Lucifer season 1, episode 9, “A Priest Walks into a Bar,” pretty much did what it said on the tin.
The episode begins with Lucifer pondering why he feels so alone and who he can actually count on as a friend. The self-reflection is put on hold when a priest really does walk into Lucifer’s bar asking for a favor. As usual, Luci has to complicate everything by completely ignoring the actual problem (a drug ring at the youth center) and championing his own cause (thinking the priest has nefarious motives).
Except maybe the priest isn’t all he seems to be at first glance. He has a storied past, but the last 10 years of his life have been clean. Except for a single restraining order taken out in the last week by the man Chloe and Lucifer found dead in his office.
Lucifer is giddy with anticipation, but before we get back to the priest, we get an update on the situation between Dan and Malcolm. It’s clear by the strange look he gives Malcolm as they pass by each other that Lucifer doesn’t trust him, but it’s Dan who has the biggest reservations. It turns out Dan isn’t necessarily a bad guy. He looked the other way a couple times in the past as Malcolm did some shady dealings, and the only reason why Dan shot a fellow cop was because Malcolm was going to pull his gun on Chloe.
Malcolm knows all of this and pulls some strings to keep him close. The two are now partners and Malcolm wants him to take something out of evidence for him.
But maybe Malcolm isn’t the one in the driver’s seat here. It turns out Amenadiel didn’t save the crooked cop out of the kindness of his own heart. No, he saved him from Hell because he wants Malcolm to do something for him. We don’t find out what it is, but it undoubtedly has something to do with getting Lucifer back to his post.
But back to Lucifer’s problems. The priest is shot at because he’s been trying to stop the drug ring at the youth center, and Lucifer takes this moment to tempt Father Lawrence. Except it doesn’t work because he’s actually not a terrible person, like Lucifer wants him to be. In fact, Father Lawrence opens up to both of them about his rock ‘n’ roll past and the two of them even battle it out on the piano “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”-style.
Turns out Lucifer kind of likes the guy, and Chloe knows why. Sometimes you like the people who are most different from you. Is this why Lucifer and Chloe get along so well? And is this any sort of clue as to who or what Chloe is? We haven’t talked about it in a while, but Chloe still isn’t affected by Lucifer’s powers and I need to know why.
In a touching moment, the priest gets one up on Lucifer. The Devil is mad at God because he didn’t have faith in him or his plan for his son, but Father Lawrence wonders how Lucifer knows the plan is finished. This makes Lucifer take pause, and it’s a wonderful little seed to plant into his brain.
Their time together as almost-friends is short, however. The new leader of the drug ring at the youth center, who is also a councilor there, gets the priest back to his church and shoots him. Chloe repays the favor, though it is unfortunate that the priest dies and the drug dealer does not.
Lucifer’s anger and sadness over a dying Father Lawrence is one of the most touching and emotional scenes of the series so far. His voice is breaking, he doesn’t know what to do, and he’s nearly as vulnerable now as he was when he showed Chloe the scars from his cropped wings. The priest offers Luci wise words, however, saying that perhaps he was put into Lucifer’s life for a reason.
Lucifer, of course, rejects this, and holds the councilor up against the wall with a single hand. Though I enjoyed this episode up until this point, I sincerely have to ask when the evidence will be strong enough that Chloe can no longer deny who Lucifer really is. Sure, he’s unorthodox and unnerving, and something like that can be written off, but there is now plenty of proof that Lucifer is also otherworldly. He lifted that man off the ground with little effort. Detective Chloe Decker is not an idiot, so why is she continuing to deny everything she’s seen so far?
Lucifer questions God’s motives for everything he does, citing that no one can win, whether they follow the rules or not. He begins the scene angry, but when he moves to the piano, it’s clear Father Lawrence’s death has left him hollow. Chloe joins him, and while he tries to make the situation suggestive, she’s honest and earnest with him, and they settle in together. Their relationship can carry the show farther in moments like this than when Tom Ellis manages to make even the most innocent of lines seem naughty (and that’s saying something).
And though Chloe didn’t feel up to talking with Dan about their relationship, she had no problem driving to Lucifer’s place to check up on him.
It’s a sweet scene, but it’s not where we leave the end of the episode. Malcolm is enjoying his earthly delights in the form of a burger and milkshake when Amenadiel shows up to remind him that he only spent 30 seconds in Hell. It might have felt like 30 years, but eternity will be a lot worse if the cop doesn’t do what he’s told. Luckily for Malcolm, he had Dan get a gun out of evidence storage so it wouldn’t be traced back to him. and what does Amenadiel want him to do with it? Kill Lucifer Morningstar, of course.