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"High School Poppycock" is the fifteenth episode of the third season of Lucifer.

You know, high school reunions are a popular torture in hell
– Lucifer, to Chloe, undercover at the reunion

Summary[]

"When a best-selling novelist is murdered, Lucifer and Chloe discover that her books are based on real people from her past, and must infiltrate her high school reunion in order to catch her killer. Meanwhile, Amenadiel and Linda struggle with making their relationship public."[1]

Plot[]

As the episode opens, Chloe enters the darkened penthouse looking for Lucifer. She is startled as his harsh voice cuts through the darkness, “Something’s happened. Please leave… I can’t make them go away.” As he walks towards her, his wings unfurl violently, and a startled Chloe falls backward against the balcony rail which shatters and she falls. Lucifer dives after her, entreating her to grab his hand, but he can't catch her and she plummets beyond his reach, “And then I woke up…” Lucifer regards Linda, and asks her what the dream means. When she tells him he has issues to address, he responds, “you would too, if your father slapped a pair on your back, took away your Devil face, took away who you are. I mean, who knows what else He'll take from me. Lux? My job with the LAPD?” Linda quietly suggests Chloe; not something he's willing to consider. Instead, he opts to defy Dad, and help Cain remove his curse – the trouble is he is fresh out of ideas.

As it happens, the crime scene he is then called to is the home a a popular novelist, Kathleen Pike, whose much anticipated wrap to her YA book series was nearing completion – on the very typewriter used to bludgeon her to death. Ella points Lucifer and Chloe toward Vincent Green, her publisher, who had found the body who worries that he may be to blame because he tweeted the news of completion to her fans. He then mentions it took her five years to get past her writer's block, which she discussed in the afterward of the book. Lucifer immediately grabs that and figures it's a solution to his own lack of ideas. They must find the killer and get the book back since it may be in aid of his own issue.

Back at the precinct, Lucifer pages through the victim’s latest book. He is underwhelmed by the “pathetically PG” prose, and asks Chloe if her high school experience similar. Chloe explains as a child actor she didn't have much of a school experience. She has, however, come up with a lead; someone who went by the name "Ashley3001fan" got into a heated online argument with Kathleen about how long the book was taking to be completed.

Meanwhile, Linda and Amenadiel enjoy a romantic dinner – in her office. They agree that they hate sneaking around, but fear Maze's reaction to their relationship. Amenadiel decides to check on Maze, perhaps even tell her about Linda. Trixie answers the door and she informs him that Maze isn’t at home. Shutting the door, Trixie sits down next to Maze, and asks why she doesn't want to see Amenadiel. It turns out Maze knows all about him sneaking around with Linda. Trixie points out sometimes people are just scared to tell the truth, so maybe they need a little help. Maze thinks that's a great idea. Lucifer and Chloe, meanwhile, head over to the ice cream parlor they traced the Ashley3001fan IP to. Ashley is a mega-fan, who created the ice cream flavor "3000 and Yum" for Kathleen, he even took her some on the night she died, but he didn't kill her and did not have the book. He said he shared some of his fan fic with her, and she asked for his help finishing her own novel, but in the end decided to go in another direction. He also let them know that her books were actually based on her own high school experience. All of the characters are based on real people, and Kathleen told him she had to get back to her original inspiration. By coincidence, her high school reunion is scheduled for that weekend. Chloe suggests Lucifer attend as the only man in the class with zero social media presence, Todd Cornwell, and she be his plus one. He points out that even if he told everyone he had a face and body transplant, no one would believe it, but she insists it's their one shot to follow up on all the suspects in one place. They then enlist Maze to distract the real Todd. Maze heads to visit Linda’s office. She says that she has a great idea, she’s going to set Linda up; a blind date is just what the therapist needs. Linda is effectively trapped, and Todd distracted.

That night Chloe starts reading the books for research, but finds that it's time to take Trixie to school before she's done. She has gone fan-girl, just in time for the evening's undercover op at the reunion. She and Lucifer arrive at the high school reunion, and make a circuit of the room as Chloe brims with excitement. She eagerly points out all of the real life counterparts to the fictional universe, and Lucifer is astounded, “I can't believe I'm saying this, but focus, Detective,” reminding her that one of them may be a killer.

