S03.E22: All Hands on Decker

[theatremouse]

I thought the all the dialogue between Lucifer and Dan when Luci "realized" what it's like to be his partner was as trite and predictable as it could possibly be. That whole plot irritated me. It could've been hilarious. It should've been hilarious. And it had a couple blippy almost moments. But it just didn't land for me.

On 4/30/2018 at 8:04 PM, Miles said:

I'm mostly sad that Maze turned into such an asshole.

 

I don't think she turned into one really. The best (only good?) part of this episode for me was when Dr. Linda was at the party and saying "ugh this is torture-" and then promptly realized Maze planned it which means the torture was intentional. It's what Maze does.

I also thought it was really bizarre that in the reveal of the boring party, Trixie was among the guests yelling surprise, but then later when they switched to Party Bus mode she just suddenly wasn't there. But was apparently at some sort of sleepover. And why would Cain "go check on her" at a sleepover and then bring her home? There are two explanations for this:

1) He's super creepy weird boundary crossing

2) The writers really wanted that Trixie alseep on couch next to him moment and realized they had no way to get her back in the house by that point, so we get a throwaway line explaining their movements

I'm betting the latter. 

I also tend to hate episodes whose entire point is to undo what was initially presented as a big reveal at the end of the previous one. Everything feels unearned. It's like "TADA SURPRISING INFOMATION!" "WAIT NEVERMIND JK". They accomplished nothing.

ALSO, Dear Dan and Lucifer, you are both shit detectives that you didn't suspect the spouse from the start. It's almost always the spouse. Even if he somehow put one over on you in the initial interview, you should've dug into him at the beginning at minimum to rule him out. That's just normal protocol. You didn't need to wait to see the dog hating him to suspect him. You're both fired.

[jhlipton]

11 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

I don't know Ebonee Noel

I've seen Ms Noel in two completely different parts (I didn't even realize it was the same actress until I read the credits):

She played the younger, more romantic and naive sister on the far too short-lived Still Star-Crossed and the awesome pirate The Barracuda on the TBS Lost parody Wrecked.

[Ailianna]

On 4/29/2018 at 11:13 PM, Shades of Red said:

Definitely a weird episode.  Trixie at the bachelorette?  How can she be in the same room as Maze?  Why is Maze at Chloe's party knowing what she's done to Trixie? 

 

On 4/30/2018 at 9:21 PM, Gigi43 said:

WTF was Trixie doing in the same room as Maze?

 

On 4/30/2018 at 9:40 PM, UNOSEZ said:

Maybe I'm not remembering but I thought all Maze did was say something mean about Trixie to Dan that Trixie overheard... Was there something else? 

 

On 4/30/2018 at 11:04 PM, Miles said:

Also she loved Trixie. I don't buy that she would say such things to her. Although the writers seem to have forgotten about that again, there basically is no other explanation.

I guess I just don't get why this is so horrible and can never be forgiven.  She called Trixie a brat, which is certainl mean, but kids have gotten over a lot more, and stayed friends with people.  It just wasn't like she struck Trixie or did something physical to her.  While it isn't good behavior, they have a lot of relationship, both Maze and Trixie and Maze and Chloe, and you don't let one angry outburst--to another person no less--destroy the entire relationship.  So I don't get why people think it's an unforgivable sin.

I do think Maze is immature, and doesn't have much experience in looking out for other people's emotional wellbeing, but she's slowly improving.  She certainly understood what would get under everyone's skin in a non-physical torture way this episode.

[Ria]

1 hour ago, Ailianna said:

I guess I just don't get why this is so horrible and can never be forgiven.  She called Trixie a brat, which is certainl mean, but kids have gotten over a lot more, and stayed friends with people.

Of course. I’ve yelled at my own kids that they were brats. I’ve heard parents who adore their kids call them much worse. Unless Trixie is a total snowflake, she should be long over it by now. Of course Chloe is such a flat monotone of a character, maybe Trixie has never encountered things shouted in pure emotion before. If she was growing up with Roseanne or The Middle family where parents are yelling at kids all the time and the kids yelling back, Maize calling her a brat wouldn’t have fazed her for 5 seconds. 

[enoughcats]

Maze said "I'm sick of your ex-wife and that stupid little brat of yours" then she and Dan looked up to see a striken faced Trixie standing in the door. 

So why would Maze anything to do with Chloe? beyond the Trixie question

[Ria]

10 hours ago, enoughcats said:

Maze said "I'm sick of your ex-wife and that stupid little brat of yours" then she and Dan looked up to see a striken faced Trixie standing in the door. 

