Guilty pleasure: TV series "Lucifer" (2016)

My younger friends suggested this, since they enjoyed it and I took it with a reserve as it is usually me who comes up with interesting movies and they absolutely love car crashes, horror and everything instantly gratifying - perhaps its simply that they belong to younger generation, used to super fast visual effects while I grew up in some earlier, ancient era and to my embarrassment I usually become aware of this when we watch something together and suddenly there are never ending scenes of trees, rooftops and panorama - than we know the movie is old. Actually I expected this to be a horror - hence the title - and approached it carefully but it turned into something else completely.

The premise of "Lucifer" is that God's son dodges his position as controller of underworld and decides to enjoy life amongst the mortals under the guise of nightclub owner right in the middle of Los Angeles. In his present form, he is attractive, charismatic, apparently irresistible to women and incredibly wealthy but he also regained some superpowers - he can make people admit their deepest, hidden secrets. By chance he becomes assistant to female detective Chloe Decker with whom from episode to episode he solves crime cases but this is kind of side story - crime cases eventually become simply overused cliché and we are far more interested in relationship between Lucifer and detective, who are both attracted and intrigued why this is happening. Lucifer can have any woman that he want (and they wonder around his nightclub with annoying plentifulness) while detective is the only one who remains immune to his charms. Of course, there are also multitude of supporting characters who wonder in and out of the story - Decker lives apart from her husband (also detective), Mazikeen is amazon-like demon who faithfully follows Lucifer and occasionally fights like a wild cat,  Amenadiel is Lucifer's older brother (therefore also God's son) who insist on his return to Hell, Dr. Linda Martin is therapist who wants to help Lucifer but takes his stories as metaphors and simply won't believe what he tells her and there is also a charming forensic scientist who helps in crime cases. 

I was instantly smitten and charmed with "Lucifer" because main character is so irresistibly witty and funny - Tom Ellis is so perfect for the title role that I can't imagine anybody else in it. He has looks of course, but that is not all - in the right places we are aware of his intelligence, sensibility and vulnerability. Just as I always wondered, the role of evil demon has been forced upon him and he takes great pleasure in punishing the criminals, because this is what he was created to do. He also have certain weakness for humans and often helps them, while simultaneously bantering with detective Decker - he is constantly sharp witted and extremely funny and also he never lies which we as viewers understand but other characters don't. If one needs to describe him, he would have been dashing Noël Coward transplanted into modern time.

Constantly frowning and somehow predictable detective Decker is mostly conventional representation of hard-working policewoman and someone who this series needs but other supporting characters are far more likable and interesting. Right now I am on the second season, where all the characters somehow became friendly and the whole story takes decidedly comic turn - never mind crime cases, they all got solved and we know that Lucifer is immortal anyway - it could have been my wine or that I simply genuinely enjoyed it, but last night I treated myself to a binge-watching this serial and chuckled, giggled and laughed out loud many times, honestly loving how the characters interact amongst themselves. The fact that they all became one big friendly gang thrilled me to no end and I just couldn't get enough of it, silly as it might be, It's just perfect entertainment.

p.s.
yay, they KISSED and I laughed out loud from joy