LUCIFER is a generic cop show with a devilish twist. Lucifer Morningstar (Tom Ellis) is the devil incarnate who decides to take a break from the underworld and head off to the city of angels for a much-needed vacation. From the get go you can tell that LUCIFER is going to be formulaic by the books network programming.
Lucifer quickly becomes entangled with detective Chloe Decker (Lauren German) and rather predictably begins to pine after her. Whilst being irritated by Lucifer’s apparent delusions of godly proportions and his enormous ego, detective Decker begins to rely on Lucifer’s satanic gifts despite questioning his authenticity.
The formula begins with the duo being introduced to a crime, then they have a bit of banter, Lucifer uses his charm and powers to get crucial information and it all ends with the two catching the criminal/s who did it. Tom Ellis’s portrayal of Lucifer is composed with gentle sarcasm and puns of biblical proportions; I suppose he gets away with it by having a posh English accent and a camp demeanour. I can understand how people might get tired of his repeated shtick but it does have a certain charm about it.
Of course there are glaring questions that you are expected to ignore. What about other religions? Why does Lucifer not just show Decker definitive proof he is Satan (granted he does try and it backfires badly)? Shouldn’t Lucifer be less like an overgrown child and be a lot smarter and intuitive (again I concede to the notion of suspending your disbelief, but still)? I know it is one of those shows where you just need to role with things but there are always burning questions planted in the back of your mind that may never be answered.
Tom Kapinos is proudly touted as the creator, no doubt Fox trying to tap into the success of his hit show CALIFORNICATION. As a fan of CALIFORNICATION, this was the main reason I was interested in LUCIFER to begin with.
The problem is the star of CALIFORNICATION, Hank Moody (David Duchovny), is an extremely well written lothario with a sharp wit and in comparison Lucifer is a rather lacklustre watered down version of Moody in many respects. The irony of all of this is that in its final season, CALIFORNICATION mocks generic cop shows like LUCIFER. So it comes as a surprise that Kapinos has gone and made just that.
Whilst LUCIFER might not be the highest quality show it is definitely a light fun show to watch. Despite my misgivings it is just a brain dead show for those days where you are just not on it. Cue cutesy storylines, impish dialogue and excessive cutaways of LA and what you are left with is just a bit of throwaway fun, but what else did you expect, it is produced by none other than populist Jerry Bruckheimer.
LUCIFER has enough going for it that I will probably continue to watch it as a guilty pleasure when the next season comes out. If I could I would hire three members of a panel to give it three sixes in a row but because I can’t the rating is as follows.
Verdict:Â
