What’s your favorite episode of Lucifer?
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Whatever your answer, we talked to showrunners Ildy Modrovich and Joe Henderson about it.
…Yes, really.
Since the series was cancelled by FOX, leaving it homeless and hoping for a fourth-season pickup somewhere else, fans have mobilized in a way that has been loud and persistent.
The showrunners, who are still working on trying to find a buyer for the series, joined ComicBook.com to have a quick chat about…well, every single episode of the show.
Episode synopses are courtesy the Lucifer Wiki.
Note: This is now the “producers’ cut,” after Ildy Modrovich combed through our conversation and tweaked many of the answers somewhat for clarity. Thanks to Henderson and Modrovich for their time and input.
Pilot
Upon leaving Hell, Lucifer Morningstar retreats to Los Angeles for a more exciting life. When the murder of a friend connects him with LAPD Detective Chloe Decker, Lucifer becomes intrigued with the idea of punishing criminals, sending the Devil himself into a struggle between good and evil.
“The moment we knew we had something special is when we shot the scene between Lucifer and Chloe in the driveway at 2Vile’s house when he tells her, ‘I’m the devil,’” Modrovich told ComicBook.com. “He thinks he’s mojo-ing her, and she’s faking being sucked in. Len Wiseman (directed the pilot) and I looked at each other and we knew we were both thinking the same thing: We just struck gold. The repartee they had… the chemistry… the whole thing just sung in that moment.”
Lucifer, Stay. Good Devil.
When a movie star’s son is killed after being chased by the paparazzi, Chloe takes a deep look into the case with a little help from Lucifer.
“That was the episode where we really figured out what the show was,” Henderson told ComicBook.com. “The pilot tells you one thing and the actual series becomes another. In our end set-piece, we have a Mexican standoff. Lucifer uses Amenadiel’s slow-down powers to save the day. So, what we realized is we’re a show with procedural elements that occasionally can have the fantastical step in. We also had Lucifer kick one of the bad guys in the balls while he was in slow motion, which spoke to the idea that despite everything being serious, we are still a show where people get kicked in the balls. Because that’s just funny.”
Would-Be Prince of Darkness
When a 22-year-old future superstar quarterback wakes up to find a dead girl floating in his swimming pool, he turns to his friend, Lucifer, for help. Lucifer enlists Chloe to investigate the case, which leads to the world of big money sports and people who will literally kill to be number one.
“We’ll fess up and say that this was actually written ninth,” Modrovich said. “Early on, we were being gently reminded that Lucifer was supposed to be a light cop procedural. Right before we aired, I think everyone started getting those typical premiere nerves. And people started worrying that we had gone too far into the mythology too fast. So, the idea was to write a stand-alone procedural episode that we would then move up and air before episode three. Truth be told, it threw us for a loop. We ended up having a lot of fun with it but it was an interesting challenge.”
“Here is the most important part of this episode,” added Henderson. “Originally, we had Lucifer rap. There was this guest character called Lucibro who was pretending to be Lucifer and he was going to be in this epic rap battle. But at outline stage, they said they thought the rap was an extraneous part of the story that didn’t need to be there. In fact, they said, ‘Remove it, please.’ We then delivered a second draft that baked the Lucifer rap into the entire story in case. They were like, ‘Guys, what are you doing?’ We said, “It’s not extraneous anymore!” There is a much longer version though and it’s pretty awesome. I think our writer assistant, Andrea Thornton wrote it. It is a shame that it never saw the light of day. But that was when we were still finding the tone of the show.”
Modrovich noted that the rap was likely co-written by Thornton and staff writer Mike Costa. This would not be the last great bit of world-building Costa would create which didn’t make it to air…!
Manly Whatnots
In an effort to get over his infatuation with Chloe, Lucifer decides that he must seduce her. Meanwhile, the two team up on a missing girl case and Amenadiel confronts Maze about his concerns about Lucifer.
“This is an easy one, because this episode still has my favorite scene I’ve personally written in it. I mean… besides maybe Charlotte Richard’s death, and when Amenadiel gets his wings in ‘Quintessential Deckerstar,’” said Modrovich. “It’s the scene where Lucifer is naked and he comes out because he thinks he’s going to quote, ‘woo’ Chloe by showing off the merchandise. As in: ‘How can you resist this?’ Of course, with any other lady that he comes in contact with, that does work. But not with Chloe. I love his surprise in that moment. And that the tone goes from comedy and flat-out ridiculousness to the incredibly emotional moment when Chloe sees the scars on Lucifer’s back. I love that moment so much. I just love Lauren’s tone of concern. And Tom is so beautifully heartbreaking. I feel like that’s the first moment we really saw his vulnerability in the series.”
Sweet Kicks
After a shooting occurs at a fashion show and a young woman is killed, Lucifer becomes intrigued by the danger of the situation and begs Chloe to get in on the case. Meanwhile, when Maze admits to Amenadiel that she wants to go back to Hell, he sets his sights on Dr. Linda.
“This was where we got to see Maze kick ass,” Henderson said. “To me, that’s one of my favorite parts was trying to discover just how much we could do with Maze and discover just how much Lesley-Ann was capable of. Turns out, A LOT. “
Favorite Son
Lucifer bails on Chloe when he becomes bored with her investigation into a ruthless biker gang murder. However, when he discovers something was stolen during the crime that was very personal to him, he demands that Chloe let him rejoin the case.
“I think we hit a sweet spot in the series in the two-parter about the wings,” Modrovich said. “I feel like that’s when we kind of hit our tonal stride. We knew we wanted to go into mythology in a deep way, but we couldn’t do it right away because we were trying to build a lighter procedural show. But we knew we wanted to go to these deep places. So five and six were really satisfying for us. They were not easy to get past studio and network though, truth be told. We actually got the note to lose the wings. But that’s the whole episode, we said. It’s about his wings!” So we asked nicely and they came around.
Wingman
In attempt to find the contents of his stolen container, Lucifer enlists the help of an unlikely ally. Meanwhile, Chloe digs deeper into the Palmetto case, uncovering a lead that might finally expose the truth.
“And in this episode, the mythology got even darker,” Modrovich said. “I think the notion of a pair of severed wings in a box alarmed everyone a bit, but we knew you had to balance the light of the show with this dark side — especially this is a story about the devil, after all. We knew we wanted explore the deep themes of this wayward son, and his struggle with his father. We knew we couldn’t just dance on top of that. We had to go deep into it, or it wouldn’t be satisfying. So it was not easy to get those two episodes past everybody. But I think we were all excited at how they came out. Tom just jumped on them and played; he was dying to do that kind of stuff and really reach deeper into the character, and he did so brilliantly. When all was said and done, I think everybody saw the potential of where we could go after those episodes. So those two were seminal in that way.”
Et Tu, Doctor?
When a therapist is murdered, Lucifer and Chloe enlist the help of Dr. Linda to look into possible suspects. Meanwhile, Malcolm confronts Chloe about the night he was shot, and Lucifer experiences his first bout of jealousy.
“What I loved about ‘Et Tu, Doctor’ was it’s when we started to be able to cast comedians,” Henderson said. “We got Jim Rash. We got Al Madrigal. That was fun because we realized we were a show that could cast funny people and get them out of their element a little bit. Also, that’s the first episode that Kevin Rankin was awake [after] his character’s in a coma. Working with Kevin was such a delight. So getting to watch him do his thing was incredible.”
A Priest Walks Into A Bar
A priest seeks out Lucifer’s help when he suspects an underground drug operation has set up shop at a neighborhood youth center. However, a problem arises when the youth counselor is found dead, and suspicion quickly falls on the priest. Meanwhile, Amenadiel meets with Malcolm to discuss the reason he brought him back from Hell. Meanwhile, Malcolm manipulates a way to keep an eye on Dan.
