YMMV / Lucifer (2016)

• Accidental Aesop: In "A Chance at a Happy Ending", Ella prays to God, tells him that almost it feels like he's not up there anymore, and asks him for a sign that she is where she's supposed to be, only for Chloe to walk in and be happy to see her. This is played as a heartwarming moment, but it's actually a total coincidence, since the audience knows that God actually isn't there. So it ends up looking like a demonstration of how people can assume God is responsible for things that are probably just a coincidence.
• Adaptation Displacement: With the exception of the basic premise (The Devil quits ruling Hell and opens a night-club in LA) and a selection of names (Lucifer Morningstar, Mazikeen, Amanadiel, Lux), the show has very little to do with the comic it's based on.
• Adorkable:
  • Lucifer is this when he can't use his charms and completely misunderstands human behaviour. Especially telling in "Candy Morningstar", where he's trying to convince Chloe to let him work with her again.
  • Maze shows childlike delight after her first job as a bounty hunter:
    Maze: Hunting humans is a job! Who knew?!
  • Amenadiel has his moments, especially once he's started defrosting.
    "The internet! It's truly amazing what you can find online. Have you seen that video with the cat that jumps inside the box?"
  • After learning the truth about Lucifer, Linda's enthusiastic questions regarding Heaven and Hell border on this.
  • Ella easily comes off as this, given her chipper nature and slight social awkwardness.
  • As you would expect from being the first woman ever created, Eve is remarkably goofy, socially clueless and naive, reacting to almost every new thing she discovers with childlike glee. She acts more like an easily excitable 12-year-old girl than an immortal being, to the extent that even Ella seems positively suave by comparison.
  • Azrael is pretty much a second Ella, in terms of adorkableness.
  • Gabriel is nearly as adorkable as Azrael.
  • The few times Lucifer and Dan actually share an interest it easily comes off as this as they riff off of each other seamlessly and bro it up. Even Chloe comments that the interactions between the two when this happens are adorable.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Lucifer sees his story as this compared to how he's been portrayed throughout history. Dr. Linda posits a third view in "Favorite Son" that God sent Lucifer to be^note to borrow a quote from The Dark Knight "the hero humanity deserves but not the one it needs right now." According to Dr. Linda's theory possibly helped out by Amenadiel, God sent his favorite son to bear the hatred and scorn of the world because He knew Lucifer could take it. Sound like another favored son?
  • "Infernal Guinea Pig" has Cain mention offhanded that his brother was a bit of an asshole and the fact that his soul is in Hell, rather than Heaven, could throw the entire conflict into question.
  • Season 4's big Wham Line reveals only an angel or celestial can rule Hell, which dramatically shifts perception how and why Lucifer is King of Hell.
  • God Himself - Initial impressions range from distant, but loving father to neglectful father to abusive. Appearing in person doesn't help much. While it is clear He does love His wife and angels he attitude of polite indifference, evasive nonanswers, and refusal to actually address any questions, and vague omniscience make it unclear how much was a mask, how much he is faking, how much he knew or really anything about him.
• Aluminum Christmas Trees: The existence of the Goddess/"Mum". Yes, the Judeo-Christian God really did have a wife in an early version of the religion (she's called Asherah, by the way). In fact, every Middle Eastern cultures, from the Israelites to the Arabs, started out polytheistic. The Israelites didn't start worshiping Yahweh as their only God until after the Babylonian captivity and the process wasn't complete until the late 1st millennium BCE.
• And You Thought It Would Fail: Fans of the comic were outraged at the idea of turning it into a procedural drama and non-comic fans just thought the concept sounded stupid. Instead, the show overcame a rough start to build a devoted cult audience and then critics coming around to it as well to let it continue.
• Angst? What Angst?: When Maze arrives at the start of season four to see Lucifer sulking, she disbelievingly asks if he's still mad at her for plotting to frame and/or murder him since that was a whole month ago. Lucifer scoffs at the very idea and pours her a drink.
• Arc Fatigue: One of the many complaints Season 3 received is just how long it was, being twenty-four episodes long (not counting the two bonus episodes).
• Ass Pull: Ella finding out the truth about his close friends truly being Celestials like Lucifer proclaimed. Unlike Chloe, Ella or Daniel, there was nothing she witnessed that would have allowed her to make that connection and the show never adresses how she figure it out. All we see is Amenadiel saying that her paranoic theory about a potential Apocalypse was a stretch (which is something very rational to say, Celestial or not) and in the following scene she has a whiteboard with all the connections.
• Awesome Ego: Lucifer certainly lives up to his reputation as the epitome of Pride, but he's so genuinely hyper-competent — not to mention so charming and fun to watch — that you end up rooting for him anyway.
