Episode 13: A Little Harmless Stalking
Episode 13 focuses on Linda and her relationship with her estranged daughter Adriana. Linda confesses to a murder she didn’t commit in order to protect her daughter and spends the rest of the episode working with Lucifer and Chloe to try to clear Adriana’s name. Notably, this is the first time we see Lucifer use his mojo on Linda since the pilot, and he also uses it on her daughter in this episode.
Right after Amenadiel gets in his head about how much he’s changed, Lucifer decides that therapy has caused himself to overthink everything, so he falls back into his old way of thinking…to be impulsive and just do it. This leads to him start the healing process with Chloe, even though deep down he's not sure he's doing the right thing. He still does not feel worthy of her, and doesn't feel like he can really love someone. Chloe, on the other hand, is very happy with Lucifer acting on his impulse as they become officially together, which leads to PDA at work, something she never wanted to show previously but with Lucifer it just feels right.
"We are..." "definitely together." (photo copyright Netflix)
Meanwhile, Amenadiel is doing some research by questioning people about what they would want to see in a God. "Freaking God? You're suddenly going to become the father of like... the whole world." This is something that Dan says to Amenadiel, but now that we know that Lucifer is the one who becomes God, that would make Lucifer the Father of the whole world. And we all know how he has previously felt about "children."
Maze and Eve reunite and grapple with their feelings for each other. When Eve gets hurt and nearly killed from a bounty they're chasing, Maze realizes the depths of her feelings and just how scared she is of losing Eve. Maze's solution is to give Eve Lucifer's ring, which contains her mother Lilith's immortality so that she never has to worry about losing Eve again, but Eve rejects the ring, stating that she saw what immortality did to her son Cain and doesn't want to live forever. This conflict causes a rift between the couple and they end up going their separate ways.
This episode also contains a very emotional scene between Lucifer and Linda, where she thinks he's talking about his problems with Chloe when really he is telling Linda that her worries are important and they will talk to Adriana again. Adriana is protecting her sick mother and Linda is protecting her daughter. So it's like a circle of family protecting family which leads to an ongoing theme for 5B: family is what is important. This can also be paralleled with Lucifer protecting his dad in 511 and defending his dad in 514.
(photo copyright Netflix)
Linda talks to Lucifer in the precinct about her fears of rejection when it comes to Adriana. Lucifer understands because he feels similar unworthy feelings when it comes to Chloe. Linda feels she isn't worthy of Adriana because she gave her up as a baby. Lucifer feels he isn't worthy of Chloe because she is perfect. He's only ever had rejection and abandonment in his life, so how could he possibly be worthy of her perfection?
At the end of the episode, Adriana shows up at Linda’s house and the truth is finally revealed that Linda is her biological mother. It was truly touching to hear Adriana say she searches every face with the slightest resemblance and wonders. The two finally get a chance to bond and Adriana gets to meet her little brother Charlie. A family is reunited, and makes us wonder how much we'll see them again in season 6.
In the final scene, Amenadiel starts to have doubts about being God and realizes that he’s made a home here on Earth with friends and has grown to love and appreciate the humans he once looked down upon.
The episode concludes with a pivotal realization from Lucifer. He thinks that he’s not worthy of Chloe’s love because “she’s just so perfect” and decides that the only way he could possibly be worthy of Chloe is to become God.
While I know we were all happy to see deckerstar finally becoming a couple and providing us with a plethora of PDA, there was definitely a collective groan when Lucifer decided that he still wasn’t worthy of Chloe after everything he’s done and how far he’s come. Lucifer should’ve taken Maze’s advice from season 2: “self worth comes from within, bitches.”
Episode 14: Nothing Lasts Forever
The 14th episode titled “Nothing Lasts Forever” is one of our unanimous favorites. The episode focuses on Lucifer trying to plan his Father’s retirement so that Lucifer can become God.
It features hilarious moments like a family BBQ with God and all his angel children with their wings just hanging out in the middle of Los Angeles and a double date with Lucifer and Chloe and God and Penelope.
"I ran Hell for millennia. Have any of you run your own kingdom? Even so much as a taco truck?" (photo copyright Netflix)
At the celestial BBQ we meet Gabriel- the Angel of messages, Hanjobadiel- the angel of giving ;), and Zadkiel and Remiel, neither of whom like Lucifer to put it lightly. We also learn that Michael is telling the other angels that Dad is ‘losing it’, which gives us a clue that Michael is scheming. Also at the barbecue, God doesn’t name His successor and refuses to look at Lucifer’s retirement options. Perhaps this is because God already knows what his retirement will be.
When Lucifer and Chloe are questioning the suspect, Lucifer is more interested in finding Dad a retirement home, which starts some worries about Lucifer not having time for Chloe when he becomes God.
Later in the episode, Chloe and Dan discuss Lucifer being God and Chloe's fears about not being able to balance being God and sharing time with her. Dan is incredibly supportive of both things and gives her advice that they will figure it out because “Lucifer is crazy about you, and you’re crazy about him.” Dan's character growth from season 1 to this moment has been huge.
photo copyright Netflix
When Lucifer finally starts listening to what his Dad really wants out of retirement, he calls on Gabriel to get a message to Mum’s universe and Mum makes a trip back to Earth. What he didn't bargain for is that Mum and Dad decide to retire to her universe and he'll never see them again. The pain is reflected on his face as he realizes that he's just started to bond with his father for the first time in his life and now he will lose him. Lucifer always wanted his father to be there for him, to love him, to accept him. In the end, he gets all of this, including a heartfelt "I love you" and a hug from his dad.
Mum is the god of her universe so God moving to her universe means he switches roles and supports her. John and Penelope did the same thing with switching off and promoting each other's careers. It's a brilliant three-way parallel for Lucifer and Chloe at the end of the episode, as they also switch roles and Chloe decides to retire to be by Lucifer's side and help people on a larger scale. Partners support each other.
"Lucifer, you've been helping me do my job for the last five years. Now it's my turn to support you." (photo copyright Netflix)
God departs without naming his successor, which sets up the conflict for the last two episodes of the season. Remiel informs Lucifer that Michael has been gathering support from their siblings to become God and that it won’t be as simple as Lucifer initially thought. We also learn that that while Gabriel was in mum's universe, she brought back the flaming sword at Michael's request. Michael isn’t just preparing for an election, he’s gearing up for a full-on war.
5x14 is one of the strongest episodes of 5B and Chris Rafferty did a brilliant job writing it. He managed to fit so much into this episode that we didn’t even get a chance to talk about the epic sword fight, aquarium murder, or Chloe wearing a little black dress that, in Lucifer’s words, makes her look good enough to eat.
We’ll leave you with a parallel that LCL Reviews writer Charly noticed comparing season 1 episode 10 “Pops” to 5x14: Javier's dad ruled his restaurant and casted out his son for being rebellious. His son went off and spiraled but eventually turned his life around. Javier’s dad wanted to meet his son again, seeing the man he had become and being proud of him. He leaves his restaurant in capable hands to his son who has proven himself. Sound familiar?