Lucifer Recap, Season 1, Episode 9

This was an excellent episode. It was funny and smart with excellent acting. Kudos.

Lucifer gets some pizza delivered. Needless to say, the pizza delivery guy gets an excellent tip. ;)

Lucifer attends a session with Dr. Martin. He's disturbed about the fact that he didn't really enjoy his party. Dr. Martin tells him that he's lonely. Does he consider any of the people he spends time with a friend? How about Chloe?

Back at the club. Maze asks Lucifer to come meet someone. It's a priest. His name is Father Frank.

This scene was kind of awkward. The priest is here because he is worried about a kid who's fallen into a drug ring run out of a youth community center. I'm not sure what the Father Frank expects from Lucifer. He says he wants Lucifer to talk to the drug dealer. He says God told him to ask Lucifer for help.

This is a very unsatisfactory setup. Why does Father Frank think that Lucifer can help? Because God sent him a vision?  It's kind of odd, but I'll let it slide.

Lucifer pulls his secret desire power and finds out that the priest wants to beat up the drug dealer. Okay.

Lucifer asks Chloe to come with him to the community center talk to the drug dealer. He's not trying to help Father Frank though. He's trying to prove that the priest is a hypocrite. This is his way to get back at God. It seems kind of wimpy to me, but, hey, beggars can't be choosers. They find the drug dealer's door closed and ask the dealer's fat community center assistant some questions. Chloe peeks through the window and sees a pool of blood. She breaks downy the door (I love it when Chloe is badass!) and find the drug dealer dead. Lucifer is ecstatic because he things the priest did it.

Crime scene. The drug dealer was beaten to death with a base ball bat and Chloe found a voice modulator among his possessions. Lucifer makes a Darth Vader joke (awesome!). The dealer's underling tells them that Father Frank dropped by regularly to argue with the dealer. They question the boy that Father Frank is concerned about (his name is Connor) and he defends the priest.

Back at the precint, Chloe pulls up the priest's rather extensive rap sheet and notes that he's done nothing bad in the past couple of years. The dealer did have a restraining order against the priest, though. Lucifer leaves and Chloe tries to talk to Dan about their kiss, but he seems distracted. She leaves.

Zombie blackmailer Malcolm shows up and tells Dan that he's Dan's new partner. Woohoo!
He warns Dan that if he comes clean about the Palmetto mess, they'll both go to jail. He also asks for something from the evidence closet. Why can't he get it himself? Who knows? I stopped caring about this plot line several episodes ago.

Lucifer and Chloe go to church. Chloe goes to look for Father Frank. Lucifer sneaks into the confessional and chats with a woman who is having lustful thoughts about her husband's limo driver (Ah, L.A. rich people problems).

Aminadel and zombie blackmailer Malcolm meet in an underground parking lot. Aminadel tells him that he brought him back from the dead for a reason. Malcolm reassures that everything is going according to plan.

Father Frank tells Chloe and Lucifer that he went to see the drug dealer that morning and argued with him. Lucifer accuses him of murdering the dealer. Father Frank denies it. His alibi is the woman with the limo driver issues. Chloe asks Father Frank to come to the station for a statement. As they exit the church, a black SUV drives up and the driver shoots at Father Frank.

Still at the church. Father Frank's alibi checks out, and he reveals that he's received several threats. He plays a message for them, and the voice is disguised by a voice modulator. Father Frank says that it may a dealer known as the Spider (First Viper now Spider. L.A. criminals like their animal names.). This new dealer is very tough and ruthless. Chloe tells the priest that he needs to move to a safe space. Lucifer says that he knows just the place.

The safe space is Lux and it involves nun strippers. Father Frank isn't very interested in the strippers, but he likes the music. Turns out he used to be a piano player for a rock band, so he's used to the club scene. Connor's dad was part of his touring group. Connor's parents and Father Frank's daughter died in the same car accident. That made Father Frank enter the church.

Lucifer wonders why he wasn't angry at God. Father Frank has trouble explaining it. Somehow, they end up doing a "Devil Goes Down to Georgia" style piano duel. It's fabulous!

Lucifer and Chloe go off to investigate the Spider guy. Chloe teases him about being friends with a priest. Lucifer seems embarrassed. They find the girl from the community center. She gives a pack of cash to Connor who recognizes Chloe and takes out a gun and starts shooting in the air. Chloe concludes that Connor is the Spider. I'm having trouble reconciling the troubled teen with a tough and ruthless dealer, but whatevs. The Lucifer crime plots are always odd.

Father Frank doesn't think that Connor is the Spider. He thinks he just needs help. Lucifer asks him how he can have faith in this boy? The priest tells him that God had faith in everyone. Lucifer is skeptical. Father Frank gets a phone call and leaves. Like, he just gets up and exits the room. Lucifer kind of sucks at this whole "keep the witness alive" thing.

Dan brings Malcolm a revolver. It's the stuff from the evidence closet.

Chloe arrives and notices that Father Frank is gone. Maze tells them that he was on the phone with someone called Connor and left. They deduce that he's meeting Connor at the church.

At the church, Connor is threatening the priest with a gun. He's not alone though. The fat guy from the community center, the dead drug dealer's assistant is egging him on. He's the real Spider. Connor doesn't want to hurt the priest so the Spider shoots him. The priest tries to safe Connor and gets shot.

Lucifer tries to save the priest, but it doesn't work. Father Frank says that he didn't understand why God put Lucifer in his path. Now he knows that God really put him in Lucifer's path. He tells Lucifer to remember that God has a plan. Then he dies. Lucifer grabs the Spider by the throat and chokes him. Chloe tells him that Father Frank wouldn't want this and he stops.

Outside the church. Chloe and Lucifer watch as Father Frank's body is wheeled out. She tells Lucifer that Connor is cooperating and will likely get a second chance.

Lucifer heads to his penthouse balcony and indulges into some theologically-incorrect raging against God. He's very upset that Father Frank died and tells God that the priest didn't deserve the suffering. He wants to know what's the point of it all. Well, the point is to get to heaven. That's what Father Frank just did. Duh. I'm not sure why Lucifer is so upset about this ending. This show has a lot of contradictory worldbuilding. If you're going to base a television show on the Christian mythos, you pretty much have to treat dying and going to heaven as a good thing. It's what Jesus did.

Chloe's cottage. She and Dan are sharing takeout. It's all very cozy, but Chloe tells him that she's too distracted to talk.

Lucifer plays the piano. It's a lovely rendition of "Knocking on Heaven's Door." Gorgeous. Chloe joins him, saying that she thought that he could use a friend. It's a lovely scene.

Malcolm is in a diner eating. Aminadel shows up and scolds him. He wants to know what's taking so long. He threatens to send Malcolm back to Hell. Malcolm tells him that he has an untraceable gun so he's ready. Who does Aminadel want killed. Aminadel tells him the name. "Lucifer Morningstar."

Great episode. Thoroughly enjoyed it.