"Nothing Lasts Forever" is the fourteenth episode of the fifth season of Lucifer.[1]
Summary[]
Lucifer angles to be his father's successor. Ella makes a painful confession. Chloe investigates a murder at an aquarium.
Plot[]
Lucifer tells Chloe that he is going to take over when his Father retires, and she seem concerned rather than excited. What does this mean for their relationship? Lucifer assures her that it will be a good thing, Chloe just has to have time to adjust. They go to investigate the death of Bruna Lorenzoni who was found floating in the shark tank at a local aquarium. She was the chief operator of the aquarium; Ella found a stab wound in her abdomen and says Bruna was dead before she hit the water. The aquarium owner, Elizabeth Newman (Allison McAtee) found the body, but can give little information, Bruna ran everything.
Amenadiel collects Lucifer because God has come back to Earth and has arranged a retirement party in the park. It seems that all the angels except Michael have come to the big BBQ. The big question among the celestials is, who will take over the throne? Everyone assumes it will be Amenadiel, but Lucifer announces that he will be the next God. There is a general uproar, and Lucifer rightly points out, “Who is more qualified than me? I ran Hell for millennia. Have any of you run your own kingdom? Even so much as a taco truck? Didn't think so.” Amenediel says he is backing Lucifer, then Remiel asks God to actually name his successor. He refuses to do so, first he wants to plan his retirement.
Meanwhile, Mazikeen is eating her heart out about Eve, having a soul isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. She talks to Linda about the change and is pretty sure she won’t make it into Heaven with Eve, thinking her hell loop will be her trapped in Eve’s hospital room, breaking her heart and losing her ad infinitum. She decided she has to kill her soul, she grew, she can kill it, and collects some puppies to kill. Amenadiel stops her from killing the puppies and tells her that Lucifer is going to become God. Maze leaves to talk to Lucifer.
It appears that Linda is now the precinct go to, as she is also seeing Ella who has always had dark thoughts, and thinks its why she wound up dating a serial killer. Linda thinks Ella needs to take some time off, but Ella says the job centers her and gives her purpose. She says she’s always had a dark side and she hides it from everyone, she has difficulty with the idea that the darkness is part of who she is.
Lucifer and Chloe question Bruna’s husband, and he suspected she was having an affair. He followed her once and saw her arguing with restaurant owner, Jeremy Morgan (Brent Bailey). Lucifer knows of Jeremy, who “is known in certain circles for serving rare, illegal animals” at his restaurant. Lucifer decides to combine the investigation with the retirement plans, and invites Chloe to dinner at Jeremy's restaurant for a soft approach. He also set up her mom, Penelope with his Dad. During the dinner table conversation, Penelope spoke of her late husband, “My John and I... we were totally connected. Totally supportive of each other.” He daughter, however, was of the opinion that her father “gave up his dream of becoming a detective to support your career.”
Lucifer then asks the waiter for their “special specials” and the owner, Jeremy, recognizes Penelope and offers a special entree, panda tartar. Chloe arrests Jeremy, and during questioning learns he did buy fish from Bruna, but he has an alibi for her death. Ella confirms Jeremy’s story, but she also tracked money transfer routing to an address that leads them to Sato Miki (Lee Doud). Sato admits that he bought fish from Bruna, but only the legal kind. The money transfer was a donation to the aquarium. Someone called Sato asking about the donation, he says she sounded angry, and Chloe thinks it must be Elizabeth.
The following morning, Amenediel and his Father take to the golf course. God asks His son if he is sure about backing Lucifer as His replacement. “Believe me, Dad, I have my reservations, but Lucifer's come a long way. And he does his best when you put a little faith in him.” Amenadiel also discovers it was Michael who started telling their Father he was losing it, Gaslighting him into self actualizing a problem that never existed.
Meanwhile, Maze gives Lilith’s ring back to Lucifer, Eve won’t accept it so she has no need for it. Lucifer actually apologizes for not having told Maze about her mother. And Maze actually accepts it, “It's okay. Lucifer, I get it. You were just trying to protect me from having to face how little I meant to her.” She then tells him she wants him to be God so he can change the rules of Hell and make her Queen. Hell may not need a warden, but perhaps it deserves one. Lucifer toasts her, “I can't think of anyone I would trust more with our old home. To Mazikeen, Queen of Hell.”
God has been watching Ella for a while, and pays her a visit. She greets him with a big hug, “Daddy Morningstar!” He knows she is struggling with something and offers to help, but she says it's about her inner darkness, she thinks it attracts her to bad people, and she is afraid it makes her a bad person too. God tells her everyone has darkness, and it's not about ridding yourself of it, but accepting it. “The darker the darkness, the brighter the light. And you, Miss Lopez, shine so very, very brightly. I can see it all the way from Heaven.” When Ella is then distracted, God vanishes from the lab.
Chloe confides in Dan that God is retiring and Lucifer is going to be God. He says it makes a strange amount of sense, “Lucifer is surprisingly great at big picture kind of stuff....So, if Lucifer is God, I can think of crazier things.” Chloe is amazed by his reaction, but says her real concern is Lucifer balancing being ruler of the universe and being her boyfriend. Dan kindly points out, “if it's any comfort, Lucifer's crazy about you, and you know that. And you're crazy about him. So I think you should just trust that whatever challenges life throws at you, you're gonna figure it out.”