“Ha! I remember at one point, we were kind of told there was too much talking; I remember that very vividly,” Modrovich laughed. “We’re like, ‘Yeah, but it’s good talking!’ My favorite scene is where Lucifer sits at the piano with the priest and they play some blues together. Again, in typical cop procedural manner, every scene has to drive that procedural story forward. That scene didn’t. It was actually flagged to be cut. Joe and I had to advocate for it as a character beat. We’re a cop procedural, but this is also a character show. We believed it could be better than just a cop procedural. And I feel like that piano scene turned out to be one of the iconic moments in the show.”
Despite this interview coming out after the show has been pulled from FOX’s schedule, Modrovich was quick to note that it is not entirely fair to think of the push-and-pull between the showrunners and the studio or network as “fights.”
“They weren’t fights, but we have to kind of push the boulder up the hill a little bit to kind of expand what people were expecting from the show,” she said. “I’m glad we did because I think it did become more than people thought it was going to be. Including us!”
Pops
Lucifer and Chloe are tasked with solving the murder of a prominent restaurateur. When they meet his son, they suspect he played a part in the death. Meanwhile, Chloe’s mom returns home, sending Chloe’s life into upheaval, as Lucifer learns his own dysfunctional family isn’t nearly as unique as he thought.
“I loved this episode because I got to work with Manny Montana again. He was on Graceland, which I worked on,” Henderson said. “I just loved him as a human being. This story focused on really building up the Chloe and Lucifer connection, and the sort of ‘will they, won’t they’ element of everything.”
“Of course, this also introduced the fabulous Penelope Decker,” Modrovich added. “Having Mama Decker was so much fun. That was my favorite part of this episode for sure; Rebecca De Mornay was so great.”
St. Lucifer
When philanthropist Tim Dunlear is found dead, Lucifer explores his good side by becoming a benefactor for Tim’s glitzy, Los Angeles charity.
“St. Lucifer was where we kicked off the Maze/Amenadiel romance,” Henderson said. “Two characters at complete opposite ends, enemies for thousands of years, connecting over a bottle of wine and Amenadiel’s goat prank. This is where we really dug into the chemistry between D.B. and Lesley-Ann that we saw earlier in the season, and realized just how much we could do with their relationship.”
#TeamLucifer
When a woman is found dead on the Hollywood Walk of Fame – with her body twisted into the shape of a pentagram – the investigation leads Lucifer and company into the world of Satanists where, as they soon realize, evil doesn’t always live where we expect it to.
“I must say, I do enjoy these last two episodes, even though my name is on one of them and Joe’s is one the other,” Modrovich said. “We could’ve broken the show, in a way. Doing an episode like ‘#TeamLucifer,’ about a satanic cult – we knew it was a cliché idea. But we also knew we had to do that sooner than later, because it IS what people kind of expected. So we wanted to see if we could turn it on its head. The thought was: ‘how would Lucifer do this story?’ How do we play against clichés? So we knew we wanted this cult to be ridiculous.”
Take Me Back to Hell
When Lucifer is framed for murder, he and Chloe must work together to clear his name and prove the identity of the true killer.
“Then same but different in episode 13, when we went to Hell,” said Modrovich, comparing the season one finale to her comments about the previous episode. “When we started the show, we’d give interviews and say, ‘We’ll never go to Hell. We’ll explore Lucifer on Earth, and play the grounded father-son story. Yeah, we’ll never go to hell.’ Then of course, that went right out the window.”
She said that throughout the first season, the show kept challenging the writing staff, and those usually turned out to be the best episodes.
“Another thing that we discovered Season One was that going to scary places or doing things we never said we’d do was always the most exciting,” she admitted. “‘Oh that’s cliché,’ or ‘how are we going to do THAT?’ If we scared ourselves, it was usually a good sign. That first finale turned out really well. I mean, Nathan Hope is a lot of the reason of why it looked really cool, along with our production team. And then Joe’s awesome script.”
Everything’s Coming Up Lucifer
Lucifer is distracted by his mother’s escape from Hell, as he and Chloe investigate the murder of a stand-in actress. Meanwhile, Chloe’s faith in Lucifer is tested by the new medical examiner, Ella. Also, Amenadiel hopes to rein in Lucifer’s wild side, as they both deal with the absence of Maze.
“I feel like everything [in season two] was kind of an experiment,” Modrovich said. “Bringing in Mom at the end of season one, we had no idea what that was, just to fess up. We were like, ‘Oh, let’s see what could be in Hell? Who could have escaped?’ It could be a scary demon, the biggest, baddest damned soul ever. Then when the idea of Mom came up, we were like, ‘Oh, that’s awesome. But what does it mean? Who’s Mom? I don’t know. Let’s do it!’ So we knew the season was going to be all about mom, but we had no idea who mom was.”
“Then of course we got Tricia [Helfer],” Modrovich added. “Tricia is so good. I mean, and people say it all the time, but she’s just a stunning actress. She has no right to be that good.”
Liar, Liar, Slutty Dress on Fire
When Lucifer’s mother, Charlotte, turns up at the scene of a grisly murder pleading innocence, Lucifer is hesitant to believe her tale. Not wanting to leave her on her own, he instructs Maze to babysit her – and not to torture her, allowing him to investigate the case with Chloe.
“That was Tricia’s first, where we really got to explore Mom and introduce her as a character,” Modrovich said. “I was nervous as hell. We just didn’t know what that was going to be like. We hoped the dynamic between her and Tom would be amazing. We actually started filming that episode with the first scene, and it’s like a five-minute, six-page scene in his apartment. It’s the first time they’ve seen each other in millennia. It’s sentimental. It’s funny, hopefully. And it’s dramatic. We knew they both had to go about nine different places in that scene. And they did. Tricia just killed it. I was giddy on set that day. I knew season two was going to be so much fun because she just came in, and had that character down: This kind of fish out of water, this goddess in the middle of Los Angeles — this sort of gawky gazelle in a way. Man, that was exciting. I remember that moment really well.”
Sin-Eater
Lucifer and Chloe investigate a gruesome murder after a video of the crime surfaces on social media. When a second video appears, they realize they have a serial killer on their hands. Meanwhile, Lucifer’s mom returns as Charlotte Richards. Also, Amenadiel, struggling with his loss of power, has an appointment with Linda.
“We got to sort of play with the horror tropes of the show, while still being funny because on one side, you had a serial killer story, and Lucifer dealing with this idea that he’s blamed for everything,” Henderson said. “On the other side, you had Amenadiel dealing with Mom returning and all the fun of that — and Lucifer dealing with a mom who just wants to be around you WAY too much. To me, it was one of those episodes where the case and the mythology interweave really well. I was really happy with how that one turned out.”
Lady Parts
Lucifer and Chloe investigate a serial killer. After the bodies of two young L.A. transplants are found poisoned, Chloe and Lucifer hunt for the killer. Upon Maze convincing Chloe to go out for drinks, which the detective perceives as an act of friendship, but is actually part of a bet between Maze and Lucifer, the two make a shocking decision.
“‘Lady Parts’ was our girls’ night out episode written by the amazing Sheri Elwood,” Modrovich explained. “We knew we wanted to do an episode with all of our ladies. They weren’t really friends at this point in our series; so we knew we wanted to cultivate their connections. So I know, let’s just stick them all in one place, get them drunk and see what happens. We also took it to as silly a place as we possibly could, by having this big fun brawl in a tiki bar.”
