Lucifer - S3, Episode 1

[shadowkat]

Well, Lucifer managed to surprise me again. It also made me laugh. And was really good in places....I admittedly was quite skeptical to begin with, but I guess you gotta have faith? Isn't that a song? Also, is it just me or has Tom Welling gotten old and bit...fleshy? He's just not pretty any more. Not that he was ever that pretty to my way of thinking.



David Boreanz, Tom Welling, and most football players really don't anything for me. James Marsters as Spike, Tom Ellis, Hugh Jackman, and most dancers and soccer players on the other hand...

I like lean muscled men, who are tall, with high cheekbones, and compelling eyes. I'm an eyes girl.
Mainly because I can read people's emotions through their eyes. Apparently not everyone can do this -- realized it when I was talking to my mother once. And some people don't emote through their eyes.

Boreanze and Welling were pretty enough as twenty-somethings, but they haven't aged well. Like a lot of football players. Although I think Boreanze is a better actor. He emotes more than Welling does and is better at comedy.

I can see why they cast Welling, he's a big guy, and you need a big guy with DB Woodside and Ellis, who are both over 6 foot.






1. Welling per the above wasn't as bad as I thought he'd be. The only person into him appears to be the forensic scientist. (Please tone her down a bit writers. I liked her better last year, she's a bit over the top this year.)

I don't think Welling is going to be a good guy. There's something off about the character.

My guess? He's linked to the mystery, since he showed up at the same time. He may even be the new bad guy.

2. I was annoyed when Lucifer cut off his wings. Although it made sense -- totally in character. And I thought, damn if you just kept your wings ...you could have shown your wings to Chloe, no problems.
I like Lucifer's wings. I spent half the episode irritably bemoaning the fact he'd cut them off again.

Then, surprise surprise, they pop back again. He can't rid of them. LOL! I love it. Brilliant twist.
Particularly considering Amenadial can't get his wings back.

When Lucy tries to show Chloe his devil face, that has been taken from him. It no longer exists and she thinks he's playing games. (He should just show her the wings now...)

3. Amenadial thinks Lucy's wings and removal of his demon face mean that he's been redeemed and forgiven for his actions last season.

Lucy: What if I don't want to be forgiven? You can't redeem or forgive me, if I didn't want it!

The Lucy/Amenadial exchanges are great fun and comic gold.

The Forensic Scientist's (whose name I can't remember) - take on Amenadial's sitch was rather interesting...she also manages to help him deal with Lucy. Telling it is about faith and sometimes its the little things you do that are important not the big ones. And everyone or everything is part of God's plan, maybe just not in the way you thought or intended. This gives Amenadial hope and he goes off to deal with his brother in a different way. He's more upset Lucy didn't confide in him. Lucy unlike Amenadial is still angry at his father.

Another exchange between the two that was hilarious?

Amenadial (which I can't spell): What happened with Mom?
Lucifer: I texted you.
Amendial: you left me a text of incomprehensible emoticons then went off the grid for two days, after I've left you a string of texts..I don't get it.
Lucifer (looks at the emoticons): I took the sword, sliced a hole, creating a new universe, sent Mom through, sent through the sword, closed the gap, and here, look you get to keep your necklace which seemed to be incredibly important to you.
Amenadial: Okay fine. But next time when you call -- do it in WORDS!

4. Lucy is embracing his demonic side with the bad guys...yay. I hope they do more of that. Last two seasons he was with Decker too much, and never showed his powers or devilish side...if you have a character who is the devil in the show, you sort of should show that side of him, otherwise what's the point? (My main quibble with the first two seasons.)

5. I admittedly wasn't paying much attention to the procedural story-line, until it suddenly got interesting and no longer just the case of the week. Now we have the Sinner Man...who is a crime lord but may be something else.

Lucifer isn't sure who he is and hasn't heard of him. But he paid to take Lucifer to the desert and dump him. Before the guy could do much else, Lucifer's wings popped out scaring him, and he just threw him out there.

Lucifer way out of the desert was sort of funny, although I felt a bit sorry for the poor thief running about Death Valley with nothing but his underwear.

