Distributor: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Episodes: 13
Duration: 41 min (per episode)
Lucifer: Season 1 (DVD) – Series Review
The devil has received many names over the years, and pretty much every religion has their own version of the devil, or at least hell, which makes the figure a fairly reoccurring one. Many blame the devil for temptation, or for the things they have done wrong in their life, while they also fear him at the same time and try to live their lives the best they can, safe for those without morals, and of course, with religion losing its ground to science, many try to explain things a lot more rationally compared to the old approach that revolved around heaven or hell as a consequence for every action. The morality system aside, what if the devil walked among us? What if he forsook his duty as the gatekeeper of hell, the punisher of lost souls and decided to run a nightclub amongst the living? What if he wasn’t truly the source of all evil? And last but not least, what if he eventually tried his hand at doing good deeds? Well, that pretty much sums up the whole concept of Lucifer, of which we’ll discuss the first season.
In Lucifer it all revolves around Lucifer Morningstar (Tom Ellis), who is actually the devil himself. At a certain point in his immortal life, Lucifer decided that enough is enough and he pretty much quit his job torturing the souls who reach the bowels of hell. From now on he’s roaming our planet, as a dapper Englishman, who runs a nightclub by the name of Lux, all with one of his trusted lieutenants at his side, Mazikeen (Lesley-Ann Brandt), who is now a bartender. She is not pleased with the situation Lucifer now opted for, but she’ll do anything to cover his back. Lucifer is often contacted by Amenadiel (D.B. Woodside), an angel and his brother, who wants to force Lucifer to go back to hell and pick up his mantle as its lord once again. Lucifer keeps refusing, trying to lead a good, and somewhat naughty, life on Earth, at least until one of his protégés gets shot in the middle of the street, along with Lucifer, who isn’t hurt or dazed by the ordeal. When a detective, Chloe Decker (Lauren German) walks into Lux, questioning him about the events, Lucifer notices something strange about her, namely that his powers of persuasion don’t work on her. Normally he is able to let people spill their innermost desires, but for some reason he can’t make Chloe do this. Nonetheless, as he feels the detective isn’t much help to apprehending the culprit, Lucifer decides to start his own investigation, one where he crosses paths with the detective more than once.
The flow is pretty much similar to a normal detective series, where each episode revolves around one case, all while the red thread runs through it all. For the most part you won’t really notice any big changes in case you miss an episode, which is a forte but also a weakness in terms of the overall story. Nonetheless, the flow of Lucifer is very pleasant, and offers something familiar, all while adding a new original twist thanks to the main character’s personal situation. Overall the series offers a fresh breeze in the detective genre. As how the story progresses, it’s somewhat in a predictable way when it comes to Lucifer and the detective, it’s clear that he is taking a liking to her, and vice versa, not necessarily in a love kind of way. As expected, they’ll soon work alongside one another, where he constantly tells her that he’s the devil, and she thinks he’s just a weirdo. Nonetheless, unexplained things happen, he even becomes rather vulnerable around her, and so on, which shows the series has a reasonable amount of character development.
Acting performances are pretty much top notch, ranging from the extremely douchebag behavior of Lucifer, whilst you still take a liking to him, to the pariah status of Chloe Decker and Mazikeen’s protectiveness to Lucifer. Overall every character feels authentic and well created for a series such as this. In the end it’s the characters that make this series a lot more than a simple ‘detective series’.
The extras on the DVD edition are nothing to write home about, but they are still enjoyable nonetheless. You’ll have simple deleted scenes, a Comic-Con panel, character profiles, a small snippet about Lucifer, something about the duo he forms with Chloe and last but not least a lengthy gag reel. That being said, many of the features are only a minute or two in length, thus your Lucifer experience will not be lengthened a lot.
Conclusion
If you’re fond of detective series and love a touch of the supernatural on the side, then Lucifer is certainly your cup of tea. The series has very likeable characters, a proper storyline, while staying true to the crime series formula, making sure every episode still contains a separate story, or a case, for you to enjoy. This series is something original for the genre, which is a genre full of uninspired muck that resurfaces every few years.
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