(Warning: This post contains spoilers through episode 513 of “Lucifer.”)
“Lucifer” Season 5B launched Friday on Netflix, picking up right where Season 5A left off: with God (played by Dennis Haysbert) bursting into a fight between his sons Lucifer (Tom Ellis), Michael (also Ellis) and Amenadiel (D.B. Woodside). The second their heavenly father arrives, the boys cut it out and stop to stare at him, waiting to see what their punishment for this behavior will be. Lo and behold, God’s plan is even worse than they imagined: a celestial family dinner at Amenadiel and Dr. Linda’s (Rachael Harris) house, cooked by the lord himself.
The meal is one of the most awkward scenes in the history of “Lucifer” (Fox years included), and includes just four cast members — because Ellis is playing his own twin, after all — with Woodside’s angel doing a lot of work to keep his younger brothers in check and his father from starting another flood.
“I have always seen Amenadiel as the dutiful son. He’s the good son. He’s daddy’s favorite,” Woodside told TheWrap. “So I think in that situation, he’s just trying to keep the peace. But even he is, I believe, starting to have issues with the way that their father has parented them. In fact, with the way he’s parented most of his children. But I do believe that at the start of the dinner, Amenadiel is trying to be the son that his father knows and trying to do his best to keep Lucifer and Michael in line.”
Woodside said one of his favorite parts of the episode, written by “Lucifer” co-showrunner Joe Henderson, is how close Amenadiel comes to keeping this from becoming Linda’s problem — and how badly he fails at that.
“One of the things that I loved about the way Joe wrote the scene was he was actually trying to let Linda get out of there as quickly as possible, because he knew what it was going to be,” Woodside said. “All of us have our dysfunctional families, and Thanksgiving is always something that’s interesting because there’s always that one relative that maybe you don’t want your friends to really meet, the one relative that when you hear they’re coming to this Thanksgiving, maybe they come every three or four years, that’s the Thanksgiving you don’t bring your friends over or your significant other, because you know how it’s going to go down. I think that’s what Amenadiel was trying to do, was actually save Linda.”
Jump ahead to Episode 513, titled “A Little Harmless Stalking,” and Amenadiel is still trying to save Linda — and everyone else — by preparing for a pretty big promotion when his father decides it’s time for him to retire as God and hand over the reins to a successor, the likely choice being Amenadiel.
However, Amenadiel figures out by the end of that episode he doesn’t want to go down the path everyone expected him to, instead deciding to raise his infant son, Charlie, with Linda on Earth and leaving the door open for Lucifer — or, God forbid, Michael — to become the new master of their universe.
“It’s like if you come from a family and they have a family business, or there’s a tradition of going into the military or a tradition of being a teacher. There’s usually one child who is the best fit to continue that tradition, but they kind of want to live their own lives. And I think it’s because they’ve grown up with that expectation,” Woodside told TheWrap. “I think Amenadiel, everyone, all the siblings, everyone has just naturally assumed that it would be him — even him. But I think he’s really embracing this change that’s been happening to him, since he’s embraced humanity, since he’s been on Earth, since he’s gotten to know Linda, since he’s had a child, since his relationship with Lucifer has improved, his relationship with Dan. I just think that he’s feeling more himself than he’s ever felt in his entire existence, and I think there’s a real fear of maybe losing sight of that, losing touch of that by being in the Silver City and not being on Earth every day.”
He added: “Also, I’m a father and I can’t imagine not being around to see my child grow up. I love her so much and I’m always terrified to miss even the smallest things. So I think every parent also has that. You may be presented with this incredible opportunity, but if it takes you away from your child, it might not seem so incredible. I think when you don’t have children, and your work is your focus and how you’re advancing in work, that’s everything. But I think when you start to have children, you become a more rounded human being and you realize that work actually isn’t everything.”
Check back with TheWrap for more “Lucifer” Season 5B coverage throughout the weekend.
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