Lucifer follows the exploits of Lucifer Morningstar (Tom Ellis), the former ruler of Hell, as he abandons his post and decides to live the high life in Los Angeles. While on vacation from Hell he meets Chloe Decker (Lauren German), an LAPD detective, and decides the rush he gets from helping her capture criminals with his power of compulsion is just what he needs in his life. In theory this seems like a show I would be eager to watch, something slightly procedural with supernatural elements but somehow I just can't enjoy it. A police detective with a supernatural sidekick is not exactly a new phenomena, we've seen it quite recently in the last few years with shows including Forever and Sleepy Hollow which both do it a hell of a lot better than we see in Lucifer.
In Forever and Sleepy Hollow the supernatural/fantasy world is more prominent than we see in Luficer. The show is in it's first season so sometimes it does take time to get into the central storyline but it's now eight episodes in and still hasn't shown signs of progressions so it seems set in it's dull ways. He may openly tell people he's Lucifer and we had that incredibly short arc about his wings but the show has pretty much stuck to the real world with the cases that Lucifer and Decker work on which has already started to go stale. Sleepy Hollow may be a detective procedural but the majority of the crimes are related to the supernatural which is what entices viewers. Although Forever leaned more to the fantasy realm and most of the crimes on the show were perpetrated by humans they all linked to something in Henry's past lives which we saw glimpses of, giving his character and the case of the week depth. Lucifer follows the ruler of hell so he should have a wealth of story lines to fall back on rather than following a detective around, I shouldn't be getting bored after eight episodes.
The episodic and banal nature of the episode could be forgiven if the lead characters were at all likeable. Lucifer isn't supposed to be the nicest guy in the realms but it is possible to make a villain loveable and become an anti-hero which we've seen time and time again, like Crowley (Mark Sheppard) in Supernatural. The worst part is that the writers seem to believe he is charming and attractive to viewers, how else can we explain his sexual exploits and his dialogue? I'm assuming we are supposed to be like the weak willed females in this and be constantly enticed by him but I feel repulsed. I don't know if it's Ellis, the writing, the directing or a combination of all three but it's clearly not working and to be honest I'm hoping someone shoots him soon. Chloe Decker is a little better because she hasn't completely fallen for Lucifer's shtick (although we know she will eventually) but I don't really have an opinion on her because she's pretty bland. Although I don't hate her the way I do Lucifer it is quite irksome that she is just there as a sound board for him, she's not at all a powerful character you'd expect a female police detective who is successful in her professional life to be. The writers are really trying with her though by giving her her own story lines with the police corruption in her department but it's a little too late and to be honest I have a hard time caring for it at this point.
When I heard this show was going to get made I figured it would be like Constantine and be short but brilliant. The way it's going it just seems like it'll just be short and it's doubtful many people will miss it. I found the first episode fairly enjoyable but every episode since I've been paying less and less attention to it, at this point it's on in the background as I'm getting ready in the morning but I may have to replace that background noise with clips of The Graham Norton Show that I've watched dozens of times. There is no place for Lucifer to go in my viewing schedule after it gets relegated from my morning routine so I'll be saying adios to it soon which a lot of people probably have done or will be doing soon enough. Actually, I don't care enough to bid it goodbye so I'll just text dump the show or something.
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