• Awesome Music: The soundtrack has been lauded as one of the series' strengths.
• Badass Decay: Amenadiel in Season 1 was a serious Hero Antagonist. Comes Season 2, he loses his powers, gets drunk at a party and is acting as Charlotte's pawn. Subverted in season 3 where despite losing his powers he still managed to be Badass Normal to kick Pierce's ass when he challenges him for marking him
  • Fortunately by Season 4 he's regained his wings and most of his powers due to the realization that angels self actualize and thus can cause themselves to fall.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Chloe. Some find her Only Sane Man role makes her an excellent foil to Lucifer and helps ground the celestial plotlines with more human ones. Others find her boring, underdeveloped, badly acted, and annoying, the latter in particular with how she insists on being an Agent Scully about Lucifer and his powers. Her plot-lines also tend to be ill-thought-out or poorly received.
  • Maze. While a lot fans adore her, thanks to her Character Development, back story (which have been well received, especially around Season 5) and her interaction with the other characters (most notably with Linda and Ella), a lot of fans dislike her thanks to her constant Heel–Face Revolving Door scenarios and her Karma Houdini and Easily Forgiven status which is even lampshaded in-universe. She became particulary polarizing during her Jerkass Ball in Season 3. Which depending on the fan made her a Jerkass Woobie or Unintentionally Unsympathetic.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: "Who's Da New King of Hell?" opens with Lucifer, everyone at Lux and the rest of the police precinct dancing to "I'm All Right" by Kenny Loggins in one big choreographed scene (even with Dan jumping into his arms) as an Imagine Spot for Lucifer, having gotten over his emotional breakdown from the previous episode. The moment it stops, everyone acts like it didn't happen and it isn't brought up ever.
• Broken Base:
  • Fans of the comic have issues with the series, as it makes Lucifer much more human, likable, and uninterested in God's plans for him, which is the opposite of the character in the source material. Those who are just looking for a science-fiction/fantasy police procedural tend to react better to the series.
  • The Deckerstar ship. Is it a boring, "leads predictably fall in love" sort of thing (complete with lack of chemistry), or a refreshing aversion of Will They or Won't They? It doesn't help that Lucifer's Love Interest in the comics is actually Mazikeen. The base was further broken on the issue when Lucifer bailed after the events of "A Good Day to Die", which threw the ship right back into Will They or Won't They? territory. The Romantic Plot Tumor they were faced with in Season 3 definitely didn't help, nor did Chloe becoming Unintentionally Unsympathetic in Season 4. Mercifully, the arc involving their relationship began to be (somewhat) fixed with Chloe establishing her relationship with Lucifer a bit more, though whether it's a successful saving throw or too little, too late is up for debate.
  • The series finale appears to have created another Broken Base. Some fans are content with the Star-Crossed Lovers Bittersweet Ending; others are disturbed by the You Can't Fight Fate decision made during the last episode(which creates some disturbing implications given the series' debate on God's plan vs. free will) and consider the conclusion a Cruel Twist Ending.
• Captain Obvious Reveal:
  • Hands up, anyone who actually believed that after months of buildup, the Sinnerman would actually be just some random guy we'd never seen before.
  • Many found that the original Whisperer Killer being Ella's new boyfriend Pete too predictable. If the character being conveniantly introduced just before the arc wasn't suspicious enough, Ella constantly gushing about how great he is set some blatant red flags.
• Complete Monster: In a show where redemption is a major theme, these guys make it clear they are beyond such concepts:
  • Archangel Michael, the Evil Twin of Lucifer Morningstar, seeks to ruin the latter's life out of petty envy. Michael is the true mastermind behind many actions in Lucifer's life, which include his rebellion against God; visit to the Garden of Eden; and retirement to Los Angeles, having manipulated Lucifer into these actions. Michael would gaslight his father into believing he's losing control of his powers so that he could retire, allowing Michael to replace him as God. Coming down to Earth to impersonate Lucifer and ruin his life, Michael gives his infant nephew a common cold to exploit his brother Amenadiel's fears about his son's mortality. Assembling the Flaming Sword to force his siblings into helping him become God, Michael would kill his sister Remiel with it, not giving her any afterlife in the process. Afterwards, Michael would order the murder of Lucifer's friend Dan so that his ex-wife Chloe would feel guilty about it and go to Hell after her death, which would also make Lucifer return down there for her. In his final battle, Michael would temporarily kill Chloe and try to erase his brother from existence with the Flaming Sword.
