Lucifer - S3

[shadowkat]

No idea which episode this is, except that is one of three stand-a-lones that was filmed last year. (And you can sort of tell, since it actually fits last season better than this season -- by explaining what happened with Candy, and strengthening the Lucifer/Ella relationship and Chloe/Linda and Dan relationships.). No Pierce in sight. (Since I'm not a fan of Pierce or Welling, this is not a problem.)

I loved this episode. It's weird, but I'm enjoying the stand-a-alone episodes more than the arc ones. Possibly because they don't quite work as stand-a-lones, there's loads of character development and interaction, with the mystery of the week barely resonating. (I don't think the writers are even trying any longer, which doesn't bother me, because not a fan of mystery of the week. I actually like the fact that the writers have lost interest in the mystery of the week and only doing it to give the characters something to do.)

Question for the people who remember the comics? Was Lucifer solving crimes in the comics?

Weird, I looked up Tom Ellis background on Wiki and I honestly don't remember seeing him in anything. Yet, turns out I have -- he was in Once Upon a Time, Doctor Who, and Merlin. I'm rapidly becoming a fan of the actor's.

Also, the show. I haven't disliked or been bored by an episode yet. There are a few weak ones here and there...but even those have juicy bits in them.



* Lucifer is smart, he keeps nothing in his safe. Not that he's really keeping secrets. Maybe that's why they shifted this to this season, if this was shown last season...I'd wonder why he wasn't keeping the dagger in the safe.

* Loved Ella in this episode. Of course she's a card counter. She's at her best when she's playing forensic genius and not fangirl.

* If this was filmed last season, why are Maze and Amen missing in action?

* Interesting moment between Lucy and Chloe. I can sort of see why they pushed this episode to this season, since after it, it doesn't make a lot of sense why she's distanced herself. Yet at the same time, after having distanced herself over the past few episodes, why care so much now?

Best line ever: "I gave you the bullet you shot me with, to commenorate the time you penetrated me, since it is doubtful that I will ever get the chance to penetrate you." LOL!

With these writers, who can tell.

* Watching Lucifer after watching the Exorcist is...weirdly discombobulating, just saying. It is admittedly more fun than the Exorcist, which takes itself far too seriously.

* Loved the song and dance number -- Ellis can sing. He's a triple threat. Although not sure why he wasn't a bit more devilish in this episode? Again, how you can tell which season they filmed it in.


I want to see him with his wings again. Yes, I'm that shallow.

* Chloe's Tom Cruise moment was inspired.

Not much else. Except I loved the episode. I really am beginning to fall in love with this show. Oh dear, does that mean purchasing DVDs of it in the near future? I really don't have the space for them.



And... youtube videos featuring Ellis's singing on the show:

Watch on YouTube

And Ellis and friends singing a rather good rendition of Hallelujah.

My favorite is this rendition of Sinnerman by Nina Simone.

Comments

[su_herald_reading]

Lucifer didn't solve crimes in the comics. Except for that one little girl who turned out to be Michael's daughter and so half angel, comics Lucifer mostly treated humans with contempt or indifference and thought nothing of squashing them like bugs if they got in his way or pissed him off. Comics Lucifer was an interesting character, but I didn't find him at all likeable.

[shadowkat]

Thanks! I could not remember. My vague memory was of a somewhat ambiguous character who sort of acted as a gateway into others tales. Similar to Dream in the Sandman comics. But I read them so long ago, and in the case of Lucifer only one or two issues, that I can't remember them clearly. Except Lucifer was blond, he ran a nightclub and was rather fiendish.

[rahirah]

I found the version that Gaiman wrote in Sandman a lot more sympathetic than the version Carey wrote for his own series. But Carey is a far darker writer than Gaiman in general. Also had a habit of resorting to gendered slurs and threats of sexual violence towards his female characters, which annoyed me. Maze, Lilith, etc were forever being called whores and threatened with rape, and it got really old. Even if Maze got to eviscerate the character who raped her.

[shapinglight]

Lucifer was not solving crimes in the comics, no.

Also, for the record, I completely disagree with rahirah's assessment of Carey's Lucifer. I love it and have already read the series twice.

[shadowkat]

Okay, I looked it up finally, Lucifer (DC Comics).

There's apparently three iterations of the same character, and different interpretations prior. The one we're discussing was created by Neil Gaiman in 1989 and at Gaiman's request made to look like David Bowie.

Gaiman's version in the Sandman comics, was more of a villain and ran hell, until he got bored and took off to Australia then to LA.

Carey's version runs a nightclub in LA with his demonic mistress Maize. And is more of an existentialist take on the whole hell and demon thematic.

I remember Carey's more than Gaiman's. But my memory is vague, because I really only read snippets of it, and it was in 1989-1990s.

[shadowkat]

After reading through the Wiki write-up of each of the versions, eh, the television is really not following the comics that closely and never will. They'd lose 65% of the audience.

That said, I can see why you liked Carey's arc. His version is rather existentialist and seems to be interested in the debate between predestination vs. free will. (Where was this comic, when I was busy debating these concepts in undergrad in the mid-1980s?). The Vertigo one that I was reading around that time period was "Ghost", which was also dark and rather violent in places.

[shadowkat]

As I told shapinglight below, I finally got around to looking it up on Wiki. There's apparently several variations/interpretations of the character in DC comics.
And at least three based on the character created by Neil Gaiman in 1989. Gaiman created him to look like David Bowie.

Carey's version is the least villainous, apparently, and the most existential (according to the write up). The point of that version seems to discuss free will vs. predestination. (Where was this comic when I was having those debates in undergrad back in the late 80s??) Not surprised about the gendered slurs and threats of sexual violence -- that was in most if not all the Vertigo Noir series of comics. Heavy in noir comics back then -- Killing Joke, Sin City, Watchman,
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Ghost (which was the one I was into, about a vigilante female superhero who is a ghost), Sandman (to a lesser degree than the others because well, Gaiman), the Dark Knight series by Miller, etc.

Actually romance novels, mystery/thriller, noir comics, all that had problem to some degree throughout the 1980s -1990s.
I don't think it began to change until roughly 2005 or 6.
That's not excusing or justifying it...just an observation.

[shapinglight]

Gaiman's and Carey's Lucifer are actually the same character. Various Sandman characters appear in Carey's series.

[shapinglight]

I'm not familiar with Ghost.

I do like Carey's Lucifer very much. It's dark, sure, and there are big horror elements in it, but it's also very funny at times. Also, I love the art.

And no, the show is nothing like it. Hardly at all. In fact, Lucifer having abandoned Hell and relocated to a bar called Lux in LA, along with his sidekick/lover Mazikeen, is about the only way in which it's the same.

[shadowkat]

And according to wiki, that was basically the end of Gaiman's comic arc on the character. (According to the credits they based the character and series lightly on Neil Gaiman, Carey, and some other guy's take on the character. I think the other guy was the artist.)

They may borrow from it, but that's about it. Similar to all the other comic to television adaptations that I've seen to date.

[shapinglight]

Yes, I understand the TV version of Preacher differs from the comics a fair bit.

Which is probably a good thing.