What TV show did you last watch a season of on DVD/Blu-ray?
May 6, 2024 13:49:55 GMT
theravenking, taylorfirst1, and 1 more like this
Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on May 6, 2024 13:49:55 GMT
Finished Season 5 of Lucifer on DVD.
I’d bought this season and Season 6 quite some time ago, but had so many other things on DVD/Blu-ray to watch that I just kept putting this one off, ”saving it for later”, but decided on a whim this would be the next thing on my 'watch list'.
Lucifer - The biggest thing of note this season was Tom Ellis doing ‘double duty’ playing not only Lucifer, but his twin brother (Michael) as well. I wonder what my reaction would’ve been had I not been spoiled for/already aware that Michael would be played by Ellis as clearly we were meant to be surprised by the end of the first episode when actual Lucifer was still in Hell while it appeared he also returned from Hell to Chloe. Anyway, a good percentage of this season seemed to be about Lucifer not feeling ‘worthy’ of Chloe and that’s why he couldn’t return her "I love you” that she’d told him the end of last season (I think). It’s kind of dumb he thought that way, since she'd shown she cared about him and I understood her being frustrated that he didn’t ‘get’ that. The other overarching storyline for him this season was his relationships with his brother and his father, as we met God this season (played by Dennis Haysbert, who’ll always be President Palmer from 24 to me, despite having known him before that show, having watched him in the series Now and Again). Theirs was an interesting dynamic, though the family squabbling did get a bit tiresome after a while.
I’ve got to give props to Ellis for making Michael feel totally different to Lucifer in every way. It wasn’t just the accent (which, btw, just sounded so WRONG. Not that he did a ‘bad’ American accent, but hearing it come from what looked like Lucifer - who you can’t even imagine without his signature English accent - felt so ‘off’. I was surprised to learn Ellis is Welsh, so neither accent he does as his dual characters is his own), but also the way Ellis held himself as Michael, with that slouched posture and leaning shoulder to one side which made it easy to identify Michael (when he wasn’t pretending to be Lucifer, that is). Michael really was the loser brother who was obviously picked on and that made him turn bad. He was so petty and spiteful and his plans to not only screw with Lucifer, but Chloe as well, made him instantly unlikeable.
He also had a hand in Dan’s death, so it was hard to feel any sympathy for him at all. It was pretty damn satisfying/cathartic when Chloe got to beat that smirk off his face in the season final (thanks to receiving angel strength from a piece of the flaming sword which Michael had been assembling). It was well-deserved. As was him getting his wings chopped off by Lucifer and being forced to bow to him as the new God (after original God had nicked off with the Mother of all Creation - speaking of, it was nice to have Tricia Helfer back in that role, however brief it may've been). Lucifer actually showed mercy to Michael by sparing his life at the end - which proved how much Lucifer had truly grown, given that Michael had just recently killed Chloe in an effort to force Lucifer back to Hell so he (Michael) could become God. I was amused by Lucifer, Chloe, Amenadiel and two other angels who switched to their side distracting Michael with a 'Hammer Time' dance routine, which brought the funny before things got deadly serious (I also have to give props to this show for having a decent Lucifer vs. Michael fight in midair - something SPN failed at).
Regarding Chloe’s death, I thought Ellis totally sold that moment and made it feel like this was IT for her/a proper real death (too bad it was kinda ruined by the Angel of Death, Azrael, briefly appearing just before Chloe was killed since I HATE the person that plays that character thanks to the final season of House in which she appeared and showed nary a hint of acting ability. She was so lifeless in her line readings, like she was literally just reading them from the script). Also, what was up with nobody warning Chloe Michael was coming at her with a sharp object to stab her? All these characters were just watching on, doing nothing the whole time (it was only after Chloe's death that, despite Amenadiel constantly telling Maze to resist the urge to kickstart a war between the angels and demons, she - naturally - didn't listen to him and they started fighting. It's too bad for those angels who died that this brief war was ended after Godcifer appeared. They could've been spared death if it'd happened a little sooner...or if Maze hadn't started the fighting).
After Chloe died and went to Heaven (where she was happily spending time with her father), Lucifer self-sacrificed by going there knowing he’d be incinerated (thanks to his banishment from Heaven - and what a dick his dad was by not lifting that banishment after they finally ‘made up’ before he nicked off) and giving Chloe an immortality ring that allowed her to go back to Earth while he burned up/exploded with light. Turns out this self-sacrifice was what proved him worthy of becoming God and that’s what that white light blast was all about. As not long after, he came back down from Heaven and made everyone his bitches, as they all bent the knee to him (except for Chloe - who I was actually glad to see didn’t bow before him, given what she’d just been through. Plus, I don’t think he would’ve wanted her to anyway).
Although Lucifer’s ‘obsessions-of-the-week’ (where there’d always be some parallel between the cases-of-the-week he and Chloe investigated and whatever issues were going on with him) could get annoying/tiresome, and he wasn’t as forthcoming with information as he could’ve been at times, on the whole I still liked Lucifer as a character this season. As I’ve always maintained, contrary to what some people believe, that he works best with Chloe and I enjoy their dynamic the most in the show. Yes, sometimes there’s a bit too much ‘relationship drama’ between them, but when they’re actually getting along and having fun together, I find them very enjoyable. Also, it’s good that now there’s no ‘will they/won’t they’, as they’re firmly a couple now. Of course, Lucifer now being God will certainly throw a spanner in the works. I did enjoy his final line of the season, which was “Oh my Me.” instead of “Oh my God.” (similar to how he’d say “I swear to Dad’ instead of ‘I swear to God’ - since they were one and the same).