  • "Orgy Pants to Work": Julian McCaffrey is the son of Jacob Tierning and Willow McCaffrey. After his mother's death, Julian took over her nudist sanctuary and using his father's shipping company smuggled both drugs and foreign women into America, with the latter quickly being sold into sex slavery. Once nudist visitor Gary Van Blunt found out, Julian had him murdered, and after one of his human trafficking operations got ambushed, Julian killed a cop and tried to defend himself by saying he's better than his father because unlike his father, Julian admits to being bad. Remorseless and always trying to pin the blame on something else, Julian claims the women he smuggles are broken toys even before they're forced into slavery.
  • "Who's da New King of Hell?": Dromos is a demon who possessed the body of the recently-deceased Father Kinley to get his king, Lucifer Morningstar, back to Hell. Originally acting friendly and loyal towards his king, once Lucifer makes it clear he's not going back, Dromos drops the act. Instead deciding he will get himself a new king, Dromos kidnaps Lucifer's infant nephew Charlie, planning to mold him into the type of king he would like. Alongside this, Dromos would kill dozens of humans so his demonic siblings could help him in his goal. With his actions convincing Lucifer to go back to Hell, Dromos manages to win while not facing any consequences for his actions, free to continue torturing sinners for all eternity.
  • "Our Mojo" & "Spoiler Alert": Pete Daily, first appearing in "BlueBallz" as a friendly journalist, is the Whisper Killer, notorious for cutting women's vocal cords and leaving them to choke on their blood. Killing four women in this style, Pete's actions inspire Les Klumpsky to start murdering women in the same style and pin all of Pete's murders on himself, making Pete responsible for all of Klumpsky's murders. When his girlfriend Ella Lopez finds out about Pete's secret, he tries to strangle her to death.
• Cry for the Devil: Literally, in this case. While he is confident, snarky, and well-off economically, it is implied that his carefree, hedonistic lifestyle is a cover for his history of crippling, existential loneliness over the thousands of years of his existence. This can even be blamed on the scorn he receives from his angel kin, silence and abandonment from his omnipotent father, and humanity's tendency to blame and demonize him for their own shortcomings.
• Draco in Leather Pants: Michael, whenever he isn't hated. Despite having essentially no redeeming qualities displayed, he still gathered some fans which hoped for a Heel–Face Turn in Season 6 and were disappointed when it didn't happen.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • In Season 3, the real Charlotte Richards has surprisingly become a compelling and likable character, with many fans enjoying her arc of genuinely trying to become a better person and dealing with the aftereffects of being in Hell (even if she doesn't fully believe that's where she was). Her relationship with Dan is also regarded as a highlight since Deckerstar is currently in a rough patch. The fact that she's so popular makes her death a massive Tear Jerker.
  • Father Frank only appears in one episode of Season One, but is well-liked by the fandom for being cooler than he seems, having an honest (if not odd) friendship with Lucifer, having some really interesting views on Christianity and the Bible, and figuring out Lucifer's true identity.
  • Lee, aka Mr. Said Out Bitch, a petty crook who appears at the start of every season. After some quite surprising expansions to his typical role in Season 5, he was heralded for quite unexpectedly having one of the show’s best character arcs despite appearing so sparingly.
• Ending Fatigue: Season 3 already suffered from Arc Fatigue. But then after reaching the climax and giving the show a major cliffhanger, it decides to pull two bonus episodes of unrelated events (one being an Interquel and the other being an What If?).
• Escapist Character: Lucifer owns a club, is invincible, a handsome Chick Magnet and irreverent toward everyone.
• Fan Nickname: Lucifer's mother/Charlotte is nicknamed in some circles as "Momlotte", given that her real name has yet to be revealed. Ultimately the show just went with “Goddess”..
• Friendly Fandoms:
  • With Good Omens (2019) due to both shows involving demons and angels interacting with humanity, as well as the conflict between Heaven and Hell. The fact that both shows are based on stories by Neil Gaiman helps too.
  • With Constantine. Both are Vertigo properties with morally ambiguous leads (who are, ultimately, not all bad). It's not at all unusual to see Lucifer/Constantine as a Crossover Ship, complete with Belligerent Sexual Tension. It became more notable when Crisis on Infinite Earths (2019) had the two meet face to face to reveal they had some kind of history.
  • In a broader sense, the Furry Fandom likes this show if only because of the episode "Boo Normal" which portrayed furries fairly realistically and didn't go for the low-hanging fruit of calling the fandom a bunch of fetish-y freaks like many other shows do, especially in comparision to another Jerry Bruckheimer show, CSI and its much-maligned "Fur and Loathing" episode that did just that.
• Genius Bonus:
  • Tommy Stompanato from "It Never Ends Well for the Chicken" is named after real life gangster Johnny Stompanato, best known for his ignominious death stabbed by the daughter of his girlfriend Lana Turner.