So why would Maze anything to do with Chloe? beyond the Trixie question

People say lots of things in anger. She might even have felt that way at the moment. But Maze’s issues aren’t really about Trixie and Chloe. She’s mad at the world for some perceived betrayals and wants to take all her marbles and go home to hell. 

Edited May 4, 2018 by Ria

[Mabinogia]

13 hours ago, Ailianna said:

I guess I just don't get why this is so horrible and can never be forgiven.  She called Trixie a brat, which is certainl mean, but kids have gotten over a lot more, and stayed friends with people.  It just wasn't like she struck Trixie or did something physical to her.  While it isn't good behavior, they have a lot of relationship, both Maze and Trixie and Maze and Chloe, and you don't let one angry outburst--to another person no less--destroy the entire relationship.  So I don't get why people think it's an unforgivable sin.

Oh, is that what happened? I thought she must have threatened Trixie or something. I haven't watched in a while but keep coming here hoping to find the show has finally started to dig itself out of the hole it dug for itself. So far it hasn't. Pity. This was my favorite, must see show when it started. Now it's a hot mess. I do miss Linda, who still sounds awesome, and Trixie who still sounds adorable, and Amen who is still hot as hell.

[sinkwriter]

I don't think it's an unforgivable sin. But I do think Maze needs to apologize to Trixie, and she hasn't done that. Which surprises me a little bit, because if nothing else, Maze does seem to regret how she hurt Trixie.

[jhlipton]

2 hours ago, sinkwriter said:

I don't think it's an unforgivable sin. But I do think Maze needs to apologize to Trixie, and she hasn't done that. Which surprises me a little bit, because if nothing else, Maze does seem to regret how she hurt Trixie.

This, I don't think Trixie should cool to Maze until she apologizes.  For all the little one knows, Maze still feels that way.  I don't think she's seen Maze anything but angry until this episode.

[Miles]

On 4.5.2018 at 2:44 AM, Ailianna said:

I guess I just don't get why this is so horrible and can never be forgiven. 

It can certainly be foregiven. I'm not one of the people who thinks it's unforgiveable. I'm just saying it came completely out of left field in the first place and made no sense for the character. It was bad writing.

For it to be forgiven Maze would have to apologise though and it doesn't seem like she has.

[katmax]

The writers have gone out of their way to trash all the characters this season. I recall reading earlier in the season they planned to "bring out the worst in everyone". They've certainly done that so they put some thought into the current train wreck. Why they thought it would make people want to tune in each week though is beyond me.  Neither of the angels now have any powers that they use and the rest of the over-arching plot has descended into soap opera. 

They might shove all the 'good stuff' into the last 2 episodes, but it won't do them any good if the the viewers have left because they see nothing to make them come back, especially the more casual viewer. This show had a delicate balance in S1 & S2 that made it work based on the characters and supernatural elements that the writers have gone out of their way to upset and now they are worried about being cancelled. It's a pity this season didn't live up to the "hell yes" Lucifer poster and show a cunning and clever Lucifer instead of a whiny and rather cowardly person. Its hard to see how he could have ruled hell for millennia acting even remotely like this.

I suspect the we'll see Maze apologise to Trixie and maybe Decker before the season's end but why Maze ever thought that betraying Lucifer would force him to give her what she wanted was ever a good idea has always somewhat baffled me as a plot thread.

[Lugal]

12 minutes ago, katmax said:

It's a pity this season didn't live up to the "hell yes" Lucifer poster and show a cunning and clever Lucifer instead of a whiny and rather cowardly person. Its hard to see how he could have ruled hell for millennia acting even remotely like this.

Yeah, they seem to have gone with the devil from Medieval folk tales.  The one that any peasant who kept his wits about him could get the best of.

[CheshireCat]

1 hour ago, katmax said:

The writers have gone out of their way to trash all the characters this season. I recall reading earlier in the season they planned to "bring out the worst in everyone". They've certainly done that

I'd argue that immaturity doesn't equal worst. Maze may be the worst but Lucifer and Chloe are immature. There is also a way to do something like that credibly while respecting the character that they have created and letting the character grow. I don't think they've done either.

[katmax]

2 hours ago, CheshireCat said:

I'd argue that immaturity doesn't equal worst. Maze may be the worst but Lucifer and Chloe are immature. There is also a way to do something like that credibly while respecting the character that they have created and letting the character grow. I don't think they've done either.

