Lucifer Season 3 Episode 12 Review: All About Her

This Lucifer review contains spoilers.

Lucifer Season 3 Episode 12

“If I wasn’t on the road to virtue and righteousness, I would crush you like a cockroach.”

Lucifer makes a strong return after a three-week hiatus, and the events of the Sinnerman experience naturally leave the team members confused about their roles in this ever-evolving drama. Though Lucifer and Chloe manage to repair the damage to their relationship after his betrayal, it’s the deal Marcus Pierce makes with the Devil that holds the most promise for a fiery second half of the season. “All About Her” provides a smooth transition back into the principal arc now that the season 2 standalone episodes have concluded.

This week’s case features a dead surfer, and while it gives Chloe and Lucifer the opportunity to mend their broken relationship, it also allows Detective Espinoza a chance to play a more active role in the investigation. Ordinarily the butt of Lucifer’s condescending remarks, Dan does not waste the opportunity to shine tonight, and even though the part he plays in solving the murder may be small, it’s critical nonetheless.

Instead of questioning Dangerous Dan with Lucifer, Chloe takes Espinoza into the interrogation room leaving her partner to figure out how best to get back in her good graces. That Dan even offers to help his nemesis speaks to what a good guy Chloe’s ex is, but Lucifer’s idea of doing something thoughtful doesn’t exactly coincide with hers. No, a bright neon bikini is not the solution, Lucifer. Of course, his unique filing system in a roundabout way leads to the detective’s “aha” moment in which she essentially solves the case, so there is that.

And while Lucifer’s intention to win back Chloe’s trust revolves around his decision to make today “all about her,” the sudden change that’s swept over Mazikeen does not bode well for anyone in Lucifer’s circle. The fact that Maze still lives with Chloe and Trixie once again provides an opportunity for some humor as she uses their home’s wall for target practice and then covers the damage with Trixie’s drawings. But as the celestials continue assimilating into the human experience, Maze feels more and more left out, and now that Linda and Amenadiel are seeing each other, she seems desperate to end the happiness the others experience.

The depth of Mazikeen’s despair surfaces at the end of the restaurant dinner scene during which Linda tries to end her relationship with Amenadiel. Fortunately, the writers end the rather silly chlamydia subplot rather quickly because the ongoing relationship and sexual naivete Amenadiel expresses really isn’t that funny anymore, but we sympathize with Linda when she tells him she doesn’t want to sneak around any longer. The camera shows that Maze is not only in the restaurant stalking them, and when she drives a curved blade into her table, it’s fairly clear that her rage will be difficult to contain. The first inclination is to find humor in her reaction, but taken in the broader context, compassion seems much more appropriate.

The residual effects of Lt. Pierce’s dressing down of Ella for talking too much surface, and when we first encounter the perpetually chipper forensic scientist, her dour demeanor immediately signals that something’s amiss with her. Again, another nice narrative touch, and even though it works itself out in short order, his apology and her willingness to stand up for herself signal subtle changes in both. Like her character, Aimee Garcia seems ready to burst with her conflicted feelings and hurt pride, but hey, she gets to hug the man on whom she’s had a professional and romantic crush since he arrived.

The episode’s cold open finds Lucifer and Pierce, aka Cain, still in Lucifer’s penthouse sparring over who did what to whom and at whose behest. These two are magic together, and now that Lucifer has learned they have a common enemy, we’ll hopefully see a lot more of this pairing. And speaking of that enemy, Pierce imparts quite a bit of information including the fact that while he is human and feels physical pain, his wounds eventually heal, a fact we already suspected. Most importantly to Lucifer, however, is the admission that he does not work for Lucifer’s Father and had nothing to do with the wings and face issues even though he does admit responsibility for Lucifer’s desert kidnapping.

While her celestial importance to Lucifer hasn’t been mentioned lately, Pierce bringing up Chloe’s effect on Lucifer reminds us that there’s still more to her story than we know. On the one hand, it seems Pierce has a nice life, but as the world’s first murderer Cain, it’s also understandable that he’d like to end what has been an interminably painful existence. It’s not clear how Pierce finds out about Lucifer’s vulnerability when near Chloe, nonetheless, he explains that’s what brought him to Los Angeles. Of course, taking a bullet for her sends him to the hospital, but it doesn’t kill him.

But it all comes down to Lucifer and Pierce and whether or not they can successfully work together to foil God’s plans for them both. When Lucifer figures out that dear old Dad was responsible for the return of his wings and disappearance of his devil face, he enlists Pierce’s help to send a message to his Father. However, it’s not clear how Lucifer plans to get the best of his Father when there’s been no indication to this point that the Devil possesses that kind of power. Has God been toying with his two sons all this time?

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Since it appears that some sort of loophole needs to be found if Lucifer and Pierce wish to succeed in obtaining what each wants, watching these two plot and scheme moving forward promises to be a lot of fun. “You may have crossed paths with God, but you’ve certainly never made a deal with the Devil now have you?” More ominous words have not been spoken. Will Pierce be brought into Lucifer’s celestial circle, and how long can the truth be kept from Chloe?

Though “All About Her” superficially emphasizes Lucifer’s attempt to win back Chloe’s trust, the episode also begins addressing concerns with which Mazikeen, Linda, and Ella all wrestle, each of which plays a role in the larger story. With a strong return from its extended break, Lucifer stands poised to tackle a new branch of an old thread, but in the end, the Prince of Darkness may be taking on more than even he can handle.