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Lucifer: The Complete First Season

Score: 85%
Rating: Not Rated
Publisher: Warner Brothers Home
                  Entertainment

Region: 1
Media: DVD/3
Running Time: 566 Mins.
Genre: Crime/Fantasy/TV Series
Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Surround
Subtitles: English SDH, French

Features:

  • Lucifer: 2015 Comic-Con Panel
  • Character Profiles:
    • Amenadiel
    • Linda
    • Chloe Decker
    • Dan
  • Devilish Duo
  • Lucifer Morningstar
  • Deleted Scenes
  • Gag Reel

Lucifer: The Complete First Season is an interesting take on the standard procedural cop drama. Sure, it holds to the murder-of-the-week formula, but by having one of the two investigators be the devil himself, you not only get a supernatural twist, but some rather interesting relationships.

The show starts off some five years after Lucifer Morningstar (Tom Ellis, Miranda) has decided to retire from Hell and move to L.A. He and his favorite demon, Mazikeen (Lesley-Ann Brandt, Spartacus: Blood and Sand), AKA Maze, have established a high class nightclub called Lux and every night is a party. When a shooting involving a girl Lucifer was talking to introduces him to Detective Chloe Decker (Lauren German, Chicago Fire), he finds himself intrigued by the fact that his powers don't seem to have any sway over her. As a result, he becomes a consultant for the LAPD and tags along on Decker's various cases.

It seem's Lucifer's primary power is to reveal what mortals want most. With a simple question, they will confess their desires. Since the trick doesn't work on Decker, she doesn't buy into his backstory, and even when he survives gunshots or other potentially lethal encounters, her skepticism holds strong. Meanwhile, each episode has Lucifer's curiosity towards Decker growing more and more, so much so that he even suspects her of being an angel at one point.

Lucifer soon employs the help of a therapist, Linda Martin (Rachael Harris, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Suits). While she, too, doesn't believe he is actually the Lucifer, she plays along with his fantasy to help get him past whatever emotional walls he has put up.

Of course, the viewer knows he is really Lucifer, especially when his brother and fellow angel, Amenadiel (D.B. Woodside, 24, The Temptations), shows up in order to convince Lucifer to return to Hell. It seems that God has put Amenadiel in Lucifer's old role until the Devil decides to return home, and Amenadiel isn't too pleased with the job.

Rounding out the show's main characters are Chloe's ex, Dan Espinoza (Kevin Alejandro, Southland, True Blood, Arrow) and their daughter, Trixie (Scarlett Estevez, Daddy's Home), who is a precious actress that does a really great job in this role. Dan is another detective on the force, and he often finds himself working alongside both Chloe and Lucifer on their various cases. A point of contention between the two detectives is the fact that Chloe has earned herself some cold shoulders in the police department. Some months back, she witnessed a shooting that left a cop, Malcolm Graham (Kevin Rankin, Trauma, Justified), unconscious in the hospital. Unfortunately, her story doesn't paint Detective Graham in a good light and many on the force, including Graham's partner, Detective Paolucci (Lochlyn Munro, A Night at the Roxbury, Scary Movie) are making a pariah out of her. While this storyline is only hinted at in early episodes, it isn't long before this old case starts to grow in importance.

While Chloe's home and work life are major elements to this season, Lucifer has a few intriguing arcs as well. For one, his fascination with Detective Decker and her inability to be manipulated by his powers is coupled by the fact that he seems to becoming more and more human, or at least mortal. When he actually gets cut or shot, he finds the experience both new and wonderful, as well as painful. As the season plays out, Decker's trust in Lucifer becomes a complicated feeling. She doesn't like most of his methods, she knows he is hiding things from her, and while he is completely open about being the devil, she doesn't believe him and wonders what his real intentions are. While many aspects of the show are good, the relationship between these two characters is what holds up the entire series, and it plays out really well.

While there is a lot of focus on what happens outside of cases, each episode does present itself with a new mystery for the duo to solve. These run the gambit of a high profile street artist's murder to the death of a therapist that believed in open relationships as a way to strengthen marriages. They will also investigate the death of chef at an upscale restaurant, a youth counselor suspected of dealing drugs, and even followers of a satanic church, something Lucifer himself finds disturbing. While these cases make for a nice backdrop of the bigger storylines, they are little more than that at times. As a result, while I would classify this series as a cop drama, the case-of-the-week aspect isn't the main focus of the series by any means.

Lucifer: The Complete First Season's DVD release comes with several interesting extras. Not only does it comes with the 2015 Comic-Con panel, but also short intros for characters like Amenadiel, Linda, Decker, and Dan. There are also deleted scenes and an amusing Gag Reel, but the better extras are the two featurettes. One is about the dynamics between Lucifer and Chloe, while the other focuses on this show's take on Lucifer and how it was inspired by the Sandman comics.

Lucifer is a fun series that manages to stay light despite the fact that the show not only deals with death, but also the devil. There is clearly room to make this a brooding series that depresses the audience. Instead though, Ellis plays a suave and charismatic character that is fun to watch, and his partnership with Decker really works to balance out the pair. While the show takes a few episodes to really get going, it isn't long before I found myself pulled in and unable to stop watching. I highly recommend this show, especially if you like lighter cop dramas similar to Castle.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the DVD. The opinions I share are my own.


-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications
AKA Chris Meyer

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