“Damn right,” added Henderson.
Weaponizer
Lucifer’s brother, Uriel, shows up. Lucifer is excited to investigate the murder of his favorite action movie hero, Wesley Cabot. Longtime rival Rolf [sic] Van Zandt initially is a suspect, but the investigation soon shifts. Meanwhile, Uriel shows up and Amenadiel is forced to come clean about his lost powers. Also, Lucifer and Uriel fight about Chloe and their mother.
“It was just too much fun,” Modrovich said. “It was the introduction of Uriel, which was cool. But the whole idea of Lucifer being a fan of these movies was ridiculous fun. Mike Costa showed up with like a four-page document about the Weaponizer movies and the Body Bags movies, which sparked the Weaponizer movies.”
“We have a master doc that explains the plot of every single one of the movies and how they dovetailed,” said Henderson.
“–That Mike Costa produced. We were like, ‘This is the best thing so far you’ve ever written,’” Modrovich joked. “They were so detailed, and so great. That was just a fun sidebar fantasy of all of us who love those big testosterone-laden movies. We really wanted to make the actual Weaponizer movies.”
Monster
Guilty and self-destructive, Lucifer clashes with Chloe during an investigation, leading her to team up with Dan instead. Meanwhile, Amenadiel bonds with Charlotte, and Maze takes Trixie trick-or-treating.
“This is one of my favorite episodes actually,” said Modrovich. “Our Halloween episode written by Chris Rafferty. The thing that sticks out to me in this one is Maze’s story with Trixie — it was inspired from that moment when Trixie walked into Lux.”
“We started to play with the notion that Lucifer is the eternal teenager. Chloe is the adult who skipped her teen years. And Maze is sort of like a child,” Henderson added. So, we thought her connecting with Trixie made a lot of sense. This is the episode where we really followed up on that relationship.”
“We wanted to see what would happen when a demon takes an 8 year-old trick-or-treating,” Modrovich said. “When Maze shows her real face to Trixie, she expects Trixie to be scared, but the fact that Trixie’s response was to smile and say, ‘Cool,’ was such a heartwarming moment between the two of them. It was the perfect start to their little friendship.”
For all the power that character beat delivered, though, there was another coming with even more long-term impact for the show.
“This is when Linda finds out Lucifer is the devil, so that was heavy,” Modrovich said. “We knew we wanted it to be a silent moment, where Linda doesn’t say anything. That was somewhat risky, but it really paid off. We trusted Rachel and Tom; they’re such good actors that we knew if we just let them react and not say anything, it would be stronger than anything Linda could say. And it was.”
My Little Monkey
Chloe tries to track down her father’s killer. When the prisoner convicted of killing Chloe’s father is murdered, new evidence suggests he was actually framed. Meanwhile, Maze tries to find a job and Lucifer shadows Dan in order to learn how to be ‘normal’.
“We had done six episodes that were focused on Lucifer,” Henderson explained. “It was really, really nice to focus on Chloe and really dig into her character. This was the pivot of the season, from our act one into our act two. Our act one was so much about Mom, and then at the end of this episode where Lucifer and Chloe embrace, you could see that there’s something there. It’s the beginning of the romance arc, which was really exciting.”
Trip To Stabby Town
After discovering that Azrael’s blade has been stolen by a human, Lucifer quickly connects it with a string of violent stabbings revolving around a local yoga studio. While Chloe investigates the murders, Lucifer enlists Ella’s help in locating the sword to stop the carnage.
“‘Trip to Stabby Town’ has the best physical comedy moment that we accomplished in the whole series for sure — directed, I will say in parentheticals, by Lauren German,” Modrovich revealed. “The scene was where Ella acts out the murder. She is walking it through in a yoga studio. She says, ‘And then the killer picked up the knife and he stabbed him, like this.’ Lauren basically pulled them off to the side – Aimee and Tom – and said, if you get on your knees, THEN mime the knife part, it’s going to look like a handjob.’ Lauren also suggested Aimee never look at Tom. So the comedy is Aimee’s supposed to be clueless about what it looks like, but Tom is. So Tom is back there smirking, fully aware of the tableau that Aimee is creating. We watched those dallies probably five times in the writer’s room. We were laughing our assess off. That’s by far the best comedy in that whole episode.”
Homewrecker
Following the murder of the owner of the building in which Lux is located, Lucifer and Chloe search for the killer, while Lucifer also deals with the fact that the new owner wants to evict him and demolish the place. Lucifer goes to great lengths to protect his home, and is entirely shocked when Chloe is supportive of him. Meanwhile, Maze and Amenadiel follow Charlotte around, as she comes up with a plan to upset Lucifer enough to want to leave earth and go back to Heaven.
“Oh yeah, that’s when the body falls from the skyscraper,” recalled Modrovich.
Henderson added, “Yeah, I love that episode… I don’t know why, but I really wanted an ice luge in this episode. Everyone was like, ‘The only ice luges we could find online are basically penis ice luges or something similarly profane.’ I was like, ‘Guys, come on. There’s got to be upper class ice luge.’ Then sure enough, they came up with this amazing luxe ice luge which I wanted to own if I had a freezer big enough for it. But it’s funny — you just get an idea in your head. You’re like, ‘Can you guys figure it out?’ If you have the right crew, they will astound you.”
Quid Pro Ho
Charlotte is determined to get Lucifer to leave Earth by turning Chloe against him. Meanwhile, Amenadiel has begun working as Charlotte’s soldier, which makes Maze question his loyalty.
“Oh right, that’s our courtroom drama. I wrote that with the uber talented Julia Fontana,” Modrovich recalled. “I could say that the moment that sticks out to me the most bizarrely has nothing to do with the A-case or the courtroom drama. We knew we were making the courtroom drama episode so we knew we had to balance it with some action. So actually, my favorite moment is the fight with Maze and the giant sword, where she fights the Yakuza basically. It’s such an homage to great karate films. That was just fun to film. Then of course teaming up, Dan and Lucifer was really fun, too.”
“There’s an alternate version we couldn’t quite get passed Standards and Practices where Lucifer yells: ‘You, motherfuh–…’ and then shoves Dan into the wall and the F-word is drowned out by the action. But they wouldn’t let us go anywhere near implying that word. Which was a bummer because technically it was true because of course, Dan was sleeping with Charlotte. So instead we went with Mmmmm-arlotte (A combo of “mom” and “Charlotte”) which I thought was pretty amazing too.”
Stewardess Interruptus
After Lucifer and Chloe have an interrupted ‘moment’, the tension between the two of them makes it difficult to investigate the murder of two victims, who happen to be Lucifer’s ex-flames. Since Lucifer seems to be the only connection, interviews are conducted with his recent paramours and a surprising connection is made that helps lead them to the killer. Meanwhile, Charlotte continues to try and manipulate Chloe and Lucifer’s impending romance and a larger threat is revealed.
“[This] is a favorite of mine that Sheri Elwood wrote,” Henderson said. “It was the episode after a near-kiss — the episode where the kiss actually happens. We also had the montage of Lucifer’s exes, which was one of I think our finest moments. It was just super fun because we got to see Lucifer dealing with his past come back to haunt him. All of the women he’d been with. Chloe really started to face, for the first time, the idea of what it would actually be like to be with Lucifer. So there was that along with one of our best stunts that Greg Beeman shot of Lucifer racing against the jet in his car. It was a tricky pivot point because we really wanted to bring Lucifer and Chloe together. We wanted that kiss.”
It didn’t come too easy, though, as there was some pushback…but only with the show’s best interests at heart.