Chloe - I’ll just get this out of the way first...what did Lauren German do to her face? I’m not one to pick on actresses if they decide to go under the knife (after all, it’s their choice), but she had such a natural beauty to her beforehand, she had these striking features that were unique and I just don’t get why she felt the need to muck around with them at all. It was very noticeable at the start of the season (especially combined with her darker hair, whereas it’d previously been lighter) and it wasn’t until towards the end of the season that I’d started getting used to her change in appearance. I don’t begrudge her doing what she wanted to with her own body, but I think it’s a shame she felt like she *had* to (then again, with everyone always criticising actresses for their looks, I imagine it’s hard to ignore all of that and not feel pressured by it). I still think she looks nice, but I did miss how she used to look (especially when they showed flashbacks of her from previous seasons during a montage at one point this season).
With that^ out of the way, I can now address the crapload of stuff her character went through this season. She was clearly missing Lucifer, even trying to fill the void of not having him working alongside her by having Maze of all people (well...demons) be her Lucifer substitute. This was the most I’d ever seen their two characters getting along, and it actually made the character of Maze tolerable to me for a brief moment, but then Chloe came to the realisation they were using each other in a way to make up for Lucifer’s absence and to her credit, was mature enough to know this wasn’t healthy. Of course, Maze being Maze, *wasn’t* mature about it and held a grudge against Chloe for ending their partnership - one of the MANY reasons I don’t like her character).
Then came the seeming return of Lucifer...who was actually Michael-posing-as-Lucifer, and I liked how smart Chloe was shown to be, obviously knowing something was off with ‘Lucifer’ pretty early on and her figuring out it wasn’t him, but playing along until she confronted this imposter. One of the many shitty things Maze has done to Chloe over the years was this season making her think she and Lucifer were boning...when in actuality it was her and Michael. It hurt Chloe deeply to see them together, but she seemed to work out pretty quickly that Lucifer would NEVER do that to her and I’m glad she realised this (though, as usual, she let Maze off far too easy for what she’d done - after they’d become more or less ‘friends’, for her to intentionally try to hurt Chloe like this was yet another in a long line of reasons why I think Maze sucks). Once Lucifer finally *did* return for realsies, I was surprised it wasn’t a bigger/more major moment, as he just seemed to waltz into the precinct like it was no big thing and made short work of convincing Chloe he was Lucifer for really reals (by doing his “What do you truly desire?” shtick to one of Chloe’s coworkers). It felt like it should’ve been a bit more of an event than it was.
After this, there was the big bombshell Chloe learned which was her being ‘a gift from God’ to Lucifer and her dealing with the fact that she was created *for* him. She needed space and I liked when she sat down both Lucifer and Amenadiel (who had let slip this secret when she was within earshot) and asked them a bunch of questions about this, like whether Amenadiel was her father (which she reached the conclusion of when he said he’d bestowed a ‘miracle’ on her mother or whatever the phrase was he used, which she took to mean he’d made her mum pregnant, so it was a pretty understandable conclusion she’d reached - which made his laughing in her face kinda mean) and if she had powers (“laser-hands” being the first she imagined). Sadly, she learned no such powers were bestowed upon her and she really was just there to be a temptation’ to Lucifer created by God. It was totally understandable she needed time to process this, and I thought she handled all this information pretty well all things considered.
One moment from her I REALLY liked was after she learned God was there on Earth and Lucifer introduced him to ‘Dad’, she was brave enough to tell him off for being such a shitty dad to his sons (especially Lucifer). We’d seen evidence of her intelligence, and this showed how much courage she had to stand up to The Almighty (albeit with her regularly inserting the word "respectfully" in between her telling him off). I think Lucifer was pretty proud of her in that moment (as he should’ve been). On top of all this, she'd confronted Lucifer with the fact that he hadn’t returned her I.L.Y. and he'd said he wasn’t capable of doing so (which would’ve been a real gut-punch). She gave him the time/space he needed for a fair while before wanting to at least clarify where they stood as a couple, and I think on the whole she was SUPER understanding of him this season, being patient and not pushing him too much. Lastly, there was the death of Dan, which in a roundabout way Lucifer was involved with (thanks to Michael wanting to get him back to Hell and sending Dan there, then trying to make Lucifer go back there when he informed him he could spend eternity in Hell with Chloe - or something to that effect). Yes, she was mad at Lucifer for a minute, but that seemed to be more about him punishing himself/thinking himself ‘unworthy’ of her when she’d made it crystal clear that she thought him plenty worthy of her.
