Episode 9- Family Dinner

The 9th episode of the season picks up literal seconds after the 5A cliffhanger with time stopped as Lucifer and Amenadiel fight Maze and Michael and the long-anticipated appearance of dear old Dad Himself. God’s sudden appearance dredges up all sorts of emotions for Lucifer so he runs away to his nightclub Lux to get some space. Poor Chloe, however, has no idea what was going on as time was frozen, so she’s under the impression that her boyfriend ran away to avoid saying ‘I love you’ to her.

Despite their recent trauma of finding out the devil is real, getting kidnapped by an archangel, and finding out your boyfriend is a serial killer, respectively, Dan, Ella and Chloe all decide to use work and the case as a distraction from their issues. Does the LAPD even offer counseling or tell their staff to take time off after near death experiences? Dan really should have sorted out the Union better back in season 3 as the designated representative.

As the episode progresses, the case of the week mirror’s Lucifer’s familial struggles and helps Chloe to see that he’s mad at his family and not her. It is also revealed why Maze sided with Michael earlier in the season: it was to gain an audience with God to ask him for a soul. He tells her she's perfect the way she is, which naturally brings on her anger because she feels far from perfect. Also interesting to note that He knows her favorite drink before she does.

Charlie is said to be mortal, and Amenadiel is ready to sacrifice himself so that Charlie doesn't have to suffer and grow old. To us, we assume this made God stop and think about what it really means to be a father, a theme that follows him throughout 5b. We are thankful that God seems to realise his actions have had dire consequences on his children. Michael is also told to go home and not welcome on Earth anymore. We knew this wouldn't stop him formulating some twisted plan but it was satisfying to see him sent to his room.

The most iconic scene of the episode is clearly the Family Dinner scene for which the episode gets its title. For over 11 minutes, we get to witness hilarity and heartbreak as God, Lucifer, Michael, Amenadiel, and Linda hash out a millenia’s worth of daddy issues. Amenadiel consumed a lot of wine as the issues were brought to the table. Lucifer and Michael came face-to-face which almost came to blows until Dad became "meteorologically inclined" and brought on the thunder to break them up. So much for it being a one time thing with Noah. Chloe being at the family meal would have certainly added more layers and tensions to the already jammed pack scene so, although we would have loved to see her there, perhaps it was best she sat this one out.

Linda's participation in the family dinner was a much needed comedic outlet to the most intense sit down meal ever. Harris is brilliant at supplying the audience the relief from her one liners as well as being a catalyst between all things celestial and the human world. Linda being there brings normality to the situation so it doesn't feel so otherwordly and is therefore more relatable, making the concept and issues brought up easier to understand.

The dinner culminates in God not being able to say straight to Lucifer’s face whether he loved His children or not and Lucifer coming to a conclusion that impacts the rest of the season.

The final scene with Lucifer and Chloe was a rough one for the couple. Lucifer admits to Chloe that he can't say those three words to her because he doesn't think he is capable of love. Though it left us with feelings of frustration, we also recognize what Lucifer has been through. Trauma and the recovery is not a straight forward road. There will be twists and turns, there will be relapses, especially with the trigger (Dad) coming back into the picture. It's messy, but it depicts trauma at its realest.

"If I ever said those three words to you, it would be a lie." (photo copyright Netflix)

Episode 10- Bloody Celestial Karaoke Jam

The following episode is the long-awaited musical episode. In our opinion, writer and show runner Ildy Modrovich absolutely crushed this episode. We were apprehensive at first about a musical episode but the way it’s executed was simply flawless. From the writing to the choreography to the singing and more, the episode does a phenomenal job of using silence and quiet moments to drive home a point just as much as song.

Sure it is subject to opinion, but from all the TV musicals we’ve seen, this is one of the better ones.

This episode is the perfect showcase of Lucifer as a series too. Whimsical and fun. From not taking itself too seriously one minute, to serious, tragic, angsty, and dramatic the next.

"I wanna fall in love... with you." (photo copyright Netflix)

Music has always been a big part of the series and Lucifer himself has always communicated his pain, his contempt, and his sorrow through song. Wicked Game starts the show, with Lucifer at the piano belting out a song about wanting to fall in love but not knowing how. This coming directly from his feelings of not feeling love from his father. The lyrics were changed perfectly to make it more deeply connected with Lucifer's current emotional dilemma.

There is a lot of butting heads between Lucifer and God in this episode, as should be expected after the eons of rejection and pain that Lucifer has felt. They battle over the simplest of things, and one of those things is coffee. What Lucifer doesn't know, is that God already knows what type of coffee will be Lucifer's favorite. This is a parallel to already knowing Maze's favorite drink in 509. God is "all of the omnis."

Lucifer also comes to understand the importance of working things out with his father to the benefit of his relationship with Chloe. Also in this episode we have Dan meeting God for the first time, bowing and giving him a hug with extreme nervousness. To Dan's surprise, God knows exactly who he is and says, "I believe you've met my wife." Which follows over the next few episodes adds a lot of comedy and lighthearted moments between Dan and God.

The duet of "I Dreamed a Dream" between Ellis and Haysbert was extremely powerful and provided a new twist on the meaning of the lyrics from the Les Mis classic. Lucifer feels so many emotions so deeply, but also believes that he is incapable of love because he is in many ways just like his father. His words, "for the first time in my long, hopeless life, I felt something," really broke him but also broke us while watching. This episode really started to put a dent in the emotional walls that Lucifer has had up for so long. The chemistry between Ellis and Haysbert was so intense, you could feel every emotion they wanted you to feel. 

"I dreamed that love would never die. I dreamed that God would be forgiving." (photo copyright Netflix)

There were other great songs such as "Every Breath You Take" by Ellis and guest star Debbie Gibson, "Hell" by Dan, which might foreshadow events in 515, and a fantastic mashup of "Bad to the Bone/No Scrubs" from Maze and Ella.

One point of confusion we had was around the song “Smile” in regards to the flashbacks. Was that Chloe remembering all these times, which would imply she knows that Lucifer took bullets in his wings for her while she was unconscious, or did God put those memories there so that now Chloe knows what he did for her? Regardless, it was still a beautiful performance by Scarlett that tugged at our heart strings.

The reason why everyone is singing and dancing is illuminated in the final scene when God reveals that he’s losing control of His powers. The tears and emotions in this scene are just incredible.

Both 5x09 and 5x10 were incredibly strong episodes and truly set the tone for the rest of the season. Showrunners/writers Joe Henderson and Ildy Modrovich who penned 5x09 and 5x10 respectively wrote two of the most memorable episodes of the entire series. The mix of laughter and humor with angst and tears perfectly set the tone for the emotional whiplash we received over the remaining 6 episodes. While the emotional rollercoaster can be scary at times, the dynamic duo of Joe and Ildy always does right by the fans so we’re happy to be along for the ride.

Stay tuned for more in depth reactions and summaries of the remaining episodes of Lucifer 5B