Time to talk about Charlie's short ass father.
I am going to get one critique I see people bring up out the way is Lucifer's characterization changed from show to the pilot which is not true. People use this shot from the pilot as an example that Lucifer was more of an asshole dad than a
Bumbling Dad.
This shot from Charlie's perspective. I am not saying he is a perfect father; he is emotional neglectful father. If we ever get a flashback of Charlie pitching the idea of the Hotel to him, he probably made an insensitive comment, laughed in her face, or downright rude to her thinking that her idea was a waste of time due to his strong dislike of Sinners. Back to his characterization, just look like old art Viv made in the past. He is certified silly goofy little guy [/j].
Let's start with:
The Storybook
According to the book, Lucifer is labeled a dreamer who had fantastical ideas. The elders of Heaven viewed him as a troublemaker and as a threat. The other angels start creating universe, leaving his ass in the dust. Lucifer and Lilith met each other because her and Adam did not get along, which is accurate. In Jewish lore, Lilith and Adam hated each other from the start. L & L realized 'Wow, we are like both dreamers and stuff' and they had the idea of Free Will.
When Eve was made to replace Lilith as Adam's wife, they went to her to give her the Fruit of Knowledge, but it backfired, badly. Evil infects the Earth and Hell was created due to this. The elders were not happy and has a punishment sent L & L to Hell. Due to his actions, Lucifer only sees the worst of humanity which made him lose his will to dream unlike Lilith who was thriving in Hell like a badass bitch and used her singing to empower demons.
Look, I think that the story is full of half-truths, Lilith and Lucifer wrote it for Charlie. Until we see flashbacks of Lucifer's time as an angel, what truly happen in the Garden of Eden, why did Lilith made a deal with Adam, and what in the world happened to Eve, I am not taking that storybook at face value.
His Design
One word comes to mind, wack. This man has negative dip. His color scheme it is just white on top of white. His skin is white, his coat is white, his pants are white, and his fucking top hat is white. UGH. It is it just too much. White should never the majority of a color scheme, it would be an accent color like think
room molding. Even his waistcoat has white stripes on it. I know his surname means 'Light brighter' but that does not mean my eyes should be watering when looking at him for too long.
He also got those damn shoulder pads, but he should be the only character to have them, same goes for the top hat to try to make himself 'look bigger and taller because he is 5'2. He already wearing boots to make himself look taller, so it makes sense. Speaking of boots, Lucifer clearly tucks his pants into them like what you are supposed to do, I am 5'1 and I tuck my pants into my boots. The reason I am being this up because I saw some said his legs look off like no, that is just his pants bunching up.
His head shape is just funny, he is like a puppet, Goofy looking ass.
I did an quick sketch of my take on his design. Removed the buttons across his chest because his waistcoat has vertical stripes and the buttons are horizontal. Editing his color scheme gave me a run for my money due to all the white. Remove those shoulder pads because even though I said he should be the only character to have them.
Lucifer only looks young for someone who has been around for 10,000+ years. You would think all of stress and the mental toll of being the King of Hell would have aged him a bit, but he is immortal. Lucifer looks like Charlie's younger brother, not her whole ass father and her being 6'6 does not help. There are people who are taller than their parents in real life, but the parent[s] still looks old/their age.
He only looks 'old' is when looking at Alastor which is understandable. I make similar expressions whenever Alastor is on screen, he is hideous as fuck.
Speaking of looks, in universe [and out for many], he is seen has a 'Pretty Boy' due to his angelic roots. Mimzy becomes awestruck when she lays eyes on him and even Niffty wanted a taste of him.
Lucifer to me is an
ugly cute. He is very silly looking, I am sorry. I like Lucifer but I do not view him as
aesthetically attractive in Viv's art style. I do not find characters who are unrealistic skinny as aesthetic pleasing, give my man some organs. [/lhj] He looks better when people draw him with a realistic slim body type. I also like when people draw him with a little bit of chub, weight gain is not uncommon for people with depression. I am going to sound crazy [because I am, same with being cringe] but instead of his body being apple core shaded, the apple motif should have been his ass, or his body type could have been
apple shape.
I do dislike how fans infantilize him [the same thing happens to Niffty with people thinking she is a child and not a woman in her early 20s], short does not equal child/childlike, that is creepy. It does not help that Lucifer is autistic-coded. He hyper fixations on rubber ducks, a product that is associated with young children. I do not know if this coding was intentional or not, but I know autistic traits when I see them. He is socially awkward over the phone and when interacting with the hotel residents and employees, and when trying to trash talk Adam, he mixes up 'Fuck you' with 'Fuck you up' and was confused when Charlie corrected him. This is me projecting but he makes the most awkward facial expressions when in conversations with people. I do the same exact thing; Lucifer is like me for real.