“There was a lot of caution on behalf of the network to make sure we didn’t break the show. By having them kiss, whether or not that would be the sort of thing that would sort of pull all the tension out of the show,” Henderson continued. “Our pitch on it was very much no, no, no. This has to happen. This is what we’re building to. But the question is what’ll happen AFTER. The fun of it is if Lucifer is the self-destructive character, what are the different things he is going to do to get in his own way and how will that affect their partnership and their relationship.”
It was also a practical decision.
“One of the things we learned in season two was that we were going to be on the air for I think ten episodes. Then we were going to be back on the air for three, which was super strange,” Henderson said. “What we decided to do was okay, let’s arc towards that. The first ten episodes will be all about mom. Then the big swerve will be realizing at the end of episode ten that we’re about to learn the truth about Chloe. So we learned a truth but it’s not the truth that we were expecting to ever find out. Then 11, and 12, 13 pivoting us to this really focused three-parter where the case was the same thing throughout all three episodes. We hadn’t done that before. But also, it’s really about Lucifer and Chloe’s relationship, revealing why Chloe isn’t affected by Lucifer, and finally have Lucifer realize that God was behind the whole thing. One of the things we really liked was weaponizing those things – when Mom learns the truth before Lucifer and uses it to hurt him. We knew that would be a great three-part story.”
Love Handles
Lucifer and Chloe investigate a mysterious masked killer who is poisoning college students. They also try to make sense of their new relationship, after a long-awaited kiss. Meanwhile, Charlotte visits Linda for advice on a touchy subject.
“This was just fun because we got to choose Lucifer’s horns. It became a big discussion actually,” Modrovich said. “Our production design department even had a poster made of the different options. It wasn’t just about how they looked, but how they could be grabbed, like handles” — “if you will,” Henderson interjects” — “because in this fantasy sequence where Chloe dreams that she’s having sex with Lucifer, she reaches up and grabs his horns. So it was very important to get the right grasp. Anyway, it was really fun to see Lucifer and Chloe passionately hook up. Even though it was a fantasy, it was really fun to actually see it play out.”
A Good Day to Die
Lucifer must find the antidote to the Professor’s poison before it kills Chloe. He travels to Hell to find the Professor’s soul and get him to turn over the antidote. While he’s there, he is forced to confront his guilt about Uriel’s death. Mom heads to Hell to get Lucifer back, but Lucifer still feels betrayed by his parents because of something he discovers.
This, of course, was the finale to the “three-parter” described above, and gave Lucifer the answer as to why Chloe is special.
“I think we kind of landed on that pretty early on. When I came into the project, during the pilot, Chloe was immune to his charms,” Modrovich said. “But the question was: why? So when Joe and I, and the team got together, we really had to figure that out pretty quickly. And we decided that God put her there as a test for Lucifer. Can he have a real relationship with somebody without his celestial power? Let’s put this woman in front of him who’s immune to his charms and just see what he does with it.”
“The fun was the debate of whether or not God was giving his son a test or a gift,” Henderson added. “It’s a father basically saying, ‘Son, you have it too easy. Here’s someone who will challenge you. I think you might like that. I think this might be what you need. But can you appreciate it? Can you understand what this really is? One of the nice things is Lucifer will always misinterpret everything God does as being manipulative. He’s not wrong per se, but it’s all about intent. Is he doing it because he’s God and because he likes to manipulate things? Because it makes him feel powerful? Or is he father looking down on his son and giving him the thing that he thinks he needs?”
“We also really liked the irony of even though he, God, quote ‘Manipulated the situation’ by putting Chloe in his path, it’s actually the opposite of manipulation,” said Modrovich. “He’s giving this woman and Lucifer complete free will. He’s taking any powers or magic or celestial advantage out of the situation and saying, ‘Let’s see what happens when he’s NOT manipulated.’ This WAS free will. So that’s the irony of it because, of course, Lucifer took it as complete manipulation.”
“That’s the fun of our show – if God is this person who we all reflect different intentions on, then of course his kids should do the same thing,” Henderson said. “The idea of the distant father, whose children are trying to figure out what he’s really doing — to take the big celestial idea and turn into a simple family relationship. It was fun to take this big crazy idea, God works in mysterious ways and go, ‘Well, my dad kind of always did too.’ If my dad was a distant figure, did I ever really understand what he was really up to or what he really intended?”
Candy Morningstar
Two weeks after Chloe’s near-death, Lucifer has gone off the grid, cutting off all contact from his family and the police department. He materializes just in time to help solve an up-and-coming guitarist’s murder and introduces the department to a ditzy stripper named Candy… a new mystery woman in his life. While Lucifer’s mom desperately tries to contact her son, Chloe tries to push him away. Lucifer must find a way to prove himself in order to be invited back onto the team. Lucifer’s mom realizes she may have found a way to finally get them back to Heaven.
“I love this episode written by Jenn Kao. And I’m pretty sure the simple idea of Lucifer marrying a stripper was a Sheri Ellwood special. We were trying to figure out how to come back from that three parter, how to reset,” Modrovich said. “We thought, ‘Oh, well, what if Lucifer’s married? He goes to Vegas and gets married to a hooker.’ Then it became a stripper. Then it became a lounge singer. But yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s a Sheri pitch. But my favorite moment is when Lucifer sings Eternal Flame. I think it’s just probably my favorite musical moment from him. It’s so tongue and cheek, but it’s so romantic. It’s so 80s movie romantic.”
Modrovich added that her band from the ’90s makes a small appearance in the episode.
“The Heavy Woolies is the name of it,” Henderson added. “That’s very important.”
Deceptive Little Parasite
When it is discovered that the flaming sword is the only hope for the family returning home safely, the pressure is on for Lucifer to control what he has never been able to control before – his emotions – in order to ignite it. Meanwhile, Chloe wants to air some emotions of her own, but when a therapist and head of admissions at a prestigious private school turns up dead, the team must get to the bottom of it.
“This is where we lampooned the private school system. We got a note from our producers that it was too broad and absurd,” Henderson admitted. “Then we got a note from another producer saying, ‘Actually not only is this stuff true but they’ve shown remarkable restraint because it’s even weirder than this.’ So that was kind of fun. Yeah, truth is, that world can actually be much sillier than we even showed.”
God Johnson
When a grisly murder takes place at an insane asylum, the prime suspect calls himself God. After realizing that this man could actually be his father, Lucifer struggles with his feelings towards him and tries to find the truth, all while trying to discover who the real killer is.
“I really liked God Johnson. I had a fun time doing God Johnson, just because it was a fun chance to explore, head on, the father-son relationship we were talking about. And casting the amazing Tim Omundson,” Modrovich said. “We were like chopping at the bit on this one. As soon as we cast him, we’re like, ‘Oh my god, it’s going to be perfect.’ And it was. Oddly, it was sort of a self-contained, almost a bottle episode because it took place almost entirely in a psych ward. That was a fun kind of challenge. But we knew we wanted to really believe at one point, that this man could be Lucifer’s dad. And we wanted Lucifer to maybe even come to a point of slight reconciliation with him only to have it pulled away was really juicy. That moment when his dad is finally saying the things Lucifer always wanted him to say. When they’re on the gurneys at the end, and God is basically apologizing. Lucifer’s wanted to hear those words for millennia, and he finally gets them. It’s just heartbreaking when you find out that it’s not his actual dad. I love that moment.”
“And then him realizing that he’ll NEVER hear those words,” Henderson added. “I remember when we were breaking the episode when we realized that there’s a wonderful value to ending the episode with him being angrier than before because he actually got to feel that love for a moment. Now, he knows what it feels like. Now that he knows he’ll never actually feel that for real, he’s doubly angry at his father.”