  • In "Save the Devil, Save the World," Ella calls herself "a single set of footprints, alone." This refers to a Christian parable where a man sees his life represented by a pair of footprints as Jesus walked beside him the whole way, but notices one set disappears during the worst times of his life. He first assumes Jesus left him when he was needed most, but Jesus replies "That was when I carried you." But to Ella, it really is the former.
• Growing the Beard:
  • Season 2 got a much better reception across the board, with a better main villain as Goddess, a stronger emphasis on the celestial aspect of the series' world, greater amounts of Character Development for Lucifer, Maze, and Amenadiel, and some significant changes in the status quo.
  • Season 4 had the show re-grow the beard after Season 3 took a dip, and both Season 4 and Season 5 demonstrate that the move from Fox to Netflix was the best. The writing got tighter, Chloe and Lucifer's relationship improved, Chloe got bigger roles in the plotlines of the season (though this is more a consequence of her finally being let in on The Masquerade), and the show not only got a budget bump to allow more usage of celestial powers, but its looser age rating lets them dip into darker storylines and more freely engage in sex, violence, and cursing (all appropriate given the title character).
• Harsher in Hindsight: In Season 1, Amenadiel hates the suggestion that he's anything like Lucifer. When he's beating his brother's face into the dirt, Lucifer goads him to "fall like I did", which shocks Amenadiel enough to stop. Come Season 2, Amenadiel is starting to fall, and he does not take it well.
  • In the first episode of Season 3, Lucifer attempts to show Chloe his devil face and the truth. Seeing how nervous he is, she assures him that whatever it is that he wants to show or tell her, it will not upset her and that she will be there for him. Season 4 begins with her reeling and terrified from finding out the truth, having fled to Europe for a month, and leads to her aiding the Vatican in trying to send Lucifer back to Hell... which kicks off a series of events that winds up with Lucifer back there even after Chloe stops.
  • When discussing baby names, Linda brings up 'Michael' which Amenadiel quickly dismisses. On first watch it seems to be just because one of his brothers is named Michael and two celestials having the same name would be confusing. Come Season Five, Michael appears, he's Lucifer's twin brother, and he's a real dick.
  • In the second part of season 5, Dan firmly believes he's going to Hell after he finds out he slept with God's Wife, even having a musical number about it ("Hell" by Squirrel Nut Zippers) in "Bloody Celestial Karaoke Jam". In "Is This Really How It's Going To End?" Amenadiel reveals to Lucifer, at Dan's funeral, that he is actually in Hell.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: It's revealed in "Boo Normal" that Lucifer's Odd Friendship with Ella is similar to his bond with Azrael, his bubbly, slightly nerdy sister, who is also a friend of Ella's and considers Lucifer her favorite brother.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In the very first episode, Lucifer asks Chloe if his father sent her. Come the events of "Quid Pro Ho", and the answer is a resounding "yes".
  • Early on Lucifer references Bruce Almighty, saying his father doesn't look like Morgan Freeman. In Season 5, they may not have gotten Freeman himself to play the part, but they did get another deep-voiced black actor, Dennis Haysbert.
    • In addition, Haysbert and D.B. Woodside had previously played brothers in 24.
  • Aimee Garcia plays Ella Lopez. In The George Lopez Show, she was playing Veronica Palmero, the niece of the titular character whose last name just so happened to be Lopez.
  • Marcus Pierce, played by Tom Welling, falls in love with Chloe. In Smallville, a different Chloe falls in love with Clark Kent, also played by Tom Welling.
  • The show ends with Lucifer helping the damned souls on Hell so they can go to heaven, Like father, like daughter.
• I Knew It!:
  • After the Behind the Scenes look for episode 14 "Candy Morningstar" was released, plenty of fans correctly guessed that Lucifer's marriage to Candy was fake.
  • Likewise, many people managed to guess that Lucifer gets his wings back in 2x18.
  • After a writer dropped a hint that the season finale would end on a cliffhanger, a number of people managed to guess that the cliffhanger would be Chloe discovering the truth about Lucifer.
  • Who didn't guess from the moment that God said he was retiring that Amenadiel would take the big seat in the end?
• Jerkass Woobie: Lucifer. There's no denying that he is a massive git and loves every minute of it. However, it is slowly revealed, partly through his therapy, that there is a lot of pain and vulnerability behind that cocky, snarky façade — witness his reaction when a horrified Chloe tries to touch the scars where his wings used to be. Season 2 focuses on this, spending a large amount of time on Lucifer's guilt, heartbreak, and grief.
  • As of Season 2, Amenadiel can be added to the list. He's falling, and is not taking it well.
  • Charlotte Richards... the actual Charlotte, not the being possessing her. All Charlotte knows is that she woke up missing a giant chunk of time, her family is gone, and she distinctly remembers being in Hell.
