Summary
Episode 9 continues the story in its stride, bringing more conundrums, heartache, and questions to be answered. It’s not going to be as simple as we were led to believe.
This recap of Netflix’s Lucifer season 5, episode 9, “Family Dinner,” contains major spoilers.
We are back, folks — after Part A teased fan into meltdown, we are treated to the second half of season 5. Expect more complications as we enter a new phase in these character’s life — the Father has granted us all with his presence.
Episode 9 opens up with Father looking down at Lucifer, Michael, and Amendadiel — Michael sucks up to him immediately and blames his scarred face on Lucifer. Father does not care who is at fault; he wants them to act like a family and get along. Michael proceeds to hug the other two, but Lucifer is unwilling to let go of his grievances. Behind one of the desks, Maze mouths to Michael, “Now?” but Michael shakes his head. Time stops freezing, and Father checks out his grandson. Chloe is the most confused, standing alone in the archives room, wondering where Lucifer is.
Was Lucifer going to say, “I love you”? Chloe tries to find out
Chloe finds him at the club, and he’s playing the piano for the clubbers — she asks for a private conversation and wonders what happened at the precinct; she believes he was about to say, “I love you.” Lucifer apologizes, saying he needed to get away as he can’t take people telling him what to do anymore. Chloe is understanding and tells him she’ll give him some time.
Lucifer season 5, episode 9 leaves Chloe emotionally at arm’s length, like in Part A — the more we see this character suffer heartbreaks, the more we feel she will never get the conclusion she deserves.
Crazy golf course murder // invitation to family dinner
There’s a new case — a man named Chris Peterson has been killed at a mini crazy golf course. He has been burned to death. Ella gives a breakdown to Chloe (surprisingly, Ella has returned to work quickly, despite the trauma). Meanwhile, Lucifer argues with his father in the background — he wonders why he is still here. Father asks Lucifer if he’d like to join him for family dinner; he doesn’t want to leave earth until they have all talked. Lucifer joins the crime scene, and Chloe figures out that Lucifer is projecting — she knows he’s mad at his own family. The group asks the family who owns the golf course if they know who would burn down the place — the family talk about a man named Juan, who owns a rival golf course.
Juan’s alibi
When Chloe and Lucifer approach Juan, he legs it and heads into a go-kart, but Lucifer stops him. Juan claims he knows nothing about Chris’s death and thought they were arresting him for putting illegal fuel in the go-karts. Juan gives his alibi that seems viable, and he states Chris came to him for a job — it sounds like Chris was trying to leave the family business. Everything is leaning towards a family murder at this stage of the episode.
A request for a soul
While there’s heartache for Chloe, there’s soul-ache for Maze in Lucifer season 5, episode 9.
Maze asks Father if he can give her a soul — she’s upset that everyone has one, except her. She feels she can’t connect, and it makes her feel alone. Father tells Maze that she’s perfect the way she is, and he can’t change who she is. Maze is frustrated by the father’s reluctance and tells him he messed up when he made demons.
Finding “their Michael”
Chloe wants to use Lucifer’s family situation to try and figure out Chris’s family — she wants to find “their Michael.” So they interview each family member one by one. They find out that the brother Larry was always jealous of Chris. However, Lucifer does not like this approach as it’s too close to him. Finally, the father of Chris comes in (Peter Peterson). He confesses that he killed his son, and he doesn’t want another one of his children to suffer; he tells them that he saw his son with a fuel canister, so he fought him, which ended up killing Chris.
Family dinner
Episode 9 then brings the pivotal moment of the series and is one of the best scenes so far — Lucifer season 5, Part B decided not to play games here.
Lucifer has an epiphany after interviewing the Peterson family and joins the family dinner — he starts the meal by asking the family to say grace. So they all awkwardly do so. Linda leads the grace but feels the irony because God is at the dinner table with them. When they start eating, Linda is overwhelmed by the delicious food and calls it “heavenly.” Lucifer decides to bring up what Michael has done to him and sarcastically raises that he did it all to bring them together for family dinner. He brings up the ironies of the family dinner and how their Father hasn’t served them.
Lucifer ends his rant and asks Father why Hell doesn’t need a warden anymore. Then, he gets emotional about how hard it was being the king of Hell. Lucifer and Michael end up facing each other, expressing their hatred. Father then booms, “children,” and the storm starts. When it settles, the candles come back on. Lucifer raises how Father still has the “old testament” wrath. Father states he only wanted a family dinner, but it was too much to ask. In the awkward silence, Linda laughs. She tells the family that being dysfunctional is normal — three sons that want their Father’s love. Lucifer asks Amenadiel if he’d treat Charlie like how their Father has treated them — Amenadiel admits he wouldn’t.
Father apologizes and tells them he wanted to empower all his children. Lucifer asks his Father if he loves them — Father looks around the table and wonders if he’s failed if he has to tell them. Lucifer believes that means “no” and that Father will not love them as he’s incapable of feeling that way. He then walks out.
Michael is banished from Earth
And like there is heartache for Chloe and soul-ache for Maze, there’s fatherhood-ace for Amenadiel (okay, I’ll stop now).
Amenadiel asks his Father about Charlie — he doesn’t want his son to suffer like all humans and asks his father to make him human, and Charlie an angel; he wants to switch places. Michael intervenes in the conversation and tells Father that he should go home. Father tells him he’s staying a little longer and banishes Michael from being on earth.
But it looks like Father is not willing to make any compromises on Charlie’s life.
Peter Peterson goes AWOL
Back to the investigation, and Lucifer learns from Chloe that Peter’s confession does not add up. They look at CCTV of Chris, and they see him with a woman named Betty. But then they learn Peter has fled his house arrest and wonder why if he’s innocent. They find Peter at a train station; he’s pointing a gun at Betty — he explains he realized none of his children did it, but Betty did, as he learned that she was skipping town. Betty expresses that she tried to burn the place down because it brought Chris down — he caught her trying to burn the business — while trying to stop Betty, Chris knocked himself out on the concrete, and the fire was too aggressive, and he burned to death before Betty could save him. So Chris died protecting the family business.
The ending
Maze finds Michael in the club, and she tells him she was looking forward to kicking his arse. She wants a soul after he promised her one. They both apologize for not getting what they wanted. However, Michael believes it’s not “over until it’s over.” Meanwhile, Chloe meets Lucifer and tells him she was wrong to draw parallels with the case and the family — she apologizes for not giving him space. Lucifer calls her wonderful and tells Chloe that she deserves to hear “I love you” back, but he will never be able to say them to her because he is his father’s son. He believes he is incapable of love and apologizes — he believes if he ever said those three words to her, it would be a lie. Poor Chloe. Our hearts cannot take it anymore.
Lucifer season 5, episode 9 continues the story in its stride, bringing more conundrums, heartache, and questions to be answered. It’s not going to be as simple as we were led to believe.
Additional points
- Amenadiel asks Lucifer to consider joining the family dinner as it would be good for them. He reminds him that he’s their father, even if he hasn’t been perfect in the past.
- Dan tries to comfort Ella, saying they need more people like her.