Across town, Linda shows up for her date with Todd, and finds Amenadiel. They speculate on why Maze invited them both and come to the conclusion she knows what’s going on with them, and since torture is her thing, is determined to make them squirm. At the reunion, a woman notes Lucifer's name tag and wonders how he can be “Odd Bod Todd” up to sporting a British accent. Lucifer's reply is simply, “I've had many accents over the years, but this one is clearly the best.” Across the room, Chloe is stuck half way between fan girl and cop as she questions her suspects, one of whom seems to be hitting on her. Fed up with trying to winkle out information, Lucifer finally just threatens one of them, and discovers they all have the same alibi, an illicit pool party; none of them are the killer. But there was one person who was not there – Todd.

Chloe and Lucifer depart to pick up Todd. She apologizes to him, “I can't believe I let myself get so wrapped up in all of that. I think I was just trying to make up for all the fun, teenage drama that I missed out on, you know? I didn't even get to go to my own prom,” leaving Lucifer thoughtful. They arrive at the restaurant where the disastrous double date has devolved into a fight between Maze and Linda, and Linda has had enough; “All I do is listen to your problems! Everyone's problems! So, yeah, for once, I put myself first and did what makes me happy. So, sue me, or torture me, or better yet, why don't you just skewer me with one of your knives? But before you do, know that this wasn't some fling, that what Amenadiel and I found was completely unexpected, but 100% real!”

Todd is then taken for questioning, he isn’t the killer, in fact, he mentions that he met with Kathleen about the book. She was going to not only include him in the finale, but make him the hero, “she did tell me about the story itself, how it had a peaceful, grounded ending. No scandals, no insiders versus outcasts. Just people finally understanding each other.” Lucifer deems it boring, and Chloe comes up with a new theory, so makes a call to the publisher, Green, to ask about ghost writers, fan fic, Ashley Collins, who he was, and and where he might be.

Green snaps up the bait and appears at the ice cream parlor ready to kill Ashley but Lucifer and Chloe are waiting. Confronted, the frustrated man says Kathleen's ending was boring, that they would lose millions. He insisted the fan fic robot ending should be used and in the ensuing argument threw her typewriter at her, killing her. He then says he destroyed her manuscript, and Lucifer is furious, demanding to know what the afterward said. Green replied, “She said inspiration came when she realized she couldn't go back and change what she'd done.” Lucifer finds this unhelpful.

The following day, Linda meets Amenadiel and tells him she can't keep seeing him if it hurts others she cares about. Chloe arrives at Lux in answer to Lucifer's call. He wants to know if she is back to being the good detective, “I like our partnership much better when you do all the work and I'm the fun, irresponsible one.” She says she got carried away and that wasn't who she really was. He then pulls out a corsage, and asks her to go to the prom with him. Starting up the music, he asks her to dance. As they dance she asks if he ever solved his issue, and points out that Kathleen was right, you can't rewrite history. Lucifer laughs, he might actually be able to do that.

Cast[]

Starring[]

Guest Starring[]

  • Russell Wong as Vincent Green
  • Austin Basis as Todd Cornwell
  • Trevor Donovan as Max Evans
  • Julie Gonzalo as Jessica Johnson

Co-Starring[]

  • Chasty Ballesteros as Isabel Deluca
  • Joseph Dixon as Ashley Collins
  • Sean Mann as Tristan Valenti
  • Francesca Santoro as Claire
  • Caryn Ward Ross as Emily Armantrout

Featured Music[]

  • Knock on My Door - Mail Order Bride
  • Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me) - Train
  • California Numb - Cloves
  • Only You - Yazoo

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Lucifer is the one who says the title name in the episode.
  • Lucifer's dream foreshadows "Save Lucifer", although Chloe does not die.
  • Ella mentions she's writing a book about a forensic scientist who sees ghosts. This can be interpreted as foreshadowing for "Boo Normal", where we learn that Ella sees Azrael, who she thinks is a ghost. This was also hinted at in "Vegas with Some Radish", where Ella casually mentions that she started counting cards to drown out the voices.
  • Among the various crimes in the series, the motive for the murder in this episode is among the ridiculous. The editor didn't like how a book series was going to end, so he killed the author when she refused to go with what he thought was the "right" ending.

Videos[]


Links[]

Season 3

References[]

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