Lucifer recap: 'Vegas With Some Radish' 

After being shoved to the back burner for what seems like forever, the Lucifer/Chloe relationship takes center stage this week when Lucifer makes a surprise visit to Las Vegas.

We open at the LAPD, where unlike most people, Chloe actually seems to enjoy people singing “Happy Birthday” to her. Or maybe she’s just excited about the chocolate cake Dan’s holding. She

react like a normal person (that is, with horror) when a stripper jumps out of a huge cake. But surprise! Lucifer didn’t hire “Officer Snake Hips”; it was Ella!

Lucifer gets pulled away from the merriment by a call from a Las Vegas police officer informing him that his wife Candy is missing. Lucifer says he’s in L.A. and hasn’t seen Candy for several months. After he hangs up, Ella notices his distress and bullies her way into a two-person trip to Vegas, despite her being on the record as having some serious Vegas baggage.

Lucifer is still in the process of annulling his two-week marriage to Candy, whom he helped out of some nasty business last year. Chloe catches wind that something’s up, but Lucifer bundles Ella out the door, leaving Chloe bereft that he’s ducking out on her birthday.

When they arrive in Vegas, Ella inhales deeply. “You smell that? That is pleather, cigars, and vomit.” But the joking ends at Candy’s apartment, where they find police everywhere and a dead blonde on the floor. She was shot in the face, making an ID difficult, but Lucifer is thrilled to see that the body’s feet are far too dainty to be Candy’s.

Ella stops Lucifer from telling the investigating officer that the body isn’t Candy, explaining afterward that it’s best the murderer not realize he actually killed a Candy look-alike. She then asks if Lucifer knows who might want Candy dead, and we’re treated to the first of several flashbacks explaining how Candy ended up as Mrs. Morningstar.

A year ago, Lucifer was drinking at a club called Fletcher’s, and when asked, he tells the bartender that he’s drinking because a woman turned out not to be who he thought she was. Then Candy takes her torch-singing performance off the stage and into the audience, draping herself all over Lucifer.

After she slinks away, he realizes she’s deprived him of his wallet and ring, so he heads backstage to congratulate her on her moves. There, he finds her arguing with dirtbag loan shark Louie Pagliani.

In the present, they head to Pagliani’s home. It’s a tacky nightmare, and in the middle of it is Pagliani’s body, staged to look like a suicide. There’s a huge gunshot hole through Pagliani’s crotch in a hideous portrait of him and his wife. So maybe Roxie Pagliani thought her man was stepping out with Candy and murdered them both?

When they get Roxie on the phone, Ella hears a slot machine in the background and announces that this particular machine is found at the Moonlight casino. Most impressive.

Okay, let’s skip back to L.A., where an agitated Chloe bursts into Dr. Linda’s office to see if she’s heard from Lucifer. Linda gets Chloe to admit that she’s upset because the last time Lucifer went AWOL, he ran away just as the two of them were exploring a romance.

Linda offers to go with Chloe to see if Lucifer’s in his penthouse. He’s not, so they decide to stay and celebrate Chloe’s birthday there. (He’s got a gorgeous view and great booze, after all.) Cut to what looks like an

drunken birthday celebration. Chloe does her best pantsless

slides and bangs away at the piano in a terrible yet funny Lucifer impression, while Linda finds an incredibly old manuscript of

with the inscription, “Thanks for the punch up. Love, Will.”

They’re about to check out his sock drawer when Lucifer calls Linda, who puts on her best “I am a sober professional” voice. He cancels his therapy appointment because he’s in Vegas, and then exclaims, “You look ravishing!” when Ella arrives all glammed up in a sequined gown.

When the call ends, Linda lies that Lucifer said something about radishes, but Chloe’s no dummy and wants to know why Lucifer’s in Vegas with someone ravishing on her birthday. Not that she cares, of course, because she’s totally past any romantic feelings.

Linda suggests that Lucifer’s absence may be stirring up emotions that Chloe hasn’t dealt with. But then they forget everything else when Chloe knocks a painting off the wall and discovers a hidden safe. The obvious codes don’t work (666 and 8008, which of course spells “boob”), so they call in Dan and his power tools. But all that does is damage Lucifer’s ancient Syrian wall.

Linda says spackle will fix it right up, which sends Chloe into a melancholy, tear-stained tailspin. There are things about Lucifer she’ll never understand and sure, she sounds jealous, but she insists they’re just friends. 

(Next page: Lucifer presents a typically devilish birthday gift)

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