Season 1, Episode 1: “Pilot”– A Corvette, Cage the Elephant’s “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked”…. Consider me hooked. From the opening scene, one thing was very clear: subtlety is not a word in the Lucifer Morningstar dictionary. We can see almost immediately that this TV Lucifer shows interest in humans, straying from its basis of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. Lucifer Morningstar, owner of LA nightclub Lux, grants people favors, and though the initial assumption would lead you to believe this means people are selling their soul to the Devil himself, we learn otherwise through a conversation he has with a woman named Delilah, for whom he has already granted a favor. Her singing career is on the decline and her manager hopes, through her death, that she will make him loads of money. So he hires a gunman to kill her, a task that is carried out while she stands outside Lux with Lucifer. He inserts himself into the case, wanting to ensure her killer is punished, thus setting the precedent for the episodes to come.
Season 1, Episode 3: “The Would-Be Prince of Darkness”– The third episode in the series gives us a football star and a Lucifer imposter. While at a party, Lucifer meets a star football player and encourages the young man to sleep with a beautiful young woman who is clearly interested in him. He does, but rather unfortunately for both parties involved, the young woman is found dead in the pool the next morning. Lucifer believes Chloe is at his beck and call, so rather than call 911, he dials her directly. It is later revealed that the young woman was an actress hired to make a sex tape with the star and provide it to his agent, but she was killed when she refused to hand over the video.
In the meantime however, Lucifer uses the case’s connection to a Hollywood “fixer” to help him solve another, more personal issue: someone is going around town, referring to himself as ‘Lucifer Morningstar’ and ruining the real man’s (Devil’s?) reputation, in more ways than one. Ronnie, the fixer, finds the man doing a lackluster impersonation of our newly beloved Devil, and the real Lucifer’s reaction is unexpected; he lets the man go with a simple warning. Later, we see Lucifer become so angered by the football star’s agent admitting to the attempted blackmail and murder that he throws the man through a glass wall. We learn this is because, in part, of his new found love and determination for helping those that have been wronged, especially by someone they look up to.
Season 1, Episode 9: “A Priest Walks Into a Bar”– Though the title sounds like the start of a bad joke, the episode is far from it. We see Lucifer form an unlikely bond with a priest named Frank, who has sought him out in a last ditch attempt to keep a young man, Connor, away from a drug operation. The bond seems to form when Frank shares the reason for his protectiveness of the boy: Frank was formerly a touring musician (a piano player), traveling with his daughter, Connor, and Connor’s parents (the father was a drummer). They were in a car accident, and Frank and Connor were the only survivors. Frank describes himself as a “parent without a child” and Connor a “child without a parent,” leading him to want to watch over the young man.
The heartfelt scene in which this all comes out ends with Frank claiming to be a much better piano player than Lucifer, and we then see the two in Lucifer’s penthouse playing songs together, giving us the first glimpse that he may not feel as much animosity towards the priest as he originally attempted to make out. This scene is a fun one with the priest starting out by playing a beautiful rendition of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” which was interrupted by Lucifer asking the priest to play something that didn’t make him “want to impale” himself. Lucifer steps in and begins playing an upbeat, soulful song and Frank joins in; the joy the two seemed to be feeling in the moment makes it difficult not to smile while watching.
When it eventually comes out that Connor is heavily involved in the drug business, Frank sets out on his own trying to help him, but this leads to his unfortunate death. Because she had witnessed the bond grow quickly between the two, Chloe goes to Lucifer’s penthouse and finds him playing none other than “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” We see another touching moment at the piano when she sits down next to him and begins to play “Heart and Soul,” with his accompaniment.
Season 1, Episode 12: “#TeamLucifer”– This is the closest we have come to seeing what many may have expected to see a lot of when this show began: satanic killings and a cult. The opening scene appears to be a woman on the verge of sacrifice, which turns out to be fake, only to actually be sacrificed. (Still with me?) When the young woman’s body is discovered, the words “Hail Satan” are carved into her back, leaving us wondering if this has an actual connection to Lucifer, or if this is a mere coincidence. Upon further investigation into the deceased, we learn she had a secret room in her apartment, chock-full of satanic related objects, as well as subdermal implants that spell out “filii hircus,” translating in the show to mean “children of the goat.”
Chloe and Lucifer track down this group, and their sad attempt at a cult angers Lucifer, who steps in to stop the show, only for them to want him to take over as ‘Lucifer.’ The group’s leader gives them information on the young woman’s boyfriend and the knife that matches the victim’s wounds, leading to the eventual discovery of the man’s body hanging in a warehouse. The whole scene appears to have been staged as a crucifixion, along with letters spelling out “Morningstar” painted on various boxes around the room. As the investigation goes on, we learn that Malcolm is actually behind the murders, who was attempting to gain Lucifer’s approval. Lucifer denies him of this, and the episode comes to a close with Lucifer being framed for murder by Malcolm.
Season 1, Episode 13: “Take Me Back to Hell”– The season’s finale was full of unexpected turns and wrapped-up storylines, but fans were ultimately left with a cliffhanger. First, Lucifer was framed by Malcolm for murder, and Chloe is left no choice but to arrest him. Lucifer, having built a relationship with Chloe and thinking he has earned her trust, is understandably hurt that she wants to arrest him and attempts to provoke a young officer into killing him. Just as it seems the rookie is about to shoot, Amenadiel swoops in and gets his brother to safety. The brothers are in Amenadiel / Dr. Canaan’s office having a heated discussion, when Dr. Linda shows up, quickly becoming furious that her “colleague” would steal her patient, prompting them to come clean and the Dr. Canaan jig is finally up.
Second, Dan comes clean to Chloe about Palmetto. He admits to following Chloe the night of the shooting and being the one to shoot Malcolm. He also admits to having stolen the gun used in the murder and handing it over to Malcolm. (Detective Douche rightfully received a slap in the face for this.)
Third, Malcolm’s attempt at a clean getaway was spoiled by Lucifer and Amenadiel showing up. Being forced to leave his money behind, Malcolm resorts to kidnapping Trixie to get it back. Chloe takes the cash to a warehouse, and the exchange is taking a turn for the worse when a paper airplane with a Devil drawing comes to a rest at Malcolm’s feet, giving Chloe time to hide. Lucifer is ultimately shot and left bleeding on the floor when he begins to talk to dear old dad, promising to do anything, as long Chloe is protected. Suddenly, the camera begins to drop, and we see Lucifer in Hell, standing in front of open gates, begging the question: who escaped? When Lucifer wakes, he is exactly the way he was when he left, minus the gunshot wound. Sneaking up on Malcolm, Lucifer punches him and gives Chloe the opportunity to shoot him.
Cliffhanger: we later see Lucifer back in his penthouse with Amenadiel, and we learn the identity of Hell’s escapee: Mommy Dearest is in town!