A year later, Netflix released the eagerly anticipated second part of season 5 (or season 5B) last Friday, and we are so excited. Because we have eight 1-hour episodes with delicious content and there is so much to talk about, we will split this review into three parts.
In Part 1, we will talk about “Family Dinner,” “Bloody Celestial Karaoke Jam,” and “Resting Devil Face.” Lucifer season 5, episode 9, “Family Dinner,” picks up exactly where we left off in season 5A: with God’s arrival midway through a celestial fight to the death between Lucifer, Amenadiel, Michael, and Maze.
Let’s not forget that Chloe had just asked Lucifer whether he loved her back or not, Amenadiel was freaking out about Charlie being mortal, and Michael was being his usual despicable self.
How much do you love God?
No, seriously, did you ever think the most powerful being in the universe would be this fun? Sure, he’s an overbearing, egotistical and terrible father, but he’s also just plain funny. And like every other parent, he’s trying to make things right while making everything even worse at times.
When we first meet him in “Family Dinner,” it’s hilarious how much he just wants his kids to stop fighting. Having dinner at Linda’s was just the cherry on top of an already bizarre situation, and the therapist’s reaction to having the Almighty Creator of the Universe in her house was as fantastic and laugh-out-loud funny as anyone would expect.
Not to mention that she realized that her baby boy Charlie is quite literally God’s grandson and that the most powerful being in all of creation is her father-in-law. Talk about pressure, right?
But the most important takeaway from episode 9 was that Lucifer thinks God is incapable of love because his father doesn’t answer his question about whether he loves them or not. So, Lucifer being Lucifer, concludes that he is his father’s son and obviously is incapable of love himself, which breaks Chloe’s heart.
God wants to try and fix things with his kids — especially Lucifer — and starts by sending pain-in-the-ass Michael home, banishing him from Earth.
In “Bloody Celestial Karaoke Jam,” He forces Lucifer and pretty much everyone to confront their feelings through musical numbers. It’s like Lucifer and Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist had a baby and the results could not be any more fantastic, even though this only happened because God confessed to his powers glitching somehow.
Each number is done to a perfect T, and each song is carefully chosen to illustrate and tap into their innermost feelings. My absolute favorite moments in this episode were Ella/Maze performing an outstanding mashup of “No Scrubs” and “Bad to the Bone,” revealing their innermost fears; Trixie singing “Smile” to Chloe as she realizes that her mom is not okay — cue the waterworks from yours truly; and Lucifer and God singing “I Dreamed a Dream” in what was probably one of the most powerful moments of the entire show thus far.
Lucifer is fed up with his Father for ruining his chance at happiness with Chloe by making him incapable of loving someone, which we all know isn’t true at all. But the song and Tom Ellis’ performance is so poignant and bittersweet and reeks of sadness and disappointment that tears couldn’t be helped.
It is breathtakingly beautiful and it emanates such a deep pain and sorrow. It’s amazing and the biggest of ironies that it comes from a character who thinks he can’t feel anything when he feels so, so much.
With Chloe’s support, Lucifer decides to give his Father a second chance. Instead of pushing him away, Lucifer changes tactics and chooses to keep his Father close so they can make amends.
And then, to make matters a bit easier (or worse), God decides to make himself human, so they won’t have to deal with His glitchy powers. And that makes “Resting Devil Face” the funniest episode of the season thus far.
It all starts innocently enough. After God’s karaoke session in Lucifer season 5, episode 10, the Almighty Creator of the Universe accidentally explodes Dan with a handshake. He puts him all back together, of course, but the damage is done.
Dan is now paranoid that God is literally out to kill him for sleeping with his wife, and Lucifer is concerned that his Father’s unpredictable powers might cause more harm than good.
So God goes ahead and makes himself human.
And let me tell you, watching God having a first encounter with some of the most human of experiences — such as pain, vision, brain freeze, sleepiness, being drunk, having to pee — is going down as one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. Dennis Haysbert is absolutely perfect as the All Powerful Lord, and his reactions are laugh out loud funny at times and heartbreakingly painful the next.
To make matters worse, halfway through this human God experience, the Almighty forgets where he put his powers. And then he decides to go off on his own to try and remember where he hid his powers. Let’s not forget that God is now just an elderly dude with memory issues that are getting worse by the minute.
Amenadiel asks Mazikeen for help to find him, but he doesn’t know that Maze has every intention of killing God now that He’s human. After all, all she wanted was a soul and God insisted that she was perfect just the way she was. So now she is hell-bent on finding him first and getting rid of him once and for all.
What she doesn’t expect, however, is that Trixie would run into the Almighty himself while running away. The child and God have one of the most touching conversations this show has ever gifted us with, and He gets her to confess that she is mad at Lucifer for abandoning them and making her mother sad. Together, they heal each other enough so that God remembers where He hid His powers, and Trixie decides to go home.
But the most important reveal of “Resting Devil Face” was that God confessed to Lucifer and Amenadiel that He wants to retire.
So, you know, what the hell does that even mean? Can the universe function without God? Who will replace Him?
The Deckerstar of it all
Lucifer, Lucifer, Lucifer… why, why would you think that you’re incapable of love?
Haven’t all these years with Chloe shown you the exact opposite? That you’re a guy who loves with his entire heart and so completely that you’re willing to sacrifice yourself for the detective and your loved ones multiple times?
When Chloe asked him why he hadn’t said “I love you” back, I honestly think it’s because he has never said it to anyone. Ever. Since the dawn of time. And because angels can self-actualize, I genuinely believe that all of this, everything that has been happening since mid-season 5A is because Lucifer is scared.
When Chloe was suddenly able to mojo him, he was terrified. Couple that with what happened with Jed — him saying that Chloe just suddenly lost interest — and we have a scared out of his mind angel who doesn’t want to be vulnerable anymore in order to protect himself.
Unconsciously, he started to close himself up again — to the point that he suddenly became invulnerable around Chloe as well. So when his Father doesn’t say He loves him, Lucifer automatically thinks that God can’t love anyone and that he obviously takes after dear old Dad.
When he tells Chloe at the end of “Family Dinner” that he will never be able to say those three words to her, my heart broke into a million pieces. Not only for Chloe but also for him because how unbelievably sad is it to think that you’re incapable of love — especially when all he does is show how much he loves the people who are important to him.
It is so important that Chloe didn’t just take that as the truth and that she’s willing to fight for him. You can see that it’s killing her — even Trixie noticed it — but she’s not giving up on him without a fight. On the contrary, she’s so supportive, and she wants to help him get through whatever it is that makes him think he can’t love anyone.
Her confrontation with God is one of my favorite moments of the season so far. Because she didn’t care that this was the literal creator of the universe and the most powerful being in existence. In that moment, he was just her boyfriend’s father — someone that had hurt him so deeply that she wanted to beat him with her own two fists.
So yes, things are still up in the air with them and they’re both hurting. But their love is so much stronger than Lucifer’s issues, and it’s only a matter of time before he realizes that and lets her in again.
Other highlights of Lucifer
- How adorable was Maze’s reaction when God insinuated that maybe she can have a soul after all?
- Dan being completely paranoid that God has a special kind of hell prepared for him just because he slept with His wife was absolutely hilarious.
- I want to put Trixie in a bubble and protect my kickass, smartass child from the world.
- Lucifer and God. I just loved every single second they were on my screen together.
We will be back soon with part 2 of Lucifer Season 5B review.