LUCIFER: Monster ©2016 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Bettina Strauss/FOX.
Lucifer (FOX, Mondays, 9/8C) has reached a key point in the series: someone will learn that Lucifer has been honest this whole time.
Elsewhere Maze takes Trixie trick-or-treating – with impressive results.
Monster opens with a zombie-themed wedding being interrupted when the groom is shot and bride shot dead.
Meanwhile, Lucifer (Tom Ellis) is dealing with his guilt over murdering Uriel by boozing and womanizing. When he arrives at the crime scene, he’s not drunk (damning his supernatural metabolism the whole way). His behavior is even more outrageous than usual, but he does get a good lead.
Detectives Decker (Lauren German) and Espinosa (Kevin Alejandro) are not impressed.
LUCIFER: L-R: Tom Ellis and Lauren German ©2016 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Bettina Strauss/FOX.
While all this is going on, Amenadiel (D.B. Woodside) is racked with guilt over Uriel’s death, too – but Mum (Tricia Helfer) shows him something that, she hopes, will help with that. The way Helfer plays that gives the suggestion that perhaps Mum isn’t just happy to be reunited with her boys – maybe there’s a reason she should have been sent back to Hell…
Being Halloween, though, Decker is faced with a tough choice – her babysitter left early (something about Maze’s room – and the only one available to go trick-or-treating with Trixie (Scarlet Estevez) is Maze (Lesley-Ann Brandt).
Then there’s the second murder – a food truck owner/chef – that seems unconnected to the first one until…
And finally, Decker – in extreme exasperation – boots Lucifer off the case and tells him to talk to her, or someone!
The thing that makes Lucifer so good is the way that it balances the combination of high drama, low melodrama, warm fuzzies and different degrees of humor and wit – and Monster is a good example.
LUCIFER: L-R: Lesley-Ann Brandt and Scarlett Estevez ©2016 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Bettina Strauss/FOX.
Writer Chris Rafferty takes Lucifer to some of the darkest places he’s ever been in while not ignoring the humorous aspects of his situation. He begins to build the roommate relationship between Decker, Trixie and Maze, with a very witty repurposing of a unique prop – before sending Maze, somewhat begrudgingly out with Trixie for a fun Halloweening bit and an unexpected moment of sweetness.
At the same time, he’s set up an interesting new situation with Amenadiel and Mum – and given Rachael Harris a few great moments as Lucifer’s s therapist, Linda.
With so much going on in Monster, it takes a genuinely deft and flexible director to put all the pieces together in the right way. Eagle Egilsson does a remarkable job of making all the pieces fit and receives some fine performances – especially from Ellis, German and Brandt in support.
Monster Turns humor into drama (the zombie wedding is hilarious until…); turns melodrama into horror (Lucifer’s descent into guilt, self-loathing and revelation), and slightly dark wit into warm fuzzies (Maze’s journey with Trixie). Egilsson keeps everything balanced and never allows pace or emotion to overtake the other.
Finally, in keeping with the title of the episode, we get to see Lucifer’s true face (or is it the face he wants us to see…?).
The requisite Halloween episode – such a natural theme for Lucifer – is no holiday-themed place filler. It’s the best episode of the show’s second season to date.
Final Grade: A+