A Short Series Overlook: Lucifer

So Lucifer is one of those things you hear about and you're like, "Holy crap, this actually exists?"

And yeah, holy crap, this actually exists.

You know the type, those shows with a premise so nonsensical that you kind of have to watch it. Satan himself going to Los Angeles to help solve crimes? It's the kind of weird that's right up my alley, right along iZombie's premise of a doctor turned zombie who works in a morgue and gets visions from eating brains which she uses to solve crimes. I also have got to talk about Liv's cooking at some point because, goddamn, her brain dishes look tasty. Also maybe I just like weird crime/detective shows.

Anyway, so charming ass Tom Ellis stars as Lucifer Morningstar, the actual devil, who decides, hey, this running hell thing? I'm goddamn sick of this. So he pops up to Earth, gets himself a night club, starts drives a convertible, becomes rich and influential by offering people favours. Except then he meets detective Chloe Decker, a no-nonsense by the book lawful good type who makes him weak. Like, romantically but also her presence makes him mortal.

It's a fun little show that uses the case of the week formula these shows are so well known for, but it has a fair amount of service to the overarching plot in each episode. The show is made for a week by week airing schedule but the stories aren't so self-contained that any one is skippable but the actual cases are interesting enough that you get invested in the individual ones. Nothing ever feels like filler. Lucifer's struggles to balance being the detective's civilian tag-along while also trying to deal with God's influence, other supernatural beings and the most biblical family drama is a fun time.

Lucifer is at it's best when you have all these biblical figures thrown into relatively mundane situations. I can't say that it's 100% accurate to Christian mythology but I don't think it's supposed to be. It's a bit of a crazy premise but it puts characters into a bunch of fun situations but it can also lead to some genuinely heartfelt moments.The soundtrack can be some genuine fun and Tom Ellis singing blues and playing piano is always a joy.

The weakest parts of the show are when Lucifer is unaware of how insane his "my dad is the actual God" thing sounds and just rambles on while people sort of ignore him. It's cringey but I guess it makes sense in the context of the story, but still. I get that Lucifer isn't exactly hiding who he is but at some point you kind of wish he'd play along already.

Lucifer is the kind of show that doesn't come along very often. It's fun and can be funny without repeatedly spitting one liners. It's more like a CSI than a fantasy show but the blend of Crime Drama with Fantasy Adventure works, and you get a show that has more heart than your local overly concerned Christian mom would have you believe. Is it a little blasphemous? Kind of but that's also what's fun about it. And the show never outright mocks or belittles Christianity, after all, this is the kind of universe where the Christians would be right. And it also never preaches because it's not really a Christian show, it uses Christian mythology for world building in order to service the narratives of its characters. In fact, most people live pretty secularly, aside from Ella, the resident catholic forensic specialist. She's also my favourite, like, how are you supposed to hate someone so bubbly? Either way, the show is more like Thor than Passion of The Christ, for whatever that analogy is worth.

So it's not going to convert your kids to satanism, it's not going to preach to you and it's not going to be the overly edgy grime-fest that a more cynical and jaded showrunner might have moved the show into. It's a light-hearted buddy cop show that has more to tell you about inheriting your parent's trauma, the complexities of falling in love, the darkness of the human spirit and how Hell as a place of eternal torment isn't about fire and brimstone; it's about your trauma, your regrets and the mistakes you've made.I particularly love how Hell is a place you can physically just leave, if only you could overcome your own trauma. That's a surprisingly insightful message.

Do I recommend this show? Depends who you are. This very much could offend very fragile Christian sensibilities, and it's not for someone looking for a show divorced from religion. It is a fun show, it is worth your time and it never stops being charming.

Give it a go if you have a good time watching Brooklyn 99 but also enjoy Supernatural. In fact, Supernatural even engaged in some good-natured ribbing, with Mark Pellegrino's Lucifer taking a jab at Tom Ellis' version, and when senpai notices you, then you've made it.

Read More

In Service To Allegory versus Allegory In Service

Buffy The Vampire Slayer is great.

Bet you didn't think that was how this was going to start out.

But yeah, Buffy The Vampire Slayer is a show that first aired two decades ago and somewhere in 2017 is where I finished watching it. It's aged as all things do, but after the credits rolled on the final episode, it was like this click. Like, man, I've actually seen this show before. But it was called The Vampire Diaries when I watched it.

Okay, you got me, I'm just being snarky. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and The Vampire Diaries are two different shows made far apart from one another with different demographics, themes and center-points but they're also two shows that have a lot in common. The Vampire Diaries treads a lot of the same ground but it's wearing a different pair of boots. Yes, there's a healthy amount of teen romance, both show the protagonist going from highschool to graduation as the audience matures with the show, both have a good guy/bad boy dichotomy in their love interests, both get remarkably better after the first season and both shows even had darker and more adult spin-offs starring a lovable cast member. There are articles detailing the similarities far more comprehensively than I have time for but I will say that Julie Plec is definitely a Buffy fan.

The most interesting difference to me is this; Buffy The Vampire Slayer is a show drenched in allegory. Some being more on the nose than others, but the monster of the week often represents something, whether it's fratboy culture, overwhelming grief, the patriarchy and so on. Buffy's friends are allegorical of her spirit, heart and mind (Willow, Xander and Giles respectively). Often story arcs are set up specifically with the intent of paralleling some aspect of society and to use the situation to make a statement. The TL;DR of it is that Buffy The Vampire Slayer often creates stories in favour of the specific allegory.

And The Vampire Diaries is almost the exact anti-thesis to that. Tolkien himself said it better than I'm able to so here's how that goes; "I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history - whether true or feighned - with its variable applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think that many confuse applicability with allegory, but one resides in the freedom of the reader and the other in the domination of the author."

I'm not saying that there isn't coding, symbolism or applicability in The Vampire Diaries. I'm saying that The Vampire Diaries has its story first, and the allegory serve the narrative. It often tackles the themes it wants to tackle directly. A younger sibling with a drug problem isn't a hamfisted metaphor about using too much magic, the younger sibling is seen on screen, taking the drug, and the real consequences thereof. You could argue that the main metaphor comes in the "humanity switch" but it is also directly called "the humanity switch". Vampires have the literal ability to turn off their humanity, which is a scathing critique of what it's like when you choose total apathy and indifference over empathy and dealing with negative emotions. But you could also argue that it's a plot device and a metaphor so thin that blowing air would tear a hole in it. Obfuscating meaning for a clever delivery is not the goal here.

The meaning is in the moments.

A while back a friend criticized me for my attempts in aggressively seeking out the real world parallels in the text. I couldn't come up with much of a definitive answer other than saying that we compare anything we watch or read to everything else we've watched and read. We form connections between these experience. You're going to get the most out of anything if you understand the hidden meaning.

But I guess now I understand that there isn't always a hidden meaning to unearth. There is a joke I remember floating around a while back about how an english teacher might interpret blue curtains as symbolism for depression and grief, while the author may have just liked the colour. Interpreting text is a wonderful and necessary practice, and as someone who enjoyed their highschool AP english class more than they're willing to admit, you can and should try what the author is trying to say.

But I think it's equally valid to search for when the story is written in service to the allegory, and to recognize when the allegory is in service to the story. It's okay to just tune out, because escapism isn't wrong. And I think while some enjoy the act of analyzing and pondering, it's important to recognize that analysis isn't the only method of enjoying storytelling.

Sometimes, it's perfectly acceptable for the curtains to just be blue. The meaning is perhaps what one does behind those curtains.

Read More