Modrovich also praised the episode’s director, Sherwin Shilati, who would come back for “Til Death Do Us Part,” and has also since helmed an episode of Riverdale.
“He came out of the gate just ready to make The Godfather,” she said. “He was like, ‘I am going to make the best episode of Lucifer you’ve ever seen.’ It’s all encapsulated in one sequence which is when they escape from the asylum – when they cause the inmates to go crazy. Well, to embrace their true desires. One inmate is like, ‘I want to set things on fire.’ They all have their own little obsessive things they want to do or grand things they want to do. And the sequence is in slow motion where God Johnson and Lucifer are walking through the multi-purpose room in the asylum and everyone is just going crazy in this beautiful, operatic way. That was all Sherwin. That was all Sherwin and our amazing stunt coordinator, Rob Hayter, who both choreographed the hell out of it. When we saw the pre-vis of it, we were like, ‘Holy shit. Sherwin’s a genius.’ He really has a vision. He’d just won us over on that episode, plus he’s just lovely guy.”
Sympathy For the Goddess
When the man who had the final piece of the Flaming Sword is murdered and the piece goes missing, Mom joins Chloe and Lucifer on the case to track down the killer. But when Lucifer gets sidelined, Maze recruits him to help save Dr. Linda’s endangered career and confronts him about the secrets he’s been keeping.
“The second to last [episode of the season], the game was let’s mix and match,” said Henderson, who wrote the episode. “Let’s play fun pairs, weird duos. Let’s have a little bit of fun before our big crazy epic. It was putting Lucifer and Maze back together which isn’t normally a weird duo but they were separated throughout the season. So, paying off that separation, putting them back together, but putting them on a collision course for each other because Maze realizes that Lucifer’s had this big plan. But he hadn’t actually let her in on it. Lucifer takes her for granted and she realizes it. In the end, Lucifer realizes that and makes the very small gesture of an apology, but one that feels very large to Maze because it’s a gesture he’s never made before.
“Then we also paired Charlotte and Chloe together. We knew that Charlotte’s time or at least mom’s time was nearing an end. We hadn’t really played those two characters together. They’ve been pretty much just antagonists the entire time. So it was really fun to explore the two of them finding mutual ground — mothers who fiercely protect their children. When we found that very simple common ground, we realized there was a lot to explore with the two of them. That was really exciting.
“Then bringing Dan and Amenadiel together, was also super fun because those were again, two characters who we hadn’t paired and the two characters who could potentially have sort of a similar energy. So you wanted to really find a way to either lean into that or make them feel very different. Having those two characters connect, we discovered a friendship between the two, that we didn’t know existed. That’s why we ended up keeping it in play in season three. Really the idea of it the whole episode was… we’re about to have a big crazy ending. Let’s have a little bit of a, a little romp beforehand.”
The Good, the Bad, and the Crispy
After Charlotte accidentally charbroils a man to death in self-defense, Lucifer must try and keep Chloe from figuring out the truth. Lucifer puts Maze in charge of finding Charlotte and Amenadiel, who have both gone missing in light of recent circumstances, while he finds a permanent solution for the ticking-time-bomb he calls Mom.
This next bit can really only be communicated as the conversation unfolded…
Modrovich: The idea of Amenadiel doing improve was heavenly. Of Amenadiel saying: okay, if this game is supposed to help you work through things, Dan, then I’m going to use it to work through my issues with my father. So trying to turn comedy improv into his own therapy. He’s so earnest. It was so much fun.
But of course, the whole episode was about finding a satisfying ending for mom. We went back to where we started with the metaphor of the bitter person in the divorce who didn’t get the house and didn’t get the kids, and didn’t get anything. She can’t let go. She wanted to go backwards. She wanted to somehow assemble it again and steal it away from God, and we realized that the most satisfying place to end would be to have her move on. Not to forget her children – there’s no way you can do that – but to move on spiritually, to create her own new world, and let go of her bitterness and her anger towards her ex-husband, God.
That felt like the most kind of enlightened version of Mom. It felt the most satisfying.
But while we were trying to figure out a happy ending for mom, we knew she was also going to almost kill Linda. It was tricky in some ways because we wanted to show the length to which Mom would go. We wanted to be rooting for her, but we also wanted to push her to the most desperate place where she would kill a human, kill one of our favorite people actually, Linda, and then put Chloe in danger. We knew there had to be no limit to how far she would go to get her family back. Then in the same episode, we had to get her to the point where she could let go. That was quiet a turn. So, I guess that was the meat of the episode.
Henderson: Well, as long as we made sure the audience understood that everything came from a position of a mother trying to be with her family… that even if she did terrible things, we at least wanted to understand why. So even as she’s hurting all the characters we love the most, we also understand why she’s doing it. That was the tricky line that we really tried to walk so that she was still the hero of her own story even if we knew she’d gone too far.
Modrovich: Joe, do you remember the moment in the room when we’re like, “Oh my god, this is when Amenadiel gets his powers back?” That was one of those huge reliefs… because we wanted to give Mom her own universe (the space vagina, we like to call it, where Lucifer puts the sword together and cuts a hole in the universe) but we didn’t know how that was all going to go down. So all the pieces came together, like Tetris when we realized Amenadiel could get his powers back, slow down time, and make it all possible.
Henderson: Yeah. What happened is we had written ourselves into a corner where we had to save Linda and where mom was basically a walking time bomb. I love writing ourselves into corners because that’s where inspirations often comes. We had these two stories and we just couldn’t figure out how to have them collide. Then the room just started riffing and all of a sudden, it was like: ‘When Amenadiel freezes time, we’ve never actually seen how the rest of the world reacts. We’ve always just been in that scene, but the rest of the world would freeze too, right? So what he gets his powers back right at the best possible moment? There’s nothing more satisfying than when you’ve been banging your head against the wall for two hours and then all of a sudden, it’s like [choir singing].
Modrovich: Oh my God, the sky parts, yeah. So that’s that one. That was the first finale I had written, so that was fun.
They’re Back, Aren’t They?
After a confused Lucifer wakes up in the middle of the desert with his wings back, he recruits the help of Chloe to help figure out what happened to him and why. Upon doing their own research, they come across a crime scene that could be tied to Lucifer’s kidnapping. When the Lancaster Police Department get involved, newcomer Lieutenant Marcus Pierce fails to make a great impression on everyone with his stern demeanor. The investigation goes awry when Lucifer finds himself in another compromising situation and something much darker is revealed.
“The challenge was that we had to pick back up with this giant reveal, where we left season two, with Lucifer and his wings in the middle of the desert. But we also knew that we didn’t want to get into too serious a tone right off the bat. The solution was Jeremy Birkett, otherwise known as Lee who was in the first episode after the pilot as the thief. It was perfect to bring him back because he’s so damn funny. There’s nothing like him running through the desert in his chonies to reset a lighter tone,” explained Modrovich. “The moment that stands out to me the most I guess is when Lucifer sits down to show Chloe he’s the devil and he can’t. I love that moment because he’s so brave. At the end of season two, he decided he was going to tell her the everything, and he’s going to keep his word. But then he can’t. The reaction from Lauren is so great because she’s incredibly hurt by it. It breaks your heart.”
The One With The Baby Carrot
After Lucifer removes his wings yet again, Linda becomes concerned that he is too focused on tracking down the Sinnerman and neglecting his own well-being. Tensions continue to rise between Lucifer and Chloe, but they realize they must put their differences aside to solve a case in which Lucifer takes a sudden interest. Once Detective Pierce’s past is revealed though, everyone realizes that the Sinnerman is much more dangerous than they thought.
