Devil's Advocate: Lucifer Episode 308, "Chloe Does Lucifer"

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Chloe Does Lucifer

By the episode title, you'd think this is the MOONLIGHTING-esque ending you've been waiting for in this series. But, of course, you should know better than that.

The story opens with Lucifer (TOM ELLIS) and Chloe (LAUREN GERMAN) laying side-by-side on the floor, engaged in obvious innuendo to the audience. However, what they're really doing is preparing to play Monopoly with Chloe's daughter, Trixie (SCARLETT ESTEVEZ). This leads Lucifer down the path of thinking that he has become boring. And, in truth, throughout much of the series, Lucifer has been portrayed as less "Luciferian" than one would expect from someone with his millennia of experiences; he misjudges frequently and makes mistakes. You'd think the Devil would be more calculating than that, but I suppose the writers are trying to play up his vulnerable side when he's around Chloe.

The murder du jour is a plain-jane computer programmer connected to a hot dating app for the creme de la creme, run by Mack Slater (MICHAEL RADY). It's his job to make sure the clientele continue to be exclusive, limited to just the most interesting people--people like the victim's selfie-obsessed roommate, Esther (MIKAELA HOOVER) and, of course, himself. To investigate this scene, Lucifer volunteers himself as the obvious choice, being the most interesting person. But he's passed over once in favor of Lt. Dan Espinoza (KEVIN ALEJANDRO) and again for Chloe.

When Chloe goes undercover, Lucifer is there to guide her through her earbuds, to make her more interesting. The result is a very (intentionally) stiff performance as Chloe does he best Lucifer -- Lucinda -- and it just isn't her at all. She is far too restrained, and when she does cross lines she crosses them so ungracefully as to drive suspects away. She finally has to ditch Lucifer and do things her own way, which works, much to Lucifer's dismay. He's decided he's become far too boring, and goes on a journey of self-discovery to re-ignite his mystique.

Peripheral to all this, Ella Lopez (AIMEE GARCIA) finds herself suddenly best by Charlotte Richards (TRICIA HELFER), who wants Ella's mentoring on how to be good -- because being bad comes so natural to her, and she doesn't want to go back to Hell when she dies. Also, Dr. Linda Martin (RACHAEL HARRIS) conscripts Amenadiel (DB WOODSIDE) into helping her plan her ex-husband's funeral, which is an overcompensation for the guilt she feels for feeling nothing at all. Linda opens up to Amenadiel that she was much happier when she wasn't a "celestial insider" who could still wonder about things, and Amenadiel helps her cope with being in-the-know about the actuality of Heaven and Hell. Of interest is Dr. Linda's confidence of knowing where she's going to go when she dies. The destination is never confirmed to the audience, but we can assume she believes she's going to go to Hell, something Amenadiel certainly doesn't seem to believe.

Turns out Lucifer was right. Just about everyone else in the episode tonight was more interesting than him. Good thing the Sinner Man is coming back next week to bring back the tension!

 

 

Grade: 
3.5 / 5.0