6. Lucifer to Chloe: I'm back, I'm okay, did you miss me?

Chloe: You were gone for two days. I thought you were avoiding me or laying low because of the new Lieutenant.

Lucifer: I was kidnapped and dumped in the desert.

Chloe: Really? Yeah right.

Much much later...

Lucifer: I have to show you my real face. (he tries)

Chloe: My god...

Lucifer: Is it bad

Chloe: Are you gassy?

Lucifer: What? No! (he touches his face) I don't understand. Why isn't this working?

Chloe: Stop playing your games. I so don't have time for this.

Me: Now if you hadn't cut off your wings...this wouldn't be an issue.

Later..

Amenadial: I don't understand, you cut them off. I saw them..

Lucy: Yeah, well, the bloody things are tenacious this round. They won't stay off. I've no idea why. Probably just Dad's way of playing with me.

Hee Hee. Thank you writers, I like the wings. He looks hot with those wings.

7. Dr. Linda is apparently staying with Lucy now? Or being taken care of by Lucy? And yay, baby grand piano is back.

And yay, Dr. Linda for not agreeing to take off Lucy's wings. I wouldn't either. Completely agree. (I adore Dr. Linda.)

8. Speculation...

I'm wondering if Tom Welling aka Pierce will be the Sinner Man or working for him? Although this may just be wishful thinking on my part? (I have to say I preferred Charlotte (Tricia) as the badie. She was more interesting. But they may be going for a foil for Lucy this round.) Something I saw in the preview made me wonder about it. Not sure what exactly.

Lucy says Sinner Man is something far darker...even than him. This after seeing how last guy was killed and finding out this was who paid for him to be abducted.

Curious if Chloe will find out who Lucy is or begin to believe him once she sees his wings, assuming she ever does. (I really wish they wouldn't drag that out, that's my one quibble with this show. The Decker/Lucy romance and her not believing him is starting to get circular and old. Actually it always does in these series by about the third season. You can only tease that sort of thing for so long before it gets old. Move on already.)

I don't see a love triangle between Chloe/Welling and Lucy. Right now Welling (Pierce) seems to find Lucy more attractive. Also Chloe and Pierce don't have any chemistry...Pierce doesn't have chemistry with anyone, except maybe Lucy who has chemistry with everyone. But chemistry is admittedly a subjective thing.

Missed Maze...but know she'll be back.

Really enjoyed that episode. It was witty and built character. One weak link in the show, weirdly enough, is Detective Decker...she seems to just be reacting to everything around her, but otherwise fairly passive and a bit dense. The problem may be that she's still in the dark regarding Lucy?
I don't know.

Happy that there isn't a love triangle between Decker/Lucy and Dan, and they've allowed Dan to evolve as a character...but Decker seems to have stagnated a bit. Maybe that's just me.



I love this show.

Looking forward to this season...so far so good.

Comments

[shapinglight]

Also, is it just me or has Tom Welling gotten old and bit...fleshy? He's just not pretty any more. Not that he was ever that pretty to my way of thinking.

It's not just you. He looks like a retired American football player (or rugby player over here) who's gone to seed, and I never found him 'pretty' in the first place. Not that 'pretty' in men interests me at all anyway.

Also, he's very dull. It's truly astonishing to me that he has a fanbase.

I don't think Lucifer will show Chloe his wings. After what happened with his face, he'll probably think it wouldn't work anyway. Which it probably wouldn't.

[shadowkat]

He looks like a retired American football player (or rugby player over here) who's gone to seed, and I never found him 'pretty' in the first place. Not that 'pretty' in men interests me at all anyway.

Thank you. And agreed. I tend to like how they move or a rugged look more. Marsters moved well. Welling is just stiff.

Also, he's very dull. It's truly astonishing to me that he has a fanbase.

Bewildered by this as well. I honestly don't see the appeal. Found him to be rather boilerplate. Also he seems to have one or two expressions...bewildered and bored.