• Just Here for Godzilla: While the show suffers from a Broken Base both critically and in the fandom, particularly when it comes to its considerable deviations from the comics, everyone agrees that the main reason to watch the show is for the titular character. Tom Ellis' Lucifer is smug, audacious, sexy, charming, and is simply a lot of fun to watch, both when he's having fun himself (which is often) and when he's doing more emotional and character-driven scenes that explore Lucifer's inner turmoil (which is also often).
• Launcher of a Thousand Ships: Lucifer has been shipped with every main character (including Amenadiel) and also with Constantine since his appearance on Crisis on Infinite Earths (2019).
• Love to Hate: Michael, whenever fans don't give him a pair of leather pants. Despite being a gigantic Hate Sink, he's pretty much agreed to be one of the best and most enjoyable antagonists in the series, with his slight Laughably Evil moments definitely helping him claim this status.
• Magnificent Bastard: The decoy of the Sinnerman served as The Dragon to the real Sinnerman, the immortal Cain aka "Marcus Pierce", knowing him since childhood before going rogue for unknown reasons, making favors and murdering people who worked with Cain. Knowing that Lucifer Morningstar is the Devil and seeking to expose Pierce's true identity as both Cain and the Sinnerman, the decoy murders people who Lucifer blessed with favors for to get the Devil's attention. Imprisoning Lucifer in a room with reinforced steel so he won't break the walls, the decoy talks to him through a TV and keeps his glasses on so Lucifer cannot use his powers to reveal the decoy's deepest desire. After being arrested by Pierce and Chloe Decker, gouging his eyes out with a pen so Lucifer won't find out his desire, and tricking an entire precinct by forcing a woman to fake her own abduction, Lucifer kidnaps him and has the demon Mazikeen torture him. Moments before death, the decoy reveals his deepest desire was for Lucifer to kill him, and successfully outs Pierce as the real Sinnerman. In a world with celestials, the decoy manages to make his own existence an urban legend, all while still a mortal.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • DETECTIVE!^ExplanationLucifer, who often (read: almost always) calls Chloe "detective", leading to many instances when he screams it.
  • Lucifer blaming God for everything.^ExplanationFor the first three seasons, Lucifer would often blame his father for bad things that happen, claiming that he's manipulating or playing tricks on him. Fans started joking about Lucifer would blame God for even the pettiest things, such as getting a red light when driving his car.
  • Fuck Michael / Michael is a dick.^ExplanationMichael is pretty much universally agreed to be the series' biggest Hate Sink and most evil character. As part of his Love to Hate status, many fans have started calling him a jerkass and basically just insulting him for his evilness whenever they can. This came so far that "#MichaelIsADick" was trending on Twitter at one point.
  • Still waiting for Season 5B.^ExplanationThe first half of Season 5 released on August 2020. Since then, the fans started joking about how they are still waiting for the release of the second half. For obvious reasons, the meme effectively died after Season 5B finally released.
  • IT'S TOO SOON.^ExplanationWhile the wait for Season 5B was nine months long, the wait for Season 6 wasn't even half of that, being only four months long. Naturally, fans started claiming they haven't recovered from 5B yet and that it's simply too soon for Season 6 to release.
  • Because you fucking shot me, Daniel.^ExplanationThe first Precision F-Strike of the series got instantly memed to hell and back because of how unexpected it was and the perfect timing for it.
• Misblamed: Like fellow FOX staple Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which was canceled (and then picked up by NBC) around the same time, fans of Lucifer have blamed Disney's planned acquisition of 21st Century Fox for the cancellation of the series. Never mind the fact that FOX didn't actually make the show (it was produced by Warner Bros.), the FOX network isn't part of the sale, and that the show continued to lose viewers as the series went on, making continuing the series financially undesirable (though this reasoning is a bit odd, since the show scored higher ratings than fellow FOX program and sister DC-based series Gotham, which scored a last-minute renewal for a fifth and final season). It has been stated on many sites that the real reason the show was cancelled was because FOX have bought the rights to show football next year, which will take up close to thirty hours of their week, and therefore won't have time for some of its other shows.
• Moe: Trixie is quite adorable.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Malcolm Graham crosses it when he kidnaps Trixie and threatens to kill her if he won't get his money.
  • Goddess crosses it when she unleashes Azrael's Blade into the human populace, knowing that the Blade would compel all who hold it to violently murder anyone who even slightly crossed them. Then, to make absolutely sure she stays over the line, she tries to murder Chloe.
  • Marcus Pierce officially crosses it when he tries to kill Amenadiel but accidentally kills Charlotte instead.
  • After already doing many despicable things throughout Season 5 and beforehand, Michael officially crosses the line when he orders Dan's death just so Chloe would feel guilty and go to Hell upon her death.
