Lucifer: The Complete Third Season - DVD Review

[Michael Scott]

Lucifer: The Complete Third Season


Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:




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Movie
No matter what show it is these days, there’s a “gimmick” attached to it. Especially in the world of police procedurals where it has become stale and boring to just have cops looking for bad guys ala Law and Order. The Mentalist had Thomas Jane the ex con man psychic, Castle had a writer helping the police, Bones is about paleontologists at the Smithsonian working with the FBI, and the list goes on and on. With Lucifer it’s pretty much in the title. Lucifer himself (Tom Ellis) has decided to take an extended break from running hell due to being bored, and decides to head on down to earth for a vacation. There he has a fun time perusing the city of sin itself, Los Angeles, only to get rather bored of indulging in carnal pleasures. He’s intrigued by a female cop named Chloe Decker, and under the guise of being a normal human being, Lucifer uses his special celestial powers to help her solve crimes (and of course stay on the run from demons who have it out for him, as well as his own mother who has a bit of an ax to grind with him).

Last season ended up good old “mom” and her intervention, but it also left us with some questions. Who kidnapped him back then? And why does he have his angel wings back? Like usual, it’s going to be up to Lucifer to dig into his past and find out who around him is trust worthy, and who is his enemy (or frenemy as the case may be). To offset his devilish relationship with the lovely Chloe Decker is Lt. Marcus Pierce, a man who is the exact opposite of Lucifer. Intelligent, calculating, very planned and meticulous with every action, but a man who also shares a lot of similarities to the fallen angel. When his interference changes into a relationship with Chloe, Lucifer’s jealousies rise to the surface and a new enemy is born (at least in Lucifer’s eyes).

Lucifer is an interesting show with an interesting premise. I initially delved into the series because I kind of like the supernatural twist that the series takes with police procedural trappings. The first season was actually really rocky, but season two hit its groove and smoothed things out. The biggest downside to the series is simply this. It’s not unique ENOUGH to differentiate itself from dozens of other prime time police shows, and the gimmick of the devil himself coming to Georgia (well, Los Angeles really) isn’t enough to propel it to the top of most people’s meters for very long. What a series like this thrives upon is the characters and their chemistry with each other, and that’s the downside. Despite having a great premise, the series is still your average “villain of the week” intermingled with some interpersonal stuff that just doesn’t hook the viewer even though Chloe and Lucifer have solid enough chemistry.

Lucifer almost didn’t come back for a fourth season, as the ratings have been kind of “middle of the road”. Fox canceled it a few months back, and fans were disappointed that the series wouldn’t continue on, but it was luckily rescued by the 800 lb gorilla in the room. That’s right, the big behemoth that is Netflix swooped in and grabbed the rights, continuing on with the contract and giving the series indefinite legs (at least for now). I’m not sure how that will effect home video sales from here on out (Netflix did allow Warner Brothers to continue release Longmire on home video, but most of their shows really don’t get a physical medium anymore).




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

I was really surprised when I dug into the package noticed 5 DVDs instead of the usual 3 that Warner has had for the show up until the set. Then I noticed WHY the increase in storage was needed. Season 3 of Lucifer actually went from 18 episodes up to 26, which explains the need for so many discs. Luckily the series looks just as good as ever, with a very stable (and neutral) looking encode for the episodes. Some of the scenes at the Lux with all the darkness and red lighting takes on a more stylistic look, but generally this is your “clean and shiny clear” looking procedural look that is popular across many of the series today. Blacks are deep and inky and even though there’s some softness to the shooting style, the image is appealing and more than satisfactory.







Audio:

Lucifer is typical of most modern TV shows of its ilk. It is satisfactory in just about every regard without ever being incredible or standing out from the masses. That means it’s got a very capable sound design that tends to be front heavy more often than not, and it’s backed up by just enough bass and surround activity to fill out the back and low end. Slamming doors, crashing through said doors, rumbling of engines, they all have the punch and power you’d expect, while the surrounds are privy to enough ambient background noises to be effective. The 5.1 Dolby Digital track does the trick well, and if you’ve seen one season of Lucifer you know exactly what to expect.






Extras:

• Lucifer: 2017 Comic-Con Panel
• Lucifer Returns! Bringing the Hit Show to L.A.
• Off Script with Tom & Tom – Actors Tom Ellis (“Lucifer”) and Tom Welling (“Lieutenant Marcus Pierce”) interview one another on their roles and life on the set of Lucifer.

Final Score: ​

All in all, Lucifer is a solid time waster and a pretty decent show at that. It’s not wildly inventive PAST having the devil be a main character in a police procedural, but it still has plenty of entertainment value for those looking for a 45 minute show to veg out to. Tom Welling was the saving grace of season 3, and I was actually surprised at how well he did considering he’s been a ghost since Smallville ended. He and Lucifer played off of each other extremely well, and his story actually gave most of the meat of this years adventure. The DVD itself looks and sounds about what you would expect from a new Warner release, and the extras (while slim in quantity) are rather substantial when you dig into them. Recommended as a decent watch.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Tom Ellis, Lauren German, D.B. Woodside, Tom Welling
Created by: Tom Kapinos
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 MPEG 2
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: NR
Runtime: 1139 Minutes
DVD Release Date: August 28th 2018

Recommendation: Ok Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I never saw the series so once available on amazon prime/netflix, will check it out.