‘Lucifer’ Season 1 Finale Recap and Review: Take Me Back to Hell

Lucifer Season 1 Finale DB Woodside and Tom Ellis
DB Woodside and Tom Ellis in ‘Lucifer’ (Photo by Michael Courtney/ ©2016 Fox Broadcasting Co)

Episode one of Fox’s sexy supernatural comedy/drama Lucifer won me over mainly due to Tom Ellis’ performance as the Devil vacationing in LA. Lucifer’s pilot also benefited from terrific chemistry between Ellis and Lauren German, and the playful way it embraced police procedural tropes while adding fun little twists. Each subsequent episode only got better, with season one’s finale on April 25, 2016 the best of the show’s rookie season. Episode 13 titled ‘Take Me Back to Hell’ more than lived up to expectations, leaving fans of the series with a cliffhanger that sets up the big bad for season two. It also expanded on the potential partnership hinted at in previous episodes between Ellis’ Lucifer and D.B. Woodside’s Amenadiel. Plus, there was the unexpected partnership between German’s Chloe and Lesley-Ann Brandt’s Mazikeen. The two kick-ass women teaming up spawned a new ‘ship’ on Twitter along with cheers for the surprise dream team.

Lucifer Season 1 Episode 13 Recap:

The season one finale picks up right where episode 12 left off with Chloe holding Lucifer at gunpoint. She’s ready to place him under arrest for the murder of the street preacher, and Lucifer’s stunned and a bit crestfallen she would believe he’d actually kill the man. Doesn’t she trust him by this point in their relationship? This murder is definitely not his style and Chloe should realize that immediately. Instead, she appears not to believe him when he says he didn’t do it. As the four officers gathered around Lucifer move in, he laughs and tells Chloe this is a huge joke – but it’s on him. He refuses to come peacefully and as he tells her she’s just like all the others, he taunts the officers, picking out one ‘newbie’ and basically daring him to shoot. Chloe orders the officer not to shoot, but Lucifer reaches inside his suit and the officer fires. Chloe screams, ‘No!’ expecting to see Lucifer injured or bleeding. Instead, she finds he’s disappeared in the blink of an eye. Take that Detective Chloe for not believing in the ‘demon cop’ half of your team.

Up on the roof of a nearby hotel, Lucifer asks his brother to never admit to anyone he rescued him and carried him to safety in his arms. (Wish we could have actually witnessed that particular scene!) Lucifer’s shaken up by the experience and ready to call it quits on this whole LA adventure. A well-timed rainstorm keeps Lucifer from smoking – God apparently is a strong supporter of healthy lungs, even in immortal angels – adding one more reason to his list of why he’s ready to give up his detective work in the City of Angels. He also blames Amenadiel for ruining his big exit and tells him he’s now ready to go back to hell. “I’ll go willingly. Please, just take me back to hell,” says Lucifer. Amenadiel calmly replies, “No.”

Back at Lucifer’s, Detective Dan Espinoza (aka Detective Douche) and Detective Malcolm Graham (aka Detective Stache) are investigating the crime scene when an officer finds a demon blade. Malcolm (Kevin Rankin) recognizes it as something special and volunteers to check it in when he gets back to the station. Sure, just hand over the demon blade to the guy who’d most like to put an end to the Devil. Chloe doesn’t think Lucifer committed murder and explains her reasoning to Dan (Kevin Alejandro), saying there wasn’t enough ‘passion’ behind a single bullet to the head to be the work of Lucifer. Lucifer would off someone in a much more flashy, punish-y sort of way. Just then an officer walks up with the gun which may be the murder weapon. After he walks away, Dan tells Chloe Lucifer’s prints will definitely be on that gun. He knows this because the gun is the one he gave to Malcolm to shoot Lucifer. Dan also now agrees with Chloe that Lucifer’s not the killer. Will it be Detective Douche to the rescue? Moving on…

Back on the hotel roof, Lucifer’s completely confused about why Amenadiel won’t take him back to hell. Amenadiel says Maze is right, they both used her, and he also used Malcolm. Amenadiel’s been a bad, bad angel and has to set things right but he needs Lucifer’s help to do so. Amenadiel’s new mission: find Malcolm and send him back to hell where he belongs.

Amenadiel and Lucifer head to Amenadiel’s fake office where they attempt to work out how they’ll get to Malcolm, and Lucifer can’t believe Amenadiel expects him to come up with the solution to their problems. They can’t talk for more than 30 seconds without getting into an argument, and Dr. Linda Martin (Rachael Harris) shows up just as Lucifer labels his brother an “egotistical twit.” Not the harshest insult he’ll launch at his brother during their search for Malcolm, but definitely one of the most entertaining to say out loud. Linda thinks Amenadiel is poaching her patients until they reveal they’re brothers. Surprise! Dr. Martin takes just about everything in stride, even this weird revelation that her fellow professional is none other than her occasional sex partner’s brother. The siblings come up with the brilliant idea to air their grievances and let Dr. Martin sort things out.

