Lucifer “My Little Monkey” is all about the love of a daughter for her dad and acceptance. The start of the episode sees Chloe’s dad, Officer Decker in a flashback. A goodnatured cop, Decker is shooting the breeze with a shop owner when he is shot to death as a prelude to a robbery.
The opening sequence sees the proud father waiting for the shopkeeper to finish making his Hawaiian bread. John Decker also gives the man two tickets to Chloe’s film, “Hot Tub High School.” The movie that his little monkey has spent so much time living down.
A man comes in and shoots the cop to death.
This could almost be seen as a late “Father’s Day” episode. Although with Lucifer’s aping of Dan, aka Detective Douche, it could also have been called “Monkey See, Monkey Do.”
Flash forward to the present and Chloe is upset that the man who killed her father is being released from prison on family leave. Lucifer comes in the precinct to complain about Linda cancelling his session and does not catch her pain.
Dan, however, does. Lucifer decides to hang around Dan and learn how to be more like him. The episode is amusing when it follows Lucifer around. His idea of learning how to be more like Dan includes dressing like the detective and aping his mannerisms.
It gets on Dan’s nerves.
Meanwhile, Chloe confronts Deputy Warden Smith over his decision to let Fields out and follows the prison transport van. She finds the vehicle stationary and its occupants all dead, including the man who killed her father Joe Fields.
Dan offers to investigate the crime and Lucifer offers to help, Dan is not keen but Chloe encourages it. Ella comes in with information on the new case. Fingerprints found on the scene belong to Rodney Lam. Amusingly, Ella still thinks Lucifer is a method actor.
Chloe, Maze and Trixie are still adjusting to their living arrangements. Joe Fields’ daughter, Tina shows up with a gun and the belief that Chloe killed her dad.
The upset woman shows Decker a video she got from her dad’s attorney. On the recording, shot on the day of John Decker’s murder, Joe Fields tells his daughter he is innocent. Based on the exterior seen through the window, Chloe realizes that Fields did not kill her dad.
Meanwhile Dan and “Dan 2” arrest Rodney. Lam confesses to the murder but gets all the facts wrong. Dan does not believe him and finally Lucifer does his “trick” and gets the man to tell the truth. He was paid to take the fall for the murder.
Maze goes to Linda for a character reference and the terrified woman pretends to be out. Mazikeen then enters her office via the window and Linda admits that she is frightened of the demon. Linda asks her to go and a hurt Mazikeen leaves.
Dan, Chloe and Lucifer compare notes and they find out that both men were paid to admit to murders they did not commit. Decker has a flashback to her early days on the force and meeting Dan for the first time.
“Luci-Dan” bring Chloe up to date with the news that Lam’s deal was brokered by a Russian mobster named Boris. The two men then go to meet Boris in a steam room to get information.
Deputy Warden Smith drops off the murdered man’s effects so Chloe can look through them. Touchingly, Ella takes time out to help Decker on the case. Chloe discovers fingerprints that are not in the database and Ella offers to dig deeper and see if she can find a match.
Back at the steam room, Lucifer, who tells the mobster that he is Dan, asks Boris to kill Lucifer Morningstar as he hurts people. It is a revealing moment as Lucifer has never acknowledged that his actions can be hurtful before. Clearly hanging around Dan has rubbed off.
Boris commits to killing Morningstar, convinced after the real Dan agrees that Morningstar is not very nice. The mobster is then arrested and Chloe questions Boris. He admits nothing but confesses that he knows the name John Decker.
Dan congratulates Lucifer on a job well done. As the two men talk Chloe arrives and tells them the death of her dad was a “hit.” Maze is frustrated about her lack of success on the job front and Linda’s defection.
Lucifer follows Dan to a improv club and catches Chloe’s ex parodying him. Dan does a spot on impression, vocally, but his definition of Lucifer infuriates Morningstar who stops his improvisational session.
They then argue and as the two talk Lucifer reveals that he is upset at hurting Linda as well as his “family members.” Dan then explains that he is not as “good” as Lucifer thinks. The detective reveals that the improv is a type of therapy session.
Dan asks his temporary partner not to tell Chloe.
Lucifer is summoned to Chloe’s house and Maze angrily accosts her former boss. Morningstar then helps Chloe solve the case. The culprit is Deputy Warden Perry Smith.
They go to question the man and Dan tells them that he gave them the slip. Mazikeen catches Smith for Chloe and she questions the man who murdered her father. She comes very close to shooting him.
Maze goes to see Linda and excitedly shows off her first “paycheck” as a bounty hunter. The doctor finally opens the door after the demon tells her that she wanted to celebrate with her friend.
By the end of the episode, Linda and Maze reunite and Lucifer makes Chloe cry when he tells her that her father would be proud of her. She then hugs him.
There was no sign of Charlotte or Amenadiel in this episode which allowed for more focus on Lucifer, Dan, Chloe and Maze, as well as Linda. The message seems to be that demons and the devil can change their ways.
“My Little Monkey” (the line spoken by John Decker moments before being murdered) was a touching episode. It gave the viewer a deeper look at Dan and Maze. It also revealed that Lucifer was upset that he had hurt his therapist.
The bottom line, from Maze and Lucifer’s point of view is that they both want acceptance from their friends. Each one is working to be a better person because of this.
Lucifer is still one of the best shows on FOX at the moment. The series airs Mondays after Gotham. Make sure to tune in for the next episode, based on the preview it should be a corker.
Cast:
- Tom Ellis – Lucifer Morningstar
- Lauren German – Chloe Decker
- D.B. Woodside – Amenadiel
- Lesley-Ann Brandt – Mazikeen
- Aimee Garcia – Ella Lopez
- Kevin Alejandro – Dan Espinoza
- Rachael Harris – Linda Martin
- Scarlett Estevez – Trixie
- Tricia Helfer – Charlotte/Mum
Guest starring Alex Fernandez as Deputy Warden Perry Smith, Ronnie Gene Blevins as Rodney Lam, Chris Payne Gilbert as John Decker, Caitlin Stryker as Tina Fields and Charles Halford – as Boris Sokolov.
Thanks for the kind words of praise and I must have lost in translation the bit about Boris! Cheers and thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Nice recap, as always. I like the articles where you include more of your own opinions about the show.
Minor nitpick: Boris commits to finding a fall guy for the murder of Lucifer Morningstar, not actually killing him. That is what ties in with all the fall guys, including the guy who took the blame for killing Chloe’s father.