I don't think Lucifer will show Chloe his wings. After what happened with his face, he'll probably think it wouldn't work anyway. Which it probably wouldn't.

I think you're right. Wish you weren't...but the thought went through my head that he couldn't show her his face because no supernatural powers with her, outside of the desire thing -- which doesn't work on Chloe just everyone else.

Then, it turned out when he tried to show it to the guy he was chasing, all that guy saw was the wings.

This is going to get old soon...although it is mildly entertaining to watch the writers twist themselves into knots preventing Lucifer from showing Chloe he's the devil. And there's a nice twist in that he's been telling her the truth all along, she just refuses to believe it. As opposed to trying to hide it from her, he keeps trying to show her, and she doesn't see it. Nice twist. Just starting to get old and if drags on much longer, irritating.

[shapinglight]

Just starting to get old and if drags on much longer, irritating.

Co-showrunner Ildy Moldovich was asked in a recent interview how long she thought they could keep it up and she said, how about 17 seasons.

She was joking. I hope.

[shadowkat]

Hate to break it to her...this show will be lucky to get five seasons if she continues doing that. Audiences are less patient now and with more choices. Both Bones and Castle realized they had to put their male/female leads together after the second or third season or they'd lose viewers. The age of extending the will they or won't they carrot indefinitely has long passed.

[shapinglight]

Well, I hope they've seen enough TV to have learned that lesson themselves.

[shadowkat]

They appear to have dropped the Chloe/Lucy ship for the time being. Good thing, I don't ship anyone. ;-) (Although I don't tend to for most television series.)

[ex_peasant441]

I was never worried his wings wouldn't grow back because a) it would be a really, really weird plot decision to have them back and then just to cut them off again so quickly and b) we saw several scenes of his wings in the preview that weren't in the episode. I think those scenes from the preview also mean he is going to be reconciled to his wings and enjoy showing them off again.

The forensic scientist is called Ella. Used to be one of my favourite characters until this episode.

The piano in Lucifer's apartment was never gone. The one that got flattened last season was the other piano in the Lux nightclub part of the building. His Steinway was always safe and well.

The new lieutenant looks set to be an interesting addition as a character but I am with you in not seeing any physical attraction. I assume he looked better when he was younger or something.

[shadowkat]

Yeah, I didn't see the preview trailer -- so didn't know that bit about his wings. (I was apparently less spoiled than everyone else was. ;-) ).

Also, didn't know he had more than one piano...missed that bit.

Ella was really interesting and a great character until this episode. (Afraid the writers have ruined the character in a misguided attempt for comic relief.)

I assume he looked better when he was younger or something.

Well, he had steel black hair, great abs, and was toned. Think David Boreanze in S1 Buffy...but he was also in his early 20s at the time.

Now, well, he has not aged well. I barely recognized him. I thought whoa...you did not age well, did you?

[ex_peasant441]

I only caught the piano thing on my second viewing. The nightclub and the apartment have confusingly similar decor.

[shadowkat]

Yeah, I only watch the episodes once, when or after they've aired (rarely watch things live), and then immediately delete from the DVR upon watching. No space to save them, unfortunately. So haven't seen any of the episodes more than once, except possibly last year's season finale.

Hmm...it does effect how we discuss television shows...on how differently we watch and access them. Or how we can access them. I mean if you are watching them multiple times or have DVDS, that would be very different than if you watched as aired or only once. Also if you have lots of commercials vs. no commercials. (BBCAmerica and Syfy used to cut Doctor Who episodes to smithereens with commercials, so I didn't see certain scenes people in the UK saw or people watching via download, iTunes, satellite feed, or via a UK website or DVD.)

[ex_peasant441]

All my watching is done on DVDs or recorded on a DVR which allows me to skip commercials, or streaming. Basically ads are things that happen to other people. And once I've got the DVD of something I do tend to watch it multiple times.