This^ was a LOT to deal with, and then to DIE as well? It’s a miracle that Chloe’s remained as sane as she has. I was annoyed at how she wasn’t focused upon following Dan’s death, and it seemed to be more about how it affected everyone else - be it Lucifer, Amenadiel (when he delivered Dan’s eulogy, I was like ‘WTF?’ considering you’d think that Chloe, was the mother of Dan’s child and now left to be a single mum, would’ve been the one to do so. But, no, they tried to make us believe that Amenadiel and Dan had this deep ‘friendship’ which I myself hadn’t really remembered there being before this season and it felt like they were trying to make it seem like it *had* been) or Maze (this REALLY pissed me off, considering the most I’d seen from Maze regarding Dan was, at most, a ‘tolerance’ of him. She’d even said she wouldn’t really leap in front of a bullet for him - after she’d fake-done that during a prank Lucifer pulled on Dan - so her big emotional reaction to his death made me roll my eyes, as it felt totally unearned to me. Like, I didn’t believe she’d have such an outpouring of emotion regarding Dan. I could’ve understood it had it been Linda or Trixie who died - both of whom we’ve actually *seen* her form close attachments to - but Dan? Nope, didn’t buy it for a second and her sobbing felt WAY OTT to me). Anyway, back to the subject of Chloe - I know there are people who don’t like her character (or Lauren German who plays her), but she’s one of the main reasons I watch and it’s her and Lucifer that keep me interested, whereas scenes when they’re not together aren’t as interesting for me. Though I will admit I did enjoy Chloe’s brief teaming up with Amenadiel.
Dan - He was a character who I never felt strongly about one way or the other. I never disliked him (even though he was constantly at odds with Lucifer), but I was never that attached to him either. I did like how at the start of this season when Michael was pretending to be Lucifer, he actually treated Dan with respect and Dan responded to this with basically a friendship bracelet of sorts. Unfortunately, by the time he did so...Michael was out and Lucifer was back in, acting like his usual self towards Dan. I did feel sorry for his character at times like this since he had no clue what was going on, but then he was manipulated by Michael into seeing Lucifer’s Devil Face and he learned the truth which he reacted to by shooting Lucifer to ‘protect’ Chloe from him. This kick-started the longest-planned prank ever, as a whole episode was devoted to Dan in what turned out to be his own version of the Michael Douglas movie The Game where things spiraled out of control, leading to seemingly everyone around him dying, but it being revealed this was just Lucifer getting back at him for having shot him. I didn’t think much of this episode at all and was pretty bored, but the final line from Lucifer answering Dan’s question of why he did all this with “Because you fucking shot me, Daniel.” WAS hilarious (and the one and only F-bomb the show was apparently allowed this season - which was used wisely).
Poor Dan ended up in Hell instead of Heaven (or so we’re led to believe) thanks to him feeling ‘guilty’ about not being there for Trixie during her early childhood or something. I find it really bizarre that a person’s guilt determines whether they go to Hell, as what about the sociopaths who feel nothing? They get off scot-free? Clearly this will be resolved next season, but it was a ballsy move to leave his character stuck there at the end of this season - which very well could’ve been the show’s final season, as apparently they hadn’t learned whether they’d been renewed or not until pretty late in the game. This probably explains why some things felt a bit ‘rushed’ at the end of the season. While I didn’t get emotional regarding Dan’s death, I thought both the actor who played him and Lauren German as Chloe did a good job of selling their final (for now) scene together. I had been spoiled for Dan dying at one point, but must’ve forgotten about it as I didn’t realise it was happening until it actually occurred. Dan really had it tough this season, as he even got exploded at one point by God (it’s amusing to me this season of the show was only rated ‘M’ on DVD considering other shows that have featured exploding people have earned the next rating up, which is ‘MA’ here. I do wonder at times if people doing these classifications actually watch these things to determine what the suitable rating for them is).
Amenadiel - I’ve never really been that into his character, but as I just mentioned...his teaming up with Chloe was a new/interesting dynamic which I enjoyed precisely *because* we hadn’t seen them have too many one-on-one scenes before. They worked well together. I was considerably less interested in all the stuff between him and Linda and their child. I actually had to do some fast-forwarding through those scenes since I cared so little for them (plus, crying babies will never not be annoying to me. I especially hate it when characters have dialogue whilst that noise is going on, as I have to turn the volume way down to pretty much ‘mute’ because I'd rather miss dialogue than hear that racket). At times it still felt like they didn’t always know what to do with his character (falling back into bad habits with Maze being one example), but his scenes with Lucifer and ‘Dad’ were usually pretty good.
Maze - Unlike most people it seems, she is my LEAST favourite character in the show. I just can’t get past the way she holds grudges, blaming people for things (usually Chloe) and always lashes out/gets violent with them. She’s like a kid constantly throwing tantrums...only hers are deadly. It seems to me like her character’s default is ‘angry, violent, slutty’ most of the time. Even when she’s getting along with Chloe, I feel tense, like any little thing Chloe says/does will set Maze off and turn her against her. I’ll never get past that season (I think it may’ve been the end of Season 3) where Maze was going all psycho on Chloe (once again blaming her for how Lucifer treats her compared to how he treats Chloe), something that *wasn’t* Chloe’s fault, and was threatening her/possibly going to KILL her...yet CHLOE was apologising to Maze. It was a fricking JOKE and I detest the fact that the writers, as well as the characters, seem to let Maze off the hook for her terrible behavior time and time again when, really, she’s done some pretty unforgivable shit. And, no, protecting Trixie doesn’t make up for it. Maze is like the 'fun aunt' who gets to do all manner of crazy shit with the kid and suffer no consequences, while her actual mother is painted as the 'bad guy'/'stick-in-the-mud' because she actually tries to be the responsible one.