• Narm:
  • Every time Amenadiel calls the protagonist "Luci", it sounds very much like "Lucy". Kind of undermines his whole stern old-testament Knight Templar Schtick.
  • Uriel threatening to kill Chloe by playing a single note on an organ is hard to take seriously.
  • The Sinnerman is a frightening crime boss whom no one knows anything about... but it's still giggle-worthy when Lucifer says his name and his accent makes it sound like he's saying "The Cinnamon" instead.
  • Chloe's bit of Shooting Superman in the Season 4 finale, emptying her entire clip into a demon-possessed body no matter how many times it has no effect, and knowing full well this would happen even before she entered the fight. "Yeah, try it eight more times, maybe it'll work!"
  • Chloe's expression in "The Would-Be Prince of Darkness" when Lucifer offhandedly straightarms a very large man off of his feet and through a massive glass wall. It's an entirely understandable reaction to what she just saw happen (especially since she still firmly believes Lucifer's just a wacko human at this point), but Lauren German stretching her jaw the widest possible like the dentist just told her "Wider" while poking at her molars is still pretty hilarious.
  • Every time someone acts like the sight of Lucifer's devil face is soul-destroyingly horrifying. It certainly looks unpleasant, but hardly to the point of making people paralysed with fear or sending them to an insane asylum… which is apparently lampshaded when Linda is away from baby Charlie one time and, aside from Dan rocking him in a very specific rhythm, Lucifer’s devil face is the only thing that calms him.
  • "Bloody Celestial Karaoke Jam" dropped straight into this territory thanks to the massive overuse of Auto-Tune (particularly for Maze's song).
  • Michael is inexplicably given a Fake Shemp treatment in Season 6, as if the actor wasn't available, despite him also being played by Tom Ellis.
• Narm Charm: Amenadiel's tendency to call Lucifer "Luci" mentioned above is quite silly, but it is a good piece of characterisation later when it's revealed he is every bit as immature as Lucifer, as seen with the goat prank and his lack of social skills.
• One-Scene Wonder: L. Scott Caldwell as Maze's mother Lilith in Season 5, pouring a ton of performance and characterization into a couple minutes of screen time.
  • More of a One Episode Wonder, but an argument could also be made for the pastor in the season one episode "A Priest Walks Into A Bar". Any clergyman who can befriend the devil and bring him to tears deserves the recognition.
• Portmanteau Couple Name: "Deckerstar" or "Chlucifer" for the Lucifer/Chloe ship. "Chlaze" (Chloe/Maze) has also popped up. There's also "Douchelotte" or "Danlotte" for Dan/Charlotte and "Doucheifer" for the Dan/Lucifer bromance.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • Downplayed with Maze, who was only a Base-Breaking Character during Season 3's airing, but the treatment her character got in Season 4 and 5 was much better received, with genuinely tragic storylines regarding her abandonment issues, need for affection, and bringing a deeper level of worldbuilding and characterisation thanks to her backstory.
  • This is certainly true with Eve for some fans who disliked her in Season 4, as the last two seasons and her relationship with Maze made her more likeable.
• Romantic Plot Tumor: While initially averted with Lucifer and Chloe's relationship, it increasingly overtakes the plot by Season 3. This especially apparent when in the last quarter, the Love Triangle with Marcus Pierce derails his quest for mortality.
• Seasonal Rot: Season 3 is generally regarded as the weakest season. Maze suddenly became Unintentionally Unsympathetic, Chloe and Marcus got Strangled by the Red String for the sake of a Love Triangle with Lucifer, Lucifer's Character Development stagnated and at times regressed, and the season just had a lot of Padding that saw characters be indecisive about what they want to do with their lives, and then change their minds after an episode or two.
• She Really Can Act: For those who generally find Lauren German's performance to be wooden and underwhelming, "O, Ye of Little Faith, Father" saw her knock it out of the park during her final scene in the episode.
• Shocking Moments:
  • The ending shot of "The Good, the Bad and the Crispy": Lucifer is stranded in the middle of the desert... and he has his wings back.
  • The last ten minutes of "A Devil of My Word" potentially tops that, and can be summed up in three words: Chloe. Finally. Knows. When Cain tries to have Lucifer and Chloe killed, Lucifer shields them both with his wings before flying Chloe to safety. While she was unconscious when that happened, the fact that Lucifer got her to the top of a building and disappeared immediately afterwards makes her realize that everything he told her was true - which is confirmed when she runs to help him and sees his Devil face.
  • Season 4 starts with the emotional fallout from the end of Season 3 and the introduction of a prophecy that threatens danger from the Devil’s presence on Earth. The situation only gets markedly more fraught from there until it culminates in a full-on demon rebellion that spills out onto the mortal plane, requiring Lucifer to reclaim the infernal throne to contain them.
