Episode 9 of Lucifer, “A Priest Walks into a Bar,” touches upon Lucifer’s friction with his Father via his interactions with the priest in question, Father Frank Lawrence. It arguably made for the most blasphemous episode of Lucifer thus far, what with all the anticlerical jokes and gibes (“Padre Pederast” taking the irreverent cake), but Lucifer ultimately becomes friendly with the Father.
Lucifer initially asserts himself as the mortal enemy of the priest, spending a significant amount of time attempting to prove that Father Lawrence is not so righteous, even parading strippers in nun attire before him in Lux. But Lucifer and Father Lawrence get on rather well, starting with their charming piano duet. Their true chemistry shows when they discuss dear old Dad, however, Lucifer mocking Father Lawrence for his one-way conversations into the sky. The fallen angel expresses that he cannot understand the Father’s enduring faith, as he abandoned his faith in God because God “didn’t have faith in me.” When Father Lawrence insists that, however difficult it may be to believe, God has a plan, Lucifer remarks, “His plan was quite clear.” “How do you know it’s over?” asks the priest, and this clearly strikes a chord with Lucifer, who we know to be questioning his role in the divine plan.
When Father Lawrence is shot dead in his church as this week’s crime/mystery reaches its explosive climax, Lucifer loses it. The Devil appears genuinely upset by the loss of Father Lawrence, his fierce rage turning to deep depression, as if he lost the caring father he feels he never had. Lucifer returns to his loft and voices his resentment into the sky he and Father Lawrence conversed beneath earlier. “You cruel, manipulative bastard,” Lucifer shouts into an ominous sky, protesting the blatant injustice he sees in God’s world, where saints and sinners suffer the same grim fate.
Speaking of sin and saints, “A Priest Walks into a Bar” also fills us in on Amenadiel’s new scheme, which involves Malcolm, the crooked cop gunned down by Dan (who was apparently just protecting his wife Chloe, who was spotted snooping) on Palmetto Street and recently resurrected by Amenadiel. Amenadiel is aware that the thirty seconds Malcolm spent in Hell felt like thirty years, and the cruel angel enlists the assistance of the corrupt cop with the threat of sending him back to Hell. Malcolm, now equipped with an unmarked gun by his new reluctant partner, Dan, is ordered by Amenadiel to shoot and kill Lucifer Morningstar. But with the redemptive arc Lucifer appears to be on, it wouldn’t be surprising if his mortal death delivers him back to Heaven rather than Hell.