I'm dropping this here because I like hearing myself talk.
So S6 is out and I feel this is proof of feelings I had in S5. Namely that if studios mess around with artists then the product will be impacted. S5 started out as 10 eps then got stretched into 16 so episodes in S5 often felt strangely paced or things happened that seemed to come out of left field. While not entirely absent in S6, it's certainly a lot better.
I must say I am rather impressed by how the writers handle certain things. Ppl often use the term fanfiction to describe a poor piece of work but for one there are amazing pieces of fanfiction out there if you take the time to look. And for another, this is the second time they have made a fanfiction-y idea work. The first was evil twin Michael who ended up being the best part of S5. A daughter from the future is about as fanfiction-y as it gets. When I first saw her I was like 'place your bets, alternate dimension or alternate timeline'. But they made it work. Lucifer, Chloe, and Rory truly felt like a family. Time travel does present a couple issues but I'll cover that later.
Deckerstar continues being the show's highpoint. I like that this show never goes backwards in their relation. Most shows have the main couple spin in circles until the end of the series. Deckerstar doesn't always go forward or in a straight line but it never goes backwards. For this one, sure they have their troubles and their dramas. But they never pulled the 'oh they broke up and now they must get back together again' BS. All their fighting felt like normal couple drama. I'll even go one step further. They aren't officially married but it certainly feels like it. It also highlights how far Lucifer has come. S1 Lucifer a father? When hell freezes over. S6 Lucifer a father? I can buy it.
Meve...Eaze...ah screw it, Maze&Eve got a lot more in this season and I love it. I'm sure in real life we're familiar with the overeager couple. They are "so in love" that they immediately get together and because of their over-eagerness they end up having to resolve any potential issues during the relation rather than before it, often straining the relation to the breaking point (some couples break, others do manage to work through it). These two certainly gave off those vibes and I wish they did tackle more of the concept but they probably couldn't being the last season and all. But it does create another positive in the juxtaposition of the Deckerstar VS Eaze. Different romance styles produce different dynamics Lucifer and Chloe worked out most of their dramas before they got together so they are on steadier ground. Maze and Eve are still figuring things out while together so they get into frequent fights.
I should bring this up. I like Maze and Eve fighting because it shows off Eve's development. She used to bend herself into a pretzel to appease whoever she was with. Her fighting with Maze means she's standing her ground on something.
Some of the banter is just great.
A: "Does this mean I die?"
E: "You die. Our wedding's a disaster."
A: "Maybe I die at your wedding."
M: You're torturing us.
I had to pause to spend five minutes laughing.
I freaked out when I noticed Lucifer's todo list had "Check in on Father Frank"
When Amenadiel had to leap off the building because Lucifer can't get his wings out, I was soo hoping that it was a widespread celestial thing and that Amenadiel couldn't get his wings out either. It would have just been hilarious if he hops off the roof with an epic jump then ten seconds later we hear a splat followed by "ow". (He's an angel. Invulnerable. Can't die from heights).
Dan is great. How can we forget Dan? I like the way they brought him back and he gets a final chance at doing the things he didn't get to do.
I also like the idea of Chloe becoming addicted to the necklace. I consider Chloe one of the strongest female characters in fiction. She has no powers of any sort but she overcomes a lot in spite of that. But even the strongest crack once and a while. She needed the piece to feel strong, to be strong for those who look up to her. Especially after Dan's death. And it ended up affecting her mind. it was a great side look at the idea of ppl becoming addicted to something when they try coping with grief. And it illustrates just how much burden she carries on a day to day basis but still keeps it together.
Personal take, I'm sure everyone else would disagree. But I wish Ella didn't figure it out. One is the idea of faith. She has faith in her friends even if she doesn't know everything about them. Another is that half the beauty of the show is the characters working out celestial problems right under the noses of everyone else especially other main characters. It was the beauty of S2. It's why S4E9 is one of my favorite episodes since it is the same deal but with Chloe's finesse thrown into the mix.
