Season 5 of Lucifer was originally intended to be the final season until the show got renewed for a sixth. Season 6 was the perfect chance to tie up loose ends and bring everyone to a satisfying resolution, and it does do that... except for the title character.
Lucifer's final season has Lucifer prepare to become God, only for his child from the future Rory appears with the intention of killing him, claiming that he left her at a young age and never returned. As a storyline to hinge Lucifer's final season on, I don't think it's very good. First of all, I'm not a fan of Rory. Her stubborness and bitter attitude reminded me more of Connor from Angel, and you all know how I felt about Connor (her bladed wings are pretty badass though). I also think this show falls into the pit of "introducing time travel without understanding the full ramifications" that Rebels fell in. But the weakest thing about this storyline is the ending, where Lucifer has to return to hell to preserve the time loop that Rory caused (meaning he did the same exact thing his father did), leaving Chloe a single mom with two kids for the rest of her life. So not only was Rory the cause of her own abandonment, but Lucifer wasn't able to break the cycle his father caused, and Chloe ends up living a pretty awful life. Yeah, very satisfying ending there. The pacing was also a bit off in Season 6, it's like every major plot development took place at the end of an episode, meaning that there was a lot of treading water, especially near the start. On the other hand, this is the first season to completely drop the procedural aspect to focus on the characters and main story arc, but it's a shame it happened so late, and at the worst possible time for it.
Thankfully, most of the subplots fare pretty well. I think pretty much all of the side cast gets a satisfying final storyline for the season. The obvious highlight is Ella, who is finally let in on the celestial stuff once and for all. She also has a subplot about actually ending up in a healthy relationship with fellow officer Carol, but I never found him too interesting. Linda writing a story about Lucifer and Maze and Eve getting married was both adorable. Dan returning from hell and finally finding a way to go to heaven was a perfect ending for him. And I liked seeing Amenadiel (and Chloe) learn just how corrupt the LAPD is. I think Lucifer definitely dealt with the subject matter better than B99 did since it didn't have to water things down to maintain a wholly light-hearted tone. The only subplot that felt off this season was Chloe getting drunk on the celestial power she borrowed at the end of Season 5. I'm the rare sort that didn't hate Willow's magic addiction plot in Buffy since it had been built up for a whopping four seasons and foreshadowed in several episodes. In Chloe's case, it felt kinda out of character. Otherwise, the side characters were the best parts of the season, and had some of my favorite scenes like Maze and Eve's wedding, Ella's drunken outburst, and Dan finally getting to eat his pudding cup.
There aren't too many standout episodes this season, with the exception of:
Save The Devil, Save The World: In a show that's so centered on mental health, it only makes sense that we'd get the ultimate therapy session, and that it would end up being one of my favorite episodes of the whole show and the one high point of Season 6. This is the type of character-driven episode I want from every series. The story of Linda's book was fantastic, with the cast seeing Lucifer's unfiltered thoughts and finally learning all of the big secrets in the air. The flashbacks, references, and reenactments were meta to the point of reminding me of the also amazing Ember Island Players, but the emotional payoffs were just as strong. Rory finally accepts that Lucifer cares about her, Ella forgives the others for leaving her in the dust, Dan realizes how to get out of hell, Lucifer tells Linda she did do a good job, and Lucifer realizes he doesn't want to be God. If only the rest of the season was this good.
Overall, Season 6 suffered from a half-baked main storyline and odd pacing. All the side characters got some pretty satisfying resolutions, but when the main duo gets the bulk of the focus and the short end of the stick, I can't quite say this was a strong final season for the series.
2/5 Stars
My ranking of the Lucifer seasons is:
4 > 2 > 5 > 1 > 3 > 6
My ranking of the Lucifer finales is:
3 > 4 > 5A > 1 > 5B > 2 > 6
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