Now that Emily’s seen the murder photos (which I thought she knew about them already), will she please just FIRE Lute already? She’s more psycho than Sera or even Adam. When they actually brought Lute down to Hell, I thought she was going to do something to contrivedly force a conflict. I’m very glad that didn’t happen! But I’m still wondering what the heck the logic is for Lute being there for the big apology tour. I guess it could be some power move, “Look at how well we’ve leashed our dog.” But it’s going to send such a wrong message by just her being present. Not like Lute added anything, the show probably could have made her feel like more of an imminent threat if she stayed lurking in Heaven.
Bigger question, why does Lute get to keep her rank & secret-meeting privileges? Emily’s best (shared) line in Season 1 was “If angels can do whatever and remain in the sky,” yet she’s not actually doing ANYTHING about status. If she had managed to improve anything for the people of Hell through strategy or force of will, this wouldn't bother me so much... but she failed at that. I'm afraid we're closing in on a point where she IS a villain for what she enables. But I don’t feel like I can congratulate the showing on some proving some point like the corrupting force of privileged comfort. Because Emily feels so much more aloof and oblivious compared to her defiance when we first met her.
Between the gaps of seasons 1 and 2, there were so many predictions, fanfiction, and animations about Emily becoming a fallen angel. You could say that would be overly obvious, you could say it’s a cliché trope, but it works. These interpretations feel perfectly accurate to season 1 Emily, because she was positioning herself as an antagonist from the outrage of mass murder. She was going to rock the boat, stir the shit, and make enemies with people higher up the power structure of Heaven.
I’ll admit, I probably read too much into her because I related so much to her conflict, and projected. It’s not that my family was very religious. (In a weird twist, there was a period where I acted the most spiritual). It’s just that I grew up with the classic Neoliberal Boomer parents. To be clear, they were & still are great role models to me and my siblings. But there were times I was taking aback by their disregard for some issues and people. One of the greatest being a lack of reaction over Gaza’s genocide.