Welcome to the 27th installment of our 2020 Pride Month Series! Each day in the month of June, we will be highlighting a different member of the LGBTQ+ community who we think is a great example of representation and dynamic characterization. We will focus on fictional characters, celebrities, and activists alike — the positive voices within the LGBTQ+ community and in mainstream media.
Mazikeen Smith is your typical LA girl. She parties every night, bounty hunts for the LAPD, and, oh yeah, she is a demon. Played by Lesley-Ann Brandt, Mazikeen, or Maze, is one of the main characters in Netflix’s Lucifer and she is a total badass. Which I mean, duh, she is a demon after all.
When the show drops the audience into the story, Lucifer (Tom Ellis) has recently returned to Earth because Hell, is just, well, hell. And at his side is Maze, his most faithful demon, who decided she too was ready for a new adventure. At first, Maze serves as almost more of an antagonist than on the good guy team. She wants Lucifer to continue his devious ways and after a while, wants him to go back to Hell, and take her with him. She plots with his brother, Amenadiel (D.B. Woodside) and has a fairly big falling out, causing her to have to find our own place in LA without Lucifer. Maze learns to make friends with humans like Doctor Linda Martin (Rachael Harris) and Detective Chloe Decker (Lauren German) and even gets a job with the LAPD, as mentioned before. For someone so inherently unhuman, she becomes relatable in her quest for meaning, purpose, and eventually, love.
Maze likes sex. Which I mean, at least in this world seems pretty typical of demons. She has a sex swing, a large array of… instruments, and is seen often along with Lucifer engaging in… activities. Neither seem to care much for gender – these soirees have participants of all genders. Lucifer tends to be fond of women more than men and unfortunately, liking men is sometimes played as a one off line for comic relief. Maze on the other hand is fairly flirtatious across the board. In earlier seasons, she has a relationship with Amenadiel, but once that ends is back to her wanton lifestyle. In season two, Maze pretends to be Chloe’s wife to investigate a case, and even kisses her without hesitation, and in season three, she becomes intensely attracted to attorney Charlotte Richards (Tricia Helfer) before realizing it was actually the smell of Hell she was so attracted to. All of these examples show that Mazikeen is pansexual, or attracted to others regardless of gender, and Brandt actually confirmed this on Twitter between seasons two and three.
Pansexual actually! 😉🌈🤗 https://t.co/b5AMeOYQ0b
— 📎Lesley-Ann Brandt (@LesleyAnnBrandt) June 13, 2017
Maze’s story continued to focus on work, friendship, and finding her place in the world until season four, with Eve’s arrival. Eve, the original human. Eve knows that Maze was a demon and did not care. Eve is interested in the same general debauchery. Eve accepts Maze and makes her feel comfortable being vulnerable and taking her walls down. This was a new side of Maze that the audience had not seen. In season four, episode eight, “Super Bad Boyfriend,” when Linda and Amenadiel tell Maze that she needs to find something else to do besides obsess over their forthcoming baby, she decides to try dating, but when Eve shows up at the club instead. Maze sits and talks with her instead of any of the guys she had lined up to meet. She quickly develops feelings, true feelings, unlike she has felt on her time on Earth before. In the next episode, Maze performs a big gesture, singing “Wonderwall” to Eve during a masquerade party. It is a testament to Brandt’s acting ability the level of vulnerability that Maze shows, even through a mask. She puts it all out there. Unfortunately, Eve is so consumed with her devotion to Lucifer that she does not even see that Maze is putting herself out there for her. After Maze rescues Eve in the season finale, Eve reassures Maze that there is something real between them, but that she cannot explore it because she has to figure out who she is outside of a relationship. It is heartbreaking, but leaves the door open for a possible future, or a romantic future for Maze full of possibilities.
To sum up Mazikeen in one word, she is authentic. Whether she is torturing someone or enjoying what Earth has to offer or opening herself up to love, she does it genuinely and with her whole… whatever demons have instead of hearts. With season five of Lucifer recently announced to drop on August 21, and a sixth season confirmed, Maze certainly has a wide open road in front of her, filled with possibilities of new adventures and new romances.
The first four seasons of Lucifer are available to stream on Netflix.
Stay tuned every day in the month of June for more articles highlighting LGBTQIA+ voices. Read spotlights from earlier in the month here.
