It’s All About the Follow-Through In Lucifer Finale “A Devil of My Word” 

Although last week’s cancellation news cast a bitter pall over the finale, it was nevertheless a powerful and exciting conclusion to the season with great potential if they are able to find a network saviour via the #SaveLucifer campaign.

In the aftermath of Charlotte’s death and Amenadiel’s disappearance, everyone has an agenda. Espinoza is fixated on finding the killer. Cain/Pierce is intent on covering his tracks. Maze is driven to protect Linda. Chloe and Lucifer, while grieving and detecting, are also focused on the new developments in their relationship.

In light of what really matters, the show abandons all pretense of having to look for the truth. Espinoza figures out the Pierce is the killer within minutes of venting his grief on a glass-topped kitchen table and takes it to Chloe and Lucifer at the precinct.

Chloe, usually the most obtuse when it comes to truths about Pierce, is astoundingly easy to convince in this case (considering there’s no real evidence of his guilt).

In fact, when Pierce/Cain has his old Sinnerman Man Friday, John Barrow (Gonzalo Menendez, Hawaii 5-0) plant a trail of clues leading to the subject of one of Charlotte’s prosecution cases, Steve Chamberlain (Jared Farid Ward, The Fosters), it’s almost laughingly easy to set up Barrow to reveal himself using the burner phone Chamberlain’s chauffeur, Hanson (Darren O’Hare, Vegas) is given.

Once they have Barrow, Lucifer has a little tête-à-tête with Cain/Pierce in his office and lets him know that they’re onto him as Charlotte’s killer. Cain, in turn, reveals that she was accidental collateral damage, that he was aiming to kill Amenadiel, hoping that killing God’s favourite son would earn him back the curse of immortality. Lucifer’s not a fan of this plan.

Once he feels he has all the information Lucifer has to share, Cain/Pierce screams that he’s being attacked and sics the police force on the poor devil. Cain is wise So sad what their happy marriage has devolved into…

Meanwhile, Cain/Pierce has left a mere twelve henchmen to guard the unconscious Maze. Too bad for them. Even mostly drugged up, she still cuts them down in nothing flat and immediately heads to Linda’s office…

… where Linda is finishing up a session with a patient who’s working through a paranoia that everyone is out to get him. Oops.

It was incredibly satisfying to have some closure on the Linda/Maze drama. Their reconciliation was as important to me as a fan as the resolution to the Cain/Pierce plot. Possibly more.

Kevin Alejandro gets some really gritty emotional scenery to chew on here as Espinoza. From his overwhelming sorrow at the sight of the waffle-maker to the cold killer facade he dons to interrogate Barrow, he plays a range of intensities we haven’t seen Dan tap into before.

The effectiveness of HIS “devil face” is questionable since Barrow still ends up sending Decker and Luci into a Sinnerman ambush under the guise of protecting his “sister”. Of course, it’s not until they’ve fallen in, hook & sinker, that Ella calls Espinoza with information that Barrow has no sister. They should always wait for Ella’s info.

The show-down with Cain/Pierce and his minions is the epitome of a finale. It’s everything a climactic shoot-out needs to be. Big and dramatic, on a grand scale, with powerful consequences.

Chloe tries to reason with Pierce, pleading with him as the woman he professed to love. He responds that loving her gave him something to live for but that Lucifer must die since he’ll never stop hunting him for Charlotte’s death.

Chloe blocks Pierce’s shot and then takes a shot at him herself. She’s downed by a henchman’s bullet and Lucifer extends his wings to shield her as all the baddies empty their rounds into him on Cain’s command. This is an amazing bit of bookending as we started the season (oh, so long ago!) with the mysterious (and persistant) return of said wings.

When the dust clears, he and Chloe have disappeared up onto the rooftop. She’s actually unharmed thanks to a bullet-proof vest and Lucifer leaves her there so he can deal with Cain et al without her proximity causing him to bleed.

Angel wings turn out to be quite versatile in battle and soon he and Cain are taking each other on, one on one. Cain is armed with one of Maze’s demon blades. And Lucifer? Well, he’s on the side of the angels, isn’t he?

The battle is nicely staged, choreographed with effective speed and lots of near-hits. There’s that old rule of angels not being able to kill mortals but Lucifer proves adept at wielding the wielder, using Cain’s grip on the blade but directing it into the man’s gut.

Another brilliant bit of bookending as this is reminiscent of when Luci first solved the mystery of Pierce’s true identity.

As Cain dies, he is positively cheerful as he believes he’ll go to heaven since he regrets nothing. Lucifer points out that Charlotte’s death mars that clean conscience, that he will always be a monster in his own eyes for that accidental death. As Cain struggles against that realization, Lucifer’s devil face returns and Cain laughs with his last breath.

Chloe enters the room as Cain expires and calls Lucifer’s name, causing him to turn to face her. Seeing his devil face, she is stunned that everything he has ever told her is true and she has fallen in love with The Devil.

And sadly, that is the last we may see of our Devil and his Detective. However, the #SaveLucifer campaign is in high gear and, to be fair, it would be somewhat perfect for this to be the show saved by a miracle, wouldn’t it?