“We had Lucifer shoot a guy with a puppet,” Henderson said. “I mean, I can’t believe we got away with the absurdity of that episode. I loved writing it because this is one of the hardest episodes I’ve had to write because when you enter the world of comedy, people either have to be funny or intentionally unfunny. Both are very difficult to do. So I probably wouldn’t do it again but I loved writing it because it was an incredible challenge. I was really happy with how it turned out.”
Modrovich reminded him that he also had to rewrite a part of the episode…
“That’s right. I couldn’t say micropenis,” Henderson laughed. “I think I said it 17 times and I had to whittle down my micropenises by five.”
“And then the fun thing is that Lucifer actually says, ‘Look at that big cock,’” Modrovich said. “We actually got away with that because he’s referring to a giant chicken.”
Mr. & Mrs. Mazikeen Smith
After talking to Lucifer and Linda, Maze realizes that she is looking for more out of life and decides to head to Canada for a tricky case. Chloe however, becomes concerned when she feels that Maze is being deceived by a scheming conman. Upon further investigation, Lucifer and Chloe make a stunning realization when they find that their target may be much closer than they thought.
In discussing this episode, which was a hangover from season two, the pair got into a broader discussion about the stand-alones.
“The Maze episode showed that we could do a little bit of a James Bond-y sort of thing and a flashback showed that we could just go whenever we wanted if we felt there was a story worth telling,” said Henderson.
“At first, they were really sort of the bane of our existence, the four stand-alones,” Modrovich said. “But also like Joe was saying, we got to take chances with these stories we never would’ve gotten. It did open up the scope of the kind of stories we could tell. So that was really fun. I guess the only reason they were difficult is because we had to shuffle them into the next season kind of sight unseen.”
What Would Lucifer Do?
When a youth counselor is found murdered, Lucifer and Chloe venture into the world of high-end reform programs to find the killer. Meanwhile, Amenadiel adjusts his lifestyle in an attempt to help Lucifer, and Chloe questions Lt. Pierce’s feelings towards her.
“I just has my favorite joke in it of all time,” Modrovich said. “Which is when Lucifer rides in, stoned, on a horse. Chloe says, ‘Where’d you get that horse?’ He says, ‘What horse?’ It’s just my favorite joke. It really is. I laugh every time.”
Welcome Back, Charlotte Richards
When a food chemist is found dead, Lucifer and Chloe’s investigation pits them against an unexpected face – criminal defense attorney Charlotte Richards. Everyone is caught off guard when they see her back in the precinct. As Lucifer tries to understand her return, he makes a shocking discovery that helps solve the case.
“We loved working with Tricia so much that we brought her back as an entirely different character in the same body,” Henderson said. “It was so wonderful to see Tricia finding a way to play the character in a way that was completely different but that people wouldn’t necessarily feel like she was a different person. It was great to have an episode that really focused on her as a lead.”
Vegas with Some Radish
When Lucifer discovers his ex-fake-wife, Candy, has gone missing, he hightails it to Las Vegas with Ella in tow. Together, the two of them work to find her, but interesting secrets are revealed along the way that could compromise the investigation. Meanwhile, Chloe is upset that Lucifer left on her birthday, so Linda tries to lift her spirits.
“So at the beginning of the season, we knew we needed to set up this giant theme of identity for Lucifer. When he wakes up in the desert with his wings back, he’s like, ‘Who am I? What am I?’” Modrovich explained. “Then he finds out his devil face is gone. Of course, he thinks God is behind it. That’s huge. Then we’re like, ‘Okay, now, we’re going to Vegas!’ It was tough. It was a bit ping-pongy. So we knew all the episodes around those four episodes had to be kind of straight, almost their own stand-alones too in terms of mythology. We couldn’t get so deep into a larger overarching story. We had to have a regular case of the week so that we didn’t get whiplash.”
She also provided some behind-the-scenes insight into the why of Vegas in specific.
“I think it’s funny because that was the very last episode that we shot in season two. We came up with the story because we wanted to score a free trip to Vegas at the end of the season for the staff and the cast,” Modrovich admitted. “We thought, ‘Oh yeah, let’s film in Vegas. We’ll be out there maybe three days and three nights, it can be like a big end of the season party in Vegas.’ Then of course, we had to film it in Vancouver. So that absolutely backfired, but I just think it’s funny that that’s the whole reason why we came up with the story. But it ended up being, probably the biggest fantasy episode I’ve been able to do. I remember when I saw the rehearsal of the dance number, ‘Luck be a Lady,’… we were in this huge empty stage… and I cried with happiness. They finished, I was like, ‘Oh my god. I can’t believe we get to do this big stupid Vegas number in this show. How weird and amazing is that?’”
Off The Record
A reporter seeks revenge after he discovers that Lucifer has been sleeping with his estranged wife. However, when it’s revealed that Linda is the reporter’s estranged wife, things get messy. Lucifer’s reputation and safety are on the line, especially when a serial killer from the past resurfaces.
“In both this and ‘Vegas,’ we set up huge story elements. In ‘Vegas,’ we introduced Chloe’s necklace and we also sort of wrapped up Candy Morningstar. Then in ‘Off the Record,’ we introduced the fact that Linda had an ex-husband,” Henderson said. “One of the things we really wanted to explore was Linda. Linda had been the person Lucifer talked to and the person who was our sounding board. She was in an anchor. We wanted to tear her apart a little bit. She had found out the truth about Lucifer. She had sort of gotten away unscathed until Mom came around. But she wasn’t really dealing with any it. You know, sometimes therapists are the ones who least realize they need therapy. So she’s hiding from the pain of those experiences. Then this other thing hits her and forces her to deal with her knowledge of the celestial. ‘Oh God, is knowing that God really exists worth it, in a certain sense?”
“Yes, it’s funny, when she found out Lucifer was really the devil, it never really affected her personally until Reese,” Modrovich said. “Well, she did get fried by mom. But still, she sort of buried that a bit. Then when Reese was killed, I think the knowledge of knowing there really is a hell and a heaven, finally hit her. It was fun to see her contend with that in the next episode, ‘Chloe Does Lucifer.’ Because even though that one was kind of a light romp, the A story was slightly lighter with the speed dating, we got to really launch our Linda story which was also, a little bit tail-wagging the dog because we didn’t have Maze. We didn’t have Lesley-Ann because she was having a baby. We thought, ‘Who is the therapist going to get therapy from?’ It can’t be Lucifer. Then, oh my gosh, we should use our fake therapist, Amenadiel. Remember when he was fake Dr. Canaan? Let’s have him come in and be a real therapist to Linda.’ And the whole story suddenly opened up. Love triangle! Angel-demon-human love triangle! When Maze does come back, she’ll see her ex-boyfriend and her best friend are close, and that’s going to really bother her. It gave us all juicy kinds of story. Amenadiel doesn’t even realize that he needs to understand humanity. That’s his lesson. To bridge the gap between being this pious, up-on-his-pedestal angel, and thinking that humanity is beneath him. He, in getting close to Linda, discovers that humanity is just as complicated as celestial beings. They’re just as deep, multifaceted.”
Chloe Does Lucifer
When a murder is connected to a celebrity dating app, Lucifer and Chloe question all they know about the world of social media in order to solve the case. Meanwhile, Ella tries to avoid Charlotte, and Amenadiel helps Linda deal with the death of her ex-husband.
“Well, my favorite part of this was the Monopoly runner,” Modrovich said. “In choosing the world of speed dating, we knew we wanted it to matter personally for Lucifer. So the notion of what connotes boring and interesting became the theme. In the world of speed dating, that’s the whole struggle of it, right? You’re trying to sell yourself in three minutes. It’s impossible.
