Mikes Film Talk

In Lucifer: Pops the devil gets burned, Chloe  makes a move and Dan learns just how dangerous the re-generated Malcolm really is.  Decker’s famous mother stops by for a visit; an event that causes Morningstar to get rather excited, Mazikeen makes friends with Trixie and Lucifer identifies a bit too closely  with the son of a murdered chef.

Maze (Lesley-Ann Brandt) connects with Dr. Linda Martin (Rachael Harris) and becomes a new patient.   

As Lucifer and Chloe investigate the poisoning of a local “celebrity” chef, Decker’s mother appears to take Trixie (Scarlett Estevez) to her first audition. Chloe is furious and the women argue.

Trixie runs off, via an Uber, and goes to see Lucifer. She meets Maze instead and makes a new friend.  (A comic moment in LUX where Maze pours the child a glass of straight liquor. The child asks if it is a Shirley Temple; a non-alcoholic drink.  Taking an umbrella and plunking it into the girl’s glass, Maze responds, “It is now.”)

During the investigation of the murdered chef  Lucifer and Decker work their way through the list of suspects and Morningstar  projects his own feelings about his patriarchal figure onto Javier junior.

The murdered chef, despite having a nasty temper, was loved by all his staff who called him “pops” as he was a father figure.  Finally, while Chloe works on the relationship with her mother  and Dan attempts to find something good to say about Lucifer to Malcolm, the crime is solved.

The sous chef did it when she learned that Chef Javier and his son were reconciling. When confronted with the evidence by Lucifer and Chloe the desperate woman sets the restaurant on fire trapping the two partners in the kitchen.

Morningstar rescues Chloe  and gets burned in the process; leading Lucifer to remark about  the irony of “the Devil getting burned.”  Dan tries to arrest Malcolm to save Morningstar but ends up either being murdered or at least rendered unconscious by the “Lazarus” cop.

Mazikeen goes back to see Linda, after initially stalking out when the doctor told the demon she needed to make friends.

Chloe tries to call her ex but Malcolm answers the call with a text; breaking up with Decker by posing as Dan.  Later, Chloe goes to LUX to see Lucifer.  She is inebriated and makes a move on the nightclub owner.

She realizes that she is aping her mother’s behavior and surprisingly, Lucifer rejects her drunken advances.  He is shocked at his own behavior but this action brings Morningstar closer to Chloe.  In mid-discussion with Decker, she falls asleep and Lucifer looks to the heavens:

“Oh God.”

Lucifer: Pops was an amusing look at the further transformation of Morningstar. At long last the famous mother made an appearance in the guise of De Mornay who still looks more like Debbie Reynolds now she is older (Perhaps the two are somehow related?).  Whatever is goin on with Rebecca, she looks nowhere near her age.

The resurrected cop Malcolm (Kevin Rankin) continues to compulsively shove food into his mouth. At the point where Dan tries to arrest him, Malcolm is still eating and only stops to overpower (Kill?) his new “partner.”

Amenadiel does not appear in this episode but to be fair this was more about “Mommy Decker” and Chloe as well as Lucifer’s continuing issues with “daddy.”  While not as quirkily amusing as previous episodes , by the end of Pops, Lucifer realizes that he is changing ever more and is a bit overwhelmed by the transformation.

There is one bit in the episode where Lucifer reverts to type and invites the main murder suspect to cook for the mother/daughter reunion meal.  Javier’s son (played by Manny Montana) is thought to have poisoned his father, at least Chloe thinks so, and she is not overly pleased when Morningstar asks the man to cook for her family dinner party.

On a  sidenote, it is a bit annoying that Chloe Decker still refuses to acknowledge that there is more to Lucifer than some delusions that he is the Devil. His un-natural strength and ability to get suspects/people to reveal their inner-most desires and so-on should be ringing a few bells.

Despite this, the series is devilishly good entertainment.

Lucifer airs Mondays on FOX.