Some of the negatives. Look. my feelings regarding BLM aside, E6 felt...weird. For one, Lucifer is not a police procedural. It hasn't tried since S1. And the closest thing we've had since S1 is maybe S2 finding out who was poisoning ppl. Even then it was less about the investigation and more about Lucifer and Chloe figuring out how they would work together if they were an item. But the police part has always been background stuff. So having it moved to the foreground for the first time since S1 was...eyebrow raising. The writing in this one also seemed wonky. They seemed to want to tackle the idea of a racist and abusive police system but they didn't seem to want to commit to...well...anything. It seems to want to be anvilicious while also wanting to be nuanced but doesn't commit to either. It seems to want to talk about the aforementioned racist system but doesn't commit. Many of the lines and scenes are very anviliscious and feel unnatural. So is that one cop a racist or does he just suck at his job? We've seen S1 Dan and alternate reality Dan behave in an identical way and Dan's not racist. He also talks about how adrenaline gets the better of you and you make snap judgement calls which is true. And he treats Amenadiel with some level of decency and even praises him for going over his head and doing his own investigation. At the very end, Amenadiel stands in front of the victim to tell the officers to stand down. As a higher rank, he could take Amenadiel in for interfering with an arrest. If he was racist, why didn't he do just that? And what was his fate? Even if the one cop was fired it doesn't fix the system and if anything illustrates the idea that standing up against a racist system can get results. So why did they leave it open ended like that? And he actually racist or just too gung ho?
Not only that, there is a strong lack of anything else going on in this ep. The only other thing is Lucifer trying to make up for lost time with Rory. It seems weird that if you skipped any other episode in S 1/2/4/5/6 you would miss something significant and be lost in the next ep. But for this, you wouldn't miss much. And another thing. They had tackled the idea back in S4 with Caleb. Minus a single line that felt out of place, the way it was handled in that ep felt very natural, very well paced, and much better integrated into the story and dramas of the characters. (seriously, if you took out the out of the blue "are you talking about the color of his skin" line everything else felt natural). And this was when there wasn't even an attempt at nuance. Caleb felt both memorable and real. I wanted him to stick around as a reoccurring character and felt heartbroken when it couldn't be so. The way it was handled in S4 felt good. The way it was handled in S5 not so much. If I had to make a comparison, I felt it it was put into that S4 episode because a writer genuinely wanted to have it. But here, it felt like it's there because Netflix asked the writers to include it. So they had an easily forgettable and easily ignored episode dedicated to it.
Something i miss is the dark tones. S1 and S2 first had it. S4 brought it back. S5 didn't have as much but it was still there. It was absent in this season though.
Final bit is a two part tie in and that is time travel. There is a reason scifi writers are warned to stay far away from it. I had decided to put in SPOILER because I wanted to talk about this. So...Rory couldn't find her father in the future because she helps Lucifer realize his calling to helped damned souls in hell. And now he has to stay away from her in order to preserve the time loop. On the surface it all makes sense. It's a classic closed loop paradox. He has to keep distance because he can't change history (or at the very least doesn't want to see what happens if he does).
But if he's in hell, how did Rory not find him? If he was in heaven I could get it. Big place. Lots of angels. If he was god I could get it. Everyone just refers to Lucifer as God. It'd be very ambiguous and it would make sense she doesn't realize God and Lucifer are one and the same. But...how can she not find him in hell? I'm always told it's because she doesn't know. But you telling me she never tried looking for the so-called Devil in hell? She never posed the question of who was ruling hell? Never gossiped with a demon or an angel? Never asked a demon who they take orders from? She can travel between the planes. She never went down there? Never went to his house? Never camped in front of his throne to see if he would take it? She supposedly caused a ruckus on Earth in anger. She never did the same in hell just to see who would come punish her? Maybe I can buy no one told her. Lucifer's lord of hell and Amenadiel's god so they could order their subordinates to keep their mouths shut and their friends would definitely not say. But people refusing to tell her who is in charge of hell should raise eyebrows. And that's leaving out that she could physically go there to see for herself.
Which is my other issue. They undid SO MUCH progress. I'm thankful Eaze saw nothing but progression but so much else regressed. In S5, Amenadiel doesn't want to be God, Lucifer's on his way to be God, and Chloe left the LAPD to help him. Now Lucifer's back in hell, Chloe's back in the LAPD and Amenadiel's god. Quick question. So the angels initially refused to listen to Amenadiel because he was not their god. Why'd they start? Did Lucifer point his finger and say 'listen to him now'? And there was so much undone. So much change reverted back. Last time they had regression like this is S3 when Lucifer, after having a big revelation about lack of connection sleeping with a hundred women, goes back to sleeping with everyone. And I hated it then too. This seems to be an offshoot of an issue I had with Maze in S5A. They want big things to happen to the characters. For Maze they didn't know what to do so they just have her betray everyone. But for this, it feels they didn't know what to do so they just pulled 180's on everyone. Deckerstar ends here in an identical way to how it ended in S4. The only differences are Lucifer can fly himself up to heaven and Chloe has another child but that's it and I'm not a fan of that.
I'd have to think about how I feel about this season. So much was done right and amazing. But there was also plenty done wrong. S4 still is the uncontested best season in my book. I'll have to think about how the seasons rank after.
