Lucifer Isn’t The Devil Anymore: Season 3 Premiere Explained

Luciferis back, although not as we know him. The end of season two saw the Devil about to reveal his true nature to his precious partner, Detective Chloe Decker. It’s a moment fans have been waiting for, to see Chloe confronted with the possibility that her close friend is actually the ruler of Hell. How would she react? The divide is big. Some think she’ll accept him for who he is, whilst others expect the road to their inevitable relationship to be a difficult one with the dark secret he’s harboring. But in the season two finale Lucifer called Chloe to explain everything, he was knocked out from behind by an unknown assailant. When he finally woke up, Lucifer was in the middle of the desert with his wings back in full angelic glory. Uh oh.

We all know that Lucifer wasn’t exactly happy being an angelic servant of God, that’s why he defied him and ended up cutting the wings off. But he has gotten pretty soft over the course of two seasons. He’s clearly become quite fond of his human friends and relationships. And yes, sometimes he’s quite destructive and manipulative but he clearly cares. He’s not been the truly terrifying version of himself for quite some time. Has he even been able to wear the mantle of the Devil properly since the start of the series? He constantly references the fact that he’s banished from his Father’s family, and doesn’t have much to do with Hell itself at all at the moment. It looks like he’s going to lose all claim to the underworld very soon. To give the Devil some credit, Lucifer has at least attempted to tell Chloe about his divine heritage several times. But each time he’s about to reveal his true identity, something gets in the way. Most likely by the hand of God, but Lucifer just never gets to show the detective his true fiendish side. But how does this play into the third season of the show?

Related: Why Tom Welling Returned to TV For Lucifer

Winging It

So we know that someone gave Lucifer his wings back, in their full 10 feet of glory. Something was done to Lucifer to purify him and make him worthy of forgiveness. But both of those things require world changing miracles to happen. Where do you even start finding Sympathy for the Devil? Unfortunately, we don’t see Lucifer make full use of his wings. He cuts one off, only for it to reappear again. But the real purpose of his wings coming back in the premiere was actually to bring him closer to his brother, Amenadiel.

Initially, Lucifer’s brother is offended that he couldn’t even tell his family about the reappearance of his wings. Amenadiel is clearly bitter to begin with, because he doesn’t have his wings at the moment. And out of the two brothers, Amenadiel is definitely the more angelic. Although, that’s not too hard, being the brother of the literal ruler of Hell. And even though God maintains his usual silence, that doesn’t stop Lucifer from wondering what His plan is. And that’s where Amenadiel attempts to repair the relationship between the two – by suggesting that this is all part of God’s plan.

Devilish

So Lucifer might have been given his wings back, but something was taken from him too. One of his most used powers across the series has been his ‘Devil Face’. It shows the victim what he really looks like, and strikes true fear inside them. It’s not pretty. But it turns out that his ‘Devil Face’ has been taken from him when he attempts to show it to Chloe, making for an incredibly awkward moment. And although the literal disappearance of his devilish power brings a huge problem for Lucifer in his identity, it’s intended to push his relationship with Chloe to the brink.

He constantly makes things difficult for her because she doesn’t know the true extent of his “I’m the Devil!” exclamations and hints. But when the face trick doesn’t work, she thinks he’s making fun of her. This is something that’s really going to push the detective away from Lucifer during the course of this season, potentially into the arms of another man entirely. It’ll be interesting to see if this begins to affect the cases he works on, which could drive the wedge between Lucifer and Chloe even further. So although Lucifer might have lost a special power, he’s likely going to lose something a little more precious.

Mommy + Daddy Issues

Lucifer has had a turbulent relationship with his parents from day one. Whether it’s defying God and ruling Hell, or battling his Mother over his affections for Chloe. He’s not had it easy. Charlotte’s gone (for now) into a whole other universe when Lucifer used the Blade of Azrael to let her leave. But her disappearance only brings disappointment for Amenadiel, who really isn’t having the best time during the first episode. The annoyance at both of their parents inevitably brings the brothers closer together, but the negatives are really piling up against Amenadiel.

Even though he believes that this is all God’s will, we think that his spirit is going to be broken pretty soon. There’s only one way that he can reclaim his wings once again, and that’s through proving himself worthy of God’s love and forgiveness. So our prediction for Amenadiel this season is that it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better. Will we see their Mother again? She’ll probably return to cause havoc for the two later on in the series. It would really twist the knife for Amenadiel to see her knowing that he’s no longer divine like she is. We already know that Tricia Helfer is returning to play Charlotte – which is definitely going to be confusing for Dan and Chloe.

Sinnerman

Towards the end of the premiere, an entirely new character is introduced that will be plaguing Lucifer and his friends this season. Unfortunately, we didn’t actually get to meet him. He’s referred to by one of the kidnappers as the ‘Sinnerman’, a crime boss. But when we see what this crime boss is capable of by leaving the kidnapper impaled on a rebar pole, it’s clear that this isn’t just your average criminal mastermind. Especially when we throw in the fact that Lucifer deduces that the Sinnerman is the one behind the wings reappearing and the theft of his ‘Devil Face’. So this new crime boss is aware of his status as the literal Devil. Which means we have a new arch-nemesis on our hands. What does the ‘Sinnerman’ want? With a name like that, we can only assume that he wants to replace Lucifer as the ruler of Hell. And ensuring that Lucifer becomes as angelic as possible would be a sure way of usurping him from his throne. But who is this new villain? We have a prime suspect

Marcus Pierce

Surely not Superman himself? Yes, Tom Welling. The actor made his first TV role after Smallville on Lucifer as the new Lieutenant of the Police station Lucifer and Chloe work at. Surely it can’t be a coincidence that this new character is introduced at the same time as a brand new villain? And then there’s his personality. He seems particularly spiky to everyone, Lucifer included. He might just be a work-orientated new boss – but it’s far more likely he has some connection to the Sinner-Man. It’s a great way of establishing the villain without revealing his identity, and they’ve already given us reasons to dislike him since he was rude to most of the main cast when we first meet him.

And then there’s the fact that because Lucifer keeps pushing Chloe away, she ends up working closer with Pierce. And we’ve previously heard that the closeness may just end up more personal than business. Pierce getting close to Decker is to bring out the Devil in Lucifer. Maybe that’s so that he can get rid of the Devil once and for all.

Overall, the season three premiere of Lucifer gave us plenty to play with. A new villain, new character arcs, and a new mystery to solve. Lucifer might have to go on a journey of self-discovery this season as he tries to figure out who he wants to be; Lucifer Morningstar or the ruler of Hell. Because at the moment, he can’t be both. And then there’s the relationship with Chloe. The two are constantly locked in a will they/won’t they stalemate. Just when we think they’re moving forward, something comes in to rail road their relationship. And Lucifer is definitely going to start questioning why during the course of this season. Although who knows how far his jealousy will go once Marcus Pierce sets his sights on Chloe.

Lucifer season 3 airs on Mondays at 8 pm on FOX.

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