LUCIFER: L-R: Kevin Alejandro, Lauren German and Scarlett Estevez in A Good Day to Die, the winter finale episode of LUCIFER. Cr: Michael Courtney/FOX.
With Chloe poisoned by last week’s late serial killer, Professor Jason Carlisle, Lucifer has to return home to get the antidote in the winter finale of Lucifer (FOX, Mondays, 9/8C), A Good Day To Die.
A Good Day To Die has just about everything you need for a great hour of television – including a surprisingly effective solo piano take on Killing Me Softly by a most unlikely player.
A Good Day To Die opens with Chloe (Lauren German) attempting to power through the bloody nose and dizzy spells to help Lucifer (Tom Ellis) find the antidote for Professor Carlisle’s (Tim DeKay) poison, but without success – even with the help of way-too-uncool nerd medical Examiner Ella (Amy Garcia) helping.
Questioning Amenedial (D.B. Woodside) proves unhelpful – despite having made Chloe’s existence possible, he has no idea if their Father’s plan goes this far.
LUCIFER: L-R: Tom Ellis and DB Woodside in A Good Day to Die, the winter finale episode of LUCIFER. Cr: Michael Courtney/FOX.
When she becomes unable, Lucifer has to take Chloe to a hospital. He teams up with Dan (Kevin Alejandro), and things go from bad to worse – bad enough that Maze (Lesley-Ann Brandt) brings Trixie (Scarlett Estevez) to the hospital (where Amenedial makes a new friend…).
Finally, an appearance by Charlotte/Mum (Tricia Helfer) and an offhand remark give him a plan. He’ll go to Hell and get the formula from Prof. Carlisle (Maze can’t go because as a demon, she doesn’t have a soul – when she dies, she dies, and Mum refuses to go). The only hitch is that he can only get there by dying – and to do that, he has to be near Chloe so that he can become vulnerable.
In what has to be the most inventive use of the show’s main characters yet, Lucifer’s plan requires teamwork, so everyone – Amenedial, Maze and shrink-to-the-gods, Dr. Linda (Rachael Harris) – needs to help. Even Mum turns out to help when things look like they might go sideways.
Written by Joe Henderson and Chris Rafferty, and directed by Alrick Riley, A Good Die To Die presents us with compelling evidence that the Lord of Hell is as capable of love as his Parents (just in case we were still wondering…).
LUCIFER: L-R: DB Woodside and Scarlett Estevez in A Good Day to Die, the winter finale episode of LUCIFER. Cr: Michael Courtney/FOX.
It also suggests that returning to Hell might not necessarily be a Good Thing for Lucifer since his abdication (see also: Killing Me Softly) – though it also reveals to him some hard truths that look like they will play heavily into the rest of the season.
That Lucifer is willing to go there shows just how much he has changed since he was gunned down with a protégé in front of Lux in the series premiere – especially since he can’t rely on Father to get him out of Hell now.
A Good Day To Die continues Lucifer’s progression from merely a really good show to a consistently excellent one. The writers keep coming up with new ways for Lucifer, the character, to keep surprising us – and himself – and Ellis keeps the character’s growth from feeling too rapid.
When the home video release of Lucifer: Season Two is being put together, I would exhort the powers that be to include a handful of commentary tracks – especially for this episode. It’s as close to a perfect winter finale as one could have hoped for
Final Grade: A+