Lucifer season 1, episode 3, “The Would-Be Prince of Darkness,” just finished airing, and it’s clear that Lucifer is changing more than ever.
Lucifer begins his evening at a party for a virginal football player, which he finds quite amusing. He gets Tye to reveal his deepest desire, which is to get laid, despite everything his mother taught him. Lucifer points him toward Ali, a beautiful women clad in red, and they slip off to one of the bedrooms while Lucifer finds a trio of willing participants and locates his own unoccupied room.
The morning brings troubling news, however, when Tye wakes Lucifer and shows him Ali, who is dead in the swimming pool. Detective Decker, who’s still trying to figure out who Lucifer really is, is called in to investigate the crime. She’s not happy about being summoned, but she’s got a job to do and even her pride won’t keep her from her duties.
As she investigates, Lucifer continues to get in her way. She sends him off, but he’s quick to return with some actual evidence, though sharing it with her is not exactly his first priority. They find a video of Ali filming Tye as they have sex, and this convinces Decker that Tye is the killer. She has him arrested, but Lucifer is not so easily swayed.
Lucifer’s doubts creep into Chloe’s head, and she continues to investigate. Lucifer and Chloe show up at Tye’s agent’s office at the same time, and she lets him tag along, though she’s quick to remind him who’s boss. Lucifer, never one to shy away from sexual innuendo, is pleased with the arrangement.
Chloe’s questions aren’t getting them anywhere, so Lucifer jumps in and works his magic. Normally this is when Chloe would get frustrated and steer the conversation back to her line of questions, but she sits at attention instead and watches him work. It’s clear she’s still skeptical, but she’s also desperate to figure how he convinces people to tell him the truth.
Lucifer gets Tye’s agent to admit he hired Ali to sleep with the footballer in order to have him get over his ex, Debra, who was a crazy fan. When the duo track her down, her car blows up before she gets into it, and it quickly becomes clear she isn’t the one who killed Ali.
Security cameras catch sight of another suspect, a woman by the name of Ronnie who is a Hollywood “fixer” for the stars. The cops ask Lucifer to vouch for Chloe’s ex-husband so they can set her up, but Luci has his own plans. He’s been plagued by a case of identity theft where a common human thought he could steal his name and make his way through several cities posing as Mr. Morningstar. Big mistake.
When Ronnie brings Lucibro in, we see that his impersonation is jaw-droppingly terrible. Lucifer is offended beyond belief and is about to punish him to the full extent of his own laws when a single comment from Maze changes his mind. He realizes that he is, perhaps, overreacting, and so he lets Justin go, much to Maze’s annoyance, and then has Ronnie arrested.
While she’s in cuffs, Ronnie admits she blew up the car, but she says she never hurt Ali. They were friends, and the Fixer cared about the aspiring actress. Instead, she points her finger at Tye’s agent, who hired her to fix a problem.
The next morning, the LAPD — with Lucifer in tow — barges in on a rebranding meeting for the football star. Without any help from Lucifer’s powers, Chloe gets the agent to admit he was at the party and was the one to strangle Ali. He thought Tye was going to leave his agency, which would’ve ended his career, and when Ali refused to hand over the sex tape, things got rough.
Lucifer is outraged that a good, innocent person had to die because of someone else’s greed. He throws the agent through the window, and Chloe has to jump in front of him to stop Lucifer from doing anymore damage. It’s up to the LAPD now.
Throughout the episode, Lucifer talked with his therapist, first in her office and then later after they’d had sex. She tells Lucifer he was so incensed by this case because he didn’t want to see the wrong person go to jail, and he certainly didn’t want Ali’s real murderer to get away. It was less about punishing the guilty, and more about seeking justice for the good. Lucifer’s scoffs at the idea.
Meanwhile, Chloe watches the footage of Lucifer throwing the agent through the window over and over again. She zooms up on his face, looking for answers. Is she finally convinced Lucifer Morningstar is the real deal? If next week’s previews are anything to go by, it seems both of them are going to be coming to some shocking revelations.