“So the metaphor became: Are you a shoe or are you a top hat?’ A shoe is apparently bad and boring but actually no. Shoes are solid. Shoes ground you. They have soul — pun right there! — I liked the heart of that episode and the themes of it.”
“Also, I think it had the Amenadiel-Linda scenes on the beach which I thought were just absolutely lovely,” Henderson added. “They were just wonderful in them.”
The Sinnerman
Lucifer is worried when he realizes that recipients of his favors start to turn up dead. After he and Chloe investigate, they are finally brought face-to-face with the Sinnerman. Meanwhile, Detective Pierce returns to work after taking a bullet, Charlotte finds a new career and Amenadiel has a new love interest.
“What I loved is having an episode where it seems like we caught our villain, like Lucifer is going to be able to finally get the answers to the Sinnerman mystery and then he literally pops his own eyes out and makes it impossible for Lucifer to mojo him. You have this nice big horror beat,” Henderson said. “Lucifer the whole time, all he wants to do is look into this guy’s eyes. And the surprise is he’s willing to stab his own eyes out to beat the devil. That was just really satisfying for me.”
The Sin Bin
With the Sinnerman in custody, Lucifer is prepared to go to any length to get his devil face back. But, with another victim’s life on the line, will Lucifer’s conscience hinder or help? Meanwhile, Trixie is introduced to Charlotte and questions the relationship she has with her father.
“One of my favorite things — Ildy, you supervised this episode — was that scene where Lucifer finally stabs Pierce,” Henderson said. We just stay on that shot for way too long in the best way. We’re waiting forever, thinking: did Lucifer just kill a dude? I love that. I came into editing, Ildy and Sheri were playing with it, excited, ‘Check this out!’ I just loved the like nope, nope, longer, longer, longer, longer, okay, out now! That was awesome.”
“When we first saw the cut, Sheri and I were like, ‘Let’s get as uncomfortable as we can possibly get in this moment,’ recalls Modrovich. So we went to the uncomfortable place. I also loved taking this incredibly serious scene between the Sinnerman and Lucifer and getting slightly silly with it. We wanted to play against expectations by having Lucifer draw eyeballs on his bandage. We might have amused ourselves too much by doing that.’ When we got into editing, we did think, ‘Oh no. Wait. This is maybe a little too funny.’ So we actually had to stay off the cartoon eyeballs for a lot of that scene as we were finding ourselves giggling too much.”
“We feel like one of the strengths of our show is putting the absurd into very serious situations,” Henderson added. “Then in doing so, making it feel more real. I would believe that someone would probably draw some eyes on there. It’s a crazy stupid idea. It’s this thing that only we could do and sort of make unstupid… by the way, unstupid is definitely a word now.”
City of Angels?
In a flashback episode that takes place when Lucifer first came to LA, Amenadiel comes to retrieve his fallen brother, but is shocked when he is mugged. Amenadiel enlists Lucifer’s help to track down the mugger and Lucifer, in turn, offers his assistance – but only in exchange for a favor. Meanwhile, Chloe and Dan – who are still married – investigate the murder of an MMA fighter, Aidan Scott, at the hands of the same killer who mugged Amenadiel.
“The moment that sticks out to me is the end where we actually see Maze cut off [Lucifer’s] wings,” Modrovich said. “It’s such a visceral moment. To be able to go from the opening where Lucifer is in a white Saturday Night Fever suit and just the stupidity of that juxtaposed against that last real, painful moment. I love that we get to go to these two opposite polar places.”
All About Her
After Lt. Pierce’s true identity is revealed, Lucifer tries to figure out his motives. In order to earn Chloe’s assistance in his investigation of Pierce, Lucifer goes above and beyond to help her solve the murder of a professional surfer. Meanwhile, Amenadiel deals with a personal health issue.
“We built the case around the fact that we learned that Kevin [Alejandro] can surf,” Henderson admitted. “We had moved to LA, and so it was super fun to have a cast member who could really do that… then to be able to shoot him actually surfing in the actual ocean. It was also episode where we really leaned into the comedy of Amenadiel by giving him chlamydia or at least having him think he had chlamydia. So… fun on all fronts.”
Til Death Do Us Part
When an ecstasy cook-turned-chemistry-teacher is found murdered in a cozy Los Angeles suburb, Lucifer and Pierce must go undercover to help track down the killer. Meanwhile, Maze has a newfound attraction for someone that she used to despise and Charlotte has a revelation.
“It kind of came off of one of my favorite episodes of The X-Files where Mulder and Scully go undercover in a suburban gated community,” said Modrovich. “We knew we wanted to do that but in our way. So when it became Pierce and Lucifer being the undercover couple, and we added Tom in star-spangled Speedos, we knew we had fun on our hands.”
Since this was another Sherwin Shilati-directed episode, here’s a continuation of those thoughts from “God Johnson.”
“What I love about Sherwin is that he goes for it,” Modrovich said. “He has crazy pitches. Then he’ll usually protect himself by getting something that’s also a little bit more standard. For instance, in ‘Til Death Do Us Part,’ when Lucifer and Pierce kiss, he had this whole crazy idea. He had these two kids behind Lucifer and Pierce with Super Soakers. They crossed streams behind Lucifer and Pierce as they kissed in like a weird, sort of Vegas fountain way. And he filmed the whole thing in slow-motion. It was hilarious. It was too over the top, so it didn’t end up in the cut, but I loved him for going for it. He just has fun. You can see it in the episode.”
My Brother’s Keeper
When Chloe and Lucifer’s investigation into the murder of a diamond thief points to one of Ella’s brothers as the main suspect, Ella is driven to prove her brother’s innocence and recruits an unlikely ally. Meanwhile, Linda is upset when Charlotte comes to her for help and Detective Pierce hashes out his issues with Amenadiel.
“We loved digging into Ella,” Henderson said. “We loved giving her more to do. But we also loved the idea of exploring the true polar opposites of the show, Maze and Ella, and trying to find common ground between them. The two of them just have such an awesome chemistry. I kind of want to watch a buddy cop show with the two of them.”
High School Poppycock
When a best-selling novelist is murdered, Lucifer and Chloe discover that her books are based on real people from her past, and must infiltrate her high school reunion in order to catch her killer. Meanwhile, Amenadiel and Linda struggle with making their relationship public.
“I think this has my favorite opening of all time — the dream sequence where Chloe falls off the balcony,” Modrovich said. “Lucifer’s wings pop out, and he flies after her, in sort of a Superman-esque moment. But the whole point is, he can’t control his wings. They open up like a parachuette, and he can’t reach Chloe. And just as Chloe’s about to splat on the pavement, he wakes up. I’m literally bouncing on the edge of my seat every time I watch it. No joke. I also love the prom dance at the end because I’m a sap.”
Infernal Guinea Pig
When a murder investigation reveals the dark side of Hollywood, Chloe puts her life on the line to protect an innocent victim. Then, Lucifer comes up with a hell-raising scheme to help Cain, but when Amenadiel and Maze get involved, things don’t quite go as planned.
“This is another one that the room pitched to us, with the title ‘Raising Abel,’ which we absolutely loved,” Henderson said. “We just came in from post and they had just gone crazy with this idea. Then being able to cast Lauren Lapkus was fantastic because we needed a comedienne to be able to walk that fine line between old school Barbarian and a plausible woman wandering around Los Angeles.”
Let Pinhead Sing!
When a superstar singer’s life is threatened, the team is thrust into the world of big-ticket stadium shows, crazed fans and divas, giving Lucifer a run for his money. Meanwhile, Charlotte tries to help Linda and Maze repair their friendship.