[shadowkat]

Oh, I'm watching everything on a DVR with ability to fast-forward over ads, but we still see them, because the stupid DVR has a tendency to jump over content, so you have to rewind, fast-forward, rewind, and often catch tail end of the ad. (No longer purchase DVDs for TV shows...mainly because I never seem to find the time to watch the things. Too many tv shows, too little time. ;-))

In case of Doctor Who? Apparently it aired in UK without ads, so they cut into it here to add the ads. And for some tv shows, such as Farscape, they provided more content to foreign outlets, and less to the US, because outside outlets had less or no ads.

[ex_peasant441]

All BBC shows air without ads, but they are often written with obvious places for ads to go, since they expect to sell them to foreign markets. You can pretty much see the black frame for the ads sometimes. Doctor Who eps are 45 minutes long while most US shows are 42 minutes, so you only lost 3 minutes of material, and they were probably cut with the expectation that would happen so I doubt it will have been anything vital.

Buffy used to get cut for the UK market sometimes, because it was a bit violent for the 6 o'clock slot and because of the swearing.

One of the things I like about streaming services is it allows more scope for creativity by allowing things to air that are outside the conventional long runs of 42 minute episodes.

[shadowkat]

The streaming also provides more flexibility in content. Not to mention tighter plotting, and the need for less episodes.

so you only lost 3 minutes of material, and they were probably cut with the expectation that would happen so I doubt it will have been anything vital

You'd be surprised. I remember seeing some of the scenes cut from the US broadcast of Farscape on the DVD's...one included the aftermath of a sex scene between the leads.

And on DW, there were a couple of plot points lost...when I was watching one of the seasons. I know, because I'd post, elisi or someone would pop up and say...uhm, you missed this and this. And I'd say did we see the same episode? They'd say it was cut. I'd say that made no sense...and it shouldn't matter. Turns out? They were right and I was wrong.

So I basically already had this discussion but from the opposite end. (Sooner or later in life, if you are lucky, you will find yourself on the opposite side of every discussion. Or I have. It's rather amusing at times.)

[shadowkat]

Oops forgot to add...agreed, the apt and club do have the same décor. I thought we were in the club not the apt. I keep confusing them. In fact I thought he lived in the club. LOL!

[ex_peasant441]

It is confusing. Also parties in the club tend to spill over into the apartment so it can be hard to spot the difference in crowd scenes. Anything with the exterior balconies or big sofas across the room or bookcases is always the apartment. Anything with the raised landings and internal stairs is the club. There's a piano and a bar in both.

[yourlibrarian]

Skipping the spoilers but just to say I'm more on your end in terms of tastes, and also big yes to dancers.

Speaking of Hugh Jackman, did you ever see this vid? https://cupidsbow.dreamwidth.org/414186.html

[anoyo]

100% love for this show. I don't know what I think of it yet, hence no post, but I do know I enjoyed the episode. It's still ruminating.

BUT ALSO (edit): I actually really appreciate when they let older actors look older, and don't Photoshop the shit out of them. David Boreanaz and Tom Welling are both attractive to me, in that way. They look like real people, not supermodels. Which, I know, isn't what you normally look for on television, but hey. I like them.

(That said, Tom Ellis is possibly one of the most attractive humans on the planet, so, sorry boys.)

But yeah, this cast is fucking tall. Just. They're all tall. Decker's actress isn't actually short, she just seems like it next to them.

[shadowkat]

Yeah, as previously mentioned, I'm just not into the bulky football type, they look like no-neck monsters to me. ;-)

They look like real people, not supermodels. Which, I know, isn't what you normally look for on television, but hey. I like them.

Good point. I'd agree with you except what kills it? Women aren't treated the same way.

[anoyo]

Step one? I don't know. There are some women that are, but they're all the tenured, amazing people. Like, in Grey's Anatomy, Ellen Pompeo looks younger than she is, but she's not over-make-uped and airbrushed. She looks older. They let her age (probably largely because she aged really well, but still).

I also don't see it as mutually exclusive. I can still appreciate the rarity of men being allowed to age while wishing it was the same with women. I don't see why there has to be both for me to appreciate one. I still wish for the other and would likely appreciate it more, but hey.

[shadowkat]

Well, it's never been an issue with men. Harrison Ford is a sex symbol at 75.