Lucifer exists in very rarified air. Few shows have enough potential or luck to get a second life after being cancelled and then go on to finish a story on its own terms. And because that second life was due to the immense passion shown by Lucifer’s fans, finally reaching the end is rewarding, but also especially tough for those of us who have loved this show so much. Certain characters crossed the finish line miles away from where they started. Who would have thought that one of the very last shots we see of Maze would be of her smiling at her wife with delight upon getting the news of a new baby’s arrival? Dan received the ending I’d hoped he would, getting closure on the last thing that was causing him guilt — his fear that he wasn’t a good role model for his daughter — and ascended to Heaven to eat pudding and waffles with Charlotte.
I love looking back at those characters at point A in the first episode of Lucifer, and now seeing them miles away at a distant point B at the close of Season 6. But I also found it so satisfying to see the journey of celestial brothers Amenadiel and Lucifer, whose metamorphosis over the years brought them full circle instead of down a linear path. In certain ways, they both ended the series in exactly the same way they began it — Lucifer ruler of Hell, and Amenadiel at home in the Silver City — but are doing so as versions of themselves that are so very different.
As exciting and epic as the Season 5B finale was, Lucifer becoming God never really felt right. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. That was a role always meant for Amenadiel, he just required a different kind of experience first. Even ageless celestials have growing pains. When he first appears in Lucifer, I wouldn’t call him outright villainous, but he is most certainly an antagonistic force in Lucifer’s life. Maddeningly self-righteous, his obsession with always being his father’s favorite and wanting to please him consumes his entire identity. Just as much as Lucifer, Amenadiel needed his time amongst the mortals. His relationship with Linda, resulting in the perspective-altering experience of becoming Charlie’s father, was paramount. (Who else let out a delighted gasp through the tears when Charlie’s teeny wings popped out?!) His stint in the LAPD in this final season reignited the heartbreak of his storyline with teenager Caleb Mayfield in Season 4 in a huge way, fortifying his righteousness but redirecting it in a way that inspired him to be a leader that moves things in a new direction. Amenadiel begins this series as the perfect angel, and it’s because he became more “human” in his time on Earth that he returns to the Silver City in the series finale as the perfect God.
That story is a perfect pairing to the final leg of Lucifer Morningstar’s full circle journey, and the last pieces that needed to fall into place in these final episodes to complete his growth as a character. It was clear right from the first few episodes of Season 6 that deep down becoming God might not actually be what Lucifer wants to do. We find out that he’s been dragging his feet about going up to Heaven, and in Episode 3, Lucifer and Chloe use their now perfectly-honed partnership to great effect in his old hometown when they help a villain from Season 1 try to break free from his endless, tortuous Hell loop. Perhaps, it seems, being God isn’t a requirement for Lucifer to put his gifts to the best use in his new quest to help humanity.
Lucifer’s entire trajectory for the season is taken in a sharp new direction with the appearance of a certain half-angel from the future. Whether or not you liked the addition of Rory, Lucifer, and Chloe’s time-traveling daughter, is going to be personal for everyone. I know that some fans were very invested in Deckerstar having a child together, but “Surprise kid” isn’t a trope that I particularly care for, and in terms of plot, enough groundwork had been laid to suggest that Lucifer would have always gone back to Hell and Chloe would have decided to rejoin the LAPD. The fact that they’ll be doing those jobs away from one another for the rest of Chloe’s mortal life because Rory asked them not to change anything from her childhood is one I’m still having a hard time with. I find it incredibly sad, but I’m slowly getting to the acceptance stage of my grief over it. Thank AmenaGod for a universe where we know for a fact that an eternal afterlife exists. However, Rory’s inclusion in the story did allow one bit of major development for Lucifer that I thought still needed to be addressed before the show ended.
I really liked Season 5B, but one thing that felt a bit off to me was how quickly Lucifer seemed to get over his difficulties with his father. We heard many, many times over the years about how much he resented and blamed God, and then when God finally appeared, Lucifer appeared to come to a place of understanding in the course of just a few episodes. That is absolutely in large part to his emotional growth, and the satisfaction he had been able to find in his relationships with Chloe and others, but still, it was…quick. But it’s not uncommon for any remaining issues someone may have with their parents to reappear with a vengeance when that person becomes a parent themselves, so in that way, Rory, a child struggling with hurt due to an absent father, acts as a wonderful mirror. The effects of therapy can be so gradual that on any given day it can be hard to recognize the transformation, and Rory being side by side with Lucifer allows him, and the audience, to really see just how far he’s come. She was resentful that her father wasn’t there for her, she wanted to lash out at him, and she held onto her anger for dear life as a way to protect herself. In the early seasons of this show, that was Lucifer to a tee.
And now we see him closing the last chapter on his past pain by being for Rory the father he’d always wanted for himself, from wild driving lessons to fun water balloon fights and sumo wrestling, to his apology for causing her pain by not being around for her (in Rory’s past and Lucifer’s future) in Episode 9. It all culminates in a truly beautiful moment in the final episode when he begs Rory, as he sees her succumbing to her own Devil face, not to make the same mistakes he made, to choose another way. Living in his anger for so long did Lucifer no favors, but he can use that experience to help his daughter.
Always a proponent of free will, it was Lucifer’s choice to keep working on himself through his therapy with Linda that allowed him to go back to Hell as the man he always had the potential to be: one that uses his role to bring light to souls instead of punishing them. There’s something beautiful about the fact that Lucifer, a show that centers on a character that is culturally tied to eternal damnation, has championed the hopeful message that it’s never too late to change and that healing from your past is not just possible, but can lead you to heavenly places.