Lauren German and Tom Ellis in the “#TeamLucifer” episode of LUCIFER airing Monday, April 18 (9:01-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2016 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: Michael Courtney/FOX
Lucifer (FOX, Mondays, 9/8C) has turned to be a surprisingly intriguing adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s comics character that mixes the Lucifer that we know from the comics with a police procedural. Even as I thoroughly enjoyed the series premiere, I didn’t know if this curious mix would work.
With #TeamLucifer, the penultimate episode of season one, I’m still waiting for it to falter and pleased to note that it shows no sign of doing so. The inevitable Satanism episode turns in unexpected directions – playing with the notion that not everything is what it seems, and evil might not come from the obvious places.
#TeamLucifer opens with a Satanic ritual that seemingly ends in human sacrifice but ends in a real murder. This sets off Lucifer (Tom Ellis), who finds it disgusting that every sin – however great or small – is blamed on him.
With last week’s revelation that it’s Detective Chloe Decker (Lauren German) who makes him vulnerable, this week he’s understandably not too eager to be around her. This is played for laughs and a bit of pathos – the one thing that intrigues him the most, stimulates his curiosity the most is causing his immortality to dim.
Tom Ellis and Lauren German in the “#TeamLucifer” episode of LUCIFER airing Monday, April 18 (9:01-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2016 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: Michael Courtney/FOX
Add an unusually great frame up for the murder of someone he had a run in with earlier in the ep, and #TeamLucifer finds its most peculiar situation yet – as Lucifer and Amenadial (D.B. Woodside) finally have the knock-down-drag ‘em-out brawl we’ve all been waiting for.
Plus, Malcolm (Kevin Rankin), Detective Douch… er Espinoza (Kevin Alejandro) and Maze (Lesley-Anne Brandt) play vital parts in the story.
Written by Ildy Modrovich and directed by Greg Beeman, #TeamLucifer is filled with more twists and turns than the average ep of Lucifer (which is to say, a lot) and just as much snark, genuine emotion and real wit as I’ve come to expect from this strange little series.
From the clues that most make it seem like Lucifer is at least in part responsible for a couple of murders (both gruesome yet not without a certain poetry) to the one least likely to be by him (and the one that bodes the most ill for him), this is an episode that zips through its forty-five minutes of actual story time with panache – setting up a season finale (especially since the show has been renewed) that is every bit as much a corker.
Thus far, at least, Lucifer – the show and the character – continue to be a lot of fun (deeply ditrubing, twisted fun, but fun nonetheless).
Final Grade: A