If you plow your way through my profile, you will see that my last review is of a "Doctor Who" episode, and you will see that in this review I am doing my best to rip the said episode to shreds, because it is loaded with fan service and political agenda.
Now I am reviewing an episode of "Lucifer" - a show that is nowhere near as culturally important as "Doctor Who" and a show that has never reached the quality of the best episodes of "Doctor Who" and likely never will. "Lucifer" is hardly the best show ever, and "Candy Morningstar" is hardly its best episode, but everything that "Pilot" - the "Doctor Who" episode that I previously reviewed - did wrong "Candy Morningstar" did right, and for that it deserves some praise.
"Candy Morningstar" had fan service, lots of it, in fact, but the fan service actually served a purpose rather than just be there. When Lucifer played and sang a hit song, that was important to the characters and to the plot of the episode, and it brought a smile on my face. Maze's few scenes, although not crucial for the plot, were really, really cool, and, on top of that, helped establish the character of Candy and show Lucifer's Mom's torments. Lucifer's behavior was more in line with the beginning of the first season than with the last few episodes - and there is a reason for that. The way we were reminded of Chloe's acting career was almost blasphemously funny. Also, Candy is great, and, just a piece of advice, before you write her off as a brainless bimbo, turn your own brain on. She will surprise you.
As for the political agenda - "Lucifer" does not have it. It just has an LGBT fantasy creature as a leading character. That was explicitly said, and in one of the previous episodes they even investigated the death of one of Lucifer's male lovers. This wasn't reminded to us in "Candy Morningstar", because to this particular story it would be counterproductive, but it was reminded to us that Maze was also an LGBT fantasy creature. And it was reminded to us in about as tasteful a manner as anything related to Maze can be - it did fit the character and the tone of the show, which is what is important. Maze is also black, but, you see, unlike "Doctor Who"'s Bill, Maze is not defined entirely by her race and orientation. She is an actual character, and a very interesting one.
As a conclusion, if you like "Lucifer", you will probably enjoy its new episode.
