Season four of Lucifer has gotten off to an emotional start. Things are bleak in Deckerstar land. After Chloe saw Lucifer’s true face and briefly conspired to kill him, their relationship hit its lowest point yet. Lucifer found the poison in Chloe’s purse (yikes) and asked point blank if Chloe could accept him for who he is. She said she didn’t know. Episode 4 “All About Eve” picks up the next day.
Spoilers ahead, so beware!
Chloe and Lucifer are dealing with the emotional fallout of that betrayal. Ella and Dan are both dealing with crises of faith after the tragic events of season three and the death of Charlotte. Dan is resentful of Lucifer for hiding important facts about Cain. He is also feeling the siren call of his old corrupt cop ways. Ella, a devout Catholic, is struggling with how a benevolent God could allow Charlotte’s murder. The perennially positive forensic technician has been missing church and showing up to work with hangovers. Amenadiel and Linda are working through the shock of Linda being pregnant, since an angel is not supposed to be capable of procreating. And Maze is beginning to suspect Chloe is subtly rejecting her and hampering her time with Trixie.
With our team in turmoil, “All About Eve” opens with a murder of the week. Chloe and Dan are at an airport hangar. The murder victim is a man named Pablo Silva. Pablo was transporting an extravagant necklace back to Los Angeles for his jewelry business. But now the necklace is gone, and Pablo is dead. His business partner Tony Golden (Golden Silva Jewelers, very cute) is at the hangar. Tony plays the detectives a frantic voicemail from Pablo. Past Pablo says that he owes money to dangerous people and his life is in danger. Tony rushed to his aid but got there too late.
Now, in the previous episode, the real culprit was the presumed innocent friend at the scene. You know, the friend they never suspected until he popped up near the end of the episode with newly revealed nefarious motivations? I feel like Chloe and Dan should be sensing a pattern here.
Then the show cuts to a distraught Lucifer, stumbling around his fancy club and well-dressed patrons in his boxers. Just as he is grabbing bottles of booze from behind the bar, he sees Eve — you know, the first woman ever created — dancing in his club. Eve greets him and explains that she was getting bored in Heaven. Her relationship with Adam lacked love. (“People always forget: I didn’t choose Adam. I was created for him.”) She figures Lucifer is the best place on earth to start. Apparently, Lucifer tempted Eve with a lot more than an apple, so they have a romantic history.
The introduction of Eve embodies something that makes this show so special. In moments, they show us a sweet, bubbly Eve drinking an apple-tini, exposing the Biblical patriarchy, and setting herself free.
But Eve is catching Lucifer in a bad place. He is angry, hurt, and intent on wallowing in it. Instead of letting her stay, Lucifer books Eve a nice hotel room, orders her a car, and walks her out. However, surprise! The driver is a mobster who demands a necklace from Eve and shoots Lucifer in the head. This is how Lucifer finds out that Eve was on that plane with poor dead Pablo and is now being hunted by the mobsters who want a missing necklace. Lucifer suffers a minor headache from his point blank shot to the head, but now that he knows Eve is in danger, he allows her to stay.
Lucifer and Eve need to find the necklace fast, which puts them on a parallel investigative path with Chloe and Dan. Both teams visit the luxury villa of a mobster named Al-Fassad’s. (Lucifer/Eve narrowly avoid Chloe/Dan.) Pablo owed the mobster money, so it is a reasonable place to start. Both teams learn the same thing: Al-Fassad didn’t do it. But Lucifer makes the man a deal – if Lucifer can find the necklace, Al-Fassad will leave Eve alone.
With Al-Fassad a dead end, both investigative teams (Chloe/Dan and Lucifer/Eve) have independently decided to follow the next best lead — a con artist from the plane named Odessa. Lucifer/Eve find Odessa in a country bar, but Odessa gets some violent types to attack Lucifer. We really get a feel for Eve’s personality in this scene. She is just thrilled to be out of the house and begs Lucifer for a proper bar fight like a child begging for cookies. She exclaims happily that she just wants to hit someone in the balls. (It’s good to have goals.)