I wonder if Trixie would be so fond of Maze if she learned what she almost did to Chloe during that scene I mentioned (I was pissed when Trixie learned of her dad's death and instead of comforting her mother, she was telling Maze not to cry because she believed her dad was going to be okay, then she went to Lucifer hoping he'd tell her Dan was fine - which he couldn't do, since he can't lie - and it was only at the end of that scene she went and hugged her mum. It's like the show wanted to treat these other characters and their relationship to Dan as being more important/significant than the one who actually would've had the MOST important relationship with him - the mother of his child). It's ridiculous how much shit Maze gets away with, when everyone else would actually face consequences for their actions. She's a wild card who can turn on people she supposedly ‘cares’ about at the drop of a hat and yet the show seems to be practically yelling at us “FEEL SORRY FOR MAZE! SHE’S CRYING! YOU FEEL SORRY FOR MAZE!!!” when in fact I feel nothing but annoyance (at the best of times) and severe loathing (at the worst of times) for her character. This is one instance of a show telling me I 'should' feel a particular way about a character when in actuality I feel the exact opposite. I really don’t see this changing in the show’s final season. It was good to see Eve return, but it was weird that no other characters interacted with her other than Maze (who came to the conclusion that she ‘doesn’t care’ if Eve dies...and this somehow was her way of hooking back up with her). I like Eve, but wish her character wasn't so tied to Maze who I don’t like (in case you hadn't guessed). She deserves to be her own character and not there just to serve Maze’s angst or whatever.
Linda - Like Amenadiel, this isn’t a character I’ve ever felt particularly invested in. She’s someone who has taken every bit of knowledge of celestial beings being real in stride...almost to the point where it’s unbelievable just how understanding she is of it all. I didn’t care one bit about her baby drama this season and had to skip it. There was the reveal of her having had a previous child she’d given up for adoption who was now an adult that felt a bit out-of-nowhere, but at least I could tolerate those scenes (whereas I couldn’t with the baby scenes). Her song during the musical episode was one of the ones I had to skip along with the Maze/Ella song mashup. Speaking of...
Ella - While she can be annoying at times (especially at the start of this season, it felt like they dialed her eccentricities up to eleven with the fast-talking/babbling on and on, so I was glad that was toned down over the course of the season), I still like her character (I just think Aimee Garcia is hard to hate, as she has an endearing quality about her. I still remember the first time I ever saw her was in an episode of SPN's third season). When it’s Ella/Lucifer/Chloe is when I enjoy her character the most. I liked her reaction to his return, I enjoyed her being a ‘Deckerstar’ shipper and supporting Chloe’s relationship with Lucifer (especially after they made it ‘official’), but I wasn’t so crazy about her relationship she started with some dork who quite obviously was going to turn out to be the serial killer they were after for a couple of episodes this season. It was so bleeding obvious that you *knew* it was coming WAY before the actual 'reveal'. Even more bothersome was this sudden ‘darkness’ that she claimed she had in her. Now, maybe I’d forgotten references made to such a thing from previous seasons (having watched them quite some time ago and my memory being shoddy and all), but when she talked about this ‘darkness’ my reaction was “Huh?”, as it felt like it’d come out of nowhere and I didn’t understand any of it, since she seemed like the least ‘dark’ character in the show.
She's also the only main character who hasn't yet found out about Lucifer/God/celestials being the real deal (which is ironic for the only deeply religious character in the show). Unlike with Maze, I actually *bought* that she’d grown closer to Dan and at one point it seemed like they might’ve become a thing...but his carking it kind of put a damper on that. Instead it seems like she might start something up with a friend of Dan’s who was introduced this season at Dan’s funeral (questionable timing for chatting someone up, dude!) played by Scott Porter who I just recently finished watching in Hart of Dixie. I get the feeling that next season he’s going to turn out to be another guy who isn’t all that he appears, but Ella could really use a break from guys who seem decent to start with and then turn out to be bad news.
There were some episodes I really liked this season, and some I wasn’t so fussed on. Unlike most, it would seem, I wasn’t fond of the musical episode. Some shows can pull it off...and others can’t. I admire the shows that create their own songs rather than just using existing ones. Sure, the downside can be these newly-created songs aren’t always memorable/catchy/very good at all, but at least it shows there’s been some effort put in, whereas like with this one, using pre-existing songs seems a bit ‘’lazy'/unimaginative to me. Plus, there’s the fact that they seem to force these songs into parts of the episode by having them be loosely connected to how the characters are feeling (and at times they barely fit). There was also the overuse of auto-tune, which was another ‘negative’ of the episode. I guess after having seen some really good musical episodes of different shows, this one just didn’t measure up for me. I did enjoy the Black & White episode, though (with the actors playing different characters set in the past). There was another decent one featuring a Lucifer-type show *within* the show Lucifer itself. It felt like the show wanted to get these ‘concept episodes’ in this season because they thought it’d be the last one and they weren't going to miss out on the fun of doing such episodes. The biggest surprise for me this season was that I thought the whole Chloe-dying-at-Michael’s-hands thing came in the FINAL season of the show (ie. Season 6) after I'd been spoiled for it and thus I was surprised it happened this season. Other than some vague stuff concerning the series final episode and another ‘concept episode’, I know very little in regards to Season 6/the show’s really real last season...meaning it should make for a pretty interesting/surprising watch (whenever I get around to it).
