REVIEW: Lucifer, S2E14 – Candy Morningstar

After finding out that his meeting of – and subsequent relationship with – Chloe (Lauren German) was a fate orchestrated by his Father, Lucifer (Tom Ellis) left Los Angeles for whereabouts unknown. Two weeks after his absence, Charlotte (Tricia Helfer) has yet to find any closure and takes out her son issues on unsuspecting young men. Kind of Freudian, no? Meanwhile Lucifer starts off its spring episodes with a mystery: what’s the devil up to and why’s he paying for it? Mazikeen (Lesley-Ann Brandt) thinks it’s revenge, but with that trickster you can never be too sure.

The case of the episode echoes the characters’ situation in a way, as the death of a band’s lead singer leaves the rest of the members confused and alone. Of course, Lucifer himself doesn’t leave his colleagues and friends alone too long and shows up with a wife named Candy Morningstar (guest star Lindsey Gort) out of the blue. A somewhat surprising turn of events is how supportive Dan (Kevin Alejandro) is of Chloe, but it’s nice to see how he’s grown since he and his ex parted romantic ways.

It’s Chloe who’s having more trouble coping with Lucifer’s antics, and the victim’s ex-wife serves as an interesting parallel to her own struggles. Her reactions are perfectly understandable given that the man left her high and dry after saving her life. For once it is his motivations that were a little fuzzier, which perhaps helped make Chloe appear even more in the right. Why did Lucifer even come back if he was concerned that Chloe was nothing but ordained for him? He seems genuinely hurt that she didn’t want to keep spending time with him, so why did he leave in the first place? That’s the point of a mystery, and the hour certainly keeps us guessing as long as possible.

A wiser Maze still laughs at human antics.

Thankfully Linda Martin (Rachael Harris) is on hand to try to probe his mind a little better, even though he insists on having Candy in the session. She asks all the same questions the audience does, but unfortunately doesn’t fare much better in the answers department. On the other hand, Candy herself provides great advice and manages to be much more perceptive than the rest of the characters give her credit for – another nice surprise in the episode.

Maze gives the advice that gets the ball rolling, though. She suggests that Chloe and Lucifer get themselves a mediator, which leads to an undercover visit to one of their suspects in the case. Nothing brings me more joy than a good undercover dating trope, and the detective duo falling apart almost the moment they walk in is delightful to watch. The actors do an excellent job of going from humorous to heartbreaking when Chloe reflects that she doesn’t even know if Lucifer’s ever lied to her. With the amount of gaslighting she has gone through, who can blame her?

If there’s one issue with the case subplot, it’s the same one that pervades the series as a whole. Why does Chloe even need to go undercover if Lucifer can just compel the mediator to tell the truth about his dealings with the victim? Of course, the show doesn’t work without the police procedural element, so it’s normally something to let slide. The switch just felt more immediate than usual this week, but that might partly be me getting back into the swing of the show after a long hiatus.

Mom has all the emotions tonight.

Amenadiel (D.B. Woodside) mostly serves as emotional support for his mother this episode, but their scenes were a lot of fun – especially as Charlotte gets increasingly more paranoid when evil plans don’t immediately reveal themselves. His confrontation with his brother is the emotional crux of the hour, though, and it finally provides the answers needed about Lucifer’s motivations. Instead of punishing Chloe for being a trap laid by his father, he is protecting her – once more showing how much he’s changed this season. Yet nothing in “Candy Morningstar” beats Mr. Morningstar himself singing a sweet 90s jam to prove how important Chloe’s partnership is to him and to help solve the case in one fell swoop.

Overall, Candy was an excellent addition to the cast and managed to heal the strain between Chloe and Lucifer without feeling overdone or forced. The fact that her role in-universe was the same as her role out of it was a fun twist, though it unfortunately means we won’t be getting more of her. At least we learn that the Vegas scenes from the start of the hour probably had to do with saving her life, a favor she repaid by pretending to be his wife. The episode ended with another bomb dropped by Charlotte: the flaming sword needed to get back into Heaven is Azrael’s blade. But what will the family do with this information?