The pair admitted that there was a moment where they worried about finding someone who could sing and act in the ways they wanted for the show, but were incredibly relieved when they found Skye Townsend, who was able to both act — and provide songs for her character, a pop star.
“She is such a great, grounded actress,” Modrovich said. “And she could sing on top of it. She was just amazing. I feel like she’s a star in the making. And that was her original music! I remember when we saw her audition, we all said: ‘there she is.’ Love that when that happens.”
The Last Heartbreak
As Chloe and Lucifer go on the hunt for a serial killer targeting couples in love, Pierce realizes the case is connected to a murder he previously solved…in 1958. Then, Lucifer becomes upset when Pierce has a change of heart about an important decision.
“Little-known secret, Pierce was named after Guy Pearce. We templated him off of a character from LA Confidential because we saw him as sort of this timeless figure. So when we started talking about going into Pierce’s past, we realized, well, why don’t we go into the era of LA Confidential itself and embrace that sort of old noir feel? It’s also the kind of era that Tom Welling fit in so well. It looks like he’s from that time. So that was super fun.”
Orange Is the New Maze
When Maze is the prime suspect in a murder, Lucifer and Chloe enter the world of bounty hunting to investigate. Maze decides she wants to go back to Hell, but after Lucifer refuses, she turns to Pierce for help. Meanwhile, Charlotte’s sanity is questioned when she makes a big discovery and Chloe admits she’s dating someone.
“That was really fun. I feel like that might be Lesley-Ann’s strongest episode,” Modrovich said. “She had so many just incredible performances within it. I feel like the scene at the end of the episode where she realizes that she’s always going to be sloppy seconds for Lucifer — that she’s always put him first but he’s never put her first — is such a beautiful heartbreaking moment. That’s one of my favorite Lesley-Ann moments for sure.”
The Angel of San Bernardino
Lucifer and Chloe investigate a murder during which a witness claims a winged guardian angel saved her life, causing Lucifer to become paranoid about his own actions. Meanwhile, Pierce and Chloe’s relationship takes an interesting turn and Lucifer discovers something that could change everything.
“It was something that I sort of came into the room and I just literally pitched the idea that someone has spotted an angel,” Henderson said. “Lucifer worries that it’s him. That he’s sleep-flying, so he doesn’t go to sleep. That was all I had. But I also had the name ‘Angel of San Bernardino.’ I didn’t even know where San Bernardino actually was. I just thought it sounding cool.”
“Then the episode became something incredible because we added Bones to it,” Henderson added. “I don’t remember whose idea that was. But we just grew obsessed with it. We thought, of course, if he has to stay up, he has to watch Bones. The process of clearing a clip of Bones, the references to Bones, a case tying into Bones, was more work than it probably should’ve been worth to anyone other than our room because every single person was in on it. Our line producer’s assistant found the actor who played a villain [on Bones] who was also available to play our would-be killer. Everyone chipped in. That was just a really fun episode because you got a lot of really big weighty ideas, and then a montage at the end with Lucifer watching Bones.”
Anything Pierce Can Do I Can Do Better
When a prima ballerina is brutally murdered, Lucifer helps Chloe solve the case and attempts to keep her focus away from Pierce. Amenadiel begs Charlotte to help him with an important plan, and Maze remains devoted to a task from which Pierce asked her to back away. Then, Chloe confronts Lucifer about his meddling in her life, but as he’s about to make a huge confession, he finds out something that changes everything.
“This one ends with Pierce proposing to Lucifer,” Modrovich said. “My favorite moment for sure in this episode is between Dr. Linda and Lucifer because Dr. Linda finally says so many things that we’ve been dying for someone – ANYONE — to say to Lucifer. And Lucifer finally says something we’ve been dying for him to say which is, ‘I want her to choose me.’ So the entire season as our love triangle has been heating up, Lucifer hasn’t been honest with himself. That’s a key trait of Lucifer’s – he’s honest with everybody but himself.”
All Hands On Decker
When Chloe takes some time off, Lucifer is forced to work with Dan on a murder case involving a dog show. Meanwhile, Charlotte and Maze have differing ideas for Chloe’s party and after a wild night, Chloe rethinks a life-changing decision.
“This is our spiritual sequel to two of our favorite episodes from season two, Ladies Night and the Douchifer episode,” said Henderson. “The idea was taking those two ideas and pushing them in different directions. In season two, Ladies Night brings all of our women together. In this season, it tears them all apart. Just having all those actresses together was just so much fun and getting them to sort of unravel on a party bus felt right.”
Quintessential Deckerstar
When Lucifer and Chloe investigate the death of a woman, they discover that they may be pursuing the wrong suspect. Then, Charlotte risks her safety when she decides to take matters into her own hands, and just as Lucifer makes a huge confession, he gets a tragic phone call that changes everything.
“I do feel like these two last episodes played as sort of a two-parter. This first part was really the Amenadiel-Charlotte episode,” Modrovich said. “We knew we wanted to do a last farewell love letter to Trisha and give her something truly worthy of her talent. So that’s what the episode was about. We were saying goodbye to a character and an actress that we just love. It felt really emotional from the get-go. I mean, I remember at the read-through, we all cried because we were saying goodbye to Trisha too. Not that she’s dying, mind you, we’ll still see her! But she was leaving the show, and it was heart-wrenching. That death scene is probably the most emotional moment, emotional episode I’ve ever worked on of Lucifer. It has a special place in my heart for sure.”
“I had so much fun being a part of Charlotte’s story where she eventually finds redemption. Ildy wrote the episode where she died, and that just broke my heart. Breaking the story was heartbreaking, reading it was devastating, and then seeing Tricia and DB bring it to life… blew our minds,” Henderson said. “We all brough tissues to set that night.”
A Devil of My Word
Shocked by Charlotte’s death, Chloe, Lucifer and the rest of the team work together to investigate and take down the killer. Then, Lucifer has an epiphany, Maze decides to mend a broken friendship and Chloe finally sees the truth.
“I think that’s the best episode of television I’ve ever made, just full stop,” Henderson said. “I love it. I got to write a mixture of a play and an action movie. I thought the entire cast just brought it. The only regret I have about the episode is that DB and Tricia aren’t in it. But they did such incredible work they did in the previous episode that Ildy wrote – it was satisfying. And I guess, them not being in the finale also gave us room to dig deeper with our other characters: Ella and her fate, Dan and his breaking point, and of course Lucifer and Chloe.”
Boo Normal
The episode sees Lucifer and his team investigating the murder of a child psychiatrist while Ella is thinking about a childhood secret she’s been hiding. And there’s a special friend from Ella’s past who may actually be a ghost.
“Boo Normal is close to my heart because it was kind of inspired by my daughter,” Modrovich said. “She’s 11. She’s a unique quirky kid, my daughter. I think we just wanted to, explore the themes of acceptance in telling this Ella story. Ella is pretty much my spirit animal. It was a challenge because Ella is our joyful character. We didn’t want to break her. We didn’t want to spoil her and darken her too much. We just wanted to give her more depth. I think we succeeded.”
You can check out out some of Henderson’s thoughts on the bonus episodes here, here, and here.
Once Upon a Time
God creates an alternate dimension where Lucifer and Chloe never met and Lucifer is granted his freedom of choice.
“It’s one of those episodes that snuck up on me in terms of being one of my favorites,” Modrovich admitted. “I guess it’s because it’s a stand-alone. You have to get completely invested in a completely other world in the episode. It was just a fantasy. But it showed that even though every character was different, they were the same at their core. That was just pure fun.”