  • The final scene of Season 5A: Amenadiel's insecurities over his son being mortal cause him to uncontrollably bring time to a complete stop, followed by a battle royale of him and Lucifer vs. Michael and Maze in the frozen police station, where it truly seems like any outcome is possible. But then we get none of them, as the fight is interrupted by none other than God Himself.
• Special Effect Failure:
  • In something of a low-key example, the scene where Chloe and Trixie examined the DVD of Chloe's old movie showed Lauren German's face very clearly photoshopped on a DVD cover.
  • The scene where Lucifer talked to Richard in "Et tu, Doctor?" appeared to be done on a green screen.
  • The CGI angel wings never look quite believable, but the absolute worst moment is the fight scene at the end of Season Three. Lucifer whaps multiple enemies with them, and it looks utterly silly each time.
  • Done deliberately in the Season 5 episode "It Never Ends Well For The Chicken." It's a Noir Episode with Lucifer telling Trixie the story of how he got his ring, and the effects are handled in the same way as an actual noir film would have done (like dried ketchup for blood or a driving scene where the characters are obviously in a stationary vehicle with a film of moving along a street being projected onto a screen behind them).
  • In Season 6, when Chloe dies of old age and Amenadiel greets her to take her to Heaven, the close up on Amenadiel's hand shows that his cuffs are fastened with velcro. It... somewhat ruins the gravitas of the scene. Just a bit.
• Strangled by the Red String:
  • It only takes two episodes of Chloe and Marcus dating in Season 3 before they're kissing and talking about how serious their relationship is, and four episodes before Chloe tells him she's in love with him. And while Chloe was interested in Marcus, Marcus had no romantic interest in Chloe until these episodes. By the end of the fifth episode where he proposes to her and she accepts, it's simply ludicrous how quickly their relationship is moving. Though the very next episode deconstructs the entire relationship: those against the relationship are completely baffled by Chloe's answer and have no idea why she said yes (Lucifer even starts to act like her in order to understand her decision).
  • Ella and Dan randomly get attracted to one another within the span of a few episodes. It's especially ridiculous because the latter is still grieving for Charlotte. Tellingly, the entire incident appears to have been quietly dropped as it was not mentioned in Season 5, with Ella instead being involved with Pete, and in Season 6, Carol.
• Tainted by the Preview: Trailers for the show got a very negative response from fans of the comic. The Lighter and Softer comedic tone and Police Procedural format are especially criticized.
  • FOX released a clip for the Season 3 episode "The Angel of San Bernardino" which showed Chloe and Pierce making out rather passionately in a closet at the Precinct. Fans were outraged, claiming that it was inappropriate and disgusting since Pierce is using Chloe for his own gain. It wasn't surprising when the ratings dropped.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: A general reaction of many Lucifer fans with the absence of Elaine and Michael being noted in particular.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Abel provided a lot of story opportunities, new and unique dynamics with the cast, and himself had the potential to be an interesting and entertaining character. He's there for one episode. The source comics even provide a valid excuse to how he could be allowed to stick around, but nope, he's just gone.
  • Some felt this way about Pierce becoming the villain of Season 3, since the characters tragic background, being played by Tom Welling and good dynamic with Lucifer made him seem like a great addition to the main cast.
  • Some viewers believe the show wasted the potential of introducing Michael; instead of the heroic character from the DC comic who's reluctantly opposed to his twin, or the spiritual warrior of Jewish and Christian faith, he's a twisted and scheming plotter who hates Lucifer and wants to ruin his life out of spite. Alternatively other viewers felt that though Michael worked fine as a villain in theory, he simply isn't in enough of Season 5A; He first shows up at the end of the season premiere and Chloe sees through his deception by the climax of the very next episode; we don't really see him interact with Mazikeen and Dan even as he's turning them against Lucifer; and even in "Spoiler Alert" where his master plan starts coming into play, he's barely in the episode. The fact that he's been reduced to The Cameo in Season 6 only angered even more fans, who felt like he should get a redemption arc.
  • Popular TV actor Scott Porter is brought in as a new recurring cop character. Unfortunately, since it's the last season, there's no time for him to actually do anything but be a Satellite Love Interest who clearly only exists because Ella's story would have felt incomplete without her finally having a healthy romance.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • The show nixes the existential plot about the Sliding Scale of Free Will vs. Fate in favor of a bog-standard police procedural with supernatural elements, with the show being an In Name Only example of the original title.
  • When Linda finds out that Lucifer really is who he says he is, it really throws her for a loop, as one would expect. They could have devoted time to an in-depth examination of Linda's reaction to this new reality. Instead, she shakes it off in a few scenes over two episodes. However, episode 3x08 reveals that she's still coming to terms with the implications of the reveal, and is just that good at hiding it from everyone around her.