I’d bought this season and Season 6 quite some time ago, but had so many other things on DVD/Blu-ray to watch that I just kept putting this one off, ”saving it for later”, but decided on a whim this would be the next thing on my 'watch list'.
Lucifer - The biggest thing of note this season was Tom Ellis doing ‘double duty’ playing not only Lucifer, but his twin brother (Michael) as well. I wonder what my reaction would’ve been had I not been spoiled for/already aware that Michael would be played by Ellis as clearly we were meant to be surprised by the end of the first episode when actual Lucifer was still in Hell while it appeared he also returned from Hell to Chloe. Anyway, a good percentage of this season seemed to be about Lucifer not feeling ‘worthy’ of Chloe and that’s why he couldn’t return her "I love you” that she’d told him the end of last season (I think). It’s kind of dumb he thought that way, since she'd shown she cared about him and I understood her being frustrated that he didn’t ‘get’ that. The other overarching storyline for him this season was his relationships with his brother and his father, as we met God this season (played by Dennis Haysbert, who’ll always be President Palmer from 24 to me, despite having known him before that show, having watched him in the series Now and Again). Theirs was an interesting dynamic, though the family squabbling did get a bit tiresome after a while.
I’ve got to give props to Ellis for making Michael feel totally different to Lucifer in every way. It wasn’t just the accent (which, btw, just sounded so WRONG. Not that he did a ‘bad’ American accent, but hearing it come from what looked like Lucifer - who you can’t even imagine without his signature English accent - felt so ‘off’. I was surprised to learn Ellis is Welsh, so neither accent he does as his dual characters is his own), but also the way Ellis held himself as Michael, with that slouched posture and leaning shoulder to one side which made it easy to identify Michael (when he wasn’t pretending to be Lucifer, that is). Michael really was the loser brother who was obviously picked on and that made him turn bad. He was so petty and spiteful and his plans to not only screw with Lucifer, but Chloe as well, made him instantly unlikeable.
He also had a hand in Dan’s death, so it was hard to feel any sympathy for him at all. It was pretty damn satisfying/cathartic when Chloe got to beat that smirk off his face in the season final (thanks to receiving angel strength from a piece of the flaming sword which Michael had been assembling). It was well-deserved. As was him getting his wings chopped off by Lucifer and being forced to bow to him as the new God (after original God had nicked off with the Mother of all Creation - speaking of, it was nice to have Tricia Helfer back in that role, however brief it may've been). Lucifer actually showed mercy to Michael by sparing his life at the end - which proved how much Lucifer had truly grown, given that Michael had just recently killed Chloe in an effort to force Lucifer back to Hell so he (Michael) could become God. I was amused by Lucifer, Chloe, Amenadiel and two other angels who switched to their side distracting Michael with a 'Hammer Time' dance routine, which brought the funny before things got deadly serious (I also have to give props to this show for having a decent Lucifer vs. Michael fight in midair - something SPN failed at).
Regarding Chloe’s death, I thought Ellis totally sold that moment and made it feel like this was IT for her/a proper real death (too bad it was kinda ruined by the Angel of Death, Azrael, briefly appearing just before Chloe was killed since I HATE the person that plays that character thanks to the final season of House in which she appeared and showed nary a hint of acting ability. She was so lifeless in her line readings, like she was literally just reading them from the script). Also, what was up with nobody warning Chloe Michael was coming at her with a sharp object to stab her? All these characters were just watching on, doing nothing the whole time (it was only after Chloe's death that, despite Amenadiel constantly telling Maze to resist the urge to kickstart a war between the angels and demons, she - naturally - didn't listen to him and they started fighting. It's too bad for those angels who died that this brief war was ended after Godcifer appeared. They could've been spared death if it'd happened a little sooner...or if Maze hadn't started the fighting).
After Chloe died and went to Heaven (where she was happily spending time with her father), Lucifer self-sacrificed by going there knowing he’d be incinerated (thanks to his banishment from Heaven - and what a dick his dad was by not lifting that banishment after they finally ‘made up’ before he nicked off) and giving Chloe an immortality ring that allowed her to go back to Earth while he burned up/exploded with light. Turns out this self-sacrifice was what proved him worthy of becoming God and that’s what that white light blast was all about. As not long after, he came back down from Heaven and made everyone his bitches, as they all bent the knee to him (except for Chloe - who I was actually glad to see didn’t bow before him, given what she’d just been through. Plus, I don’t think he would’ve wanted her to anyway).
Although Lucifer’s ‘obsessions-of-the-week’ (where there’d always be some parallel between the cases-of-the-week he and Chloe investigated and whatever issues were going on with him) could get annoying/tiresome, and he wasn’t as forthcoming with information as he could’ve been at times, on the whole I still liked Lucifer as a character this season. As I’ve always maintained, contrary to what some people believe, that he works best with Chloe and I enjoy their dynamic the most in the show. Yes, sometimes there’s a bit too much ‘relationship drama’ between them, but when they’re actually getting along and having fun together, I find them very enjoyable. Also, it’s good that now there’s no ‘will they/won’t they’, as they’re firmly a couple now. Of course, Lucifer now being God will certainly throw a spanner in the works. I did enjoy his final line of the season, which was “Oh my Me.” instead of “Oh my God.” (similar to how he’d say “I swear to Dad’ instead of ‘I swear to God’ - since they were one and the same).