Ella, meanwhile, has tracked Bruna’s Fitbit. It is still in the shark’s stomach. They call Elizabeth to let her know that they will need to examine the shark. When they get to the aquarium, however, Elizabeth is trying to get rid of the shark, but presented with a warrant and a thorough search in progress, she admits that she killed Bruna. She was so upset that Bruna playing God with the aquarium and confronted her. Things got heated and Elizabeth didn’t realize that she stabbed Bruna with a letter opener until it was over. Lucifer then realizes that he hasn’t been listening to his father about what he wants in his retirement. He leaves Chloe to wrap things up, and returns to the penthouse where he summons Gabriel for a special favor.
Later, Penelope visits Chloe, “do you really think I'd make your father give up his dreams?” Chloe says that's what he did. Her mother says she always thinks she knows everything, but John and Penelope had a deal to take turns supporting each other’s careers. But when it came time for John to make detective, he died. “I just need you to know that I loved your father from the bottom of my heart. And I'd give anything to have another chance at being the supporting partner.”
Amenadiel, meanwhile, brings God to Lux where Lucifer is waiting. Lucifer says, “after finally listening to what Dad's been telling me all along, I realized there's only one thing that's going to make his retirement fulfilling. So, I enlisted Gabriel's help to make it happen.” The Goddess appears. Lucifer says “she only has enough juice for this one time” so they have to make it count. Amenadiel tells him that God isn’t losing his powers, that Michael has been gaslighting God, and that Dad can keep his job and everything can go back to normal,they can be a family again. Lucifer asks if they will be settling in Florida or maybe the Silver City, but his parents announce that they are moving to Goddess’ universe. Lucifer objects that if they leave they can't come back, “But you've only just got here. Can't you... stay and annoy me for a bit longer?” God says nothing lasts forever. Lucifer asks if they get a say in the matter. God gave him a life of choice, but this one is His choice. He then astounds His son by saying Lucifer was right, he could have been a better father. He tells Lucifer that he loves him and he’s proud of the man Lucifer has become. A weeping Lucifer tells God that Amenadiel would like to hear that too, but God says he already told him. As their parents start to leave, Lucifer asks about the successor God says it’s not up to him anymore, and they’ll figure it out. And then they are gone.
That evening, Chloe meets Lucifer at the penthouse. She tells him that she’s quitting the LAPD to support him during his run at being God. Lucifer has been helping her do her job for the last five years, and it’s now her turn to support him.They are surprised by the arrival of Remiel who lets Lucifer know that Michael is gathering support in the Silver City to be the next God. And as much as she dislikes Lucifer, she hates Michael even more. Remiel pledges her support to Lucifer, and offers to spy on Michael, knowing he would not suspect her to take Lucifer's side.
Elsewhere, Michael meets Gabriel who not only visited the new universes created by Mom, but retrieved Azrael’s blade left there by Lucifer. Gabriel gives it to Michael.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Tom Ellis as Lucifer Morningstar and Michael
- Lauren German as Chloe Decker
- Kevin Alejandro as Dan Espinoza
- D.B. Woodside as Amenadiel
- Lesley-Ann Brandt as Mazikeen
- Aimee Garcia as Ella Lopez
- Rachael Harris as Linda Martin
Special Guest Star[]
Guest Starring[]
- Dennis Haysbert as God
- Rebecca De Mornay as Penelope Decker
- Vinessa Vidotto as Remiel
- Kimia Behpoornia as Gabriel
- Joel Rush as Zadkiel
- Allison McAtee as Elizabeth Newman
Co-Starring[]
- Brent Bailey as Jeremy Morgan
- Chris Carney as Waiter
- Lee Doud as Sato Miki
- Kareem Lewis as Mover Terrell
- Claudio Pinto as Demian Lorenzoni
Trivia[]
- The episode title is said by God to Lucifer before he and Goddess leave to go to her universe.
- Lucifer's valet ticket is number 666
- God doesn't refute Lucifer's claim that he has the experience to become the next Sovereign of Heaven; knowing that his time as the Sovereign of Hell gave him similar experience with the burden of leadership. This fact shows God is proud one of his children is showing initiative to step up as his successor.
- God's last outfit before he leaves reflects his newfound closeness with Amenadiel and Lucifer; grey for Amenadiel and burgundy for Lucifer.
- When Amenadiel voices concern about humans seeing angels wandering around the park, Lucifer quips "Relax, brother, this is LA. No one will even notice."
- The "Godfrey" joke is used again to disguise God's name; Amenadiel previously tried this to trick Charlotte when she asked about Season 2.
- Lucifer is genuinely sorry when he accidentally offended Penelope with the belief that she had retired from acting. Lucifer respects her, since Penelope is a favorite actress of his.
- God’s words to Lucifer where he declares he’s proud of the man his son had become reflects Earl Johnson’s words to Lucifer in God Johnson just before the Medallion of Life was removed from his belt and he was no longer capable of healing or omniscience. Lucifer also told Earl that they were words that he never believed he’d hear from his father, which amplified his anger and hatred towards him at the time. Their final conversation visibly touches Lucifer as actually hearing God say these words face to face restores his love for his father.
- Gabriel mentions that Goddess' universe has centaurs, which freak her out.
- Amenadiel and Gabriel are revealed to be Archangels as well.
- While Lucifer was okay with God retiring, it's shown that he is distraught at the idea of never being able to see either of his parents again. Showing him reaching another human milestone, and that experiencing more than one loss that cannot be undone; unlike Uriel's death, God and Goddess are simply "relocated" somewhere Lucifer cannot visit.
