Lucifer Deals With a Major Loss in Season 5B

Lucifer returned on Friday with the back half of its fifth season and while fans of the beloved Netflix series had a lengthy wait to find out what was next for the Devil (Tom Ellis) now that his father, God (Dennis Haysbert) had arrived on Earth -- and not to mention the meddling of his brother, Michael (also Tom Ellis) -- it was a wait well worth it. Season 5B had some major developments for Lucifer as well as those closest to him, including a shocking and deeply painful death that forever alters the series as we know it.

Warning: MAJOR spoilers for the second half of Lucifer's fifth season below this point. Do not read further if you do not want to know. Continue at your own peril!

A central focus of Lucifer's fifth season is Lucifer Morningstar's celestial family drama, something that was laid out in the first half of the season. Early in the second batch of episodes, God attempts to bring the family together in fairly conventional ways, including family dinner, but can't quite bridge the gap. It sends Lucifer on a bit of an emotional journey, one that culminates him his coming to understand his father right around the time that God decides to retire, leaving his children to decide among themselves who should take his place.

The decision comes down to Lucifer and Michael, and Lucifer and Chloe (Lauren German) prepare to leave Los Angeles for Lucifer to potentially take on the role of God, though Michael is still scheming to be the victor. It's against this backdrop that the usual suspects -- Lucifer, Chloe, Dan (Kevin Alejandro), and Ella (Aimee Garcia) -- have another homicide to solve. As the investigation deepens, Dan follows a lead to a house and ends up being kidnapped.

The kidnappers -- who are part of a ruthless mercenary group -- beat and torture Dan for information about someone who is fencing stolen goods who happens to be exhibiting superhuman strength. Dan doesn't have answers for them and while Dan nearly escapes, he's shot in the back. Dan manages to survive long enough to be found and give Chloe a clue before he ultimately dies.

Dan's clue ends up being significant as it leads them to Amenadiel's necklace and unravels a larger story: Michael is assembling the Flaming Sword and needs the necklace which someone involved with the case had. It's also later revealed that Michael orchestrated Dan's murder to create leverage to force Lucifer back into Hell so he, Michael, can be God.

Michael's machination's aside, Dan's death is a huge emotional loss to everyone in Lucifer's inner circle. Everyone -- including Lucifer -- is shaken to their core at the loss of their friend, particularly as they reflect on just how much he impacted their lives. It changes everything for the group, but particularly for Lucifer. He declares that he is going to war against Michael.

While Dan's death is a huge shock, it's worth remembering that Season 5 of Lucifer was originally intended to be the series' last before it was renewed for a sixth season. The renewal did not change any plans for the season so large changes -- including this stunning death -- are part of what series co-showrunner Joe Henderson called a "beautiful jigsaw puzzle".

"One of the big things that we said when we agreed to Season 6 is that we did not want to change Season 5 because we loved Season 5," Henderson previously said in an interview with Collider. "When the back half gets released from Season 5, when Season 5B gets released, I think people will see how much the whole season fits together like, I think, a beautiful jigsaw puzzle. I love it. We didn't want to change the ending, but what we did is we just ended Season 5. We basically lopped off the act six that Ildy was in the middle of writing, and these stories that we sort of were speeding through anyways, we realized, in retrospect, we were sort of moving really fast on some things and summarizing moments that could actually be stories."

Lucifer's complete fifth season is now streaming on Netflix.

Were you surprised by Dan's death in Lucifer Season 5B?