I think your summary is accurate. Everyone has slid backwards and there haven't been enough small "wow" moments to keep people coming back.  They've had Lucifer hating his wings so long that they have mostly ignored them. They still haven't addressed the lack of devil face or wing re-growth and Lucifer has barely explored it either.  Its obvious Pierce had nothing to do with that and is as clueless as Lucifer.

They didn't need to do this to all the characters all at once. Its a recipe for disaster. I remember when the same thing was done in a season of "Heroes" and it was terrible.....the third spiderman movie that everyone hates also comes to mind. "Exploring the dark side" can be character growth but it has to be done with extreme care and what we have here is just sloppy.

Edited May 6, 2018 by katmax

[Mabinogia]

11 hours ago, katmax said:

"Exploring the dark side" can be character growth but it has to be done with extreme care and what we have here is just sloppy.

This show would be awesome if they'd actually explore their dark side. Instead we're getting them exploring their petty jealous side (Maze) or stupid lovestruck teenager side (Lucy). I would kill to see Lucy's actual dark side rather than this love struck moron he's become. 

[Damselfly]

18 hours ago, CheshireCat said:

I'd argue that immaturity doesn't equal worst. Maze may be the worst but Lucifer and Chloe are immature.

Lucifer isn't just immature this season, though. He is also clueless, buffoonish, selfish, erratic, completely obsessed first with the sinnerman and Cain and now with Chloe,...

And all of those things have been present in the past seasons, but they turned them into extremes while dialling back or completely removing his redeeming qualities.

For example, throughout the last two seasons, and even at the beginning of this season, Lucifer has always clearly cared about others. He cared about Delilah, about various other murder victims and suspects, and about the people around him. Maze, Linda, Chloe, and later Ella, Trixie, even Dan, and finally Charlotte. But now, all that caring has disappeared. He is so obsessed with Chloe that he doesn't care one bit what happens to anybody else.

Back in episode 3.05 he told Charlotte that he felt responsible for what had happened to her and wanted to help her. That was such a big step in his development. But now he doesn't give a damn about her anymore. Same with Linda. She almost died because she got involved with his family, and he was clearly remorseful about that, and worried about her. But now he seems to have forgotten all about that. And finally there is Maze. After their big fight last season and the revelation of how deeply he had hurt her, it looked like Lucifer would finally treat her better. Instead, we're right back to him taking her for granted, disregarding her feelings, and always expecting her to be there for him while never being there for her.

[thuganomics85]

Well, the Lucifer/Dan pairing was fun at least.  I did like that both of them came to same conclusion in their own ways.  The attempts at role reversals were amusing, but I would have really thought Dan's time doing improv would have had him a bit more prepared during the bar operation.  To be fair, I guess no one is totally prepared to have someone suddenly shove you into an illegal card operation!  I do wonder what is going to happen to the dog know that one of his owners is dead and the other was the murderer.

The bachelorette party though: ouch!  Poor Linda was the only one who didn't annoy me, since she was just trying to have a good time.  But between Ella making it all about her (to compare it to a superior FOX show, she was going "Full Boyle", but not getting called out for it), Maeve and Charlotte using it for their own goals, and Chloe awkward attempts to let loose, there wasn't much fun to be had here.  At it least it all lead to Chloe realizing that she is rushing things way too quickly, but it's too little, to late now. I actually enjoyed the character in the past, but she really has came off dumb this season.  To be fair though, no one has really been there best this year thanks to this season's writing.

So, judging from the nefarious balcony shot, Pierce is probably going to do something evil.  I just hope the show is done with him by the end of the season.  Wouldn't be surprised if it all ends with Maze still taking him out. 

[katmax]

1 hour ago, thuganomics85 said:

Well, the Lucifer/Dan pairing was fun at least. 

I have to admit I preferred this when they did it last season. However I couldn't help thinking they were recycling earlier stories with having Lucifer copy another person again. To keep doing this makes it look like he is learning little and is actually pretty dumb not just inexperienced in the ways of humans outside hell. As damselfly indicated they need to have Lucifer acknowledge his own sulking/self-self centeredness this season. He's been oddly passive in many ways. 

My worry is that they only have two episodes to clear this mess. I really hope we get a 4th season if only to finish the series properly  but the second half of this season is not one I'd watch again, but the earlier seasons and first half of this season have plenty of episodes that a very re-watchable and that was the joy of this series as I'm not someone who typically re-watches a lot of tv.

[Notwisconsin]

Is it just me or did the show jump the shark ten minutes in or thereabouts.....

[ganesh]

Dan pulling a Lucifer sitting in the dark drinking in the guy's house was hilarious. 

Edited June 8, 2019 by ganesh