Lucifer Season 3 and the role of the antagonist
Hey all. So thanks to @theleafpile, I’ve started watching Lessons from a Screenplay. I’m really enjoying it, and it’s putting into sharp relief the fact that I am exploring the journey of storycrafting through contrast with Lucifer season 3 (basically, by using it as a model of what not to do).
One thing that really stood out for me is a video on creating an antagonist. In it, there is a quote from Story, by Robert McKee.
“The protagonist and their story can only be as intellectually fascinating and emotionally compelling as the forces of antagonism make them.”
Who is the antagonist of Lucifer? I’d argue that, across seasons, the consistent antagonist is Lucifer himself. It’s essentially the story of him fighting against himself to achieve his goals. But there are, of course, external antagonists as well. Because we already have a consistent antagonist in the form of Lucifer, the external antagonists have room to be somewhat morally ambiguous. Therefore in the first season, one antagonist is Amenadiel, but his existence as an opponent to Lucifer reaches a head mid-season, and after that, he becomes more of a sympathetic character, forced to face the consequences of his actions. It’s not a coincidence that this is when the story of Malcolm, the secondary antagonist, begins to pick up steam. Malcolm is un-ambiguously a bad guy, forcing the protagonists into increasingly difficult positions and choices.
The antagonist of season 2 is Goddess. She’s a much more sympathetic antagonist than Malcolm, or even Amenadiel, but the staging is clear: she stands in direct opposition to Lucifer’s goals, often working against him behind the scenes, until he is ultimately forced to remove her.
Who is the antagonist of season 3? I’ve talked before at length about how Marcus Pierce/Cain is a badly realized character, but he is an even worse antagonist, given that most of the time the writers are intent on making us forget he is one.
Season 3 of Lucifer starts strong. We’re introduced to a shadowy new threat: the mysterious and sinister Sinnerman. However, the main antagonist is once again Lucifer himself, sabotaging his position through battling his own insecurities. However, both of those strong initial threads are lost. The Sinnerman disappears, only to re-emerge as a fake, with an incomprehensible plan that comes to nothing. The only result is a brief tension between Lucifer and Chloe due to Lucifer’s questionable actions, but that’s gone by the next episode.
Lucifer’s battle with his psyche is also diminished, devolving into a series of more and more irrational decisions. Rather than feeling dismayed at his backslide and rooting for him to succeed, the audience is baffled. Two seasons of character development are ignored in favour of watching Lucifer relearn the same lessons, seemingly without a hint of self-awareness or irony. By the time Cain emerges as the true antagonist, the story is hopelessly muddied. The turn comes far too late. We’ve lost sympathy for Lucifer’s struggles and Cain’s motivations have changed far too much in order to be effective.
Properly executed, we see Pierce used as a foil to Lucifer. He embodies the traits of redemption and moral struggle against the perceived interference of a higher power. His presence in the precinct highlights Lucifer’s shortcomings and drives him to more and more reckless actions. But these actions are ultimately shown to have no consequences and therefore no dramatic weight.
This has the added effect of reducing Chloe to the role of a prize to be fought over between the two men. The motivation for Lucifer to improve his behaviour isn’t Chloe’s disappointment (since this is shown to have no ultimate effect) but her preference for Pierce. Pierce’s interest in Chloe is shown to be superficial until she becomes something to be taken AWAY from Lucifer as… revenge? For breaking a deal? I’m actually still not quite clear on that point. Which is exactly the issue.
The story of season 3 fails because there is a lack of stakes. Motivations change seemingly on a dime and result in more and more irrational actions. From a different video from the same channel (paraphrased by me): audience engagement is driven by empathy. Audiences empathize with a character when they understand why a choice has been made, even if they don’t personally agree with that choice. Aside from wing anxiety, we’re not sure why Lucifer has chosen to disregard the previous two seasons of character development. We’re not given the tools to understand why Chloe agrees to a rushed engagement with Pierce. We’re never entirely certain of Cain’s ultimate goal. This makes it incredibly difficult to engage with the story or care about the characters.
In season 1, the stakes are clear: Lucifer wants to stay on Earth. He doesn’t want to go back to Hell. He wants to work with Chloe and the LAPD. Both Amenadiel and Malcolm interfere directly with those goals.
In season 2, the stakes are more nuanced. Lucifer made a deal with God that he needs to fulfil (or at least, he believes he does). This is complicated by the character of Goddess, who continually attempts to manipulate Lucifer for her own ends while playing on his deep-seated desire for family and acceptance.
In season 3, the stakes are…? The Sinnerman is ultimately shown not to be a threat. Lucifer’s poor behaviour is shown to have no consequences. Cain isn’t shown to be actively working against them until the final episodes. When characters make decisions based on the needs of the plot, rather than internal motivation, it removes the opportunity for the audience to become engaged. It can be subversive to show that characters you thought you knew well can do things you’d never expect, but when every character behaves in a way contrary to their established nature, and continues to do so, it ceases to become interesting.
“The protagonist and their story can only be as intellectually fascinating and emotionally compelling as the forces of antagonism make them.” The forces of antagonism in season 3 are scattered and ultimately impotent, and the result is a season that feels the same.