Lucifer fights back and a bar fight ensues. He is having a great time, easily dominating his opponents. Their tasers bounce off his chest, and the pool cues glance off his back. But as he turns to face an attacker, his invulnerability dissipates. The man is suddenly able to jab a broken pool cue clear through Lucifer’s shoulder. Chloe has arrived. Chloe and Dan arrest Odessa and take her back to the precinct. They extract a lead from her about the black market auction house in possession of the necklace. Lucifer and Eve show up to the precinct. Eve distracts Chloe while Lucifer essentially bribes Ella with a caramel triple frappe (with extra whipped cream and sprinkles) for the same lead.
Lucifer and Eve make it to the auction first. Lucifer uses his prodigious charm to steal the necklace off of a model. He is leaving with his prize when Chloe stops him. She convinces Lucifer to give her the necklace to keep it in the auction to draw out the killer. Lucifer agrees on the condition that he can have the necklace back afterward. She essentially says she’ll try.
Pretty quickly, Pablo’s business partner Toby shows up to steal back the necklace. He openly admits to murdering Pablo and tries to get away by holding Eve hostage. Eve finally gets to hit someone in the balls, and Toby is apprehended. Lucifer wants the necklace back but is denied. He leaves with Eve, feeling crummy and betrayed again.
Back at the club, Lucifer finds out that Eve actually managed to smuggle out the necklace. She is reluctant to hand it over though. She doesn’t want her adventure with Lucifer to end. She confesses that Lucifer was a big reason she came back. Eve says she accepts him for who he is. Lucifer, who has yet to wrench his attention away from his own misery, finally seems to see her for the first time. He shows her his devil face, and instead of running away and plotting his death, Eve takes his devil face in her hands and kisses him.
And since this is Lucifer, and Deckerstar must constantly be embattled, Chloe walks into his club at that very moment. She doesn’t accepts his devil side yet, but she has decided to have faith that she’ll get there. But Lucifer doesn’t get to hear this message of maybe-someday acceptance. He’s too busy getting some immediate…acceptance…from Eve. Chloe turns and leaves.
While all this has been going on, Amenadiel, Linda, and Maze are having their own journey. We see Linda at the doctor getting an ultrasound. Amenadiel and Maze are looming over the bed being overprotective. It’s a boy! Amenadiel inspects the ultrasound for wings, and it dawns on Linda that this might not be a typical baby she’s pregnant with.
Back at Linda’s place, Amenadiel explains that she is pregnant with a brand new type of being. Linda looks up at her ceiling fan and wonders how to baby proof her house if the baby has wings. Later we see the ceiling fan covered in bubble wrap. It is a touching, funny scene, and Amenadiel is an eagerly helpful partner.
At one point in the episode, Chloe goes to see Linda looking for advice on coping with her new knowledge of demons and angels. This scene is illustrative of what makes a campy, silly fantasy show like Lucifer have real impact: the cast is full of actors who can find the humanity in the outrageous. Rachael Harris’s acting is packed with emotion. Linda says that learning about (and now being pregnant with) supernatural beings has been hard, but it’s how she met her friends. This is a conversation about being pregnant with a supernatural being. But Linda’s vulnerability, hope, and courage shine through with real emotional impact.
This subplot wraps up when Maze shows up at Linda’s house. Chloe has admitted that she is uncomfortable with Maze and has been purposefully keeping her from Trixie. So Maze has packed up her knives and come over to Linda’s so she can live (in her words) somewhere she is wanted. Maze’s pride and feelings are hurt but she covers them up with her usual bluster. Maze says she can’t wait to be Auntie Maze, then asks where she can put down her duffle bag of knives.
“All About Eve” has moved Lucifer forward in a major way. It has introduced Eve, who will be a major character this season. She has been played as an accepting contrast to Chloe’s rejection. But her character seems set to be much more pivotal than just romantic competition. It established that Lucifer and Chloe have some damage that isn’t going to be resolved easily. And whatever is coming for Linda, Amendadiel and Maze will have her back. I’m looking forward to whatever comes next.