malcolm says that he now has an untraceable gun and will be getting to the task soon.

I understand that Amenadiel is desperate to get Lucifer back to hell so that he no longer has to guard the gates but what I don't understand is him encouraging a mortal to commit murder. Amenadiel is supposed to be on the side of goodness and as far as I understand it, murder is still evil. The writers are going to have to explain how it is that Amenadiel is justifying his actions.

Even though Lucifer is still hitting on Chloe or making some innuendo every chance that he gets, he's clearly learning that there's more to life than having ones baser instincts satisfied.  His lack of companionship really is all about the fact that Lucifer has always felt misunderstood. In fact, I would go even further and say that what Lucifer is really missing is love.  This is why he is so enraged with his father, (read: God) he feels unloved.  Chloe may have started out as a conquest to him but it's clear that over time, she's come to mean much more than he is ready to admit to himself.

Last week we saw that Mazikeen saved one feather from Lucifer's wings.  I wonder if this is what is going to be used after Malcolm shoots Lucifer to give him life again, or to protect him somehow. Mazikeen is fond of telling Lucifer that she is there to protect him from things even he cannot see coming.  Certainly, when he burned his wings, he saw it as an escape hatch that he closed and did not realise that he would need them some day. Will this be how Mazikeen finds redemption in Lucifer's eyes?

Okay, why is Dan still not dead?  I can see the writers are headed that way with the fact that we know he is a dirty cop and that it is Dan who shot Malcolm.  My question is, how is Dan going to die? We all know it's coming, particularly because as much as I love  Kevin Alejandro, the characters he plays always seem to be killed off for some reason.