TV Series Review – Lucifer S4
After Fox sold their movie division to Disney, including the TV shows, they decided to cancel all, no matter successful or not. Sadly, one of them was Lucifer. Police, buddy cop, supernatural drama based on Vertigo/DC comics and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. But after a fan backlash, Netflix amazingly bought the rights and created the latest, season 4. Typically for them, the whole season can be binged in the online platform. But is there any difference between the productions of Fox and Netflix, I’ll gloss over that in the following paragraphs.
For those of you, who are not familiar with the show, it tells the story of Lucifer (Tom Ellis), who decides to take a break from Hell and goes to Los Angelis (the city of Angels, ironic). However as his nature is to punish the guilty, destiny meets him with the detective Chloe Decker (Lauren German), leading to him becoming her partner in solving crimes. As this is Bruckheimer production, every episode revolves around solving a murder, that somehow ties with Lucifer’s issues with him seeing himself as the Devil. The supporting characters are also quite entertaining, but I won’t dig into them. I’ll just mention, that amongst them, are the demon partner of Lucifer – Mazikeen, his angel brother – Amenadiel, his therapist – Linda, etc. Although the buddy cop format is not amongst my favorite, the supernatural element, keeps it interesting and enjoyable, but in the first 3 seasons, it kind of stays in the back, while the drama thrives. Even introducing Cain (Tom Welling), in season 3, didn’t expand the story much, although it ended in a huge cliffhanger. And as Fox canceled the show, I was not sure what to expect. The fan outrage however motived Netflix to buy it and so, what changed?
With two words, a lot. The 1st season was very good and unique, but after a while, the magic faded. The idea of solving murders in each episode, runs dry fast, despite the supernatural element. Although he is the Devil, Lucifer rarely shows his true face, which makes the show unique, probably because of the budget. In season 4, the story starts from where it was left, when Lucifer finally shows his true form to Chloe. We waited for this moment since season 1, after it became obvious, that they both have feelings for each other. Then, BOOM! from episode 1 in Netflix, the whole show dynamic changes rapidly. Lucifer’s devil face shows in almost every episode and the screenplay becomes more dynamic and now links the murders to the supernatural. New characters arrive, such as Eve, Ramiel, a Nephilim and a horde of demons. The screenplay, acting, directing, pacing and everything as a whole is on different level. Bruckheimer is still a producer, but Netflix’s touch changed the idea a little bit. You can see the difference for yourself, between the trailers for season 1 and season 4.
Sadly, there are no plans yet for season 5, but I hope that Netflix at least finishes the story well. If you haven’t watched the show, I strongly recommend it to all fans of the supernatural. Even if you don’t like the police buddy cop drama, like me, you’ll probably enjoy it. The character charisma is mesmerizing. Hands down, one of the best shows out there!
