TV Review: Lucifer “Manly Whatnots”

This week’s crime was all about a girl who went missing after she was seen talking to the leader of a ”players” club. He teaches men how to ”get” women in only five steps. This creepy gathering and the leader should be the end of it but the plot twist comes when we find out that Lindsey was in a relationship with the guy. He is desperate to find her, willing to go to any length.

When he goes with Lucifer to meet the kidnapper, turns out he is the one who is in danger. His girlfriend is actually a one night stand from a few years ago who he used for his book. Lindsey clearly knew how to hold a grudge, even getting her brother in on the crime. The plan was to kill him, but they weren’t expecting Lucifer who first wanted to inflict his own justice but was blocked by Chloe. That was about it.

The week’s crime was quick, with not much attention actually being drawn to it. It once again connected back to Lucifer, because otherwise the crimes can’t be solved by him and Chloe. There needs to be some sort of personal connection and in this case, it was simple; Lucifer was invited to the Player’s club meeting. This let Chloe and him enter a meeting which Lucifer had them kicked out of after he outed Chloe as a cop. He was clearly too distracted with his personal problems to realize what he was doing, but that was the biggest issue in the case. It seems like this week the investigation portion was tossed aside in favor of propping up Lucifer’s big bombshell while also building up the Chloe/Lucifer relationship.

Lucifer spent the whole episode flirting with Chloe after he mistook Linda’s advice and decided the only way to get over her in a sense is to sleep with her. One problem? Chloe isn’t interested and none of his usual approaches are working on her. His confusion about the situation leads to some awkward moments, where he invites Chloe to his bar only to appear naked. Of course he expects his plan to finally work because apparently no woman can resist that temptation, except for Chloe who instead focuses on his back. The burns are in the perfect place for some wings, right? But we will save that question for a little later in the season.

The two shared a tense moment when Chloe tried to comfort him, reaching out to touch the burns only to have Lucifer stop her. The pain on his face was probably the most vulnerable that we have seen him so far; even Chloe realized how different this moment was. This was very important because the two returned right back to their usual antics when Chloe shot him in the foot, thinking this would prove that Lucifer wasn’t human. Unfortunately, she chose the wrong time because Lucifer started bleeding and feeling pain, something that shouldn’t be happening. Now the real questions begin. Is this because Chloe shot him and somehow she is unique? Or is something happening to Lucifer? I think the next few episodes will push this arc forward in some unexpected ways.

An interesting addition to this week’s episode in between the Chloe/Lucifer buildup had to be Maze and Amenadiel. An epic fight scene and a talk about Lucifer does not a relationship make, but the two definitely have some dynamic chemistry. They are both focused on Lucifer, Maze trying to look after him and Amenadiel trying to convince him to return to Hell. With Lucifer’s new human like qualities, it looks like Maze might reconsider just doing what Lucifer wants. At the end of the episode we saw Maze realize that his choices weren’t based on what’s best for him and she might have to take things into her own hands if she wants to keep him alive (and maybe even return to Hell once and for all).

Overall, this episode chose to focus more on the background dynamics, which works better in my opinion. There is much more interest in Lucifer’s past then there is in the weekly crime, so shining more of a light on it does make the episode flow better. Usually the interactions outside of the investigation are crammed in between them trying to solve the mystery, but this week there was more room for it to happen. There was more time for things to move the plot forward without making it too random or too quick. Hopefully this approach will be revised in the future, if only for the arcs that connect back to Lucifer more.

And the last note that had to be mentioned is the music. I’m not sure if anyone else pays as much attention to it as I do, but the catchy choices definitely made me smile. It pulls you in because of how familiar it should be to the audience and that really stays with me, so it wouldn’t be a shock if others liked this recurring approach as well.