  • Season 3 sees a slight reversal with the dynamic of Lucifer and Amenadiel, with Lucifer having his wings back while Amenadiel has become a fallen angel. If the brothers (and the writers) are aware of the irony of their current circumstances, they haven't mentioned it.
  • At the end of Season 2, Lucifer promises to tell Chloe who he really is, but his kidnapping, getting his wings back and losing his devil face prevented him. But instead of, well, showing her his wings when they grow back, he randomly decides not to tell her without any good reason, pointlessly leaving her in the dark again. This leaves Chloe with very little character development and her character doing little to nothing other than making moon eyes at Pierce, abandoning the possible plot of her coming to terms with Lucifer's identity. What's even more frustrating is that Lucifer's and Chloe's relationship is experiencing a wedge driven between them, something that could've been easily accomplished by her finding out he's really the devil.
  • As mentioned above, many fans felt like not giving Michael a redemption arc in Season 6 was a wasted opportunity.
• Too Cool to Live: Father Frank. The man had a piano duel with Lucifer, for crying out loud!
• Trailers Always Spoil: The reveal in season 5, episode 2 that "Lucifer" is really his twin brother would have been a fantastic twist... if the official promos hadn't given it away months in advance.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: Lucifer can be this at times as the other characters (normally Chloe and Maze) tend to complain about his actions while downplaying their mistakes.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • Maze's reaction to Amenadiel and Linda hooking up. While it's understandable that she'd have some lingering doubts and feelings, the fact remain that not only the two in question fully consenting adults, but Maze's tendency to react disproportionately (read: violently) to things she doesn't like only makes things worse. Furthermore, she essentially pressures Linda into saying what she wants to hear, and completely neglects to take her friend's feelings into consideration. To make matters worse, after Amenadiel and Linda break up, she continues to act childish and self-centered over the whole thing, refusing to admit fault. For that matter, Maze's frustration over Lucifer refusing to return to Hell with her comes off as a lot of Wangst and It's All About Me, with her bemoaning that no one cares about what she wants and how tough and annoying human relationships and emotions make things, when back in Hell everything was so simple. Considering how Maze has always had a toxic attitude towards everyone and actively resisted making friends and getting involved personally with the rest of the cast, it makes her come off as entitled and selfish, demanding that since she can't make her life on Earth work, Lucifer should give up his and take her home.
  • Chloe during the fourth season. After seeing Lucifer's true form, she's left reeling and desperately searching for answers. When answers appear to come from Father Kinley, she does as he asks in hopes that it will help. However, not only does this involve lying to her partner's face, but also essentially spying on him and trying to exorcise him and send him to Hell, despite the fact that Lucifer has been up-front about his identity (human credulity notwithstanding) from the very start. And while Lucifer definitely has a sinister side, he also qualifies as a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who has helped her on her cases since he first met her. Instead of well-meant, Chloe comes off as someone who refused to see the truth until it was quite literally staring her in the face, and then decided to listen to a perfect stranger over someone she had considered a good friend up to that point. Then, when she's confronted about her actions, she tries to excuse herself by saying it was only "for a moment". Not helping her case is the fact that Dr. Linda Martin found out earlier (as Maze points out), and her Heroic BSoD didn't start off a chain of plot-related Disaster Dominoes that ultimately found Lucifer back in Hell, a place he loathed running. Her statement in the season finale of being afraid to lose Lucifer because she loves him is another nail in the coffin, given that she decides to tell him about it while a demon invasion and an attempted babynapping is going on, despite the fact that she now knows she makes Lucifer vulnerable. Never mind that a lone, unarmed woman is running around with a baby in a dangerous situation, that's what really matters!
  • Rory in Season 6. Despite the fact that everyone tells her repeatedly that Lucifer is a great person, she still decides they all must be lying and that he abandoned her. She then goes back in time to kill him, and even as everyone comes up with perfectly reasonable reasons why Lucifer disappeared, she still angrily insults Lucifer and everyone for defending him. Not helped that even though she is 40 to 60 years old she acts like a bratty teenager for most of the season. Then, just when she realizes her father is a good man, she forces him to abandon her past self and prevent him the joy of being there for her all because she wants to preserve a time loop only she cares about.
    • Also on Rory is a general dislike of how Trixie was handled as she's nowhere in sight at the end when Chloe dies of old age. It should have been a very important moment for the character, yet apparently the writers felt it was better for Rory to only be there for the scene. Many fans have expressed a great displeasure over how a character beloved for five seasons was barely used and then out and out ignored at the end for this new character and her unfounded wangst. While it's not something the character herself did, many fans felt it's because of Rory that Trixie was sidelined so hard and don't feel a lick of sympathy for her.