The Season 2 premiere of Lucifer had to cover some interesting ground after last season. Season 1 left us with a couple of major revelations. First, Lucifer has a mother. Second, she had been condemned to Hell. These two ideas alone dominate the entire first episode of this new season. However, let me assure you, while the explanation of Lucifer’s mother is unorthodox, the Bible can support the idea.
When Lucifer gives Linda the story behind his “Mum,” he sticks to the beginning of everything—the creation. This is appropriate, though it’s couched in Lucifer’s particular vein of storytelling, with lines such as: “They had sex. The only trouble was, they were celestial beings, so that moment created the universe,” and, one of my favorites, “Dad started going into the garage and tinkering with a little project he called humanity.” Everything Lucifer is referencing comes from Genesis Chapter 1, and it is here that we find the basis for Lucifer’s mother.
In Genesis 1:26, God decrees: “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness” (NSRV). While many have interpreted the use of plural pronouns to be linguistically like the Queen of England speaking in the royal “we,” or that God was speaking to a host of off-camera angels, the writers on Lucifer have opted for the third, most interesting explanation: There is a Goddess.
This idea has my support because of the stress put on image and likeness in the verse. This is compounded when looking at Verse 27: “…male and female he created them.” God is the one doing the actual creating, yes, but man and woman have the likeness. God, clearly masculine, would serve as template for the man, but it would take a female divinity to be the template for woman.
Lucifer spins this revelation into a (dysfunctional) family life during his childhood. We have to take all of this with a grain of salt, given the source of the information, since Lucifer is more interested in shifting blame to everyone—including Linda—but himself. This makes for an interesting view of the creation that adds complicated layers to the whole dynamic between God and Lucifer in the show. Why avoid the family? Were there issues at home in heaven? Lucifer admits to acting out and then getting “tossed out of the house” and into hell, with Mum following a couple thousand years later.
Lucifer’s also facing some real fear over guilt (which he admits to later) from making the choice to not act when his mother was imprisoned in hell. He’s convinced, and Amenadiel along with him, that Mum is out for some good old-fashioned revenge. Even Maze is taken aback when she discovers Mum has broken free. After all, “she wouldn’t submit. [Maze] could never break that woman.” This reinforces that the Goddess has some significant power in order to give the devil, a demon, and an angel pause. But then, she was at least partly responsible for the creation of the universe during the (ahem) “Big Bang.”
Speaking of power, Amenadiel has some performance issues. His powers over time are on the blink. While they functioned fine at the beginning of the episode, halfway through, he seems to have lost some of his mojo—first at the police station, and then at night on the park bench. They are intermittent at best, and it remains to be seen as to what the cause is, which should be interesting to explore as the season progresses.
Maze also has some issues she is working out; she’s looking for a place to belong in this world now that she’s convinced that Lucifer means for them to never return to hell. The end of the episode reveals that she is seeing Linda, but is she simply a client of the therapist, or is there something more going on as they meet and hug at the club?
Lucifer finally comes full circle and has the epiphany that perhaps his mother isn’t coming to destroy him. He admits his feelings of guilt to Linda and poses the scarier question: If she isn’t out for revenge against him, what is she doing on Earth? Cue the dramatic entrance on the tail-end of Lucifer’s rendition of “All Along the Watchtower,” where Mum staggers in, screwdriver in hand, asking for Lucifer’s help.
This episode pulled off what it needed to, telling the bits and pieces required while teasing out a longer story arc that looks like it will last a good part of the season. The inclusion of Lucifer’s and Amenadiel’s mother into the cosmology creates a rich tableau for more stories and softens the characters a great deal.
Lucifer is no longer the Prince of Evil lashing out in spite against his father. Now, he is a son who was neglected by his father and abandoned (at least in his eyes) by his mother. Amenadiel, too, is concerned about Mum’s presence, but we don’t have as much access to how he feels about her; hopefully this will be revealed in later episodes this season. Even Maze’s brief arc softens her from sadistic demon to someone more human, someone searching for humanity—although the scene with the cattle prod reminds us she hasn’t gotten too soft.
See also: Fox's Lucifer and the Free Will of Angels
Andy Adams is an adjunct professor of English at various colleges in the Phoenix area. He has an affectation for fedoras as they complement his villainous goatee. He’s been known to poke his head onto Twitter @A3Writer, but he’s never been big into birds. He blogs at A3writer.com about writing, teaching, and the conquest of fictional worlds—they’re more fun than the real world.
Read all posts by Andy Adams for Criminal Element.
He left Gordonstoun in 1967 with five O-levels in English Language, English Literature, History, Latin and French and two A-levels in History and French.