I should preface this with saying I didn’t hate the Lucifer finale. Overall, I thought s6 was good, and in since this seems to be the decade of terrible finales, I enjoyed it and am glad everyone ended up relatively happy.
I’ve seen a lot of posts about the deckerstar ending being unfair, and while that’s a valid feeling, that’s actually not where my frustration stems from. Besides the weird treatment of Chloe’s strength addiction and the way Trixie was very left out of the Lucifer + Chloe + Rory deal, my biggest issue is how they decided to complete Lucifer’s arc, aka hell therapist!lucifer. Which can be summed up in one sentence: Lucifer was never meant to be The Good Place.
For all that redemption and second chances are essential themes in Lucifer, I’ve never felt like the show was focused on either of those in the sense of universal fairness (the TGP). Instead, we’re narrowly focused on Lucifer, whose problem is not that he doesn’t care about other people - it’s that he doesn’t care about himself. It’s not like he ran for God on the platform that he was going to massively rehaul the afterlife. Instead, running for God is about proving to himself and his loved ones that he’s worthy. S4 hits the nail on the head when it reminds us that the core issue is that Lucifer hates himself. S5, to some success, goes deeper to tell us that the people in his life have used and hurt him, starting with God. If your character’s issue is that centered on the self, the logical arc would end with him realizing he is worthy of happiness. We get steps in this direction throughout s5+6: “I love you” to Chloe, choosing not to be God although it represents the objective measure of success to Lucifer, and seemingly the last hurdle: to convince a person who should love him, but hates him (aka Rory), that he is a good man because he believes in himself - aided by the beliefs of Chloe and the others in his goodness - regardless of the “facts” to the contrary (that he walked out like his father).
To work Lucifer up to this happy ending with his friends and family, only to suddenly turn to an existential question of healing Hell, was to take a character who was learning to love himself and suddenly make it about him helping others. Not that that’s a bad trait, but Lucifer was always fiercely empathetic. This might eventually be his calling. But the show’s not about finding your calling, finding a purpose. Lucifer’s always had one of those. Lucifer is about self-acceptance. That’s the beauty of it. In a world of gods and demons and higher purposes, the holiness is in self-love. And sure, maybe in those last 2 seconds of the show, he’s found it, but the rest of it just felt like a disappointing detour.
"Okay, so she hadn’t meant to, but Ella had lied. Not to Michael because she’d gotten on the ride, but to herself. She thought she could just burrow into his side and not panic, but that wasn’t how it was going. Ella was trembling next to him and struggling to focus on just Michael’s face. Beside her, her boyfriend was studying her with those fathomless and piercing dark eyes of his.
That was the thing he shared the most with his twin. Both dudes could win any staring contest on the planet, she was sure. It was a little overwhelming.
“Are you okay? You’re trembling.”
Ella curled up against Michael, and some days she swore that his left side was sometimes like trying to cuddle up against steel. Clearly, Mike was stronger than she’d assumed, even with his right side troubles. That carnival worker and his family would either have to order a new machine or…yeah, they’d definitely be ordering a new one. Which, okay mondo weird."
