Lucifer Morningstar has decided he’s had enough of being the dutiful servant in Hell and decides to spend some time on Earth to understand humanity better. He settles in Los Angeles – the City of Angels.
At the end of season four, Chloe (Lauren German) finally admitted to Lucifer (Tom Ellis) that she loved him, but when the Earth was besieged by demons that escaped from the underworld, Lucifer had no choice but to return to his throne in Hell, leaving Chloe and all of his friends behind in the City of Angels. As season five begins, two months have gone by since Lucifer left, and everyone is getting on with their lives as best they can, but Chloe is missing the Prince of Darkness. When she gets caught up in a case and is on the verge of being shot, Lucifer appears and saves the day. Shocked but delighted to see his return, Chloe embraces him, and he informs her that everything in Hell was sorted out and he can now return to Earth to be with her.
Everybody is happy to see him, but over time, Chloe begins to suspect that he is not Lucifer as he acts in a contrary fashion to his typical giddy and frivolous manner. After asking to be intimate with him at his penthouse, he happily agrees, but then she shoots him three times, forcing him to confess that he is actually Lucifer’s twin brother, Michael the Archangel. When Amenadiel (D.B. Woodside) learns of this, he goes to Hell and tells Lucifer about it. Enraged, he returns to Earth to exact vengeance on Michael. Naturally, Chloe can tell the real Lucifer, but he warns her that while he has only been gone for two months on Earth, thousands of years have passed in Hell.
Lucifer and Michael have an epic battle, and Lucifer uses Maze’s blade to slash Michael’s face, preventing him from impersonating him again. Michael disappears, and not long after, Michael tells Maze (Lesley-Ann Brandt) about a secret that Lucifer is hiding from her. When she presses him on it, he tells her that her mother Lilith (also played by Lesley-Ann Brandt), gave up her immortality many years ago and put it into a ring and gave it to Lucifer, demanding that he not tell Maze about it as she wanted her to remain strong and impenetrable. Desperate for companionship and a soul, Maze visits Lilith in Reno, where she admits regretting giving up her immortality and asks her not to return.
Michael lies to Maze, saying he can get her a soul if she teams up with him, and she agrees. As Michael and Maze face off against Lucifer and Amenadiel, God (Dennis Haysbert) appears and stops the fight. Laying their weapons down, Lucifer tries to explain to his father that Michael has been causing all sorts of discord and contention in his life, but God asks everyone to put their differences aside as he wants to spend some time on Earth in human form, forsaking his supreme powers. Lucifer allows him to accompany him and Chloe as they work on a new case but shortly afterward, God announces to Lucifer and Amenadiel that his powers are fading and that he is thinking of retiring, thereby leaving room for a successor. When Amenadiel passes, stating that he wants to remain on Earth with Linda (Rachael Harris) and his son, Charlie, Lucifer steps up to the plate, but he must square off against Michael in a battle to the death with the winner inheriting God’s throne.
Season five delves deeper into the obstacles and setbacks that seem to plague Lucifer and Chloe’s relationship, but it also gives much of the supporting cast, Maze (Lesley-Ann Brandt), Dan (Kevin Alejandro), Linda (Rachael Harris), and Ella (Aimee Garcia), an abundance of character exposition that has sorely been missing from previous seasons; Maze’s desire to have a soul, Dan’s guilt about his actions on Earth, Linda’s startling confession to Maze about her past, and Ella’s fear that she is succumbing to the darkness within her, a result of her job as a forensic scientist with the LAPD, encountering dead and mutilated bodies daily. Dennis Haysbert plays God inquisitively, forsaking his omnipotent powers to experience life as a human being, and some of his reactions, especially to a Slurpee and the brain freeze that accompanies it, are priceless.
“Lucifer” is one of those rare TV shows that has kept every season intriguing, especially considering the titular character and the fact that the producers allow the cast and supporting cast to expand their background narratives, providing us with the opportunity to see what makes each of them tick, is surprisingly refreshing. As usual, Tom Ellis steals the show with his devilishly charming good looks and sarcastic and contemptuous persona, but he also imbues his character with deeply complex and, at times, enigmatic character traits, meaning we will never truly get under his skin. But that’s okay; realistically, it was never going to happen, no matter how many seasons the writers might have had to explore Lucifer’s bygone days and established history because “Lucifer,” the TV show, is pure fiction, and sometimes, it’s fun just to imagine what could be.
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