LUCIFER: “Sympathy for the Goddess” and a new favorite son

Tonight is the season final of Lucifer, and hopefully we’ll soon know the answer to whether or not all this “we gotta get back to Heaven for REASONS” scheming and conflict has been worthwhile.  Before we get to that, let’s revisit the penultimate episode with our roundtable discussion of “Sympathy for the Goddess”.

Clearly lying isn’t the goddess’s strength. But she held her own against both Chloe and Bianca Ruiz, head of a crime syndicate. We’ve mentioned a couple of times that she appeared to be incompetent, and wondered if she actually showed up at her office anymore. This episode addressed both of those neatly. Thoughts?

Cay: Her lying with Luci’s prompting reminded me of Chuck helping Captain Awesome lie to Ellie on Chuck! While it was funny, I didn’t think it was particularly believable because she has seemed to lie pretty convincingly before. To address the other point, it was ABOUT FREAKIN’ TIME that we 1) saw her actually be a lawyer 2) gave her a plausible reason for her relationship with Luci and Amenadiel. What wasn’t addressed is the fact that she is supposed to be married with kids and we haven’t heard a mention of hubby or kids in forever.

Mynda: I feel Mama Devil’s story has worn thin for a while. Lucifer‘s writers are clever, if they really wanted her to remain, they would have filled in more of the blanks with her character. I predict she is on her way out and they are tying up the loose ends before her exit.

Melissa: I think you might be right, Mynda, that  the goddess’s story is wrapping up. I think she’ll be with us for the first few episodes of season 3 (remember, they took the final three episodes of this season and moved them to next), then I think we’ll be saying farewell. Her attempts at lying to Chloe did make me laugh because it was a funny scene, but it also made me think about her character so far…and it didn’t really fit, did it? I mean, even in her human form she’s supposed to be a badass lawyer, which requires a certain knack for prevarication. And we’ve seen her be less than honest with her sons and Detective Douche. Could this have been the Chloe Effect?

Karen: I don’t think she puts in a full work week, but it was good to see that she at least tries to “be” Charlotte. It was interesting that she wants to be closer to Lucifer, which makes me feel a little more sympathetic towards her, because it seems like she cares about him – at least a little. Does she have feelings for her sons as well as wanting to go back to heaven? The storyline here made me question those motives. It was a pleasant change from the whole “Mum is only a user,” thing.

Maze and Lucifer going to bat for Dr. Linda was sweet, but nooooot particularly helpful. As much as we love Dr. Linda, should she be a therapist given everything she’s done for/with Lucifer?

Cay: I don’t think we can hold her transgressions with Luci against her. I mean, he’s the frickin’ devil and devilshly charming at that. He did his devil mind trick on her the first time they met and then she was stuck. Client or not, I doubt I could turn down a man like Lucifer if he threw himself at me… Even with all that, she finally did become strong enough to stand up to him. I think a bigger question is how has her new sense of the divine changed her personally, and how does this effect her with clients? We really need more Dr Linda backstory – we know nothing about her outside of her office and interactions with Maze and Luci. Speaking of Maze, what are the odds that she’ll manage to “fix things” without hurting someone?

Mynda: I totally agree with Cay. Dr. Linda should be given a pass! PLUS, it worked both ways. Not only did Luci charm her, she charmed him right back AND won his trust. That takes real skill. Sign me up! I’d trust my emotional well-being with her anytime! Yes as well to more backstory. I cannot get enough of the good Doctor.

Karen: She’s a great therapist, and with such difficult patients, can you blame her for her unorthodox methods? I can’t imagine the board will understand that, although Lucifer may be able to use his mojo on them/him. There is an up-side to the investigation and Dr. Linda being able to work outside the lines though. She can say what she thinks without the “therapist games”. It was not only refreshing, but also much more helpful to Luci and Maze. I’ve been saying Luci needs to have more breakthroughs, and he definitely had one this week. About time.

Melissa: Dr. Linda has been compromised, no question, but I agree with you all that it may be for the best. No, she won’t be working under APA guidelines anymore, but she also won’t be restricted by those guidelines. I think she managed to separate her personal feelings from her professional assessments successfully so far, and now, as she said, she can cut through the “leading you to the answer” BS and just tell Lucifer (and Maze and maybe Chloe) what she thinks directly. I am a little worried about how Maze is going to “take care of” Dr. Linda’s problem with the board, though.

And then we had the Maze vs. Lucifer showdown. How do you feel about the outcome?

Cay: How did all of that go down unnoticed by anyone? I love that Maze is physically an equal to Luci. I completely understand why she was pissed at Luci, although I can kind of appreciate why Luci kept her in the dark as well.

Mynda: The fight scene was amazing. LOVE seeing the two go head to head. Seeing Maze get emotional was a biggie. I get why Luci did what he did, but Maze deserved to know the truth. She would have played along.