Chloe - I’ll just get this out of the way first...what did Lauren German do to her face? I’m not one to pick on actresses if they decide to go under the knife (after all, it’s their choice), but she had such a natural beauty to her beforehand, she had these striking features that were unique and I just don’t get why she felt the need to muck around with them at all. It was very noticeable at the start of the season (especially combined with her darker hair, whereas it’d previously been lighter) and it wasn’t until towards the end of the season that I’d started getting used to her change in appearance. I don’t begrudge her doing what she wanted to with her own body, but I think it’s a shame she felt like she *had* to (then again, with everyone always criticising actresses for their looks, I imagine it’s hard to ignore all of that and not feel pressured by it). I still think she looks nice, but I did miss how she used to look (especially when they showed flashbacks of her from previous seasons during a montage at one point this season).
With that^ out of the way, I can now address the crapload of stuff her character went through this season. She was clearly missing Lucifer, even trying to fill the void of not having him working alongside her by having Maze of all people (well...demons) be her Lucifer substitute. This was the most I’d ever seen their two characters getting along, and it actually made the character of Maze tolerable to me for a brief moment, but then Chloe came to the realisation they were using each other in a way to make up for Lucifer’s absence and to her credit, was mature enough to know this wasn’t healthy. Of course, Maze being Maze, *wasn’t* mature about it and held a grudge against Chloe for ending their partnership - one of the MANY reasons I don’t like her character).
Then came the seeming return of Lucifer...who was actually Michael-posing-as-Lucifer, and I liked how smart Chloe was shown to be, obviously knowing something was off with ‘Lucifer’ pretty early on and her figuring out it wasn’t him, but playing along until she confronted this imposter. One of the many shitty things Maze has done to Chloe over the years was this season making her think she and Lucifer were boning...when in actuality it was her and Michael. It hurt Chloe deeply to see them together, but she seemed to work out pretty quickly that Lucifer would NEVER do that to her and I’m glad she realised this (though, as usual, she let Maze off far too easy for what she’d done - after they’d become more or less ‘friends’, for her to intentionally try to hurt Chloe like this was yet another in a long line of reasons why I think Maze sucks). Once Lucifer finally *did* return for realsies, I was surprised it wasn’t a bigger/more major moment, as he just seemed to waltz into the precinct like it was no big thing and made short work of convincing Chloe he was Lucifer for really reals (by doing his “What do you truly desire?” shtick to one of Chloe’s coworkers). It felt like it should’ve been a bit more of an event than it was.
After this, there was the big bombshell Chloe learned which was her being ‘a gift from God’ to Lucifer and her dealing with the fact that she was created *for* him. She needed space and I liked when she sat down both Lucifer and Amenadiel (who had let slip this secret when she was within earshot) and asked them a bunch of questions about this, like whether Amenadiel was her father (which she reached the conclusion of when he said he’d bestowed a ‘miracle’ on her mother or whatever the phrase was he used, which she took to mean he’d made her mum pregnant, so it was a pretty understandable conclusion she’d reached - which made his laughing in her face kinda mean) and if she had powers (“laser-hands” being the first she imagined). Sadly, she learned no such powers were bestowed upon her and she really was just there to be a temptation’ to Lucifer created by God. It was totally understandable she needed time to process this, and I thought she handled all this information pretty well all things considered.
One moment from her I REALLY liked was after she learned God was there on Earth and Lucifer introduced him to ‘Dad’, she was brave enough to tell him off for being such a shitty dad to his sons (especially Lucifer). We’d seen evidence of her intelligence, and this showed how much courage she had to stand up to The Almighty (albeit with her regularly inserting the word "respectfully" in between her telling him off). I think Lucifer was pretty proud of her in that moment (as he should’ve been). On top of all this, she'd confronted Lucifer with the fact that he hadn’t returned her I.L.Y. and he'd said he wasn’t capable of doing so (which would’ve been a real gut-punch). She gave him the time/space he needed for a fair while before wanting to at least clarify where they stood as a couple, and I think on the whole she was SUPER understanding of him this season, being patient and not pushing him too much. Lastly, there was the death of Dan, which in a roundabout way Lucifer was involved with (thanks to Michael wanting to get him back to Hell and sending Dan there, then trying to make Lucifer go back there when he informed him he could spend eternity in Hell with Chloe - or something to that effect). Yes, she was mad at Lucifer for a minute, but that seemed to be more about him punishing himself/thinking himself ‘unworthy’ of her when she’d made it crystal clear that she thought him plenty worthy of her.
