Lucifer: “Deceptive Little Parasite” Recap

By: David Carner (@davidcarner)

Spoilers to follow!

Welcome to the Lucifer review and this week’s episode, “Deceptive Little Parasite.” We open in Lucifer’s apartment where Lucifer has hidden the blade in his wall. The blade is not flaming, and Mum and Amenadiel try to help Lucifer get angry enough to make the blade come alive. Amenadiel punches him, but to no avail. At Dr. Martin’s, Lucifer is trying to get her to control his emotions. Until he is willing to bring down the walls between them and him and his emotions, she won’t help him. We go to Chloe’s, where Maze made the mistake of asking what was wrong with Chloe. It turns out she doesn’t really care, and puts her earbuds in on high so she doesn’t have to listen to Chloe. Chloe figures it out. (A demon really isn’t the one to tell all your problems to, after all.) We also learned that Lucifer got his wedding annulled. At the crime scene, we find out a therapist named Debbie has been murdered with a “fat knife,” as Ella says. Chloe finds a picture missing something that looks rather phallic, and it turns out it was scissors from a ribbon cutting ceremony. At the school where our therapist worked, we find out that one of the things taught is emotional self-control. Lucifer is intrigued.

The emotional needs of students at the school are the priority. We find out that the therapist had a run-in with parents of a child that was denied admission to the school. A contribution was made for the student, but the victim told the fathers that the money was never received. During the questioning, the murder weapon was found in their pool house. At Lux, Lucifer is reading a book from the school called Your Feelings and You, when three “sexy detectives” hired by Mum interrupt him. She hired them to “fire up the sword.” Mum tries to explain to Lucifer that he doesn’t understand her impatience because he doesn’t have children, ones he hadn’t seen in a millennium like she does. He agrees he needs a child, and heads off. At Chloe’s, Lucifer shows up and Chloe tells him that she believes someone has embezzled the money, and the fingerprints have been wiped from the scissors. Lucifer tells Chloe he’ll take her daughter to school, and you guessed it: they go to Starford for a tour.

Chloe and Dan ask to see the school’s payment ledger, and the headmaster breaks into tears. He admits to embezzling the funds, but didn’t kill Debbie, although it’s “[his] fault.”

Meanwhile, Lucifer and Trixie are in a class about feelings. In it, the child beside Lucifer is drawing a picture of his mom stabbing the victim. We also learn that Trixie is having problems with her Mom almost dying. Lucifer takes Trixie back to her real school and at his underground parking garage, a masked figure punches him in the face.

It’s Mum, and the blade still isn’t burning. Mum is starting to lose it about getting home, and the quicker she gets there, the better. At the station, Chloe has gotten an email from Starford and Dan and Chloe talk about Trixie. They address how Trixie hasn’t talked about Chloe nearly dying, and Chloe is torn about what to do. One day at Starford has Trixie opening up, but Dan wonders if they are more impressed with Trixie or with Lucifer’s bank account. It’s nice to see a show actually deal with the children that are on it, and not just use them as part of the background. The mom of the kid that drew the picture apparently muttered about killing the victim each time she made cupcakes that weren’t gluten-free, bought root vegetables at the store that she pulled the sticker off of and rubbed dirt on to make appear organic, and other little digs that the victim made. We also find out that she and the PE teacher we getting physical. We also find out the victim was hated.

As Chloe gets ready for the Grieving Gathering at Starford, Maze asks her why she’s dressing up for it. Chloe admits to wanting to try to fit in at the school to give Trixie the best chance to succeed in life. Chloe goes alone, and is given the “it must be difficult” speech from the judgmental couples around her. Maze comes up, slaps her on the backside, and tells the sign-in lady they’re together, which gets her very excited about two mommies being potential Starford parents. Maze kisses her lightly, and Chloe looks extremely uncomfortable.

Maze tells Chloe she may not be able to listen well, but she’ll never let her girl go alone into battle. The two work the room trying to find the killer. In Lucifer’s penthouse, Amenadiel is trying to get the sword to work, and he’s more than a little jealous. Lucifer tells him that Mum is too eager to go home and he thinks something’s up. Amenadiel goes to bat for her. He calls Lucifer “Light Bringer,” shoves the blade to his chest, and walks off. Back at the event, Maze chats up one of the attendees and tells him her “wife” is very close to arresting someone, but to keep it quiet. (I give him five minutes to tell the whole group.) At the car where the “evidence” is being held, the teacher from the “emotional well-being” class earlier in the day is about to break in when Lucifer interrupts her. Lucifer wants to learn more about the curriculum to try and control his emotions. She tells Lucifer that she was supposed to get something for Chloe, and Lucifer opens the door. Lucifer asks for private tutoring while she digs through the car. She grabs the gun Chloe left there as Chloe asks Lucifer what is going on.

The teacher, Madison, shoots into the air twice. Chloe figured out that Madison and the PE teacher had a son together. The victim had figured it out, and threatened to expose Madison. Chloe relates to her as a mom and gets Madison to lower the gun. She goes on about how it’s impossible to control feelings, and Lucifer is stunned. Madison continues to talk, and Maze tackles her, tired of hearing about feelings. We cut to Chloe and Trixie in Trixie’s bedroom later that night, where Chloe tells her she could go to the school if she wanted to. Chloe tells Trixie how it made her feel and opened up to her daughter. Trixie asks if its okay to pretend, and Chloe tells her that it is, but they never have to pretend with each other. Trixie doesn’t like the school. At Dr. Martin’s, Lucifer tells her she was right. Lucifer tells her that he plans on opening the gates of heaven, shoving Mum in, and sealing the door. She and God can tear each other apart as far as he’s concerned. He wants them both to be punished for trapping him and making him feel things he doesn’t want to feel anymore. Dr. Martin tells him to quit suppressing the pain. She tells him the only way to get over it is to go through it. At his apartment, with his family watching, Lucifer tries to activate the sword, and it has a little bit of fire. It then goes out, and Mum yells at him to try harder. Mum leaves, gets on the elevator, and pulls away a Band-Aid to reveal light is breaking out of her.

Quotes

“It’s so small, and not flaming.” – Lucifer

“Ladies, I’m sorry, but it’s hard for me to enjoy a triple-decker with my Mum’s hands all over it.” – Lucifer

“Yeah, fancy pants rich kids are like vipers, and Trixie will learn to slash them with her words, and I will teach her the knives.” – Maze

“She’s a pistol in the sack too.” – Maze

“Listening to feelings is not my thing, right honey?” – Maze

Little Things

So here’s where we are: Mum has only so much time left in the body she’s in. Next week, apparently God comes to earth. Things are picking up with only three episodes left this year.

Kuddos to this writing team for making this supernatural show so human. That’s the backbone of this show: the human emotions that drive these characters. Whether it’s between children, parents and siblings, friends, or even ex-spouses, the relationships on this show keep it grounded, so the other parts seem to be believable.

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