Meanwhile, Chloe punches Dan in the face after hearing his full confession regarding Malcolm and the Palmetto shooting. Well done, Chloe, well done. Chloe’s upset but gives Dan an out. All he has to do is prove Lucifer’s innocent. Chloe heads out to find Lucifer, knowing full well he thinks she abandoned him in his moment of need.

Dr. Martin is floored by the idea of Amenadiel and Lucifer being brothers and quickly sorts out that Amenadiel is not a real doctor. That leads to a bout of name-calling and finger-pointing between the dysfunctional siblings. Linda tolerates that for a minute or so and then, anger in check, tells them both off before dispensing advice. She’s once again trying to get Lucifer to give up the heaven and hell metaphors, but Lucifer and Amenadiel stop listening once they latch onto her words: “start a new life.” They know where to start looking for Malcolm and it’s with a guy who can make fake identities.

Chloe shows up at the nightclub to ask Maze about Lucifer, but Maze isn’t about to help her bitter enemy locate her boss. Maze explains exactly why she doesn’t like Chloe but then Chloe surprises her by saying she doesn’t believe Lucifer is guilty and needs to find him before anyone else does. Between the two of them, they figure out Lucifer is going after Malcolm and needs to be stopped before he gets caught. Maze, surprisingly, offers up her services even though Chloe doesn’t really want them. A new crime-fighting team not to be messed with has arrived!

Lucifer and Amenadiel interrupt a funeral in order to have a word with Neil Palmer, the funeral director. Neil says Lucifer’s being disrespectful to the dead, but Lucifer insists the dead guy’s not actually hearing anything they’re saying – and Amenadiel backs him up. “It’s a selfish way for you to all feel better about yourselves about how much you ignored this poor sod in life,” says Lucifer to the funeral attendees. Neil, not wanting a further scene, pulls Lucifer and Amenadiel over to the side where he pretty easily gives up the info on Malcolm. Malcolm needs $100k which he didn’t have to procure the IDs, mentioning he’d get the money from an old associate named Tommy.

The crime-fighting team of Chloe and Maze show up at Malcolm’s residence and Maze doesn’t wait to be invited in. She kicks open the door only to find the house is loaded with new items still in boxes. This leads to a little bonding moment and to Maze confessing she almost killed Chloe in her sleep a while back. Just then Chloe knocks Maze out of the way as a shotgun blast breaks up a nearby box, leaving Chloe laying on top of Maze which of course sets off a whole new topic of conversation. Back to the matter at hand, they’re not being shot at by Malcolm; it’s his wife and she thought she was shooting at her husband. He’s been acting strange and she’s scared of him. She says he was just there and left to get a beer. Just then Dan calls with the news he can’t find any evidence tying Malcolm to the murders. He and Chloe try to figure out where Malcolm would go for a beer or where he’d go for some quick cash, hanging up before they arrive at any real answers.

After getting off the phone with Chloe, Dan spots Lucifer with his feet up on the desk in his office. Lucifer’s holding a toy gun to a bobblehead from Dan’s desk and says, “Don’t move or wobbly head gets it.” Dan wants to know why Lucifer would show up at the police station and Lucifer says it’s because it’s the last place anyone would look. He’s also forced, once again, to introduce Amenadiel as his brother. Amenadiel tells Dan that Malcolm’s looking for Tommy, and that rings a bell with Detective Douche. He won’t tell Lucifer what he just realized, and Lucifer has to pull his Jedi mind trick to get Dan to open up. Dan still doesn’t tell him and Lucifer laughs, saying, “You’re a complicated one. That is a surprise.” Finally, he opens up, telling Lucifer he wants to redeem himself and says Malcolm’s probably with a drug dealer named Tommy who works out of an old brewery. Dan turns to leave, saying they have to go to a holding cell, but when he turns back seconds later they’re gone. Doesn’t anyone wonder how these big men disappear so quickly?

Dan calls Chloe with the Tommy news and they plan to meet up at the brewery.

Malcolm’s at the brewery, telling Tommy he can give him a supply from the evidence locker if he’s got cash. Tommy has cash, but they’re interrupted by someone taking out Tommy’s men elsewhere in the brewery. Malcolm uses the distraction to pull a gun on Tommy and demand his money.