This^ was a LOT to deal with, and then to DIE as well? It’s a miracle that Chloe’s remained as sane as she has. I was annoyed at how she wasn’t focused upon following Dan’s death, and it seemed to be more about how it affected everyone else - be it Lucifer, Amenadiel (when he delivered Dan’s eulogy, I was like ‘WTF?’ considering you’d think that Chloe, was the mother of Dan’s child and now left to be a single mum, would’ve been the one to do so. But, no, they tried to make us believe that Amenadiel and Dan had this deep ‘friendship’ which I myself hadn’t really remembered there being before this season and it felt like they were trying to make it seem like it *had* been) or Maze (this REALLY pissed me off, considering the most I’d seen from Maze regarding Dan was, at most, a ‘tolerance’ of him. She’d even said she wouldn’t really leap in front of a bullet for him - after she’d fake-done that during a prank Lucifer pulled on Dan - so her big emotional reaction to his death made me roll my eyes, as it felt totally unearned to me. Like, I didn’t believe she’d have such an outpouring of emotion regarding Dan. I could’ve understood it had it been Linda or Trixie who died - both of whom we’ve actually *seen* her form close attachments to - but Dan? Nope, didn’t buy it for a second and her sobbing felt WAY OTT to me). Anyway, back to the subject of Chloe - I know there are people who don’t like her character (or Lauren German who plays her), but she’s one of the main reasons I watch and it’s her and Lucifer that keep me interested, whereas scenes when they’re not together aren’t as interesting for me. Though I will admit I did enjoy Chloe’s brief teaming up with Amenadiel.
Dan - He was a character who I never felt strongly about one way or the other. I never disliked him (even though he was constantly at odds with Lucifer), but I was never that attached to him either. I did like how at the start of this season when Michael was pretending to be Lucifer, he actually treated Dan with respect and Dan responded to this with basically a friendship bracelet of sorts. Unfortunately, by the time he did so...Michael was out and Lucifer was back in, acting like his usual self towards Dan. I did feel sorry for his character at times like this since he had no clue what was going on, but then he was manipulated by Michael into seeing Lucifer’s Devil Face and he learned the truth which he reacted to by shooting Lucifer to ‘protect’ Chloe from him. This kick-started the longest-planned prank ever, as a whole episode was devoted to Dan in what turned out to be his own version of the Michael Douglas movie The Game where things spiraled out of control, leading to seemingly everyone around him dying, but it being revealed this was just Lucifer getting back at him for having shot him. I didn’t think much of this episode at all and was pretty bored, but the final line from Lucifer answering Dan’s question of why he did all this with “Because you fucking shot me, Daniel.” WAS hilarious (and the one and only F-bomb the show was apparently allowed this season - which was used wisely).
Poor Dan ended up in Hell instead of Heaven (or so we’re led to believe) thanks to him feeling ‘guilty’ about not being there for Trixie during her early childhood or something. I find it really bizarre that a person’s guilt determines whether they go to Hell, as what about the sociopaths who feel nothing? They get off scot-free? Clearly this will be resolved next season, but it was a ballsy move to leave his character stuck there at the end of this season - which very well could’ve been the show’s final season, as apparently they hadn’t learned whether they’d been renewed or not until pretty late in the game. This probably explains why some things felt a bit ‘rushed’ at the end of the season. While I didn’t get emotional regarding Dan’s death, I thought both the actor who played him and Lauren German as Chloe did a good job of selling their final (for now) scene together. I had been spoiled for Dan dying at one point, but must’ve forgotten about it as I didn’t realise it was happening until it actually occurred. Dan really had it tough this season, as he even got exploded at one point by God (it’s amusing to me this season of the show was only rated ‘M’ on DVD considering other shows that have featured exploding people have earned the next rating up, which is ‘MA’ here. I do wonder at times if people doing these classifications actually watch these things to determine what the suitable rating for them is).
Amenadiel - I’ve never really been that into his character, but as I just mentioned...his teaming up with Chloe was a new/interesting dynamic which I enjoyed precisely *because* we hadn’t seen them have too many one-on-one scenes before. They worked well together. I was considerably less interested in all the stuff between him and Linda and their child. I actually had to do some fast-forwarding through those scenes since I cared so little for them (plus, crying babies will never not be annoying to me. I especially hate it when characters have dialogue whilst that noise is going on, as I have to turn the volume way down to pretty much ‘mute’ because I'd rather miss dialogue than hear that racket). At times it still felt like they didn’t always know what to do with his character (falling back into bad habits with Maze being one example), but his scenes with Lucifer and ‘Dad’ were usually pretty good.
Maze - Unlike most people it seems, she is my LEAST favourite character in the show. I just can’t get past the way she holds grudges, blaming people for things (usually Chloe) and always lashes out/gets violent with them. She’s like a kid constantly throwing tantrums...only hers are deadly. It seems to me like her character’s default is ‘angry, violent, slutty’ most of the time. Even when she’s getting along with Chloe, I feel tense, like any little thing Chloe says/does will set Maze off and turn her against her. I’ll never get past that season (I think it may’ve been the end of Season 3) where Maze was going all psycho on Chloe (once again blaming her for how Lucifer treats her compared to how he treats Chloe), something that *wasn’t* Chloe’s fault, and was threatening her/possibly going to KILL her...yet CHLOE was apologising to Maze. It was a fricking JOKE and I detest the fact that the writers, as well as the characters, seem to let Maze off the hook for her terrible behavior time and time again when, really, she’s done some pretty unforgivable shit. And, no, protecting Trixie doesn’t make up for it. Maze is like the 'fun aunt' who gets to do all manner of crazy shit with the kid and suffer no consequences, while her actual mother is painted as the 'bad guy'/'stick-in-the-mud' because she actually tries to be the responsible one.
