Lucifer

It’s a show about Lucifer running a nightclub in LA and passing the time by solving supernatural crimes, meanwhile saying ‘fuck you’ to both Heaven and Hell and all of their schemes. It’s elegant, it’s fun, and it’s smart. Go watch it.

Actors are competent, the lead (Tom Ellis) is amazingly entertaining, it is shot well and the story is good. There’s nothing more to be said, one of the two good DC series and a must watch for both comic and supernatural lovers.

So without further ado, let’s jump straight into the Pilot episode. Spoilers ahead.

We open with the premise. Lucifer got tired of ruling Hell so he took a vacation. And what better location for that purpose than the city of Los Angeles.

The true act begins as Lucy is speeding down the road to be hailed by a very grumpy cop. However, being the ruler of Hell, Lucifer not only pulls out a confession from the cop about his own desires, but also manages to bribe him and send him off with a smile.

So far, I’m in love with the character and the settings, and especially the whole self confident corrupting mortals for his entertainment theme.

And what a better way to do that than owning a nightclub. Said club is called Lux, oh all the irony, and even has a fellow demon as bartender. Unfortunately, poor Maze (played by Lesley-Ann Brandt) isn’t too happy with his nonchalant ways. And she is not the only one. An angel soon appears to gently remind Luci to get the hell back to Hell. The King’s answer is simple: “ain’t gonna happen.”

I do like how the angel uses his wings in this scene, the feathers like blades, and the ability to slow down time seems to be consistent for their kind in this universe. (Like we saw in Constantine.) And the fact Lucifer makes no attempt to hide adds to the confidence of the character. Unmoved by Amenadiel (played by D.B. Woodside) persuasions, he sends him off stating he cares not about the state of Hell and its dwellers.

The devil, however, turns out quite caring towards one of his stars, a performer by the name of Delilah whom he helped rise to fame. When she’s shot by an assailant right in front of the Devil, he promises there will be hell on earth until the guilty are punished.

Here we meet our second lead, detective Chloe Dancer (played by Lauren German) who is brought on the case of poor dead Delilah. A case which appears closed, singer shot, drug dealer crashes after the attack, all nicely wrapped up. And since the police won’t do its job, Lucifer is forced to do it for them.

He starts his investigation at the wedding of Delilah’s ex fiance. The man appears innocent but he won’t be getting married anytime soon it seems.

Next stop is the boyfriend. But he’s also a bust and sends Lucy on to the next person involved, the therapist who is said to know what rich married man Delilah slept with.

But before he can move on Detective/ex-actress shows up and cuffs him for threatening the boyfriend. Turns out she’s also investigating the case despite announcing it closed.

And looking at our cliche storytelling checklist, Chloe is revealed special because Lucy can’t influence her like other people. Boo for that but I guess it’s inevitable, she needs a quirk to make her stand out.

We put the investigation on pause as we turn instead to some character establishment and meet Chloe’s daughter and husband. A man, and a sort of colleague, with whom she doesn’t exactly get along.

After this short detour we finally arrive at the psychiatrist's office. With a light touch from Luci’s influence she spills the name of the next lead, but he too is a bust.

So we arrive at a dead end and our protagonists sorting what they know. In the background a convenient news report mentions the rocketing sales of Delilah’s album and suddenly it’s back to her producer, the ex-fiance. A short shooting ensues when they confront him and reveal him the culprit, and the matter is finally dealt with.

Though I need to ask how Lucifer didn’t know who the culprit was when he met him. He does admit to not reading minds, nor making people confess sins but rather desires, but still there is a feel that people are unable to lie to him. So how did he miss the guilt of the fiance at the wedding?

Lucifer is a show that plays with the concept of morality. Do we choose our own morality? Is it chosen for us by forces beyond us? Does it even exist beyond us, and can sin be a concept we created? In that case is the devil truly evil? Does he have a choice or is he also a player set on a stage and given a script? Must he conform to a play written by the creator and what will happen if he doesn’t? A lot of interesting themes that I can’t wait to see how they explore as the series progress.

Had Constantine not been canceled, the two shows would have made a nice pair. Dark settings, morally questionable protagonists with british accent and dry wit sprouting clever dialogues. Yeah, I’m definitely keeping this on my watch list. Too bad we won’t be seeing a crossover with Constantine, now that would have been amazing.

Regarding the attacks on New Years

    On New Year's, in Cologne, Germany, and possibly a few other European cities (the media aren't too clear), organized groups of men conducted robberies and assaults on citizens, and particularly women.
    They intercepted party goers at the train stations, and set off fireworks and firecrackers at ground level to scatter the crowds and separate out their targets.
    The Police was not ready to respond to such a large number of accidents and contain all the assailants, leaving much of the public exposed to violence.
    The way this situation was and is being handled/reported on did not go well with many. Some medias are downplaying the issue, keeping it all hush, hush in attempt to keep the public calm. Others are biting onto the ethnic side of it, either to shun the culture or call for more dialogue as there is clearly a 'cultural misunderstanding' at hand. And whenever someone is talking about it, the highlight is that the men were of North African and Middle Eastern origins. Mostly though, people are too scared to kick up a shitstorm, approaching the issue with all the tools of political correctness by talking about it without saying much.
    Overall, the New Years assaults are being handled with much silent stupor and ramblings on cultural differences without any definite answers or actions, while radicals on the other side scream to have the borders closed and immigrants denied.


    While I tend to not speak publicly on such issues, I can't help but express my raging thoughts on the matter. And not because of the political aspect of it, but because it's 2016, and this kind of caveman behavior should have long been outgrown by humanity. People should be treated with respect no matter what, and attacking the weak, or the perceived defenseless, is an act of cowardice.
    I will try to be as objective as I can, but this is an emotional issue for me and I am knowingly reacting subjectively when expressing my thoughts.


    So what is the best course of action? Hell if I know. But I do think that ethnicity and background shouldn't be underlined in this case, and the issue shouldn't be conflated to some abstract world statistics of spike in sexual violence against women.
    Instead, I'd like to look at it from a slightly different perspective. 
    Attacks against citizens are a crime, and they should be punished according to the law regardless of ethnicity and origins. The fact that the groups were made of Muslim men is an entirely different issue (which is still relevant and needs to be addressed, though elsewhere), and shouldn't be the highlight of how this particular situation is handled. 

    The attitude, in my opinion, should be as follows: this is a civilized nation, these are our laws, and such are the punishment to those who break them. Attacking women and helpless civilians is not okay, mass organized attacks like this are not okay, punish those caught, be prepared to stop such accidents from happening again, no need to kick up dust about “clarifying cultural differences and teaching people not to rape.” 




    For once, it's not entirely about culture, the attackers knew what they were doing, they knew it was a crime, and now they should face the consequences of their actions. Using culture as an excuse is a cheap way to escape it, in fact, they are using culture as a weapon, exploiting loop holes and western attitudes to wreak havoc.
    The media and the government response should instead focus on showing the law in action. No need to teach the attackers about cultural differences, they know, and don't care, the state must do what the state is meant to do, police its citizens without regard for their status, ethnicity or background. Justice is said to be blind.
    Or at least that's how it should be in an ideal world. In ours, we have yet much to learn, and I hope we learn it fast because this situation is starting to spiral out of control and innocent people are suffering on both fronts. 

    A relevant and informative video on the subject of the attacks:
    https://youtu.be/WJCLSZm4-LA

    And on the matter of minority groups and their cultural identity:
    https://youtu.be/q2s_n6St1OI