Lucifer, Season 5
(Netflix, 2020-2021)
Slick as ever, with genuinely laugh-out-loud incidental humour. While the regular characters have become a bit too cosy for drama, God and Michael are astute additions. The writers continue to innovate within single episodes. Tremendous fun, though biggering towards its own demise.
Lucifer, Season 4
(Netflix, 2019)
The cancellation by Fox and rebirth at Netflix allowed Lucifer to survive (at a reduced episode count of ten for the season). The Eve storyline makes this worthwhile but the regular characters are reduced to emotional bullet-points. Decker in particular feels diminished.
Lucifer, Season 3
(2017-2018)
The Pierce plot line comes a bit unhinged, but the rest of the season is dramatically coherent, drawing the viewer forward while taking occasional whole-episode breathers to flesh out supporting characters like Maze and Ella. A stylish blend of comedy and melodrama.
Lucifer, Season 2
(2016-2017)
One season in and Lucifer already exhibits the artificiality that comes from injecting new drama into characters who’ve completed their arcs. Newcomer Tricia Helfer (Lucifer’s mum) fails to alleviate this problem, though Aimee Garcia does breathe some fresh life as Ella Lopez.
Lucifer, Season 1
(2016)
All good fun, although there’s perhaps too much prevalence given to the frolicking lamb aspect of Tom Ellis’ Lucifer persona. Counterbalancing Ellis’ extremes and the larger-than-life LA vibes, Lauren German holds the urban fantasy together with a nuanced performance as Detective Decker.
I, Lucifer
by Glen Duncan (Scribner, 2002)
Sexually provocative and defiantly erudite as always, Duncan’s dalliance with the devil adds a louche dash of profanity to the mix. His first-person memoir as Lucifer in semi-autobiographical possession of novelist Declan Gunn constitutes a priapismic revision of everything once thought holy.