Onto the topic of:
His depression
The only reason I am bringing this up because apparently there are some who say he is not???
Even though the line "Take that Depression" is pure quirky millennial type humor or something those 'Common White Girl' twitter accounts would say, the show outright says he has it. Like come y'all, do not be stupid.
The scene was already doing 'Show, not Tell'. Lucifer is alone in a dimly lit room, talking to himself and was harsh on himself after creating his flipping rubber ducks that splits fire, and became sad when looking at the family portrait. Like there is something clearly "off" with him.
Speaking of rubber ducks, his 'silly duck man' shtick is something I do not have an issue with. Maybe because I like to surround myself with merch of my favorite franchises but there is a difference between collector and a hoarder. Lucifer is a hoarder; those rubber ducks are in very corner of his craft room, there is just piles of them.
He creates rubber ducks as a form of coping with his depression that got worst due to Lilith and him splitting up [it was probably not mutual because he still is wearing his wedding ring], he became a recluse and isolated himself from his duties at the king and from his own daughter, only calling her out of boredom or he needs her to do something for him like sending her to the meeting with Adam and Lute even though Adam requested him. Forgetfulness can be a sign of depression, Lucifer was clearly not up to date with his daughter's life, not knowing that she was in a relationship with Vaggie and forgot all about the hotel.
The rubber ducks probably pop up when Lilith left to do whatever she is doing in Heaven because his craft room was rubber duck free during 'Move than Anything'. There is empty martini glass on the floor too, this can mean that Lucifer could be using alcohol is a form of coping as well. I hope and pray that his coping mechanisms come up in Season 2 because he is now living at the hotel. Charlie probably knows that he likes them. The profile pic for Lucifer in her phone is rubber duck wearing his top and his bowtie. I wonder if she knows how bad his hoarding truly got after her mother left or that he is a hoarder at all.
Lucifer also dissociates when no one is interacting or talking directly to him. After 'Hell's Greatest Dad', he looks mentally just out of it. Sir P is right next to him, but does Lucifer is too "busy" looking at his cane to even acknowledge Sir P's existence. He jumps with Mimzy walks up to him and default poses like a video game character when he notices her.
He also at point stopped paying attention during Charlie and Vaggie's tour of the hotel. Lucifer is like me for real for real.
People have an issue on how 'nice' or how much of a doormat he is, he is the devil™ after all. Take his interactions with Al, Lucifer is the most powerful being of Hell and could easily ripped Al to shreds without feeling remorse but does not. Why? because he knows [and hates the fact] that Charlie cares for Al. He tolerates Al out of fear of rejection from Charlie.
Lucifer does have a dark side that he keeps under wraps like the man went crazy and started giving Adam a pure fucking ass beating even though beforehand he was just being playful and not taking Adam seriously. He was about to give him the final blow, but Charlie stopped him.
I always question why Lucifer knows how to fight until Charlie. This is just a random ass thought that popped into my head one night. Maybe he had a fight for his life during his banishment when Elders found out what he did in Eden and sending him to Hell. Lucifer has trauma from his fell [maybe even before that since he was labelled a "troublemaker" when he was a seraph] and does not want Charlie to have her hopes and dreams crushed by those same higher ups.
I would not be surprised if there will be a scene in Season 2, 3, or even 4 of Lucifer having a PTSD attack after seeing something that reminds him of his fell. Viv is a fan of BoJack Horseman and from clips I have seen, it does features scenes of character having panic attacks or reliving their trauma. I am not joking, I will eat a spoonful of country time lemonade drink mix if a moment like that does not happen at all for Lucifer and I will make a nice glass a lemonade if it does happen.
Lucifer is at the top of the class system which means he is the person who put that in space. This is very evil of him but good because he is the devil™ after all. It is probably close or based off the Heaven’s hierarchy, something he was used for eons before his fall. The only issue is why are hell born [Imps and Hellhounds] placed at the bottom. Lucifer was nice enough to spare their lives in the extermination but maybe he came up with rule so Charlie would not have a target on her head every year.
Imps struggle to open up their own businesses and Hellhounds are seen as pets while Sinners are allowed to become powerful overlords and own the souls, have successful businesses, and even though Overlords were awful during the human lives, they are now living their 'best' afterlives and are still causing harm regular Sinners. Just a small lore rewrite, but I would have made Overlords hell born too. I should write a post about how confusing the lore is, that will take forever though, it is all over the place like holy fuck.
I touched on Charlie's relationship with her day in her
post. I want to do a true deep drive on their relationship in a separate post in the future, same goes with making a post on his dynamic with Alastor.
Have a nice day or night, whatever.