Lucifer's Bittersweet Final Season Took Big Swings to Deliver the Reformed Devil We Deserved

[Warning: The following contains spoilers for the final season of Lucifer. Read at your own risk!]

After a six-year run and 93 episodes, the final descent to Hell ends with a well-deserved, albeit heartbreaking conclusion as we say goodbye to Lucifer Morningstar and his earthly companions.

The Lucifersaga is a curious case; it exists in the zeitgeist conundrum of extreme popularity but almost critically awarded obscurity. It wasn't until 2021 that it garnered attention and a win from the Hollywood Critics Association and a nomination at the Primetime Emmys. And look, if there's anything we know in the Lucifer fandom, this show is anything but conventional in front of or behind the camera. On its resting Devil face, Lucifer, the supernatural police procedural about the Devil trying to solve any crime by whiskey time in Los Angeles, can admittedly come across as frothy and juvenile. Its literal tagline—and recurring joke throughout the show—is "crime-solving Devil, it makes sense, don't overthink it." 

But, once the show was freed via cancellation from the stifling clutches of Fox's investigative case-of-the-week formula and revived on the less restrictive Netflix, the show was finally able to let its freak flag fly.

Through the show's long journey, the final season is a relatable testament to the choices and sacrifices we make in life in order to attain our greatest desires for both the viewers and more importantly, the characters themselves. Lucifer's journey through much of  Seasons 1-3, was one seemingly etched in (fire and brim) stone. He was a selfish, immature, rebellious wayward prince who left Hell to cause light-hearted debauchery via his nightclub Lux, but got caught in the snares of Chloe Decker (Lauren German), a detective on the straight-and-narrow. The Netflix portions, Seasons 4-6, are really what allowed the show's writers, and showrunners Ildy Modrovich and Joe Henderson to really dig deep into the heart of the Devil. 

The penultimate Season 5—originally written and filmed as the actual series finale— allowed Lucifer to realize that underneath all of his sex appeal and charisma was just a really sad Devil guy, scarred by thousands of years of unresolved issues with his father who had a bad habit of miscommunicating with those he loves most. But the season ends with him choosing to face his problems head-on, sacrificing himself for the woman he loves, and being resurrected as the new God. 

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The one throughline that has remained consistent during the show's run is that it's never too late to be redeemed. So it makes sense that with the last-minute renewal of the final Season 6, that the point of second chances and starting a new lease on life is hammered home. 

Season 6 picked up with Lucifer hesitantly trying to enjoy his last night in Los Angeles before he's supposed to ascend to the throne of Heaven. The irony being that he was rewarded for his selfless self-sacrifice with the throne that he thought he so desperately wanted and started quite the unholy war for, only to realize that perhaps he wasn't the right celestial for the job. 

Meanwhile, the rest of the crew tried to find and follow their own paths to get to their happy endings. Eve (Inbar Lavi) tries to smooth out the remaining lines of defense in Maze's proverbial armor before their unholy matrimony. Dr. Linda (Rachael Harris) tries to come to terms with her misplaced feelings of inadequacy tied to Lucifer's reluctance to become the new God, mistakenly thinking that she's been a failure to him all these years because he doesn't want to ascend. Ella (Aimee Garcia) finally figures out that celestials exist and is rightfully given a powerful moment to shine when she confronts everyone about feeling excluded, and she opens her heart to a new man in her life. Dan (Kevin Alejandro) struggles to find the inner turmoil that keeps him trapped in limbo on Earth until he has a touching moment with his daughter, Trixie (Scarlett Estevez) that finally allows him to go to Heaven. 

But aside from the main arc, which we'll get to in a minute,  it's Amenadiel (DB Woodside) who is given the most meaningful conclusion that ends with him accepting his rightful place on the throne as the new God when Lucifer realizes it's not his proper calling. The end of Season 5 saw Amenadiel decide to stay on Earth with his son Charlie and join the LAPD in order to combat its various injustices.  As Season 6 does for the titular character, it also comes full circle with Amenadiel's former flaws in earlier seasons. It wonderfully juxtaposes his once proud and conceited origins as an angel who cared little for humanity and only about dragging his brother back to Hell, against the immense compassion he has for all suffering humans and the strong bond he's formed with Lucifer. 

And finally, what was leftover was the triumphant beating heart of Deckerstar. Season 5 left Lucifer and Chloe stronger than ever. Chloe knew exactly who he was and loved him unconditionally despite all of his flaws and misgivings. Canonically speaking, Lucifer has always been his own worst enemy and Chloe his guiding compass, whether he knew it subconsciously or not.  And yet, somehow, even though we have six years of swoon-worthy Deckerstar moments, Season 6 was full of the best of them. 

Without the procedural aspect of the show, due to Chloe's LAPD retirement and commitment to being Lucifer's consultant in Heaven, the series could finally zero in on how Deckerstar sustains as an actual couple.  

The dynamics of their relationship slightly strained under the weight of Lucifer's pattern of self-distancing and insecurity sometimes, but it was the remarkable act of Chloe's unwavering belief in her scotch-loving, self-centered, cheeky Devil that really cemented their relationship no matter how many times Lucifer tried to self-sabotage. Also in lieu of the usual case-of-the-week getting in the way and thwarting their dynamic, we got the addition of their time-traveling daughter from the future, Rory. Rory is the final "boss" Lucifer had to face in order to finally deal with his own mistakes as a father and realize his true purpose; to help guide lost souls who undeservedly ended up in Hell to Heaven. 

There is something incredibly unique and intimate about the final season's performances portrayed between Tom Ellis and Lauren German. Whatever the specific brand of chemistry is that was created by all the series' mainstays and its writing team was unearthed in a way that was raw and unflinching more so than any season before it.

This is not to say that Lucifer Season 6 is without its flaws; I mean introducing the properties of time travel in the final stretch of your show is a choice and something that could have been worked out better if given just a few more episodes. Sometimes the show relied too much on hoping viewers would go along with it, instead of rightfully questioning the last two seasons -- which already featured a half-celestial baby. Rory's existence was a hard, but passable, pill to swallow in the grand scheme of things. 

My true bone to pick would be with the shaky ground rules on why Lucifer had to abandon Chloe and Rory on Earth, leaving Chloe to live out her natural life without him until she died. Couldn't Lucifer just stick around until Rory was born? Why could he do a part-time job as Hell's leading therapist and be a part-time dad and companion on Earth? Again, it's only because the writers (and Rory herself) told us it was the only way. 

It was heartbreaking, and very reminiscent of a  La La Land-esque conclusion where both lovers realize while they would be happiest together, they reach their fullest potential apart. It's a fair ending, even though it hurts, and the sacrifice is part of the greater good, the difference here is that in the pain of knowing that Chloe spent decades of her life without Lucifer, the show did bless viewers with a peak of them reuniting in the afterlife to be together forevermore.

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 In the end, Lucifer Season 6 beautifully encapsulates Lucifer's journey from fallen Angel incapable of love to celestial who rose to his full potential as the new healer by using the love he was imbued with from just a mere 5 years on Earth with his friends and the love of his eternal life.

The final episodes will inevitably leave a trail of tears in its wake, but more than that, we learned in the lesson of our final goodbye that if you let it, the show should empower us to dig deeper and be the best version of ourselves that we can.  

After all, if the devil can be redeemed, anyone can. 

Lucifer is now streaming on Netflix.