I wonder if Trixie would be so fond of Maze if she learned what she almost did to Chloe during that scene I mentioned (I was pissed when Trixie learned of her dad's death and instead of comforting her mother, she was telling Maze not to cry because she believed her dad was going to be okay, then she went to Lucifer hoping he'd tell her Dan was fine - which he couldn't do, since he can't lie - and it was only at the end of that scene she went and hugged her mum. It's like the show wanted to treat these other characters and their relationship to Dan as being more important/significant than the one who actually would've had the MOST important relationship with him - the mother of his child). It's ridiculous how much shit Maze gets away with, when everyone else would actually face consequences for their actions. She's a wild card who can turn on people she supposedly ‘cares’ about at the drop of a hat and yet the show seems to be practically yelling at us “FEEL SORRY FOR MAZE! SHE’S CRYING! YOU FEEL SORRY FOR MAZE!!!” when in fact I feel nothing but annoyance (at the best of times) and severe loathing (at the worst of times) for her character. This is one instance of a show telling me I 'should' feel a particular way about a character when in actuality I feel the exact opposite. I really don’t see this changing in the show’s final season. It was good to see Eve return, but it was weird that no other characters interacted with her other than Maze (who came to the conclusion that she ‘doesn’t care’ if Eve dies...and this somehow was her way of hooking back up with her). I like Eve, but wish her character wasn't so tied to Maze who I don’t like (in case you hadn't guessed). She deserves to be her own character and not there just to serve Maze’s angst or whatever.
Linda - Like Amenadiel, this isn’t a character I’ve ever felt particularly invested in. She’s someone who has taken every bit of knowledge of celestial beings being real in stride...almost to the point where it’s unbelievable just how understanding she is of it all. I didn’t care one bit about her baby drama this season and had to skip it. There was the reveal of her having had a previous child she’d given up for adoption who was now an adult that felt a bit out-of-nowhere, but at least I could tolerate those scenes (whereas I couldn’t with the baby scenes). Her song during the musical episode was one of the ones I had to skip along with the Maze/Ella song mashup. Speaking of...
Ella - While she can be annoying at times (especially at the start of this season, it felt like they dialed her eccentricities up to eleven with the fast-talking/babbling on and on, so I was glad that was toned down over the course of the season), I still like her character (I just think Aimee Garcia is hard to hate, as she has an endearing quality about her. I still remember the first time I ever saw her was in an episode of SPN's third season). When it’s Ella/Lucifer/Chloe is when I enjoy her character the most. I liked her reaction to his return, I enjoyed her being a ‘Deckerstar’ shipper and supporting Chloe’s relationship with Lucifer (especially after they made it ‘official’), but I wasn’t so crazy about her relationship she started with some dork who quite obviously was going to turn out to be the serial killer they were after for a couple of episodes this season. It was so bleeding obvious that you *knew* it was coming WAY before the actual 'reveal'. Even more bothersome was this sudden ‘darkness’ that she claimed she had in her. Now, maybe I’d forgotten references made to such a thing from previous seasons (having watched them quite some time ago and my memory being shoddy and all), but when she talked about this ‘darkness’ my reaction was “Huh?”, as it felt like it’d come out of nowhere and I didn’t understand any of it, since she seemed like the least ‘dark’ character in the show.
She's also the only main character who hasn't yet found out about Lucifer/God/celestials being the real deal (which is ironic for the only deeply religious character in the show). Unlike with Maze, I actually *bought* that she’d grown closer to Dan and at one point it seemed like they might’ve become a thing...but his carking it kind of put a damper on that. Instead it seems like she might start something up with a friend of Dan’s who was introduced this season at Dan’s funeral (questionable timing for chatting someone up, dude!) played by Scott Porter who I just recently finished watching in Hart of Dixie. I get the feeling that next season he’s going to turn out to be another guy who isn’t all that he appears, but Ella could really use a break from guys who seem decent to start with and then turn out to be bad news.
There were some episodes I really liked this season, and some I wasn’t so fussed on. Unlike most, it would seem, I wasn’t fond of the musical episode. Some shows can pull it off...and others can’t. I admire the shows that create their own songs rather than just using existing ones. Sure, the downside can be these newly-created songs aren’t always memorable/catchy/very good at all, but at least it shows there’s been some effort put in, whereas like with this one, using pre-existing songs seems a bit ‘’lazy'/unimaginative to me. Plus, there’s the fact that they seem to force these songs into parts of the episode by having them be loosely connected to how the characters are feeling (and at times they barely fit). There was also the overuse of auto-tune, which was another ‘negative’ of the episode. I guess after having seen some really good musical episodes of different shows, this one just didn’t measure up for me. I did enjoy the Black & White episode, though (with the actors playing different characters set in the past). There was another decent one featuring a Lucifer-type show *within* the show Lucifer itself. It felt like the show wanted to get these ‘concept episodes’ in this season because they thought it’d be the last one and they weren't going to miss out on the fun of doing such episodes. The biggest surprise for me this season was that I thought the whole Chloe-dying-at-Michael’s-hands thing came in the FINAL season of the show (ie. Season 6) after I'd been spoiled for it and thus I was surprised it happened this season. Other than some vague stuff concerning the series final episode and another ‘concept episode’, I know very little in regards to Season 6/the show’s really real last season...meaning it should make for a pretty interesting/surprising watch (whenever I get around to it).