The distraction was, of course, brothers Lucifer and Amenadiel who are met by a dozen or so of Tommy’s heavily armed men. Lucifer asks them to hand over Malcolm, but no, they don’t comply with his request. Dumb move on their part, but they couldn’t possibly have known what they were actually up against. As the Lucifer writers tweeted, it’s not wise to bring guns to an angel fight. Amenadiel’s just about to slow down time when Lucifer suggests they fight their way through it, letting his bro know he’s not in mortal danger if the detective’s not around. One bad guy shoots at Lucifer, but it doesn’t do any damage and then all of the men begin shooting while Lucifer declares, “This is hardly a fair fight.” The bad-ass angels take down the goons one after another while not breaking a sweat, all while seeming to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. Lucifer tries to extend the brotherly bonding moment, but even after teaming up for the fight Amenadiel’s not ready to join hands with his brother, sing Kumbaya, and forget their past differences.

Lauren German Lesley Ann Brandt Lucifer
Lauren German and Lesley-Ann Brandt in ‘Lucifer’ (Photo by Michael Courtney ©2016 Fox Broadcasting Co)

Amenadiel suggests they split up to find Malcolm, with Lucifer agreeing but making him promise he’ll share the fun of taking him down if he finds him first. Amenadiel actually does come across the creep first and is taken by surprise when Malcolm stabs him in the stomach with the demon blade – one of the few things that can kill an angel. Malcolm’s actually surprised it worked, pushing the blade in deeper as Amenadiel winces in pain. Just then Lucifer shows up and Malcolm flees with the money, leaving Amenadiel bleeding on the floor. Lucifer has to quickly make a decision: stay with his wounded brother or chase after Malcolm. Lucifer opts to stay with his brother, calling it just a flesh wound. Lucifer tries to stop the bleeding but can’t. Maze runs in, sees the demon blade in Malcolm, and says she’ll handle it, sending Lucifer off to find Malcolm who’ll wish he was dead if Lucifer catches up to him. Chloe spots Malcolm running through the warehouse and shoots while yelling for him to stop. He escapes but leaves behind the bag of money.

Lucifer shows up as Chloe inspects the bag and she points her gun at him, telling him not to move. But she also tells him she knows he isn’t guilty, while Lucifer explains he just wants to tear Malcolm’s arms and legs off. Lucifer still thinks Chloe no longer believes in him, but she does and doesn’t want to see him sent to prison if he kills Malcolm. “I know you’re innocent. I always have. Let’s catch this bastard together and put an end to this,” says Chloe to a stunned Lucifer. The Chloe/Lucifer team is back together and when Chloe asks after Maze, Lucifer’s back with the one-liners. “Why, detective? Are you pining for some good cop/demon cop action?” He also says impulsive and short-sided is his jam when she tries to explain why they can’t just kill Malcolm.

Dan and some officers show up and Lucifer’s ready to surrender because Chloe assured him it would be okay, but Dan tells him they found the evidence they needed to clear his name. Lucifer’s happy about this turn of events but not pleased that it’s Detective Douche who saved him.

Maze takes the injured and possibly dying Amenadiel back to Lucifer’s place where he tells her he’s made his peace and she needs to let him go. She tells him to shut up so she can help him, but he’s gravely injured and only something divine can cure him. Fortunately, Maze has just the thing – a feather she rescued from Lucifer’s wing-burning ceremony at the beach. She thought she could use it to get back home, but she’s willing to sacrifice her trip to hell to use it to save Amenadiel.

Dan and Chloe bring Lucifer into the station where Dan confesses everything, making Lucifer rethink the whole Detective Douche nickname. Dan’s taken away as Chloe receives a phone call from Trixie. However, it’s not Trixie, it’s Malcolm. He’s kidnapped her daughter and will hand her over in exchange for the bag of cash Chloe now has. Chloe isn’t allowed to tell anyone what she’s doing and manages to get the cash out to her car before Lucifer catches on that something’s up with his partner. He’s wondering why she doesn’t trust him and where she’s heading with all that cash when she tells him the truth. Lucifer, despite his self-proclaimed loathing of children, has a soft spot for Trixie and immediately wants to help. But Chloe can’t risk Malcolm seeing that she didn’t come alone, even though Lucifer says she’ll stand a better chance riding shotgun with the Devil. She makes him promise he’ll let her go alone and he does, but you know he’s not going to stick to that particular agreement.

Chloe meets up with Malcolm who’s holding Trixie in an airplane hangar. Trixie’s scared but being brave, and after Chloe tosses over her guns, Trixie runs and hides like her mother tells her to. Chloe opens the trunk and reveals the bag of cash, but she’s fully aware Malcolm can’t let her live. Just then a paper airplane flies in with a drawing of the Devil. Lucifer walks up and asks for Malcolm’s gun. He doesn’t hand it over and Lucifer asks him what it is that he desires, getting within a foot of the extended gun. Malcolm says he wants to live and shoots Lucifer in the abdomen. Lucifer falls to the ground, clutching his bleeding stomach and quivering in pain. He’s dying and Malcolm stands over him, telling him he’s feeling what it’s like to die. Malcolm tells him Chloe will soon follow him in death, walking away to try to find the detective who’s now in hiding.

