‘Lucifer’ Goes to Family Therapy, Plus Who’s Conducting a Secret Investigation?
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Lucifer Season 6 Episode 5 “The Murder of Lucifer Morningstar.”]
Well, Dr. Linda Martin (Rachael Harris) was looking for a challenge after having God (Dennis Haysbert) on her couch, and she gets one as Lucifer‘s final season continues: future child angst faced by present-day parents.
And she’s not the only one taking her job to the next level in “The Murder of Lucifer Morningstar” because Chloe Decker (Lauren German) decides it’s time to put her detective hat on once again to solve a mystery: the title of the episode.
Plus, Maze (Lesley-Ann Brandt) and Eve (Inbar Lavi) are planning their wedding — and honeymoon (that’s where the spikes and moat will come in), and forensic scientist Ella Lopez (Aimee Garcia), the only one in the dark about the truth about her friends, may know more than anyone could even guess.
History Won’t Repeat Itself
Following Rory (Brianna Hildebrand) calling her “Mom,” Chloe’s understandably confused — until she hears her name (Aurora). “If I ever had another daughter, that’s what I was going to name her,” she says.
And while Chloe and Lucifer (Tom Ellis) are all smiles about their future daughter, Rory can’t let go of her anger towards her father. In fact, that’s how this is all possible: Rory manifested the ability to time travel when she was so angry that he didn’t show up when she was going through “something big.” Though Lucifer insists he would never abandon his child like his father did him, Rory points out she wouldn’t be there if he hadn’t. Still, he’s sure there must be a reasonable explanation as to why he wouldn’t be present in the life of the daughter he knew existed (based on what Chloe will tell Rory).
Lucifer rules out becoming God, insisting that his dad chose to be distant. Rather, he says, he must have been killed, so his plan is simple: return Azrael’s blade, the only thing that can kill him, to heaven. However, doing so means that Amenadiel’s necklace will become deactivated, meaning no more superstrength for Chloe (or supersex for Deckerstar). Refusing to lose that, Chloe decides instead they’ll solve his future murder.
With a location and date (August 4, in three weeks) from Rory, Lucifer and Chloe set out to investigate. He’s never been there before (and has no plans on ever returning), but he does recognize the photo of a dentist whose office is nearby. He thinks he might have slept with her during a masked orgy, only to realize her commercials run during reruns of Bones. The only problem? He discovers that too late and her husband confesses to an affair, thinking she’d cheated on him. Now he wants to kill Lucifer for ruining his life.
But when Lucifer decides to just put the blade in his hand to see if he follows through on his threat, he discovers it’s gone and assumes Rory took it to kill him. And with that, we arrive at family counseling with Linda (which will give her plenty of material for Chapter 17 of her book). Linda points out to Rory that people use anger to protect themselves when they’re feeling something more vulnerable and reminds Lucifer he could be a bit more empathetic since his daughter is going through the same thing he did. Lucifer accuses Rory of stealing the blade, even as Chloe tries to take the blame. Rory thinks that’s why he brought her there — “This isn’t family therapy, it’s an interrogation? … I am not a murder suspect. I’m your daughter!” — and storms out.
Then the truth comes out: Chloe took the blade. She says she did it to keep Lucifer safe, but he knows she’s grown too attached to the strength she gets from Amenadiel’s necklace. But she won’t give up the blade without a fight, one that sees her on the offensive and him on the defensive and ends with Chloe holding the blade to Lucifer’s chest. “Guess that means we solved our case,” he says. “This must be how I die.” That’s when Chloe comes back to herself. “It was just instinct. I would never hurt you,” she promises, giving him the blade.
That’s one problem solved, but there’s still the matter of Lucifer and Rory’s relationship. He turns to Maze for advice, since they both know what it’s like to be abandoned by a parent. He needs to think about what his daughter’s gone through, how hurt and alone she must have felt and still does, and figure out how to fix it, she tells him.
Family Reunions
With time travel comes the inevitable question of how much that person (or in this case, half-angel) can reveal about the future. For instance, Rory worries Maze and Eve when she finds them planning their wedding and only refers to the latter as “aunt.” Are they not going to get married? (It’s the final season, so we’re not too worried.) Then Rory refers to Amenadiel (D.B. Woodside) as a stranger, and Maze realizes she’s messing with them. She learned from “the best,” her “Auntie Maze,” and hugs her “Uncle A.”
Meanwhile, Dan (Kevin Alejandro) struggles with being a ghost and only having celestials hear and see him. (That makes things awkward for Amenadiel, who looks like he’s talking to himself as he studies for his final police exam.)
But to his and Chloe’s surprise, she can see him, another celestial quality thanks to Amenadiel’s necklace. And Lucifer gives them a few hours together before returning Azrael’s blade to heaven. They reminisce about their daughter Trixie’s (Scarlett Estevez) childhood. Chloe admits she feels powerless with him gone. He assures her she’s the strongest woman he’s met and doesn’t need that necklace to give her strength. It’s exactly what she needs. (And frankly, it’s what we needed, too.)
The Apocalypse Is Nigh! … Maybe?
Ella turns to Amenadiel with “the most important investigation of my life,” what she calls “the mystery to end all mysteries”: Her sock is missing for the fourth time this month. In fact, there’s an uptick in missing socks, a river in South America turned blood red, and it’s raining frogs. “The apocalypse is nigh,” she’s concluded.
“The world is most assuredly not ending,” he promises her. “If the world were ending, I would feel it.” Why, she asks, since she’s not in the know about him being an angel. “I’m on the internet a lot,” he offers as a lame excuse. “I read everything. Nerd alert!” But when he realizes he didn’t feel Rory’s presence on Earth, as he should have since she’s an angel, he wonders if there are other things happening he’s unaware of, too.
When he apologizes to Ella, however, she brushes him off, claiming there are reasonable explanations for everything. After he leaves, we see that she’s beginning to put all the pieces together. She suspects Lucifer is the “actual devil??” and has Amenadiel and Maze’s photos on her whiteboard as well. And under Amenadiel’s, she writes “angel?” Finally!
Lucifer, Complete Series, Streaming Now, Netflix