Lucifer, life fading away and blood spreading in a circle around his body, speaks to his father. “I don’t know if this is all part of the plan or if you can even hear me, but if you’re up there, Dad, I need a favor,” gasps Lucifer. He promises he’ll be the son he always wanted him to be and do whatever is asked of him if he spares Chloe’s life. It’s a heartbreaking scene with Lucifer willing to sacrifice everything for his friend. Lucifer’s then seen in hell, touching a wall and saying, “Home sweet home,” while complaining about the ashes. He approaches a door that’s open and shouldn’t be. Something horrible has happened as evidenced by the fact Lucifer looks both frightened and confused. Someone has escaped.

Back in the hangar, Lucifer sits up, no longer dying. His eyes flash red as he hunts down Malcolm. Malcolm’s just about to shoot Chloe when Lucifer grabs his arm and punches him, sending him back against a stack of crates. Before Malcolm can raise the gun and shoot Lucifer again, Chloe fires three shots into his chest. Dying, he tells Lucifer it doesn’t matter because he’s got the get out of hell free coin. Swearing he’ll be back, Malcolm feels his pockets for the coin which Lucifer holds up. Malcolm wants to know how he got it back and Lucifer replies, laughing, “I know a guy. Apparently, he wants me back here.” He flips the coin in the air and as Malcolm reaches up to grab it, it catches fire and disintegrates. Malcolm dies, knowing he’s going back to hell where he belongs.

Chloe calls for Trixie and they hug. Lucifer walks up and Chloe’s shocked he’s alive, believing Malcolm shot him. Lucifer says he was dead but he got better, and Chloe just sort of lets that go with a, “Hmmm.” She’s seen him disappear in front of her own eyes and now he’s survived a gunshot to the gut at point-blank range. Will season two’s first episode explain why she isn’t at least slightly shocked by these weird events?

Back at Lucifer’s, Amenadiel comes to and Lucifer tells him Malcolm’s been dealt with. Pouring himself and his brother a drink, Lucifer explains that he spoke with their dad and he accepted Lucifer’s service in exchange for… He won’t tell Amenadiel the rest, but he does reveal that their father showed him someone has escaped from hell and needs to be found. Amenadiel realizes his brother is actually scared of this person and wants to know who it is. And we learn the hunt will be on in season two for…brace yourselves…their mom!

The Review:

Lucifer turned out to be one of my favorite new shows for 2016. It hit a few bumps in the beginning but quickly figured out what worked, leaving what didn’t (most notably sex in exchange for therapy) behind as it focused on the core of the show: the relationship between Lucifer and Chloe. Lucifer’s schtick never got old and when he made everything too much about himself, Chloe was there to set him straight. Incredibly sharp writing, a talented cast bringing to life flawed characters audiences can connect with and root for, and some of the best one-liners of any primetime TV series in years all contributed to making a series that not only engages and entertains but also evokes surprising emotional responses and connections.

The chemistry between Tom Ellis and Lauren German nearly sends sparks off the screen, and German proved to be the perfect choice to play the detective who grounds Lucifer and who shares a special, yet-to-be-fully-explained connection with the Devil. D.B. Woodside as Amenadiel was underused in the first few episodes but steadily grew to be an integral ingredient in making Lucifer such a delicious weekly treat. Lesley Ann-Brandt as Maze was not just all sex wrapped in leather, but also turned out to be a complex character who proved herself loyal yet independent – and someone you’d never want to encounter in a dark alley. Kevin Alejandro’s Detective Dan was saddled with the Detective Douche label by Lucifer and could have been the one-dimensional supporting character often used as the unlikable third side of a love triangle. The writers didn’t fall into that trap and instead fleshed out Dan, letting the character evolve into a man who’s actually worthy of finding redemption.

Rachael Harris’ Dr. Linda Martin was relied on less in the later episodes of season one yet Harris continued her scene-stealing ways whenever the opportunity arose. Hopefully, season two will find even more ways to work in visits to Martin’s office or to involve her as a consultant on more police cases. You can never have too much Rachael Harris, in my opinion. And speaking of scene-stealers, I’m not in general a fan of child actors but Scarlett Estevez is an old soul in a child’s body. Just as Trixie worked her way into Lucifer’s heart, Estevez won over the audience with her performance as Chloe and Dan’s wise beyond her years daughter.

But Lucifer is truly Tom Ellis’ show and while he’s surrounded by a terrific ensemble, if we didn’t buy into his performance as the self-centered Prince of Darkness Lucifer would not work. Ellis is charming, sexy, talented, and boy has he got an impressive singing voice. Let’s have more time with Ellis at the piano next season, please @LuciferWriters. Also, more time with Ellis shirtless while you’re at it.

GRADE: A-