Lightbringers: Illuminating the Deeper Meaning of the Crime-solving Devil TV Show

Send us Fan MailIn the final episode of Lightbringers, the Guy girls still manage some significant overthinking. The storytelling leads them to some questions about how people who don’t feel remorse might be tortured in the Lucifer universe (in other words, what was the magic behind Lucifer’s whispered words to Lemec?). Additionally, the confines of telling a story with actors on a small screen lead to musings about the role our age plays in our identity (and a detour into Star Trek the Next Generation and the Matrix). We enjoy the acting of Rob Benedict as he portrays Vincent Le Mec and then Dan Espinoza inhabiting Vincent Le Mec’s body. We also have some deep appreciation for the visual storytelling used to portray the silver city and the tight writing that gave us the series of events leading to the appearance of Mr. Meowgi the lion and Le Mec’s escape from prison. At the same time, we both were a bit less than satisfied with the writing that would characterize (or at least not significantly distinguish) righteous anger as monstrous, allowed saviorism to flavor the attempt at anti-racism in Chloe’s role as Lieutenant, and left us with the impression Trixie wasn’t present for her.We wrap up the journey with a few thoughts about recommendations for binge-worthy shows that might scratch the Lucifer itch.Mentioned in this episode:Our Lucifer episode of Deep Thoughts about Stupid Sh*tGood Omens streams on AmazonDead Boy Detectives is on NetflixThe Sandman is on NetflixDead End: Paranormal Park is on NetflixOwl House is on Disney+Miranda is on Britbox or AmazonThe Good Place is on NetflixOur theme song is "Feral Angel Waltz" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/To learn more about Tracie and Emily and our other projects, to support us, and join the Guy Girls' family, visit us on Patreon.

Send us Fan MailIn this penultimate episode of Lightbringers, the Guy sisters continue to notice the moments and threads of season 6 that seem to point to a rushed (and self-amusing) writers’ room. From the unprofessional move of Linda’s book (why didn’t they just make it fiction?) to the disappointingly milquetoast Carroll, there are story and character beats that felt forced. At the same time, we deeply appreciate Chloe-as-audience-proxy in the conversation about how some people don’t have the choice to walk away from the fight against racism.We spend considerable time thinking through the casting and writing choices surrounding Adam. What are the implications about the human species if the first man is guilty of toxic masculinity? Why cast a white dude as the first man? In the end, we realized regardless of our analysis, the choices the show made about Adam will have pissed of the right people (probably the same ones who boycotted Netflix because of Good Omens, even though the latter streams on Amazon Prime).Regular listeners will be comforted to know that our appreciation for Tom Ellis’ looks has not faded over these many seasons, and in fact, Emily is adamant that Tom in a tuxedo shirt with suspenders is all she needs on her tv screen. Our theme song is "Feral Angel Waltz" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/To learn more about Tracie and Emily and our other projects, to support us, and join the Guy Girls' family, visit us on Patreon.

Send us Fan MailWith these two episodes we get some subtext about addiction and some supertext about racist policing. In “The Murder of Lucifer Morningstar,” the sisters realize on rewatch (especially in the context of our analysis of so many moments of mental health metaphors) that Chloe’s obsession with the super-strength the necklace provides is a stand-in for addiction. “A Lot Dirtier Than That” provides a big chunk of the story arc that serves as penance for the five seasons of copaganda that came before it. Though the storytelling is heavy-handed in both its visuals and dialogue, our conversation argues the heavy-handedness was necessary in the face of the power of the trope that cops are unequivocally good guys.Taken together these two episodes provide deeply meaningful moments around grief, loneliness, and regret, powerful social commentary around racism in policing, and seriously cringe-worthy second-hand embarrassment as Lucifer tries (too hard) to connect with the daughter he doesn’t yet have. Our theme song is "Feral Angel Waltz" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/To learn more about Tracie and Emily and our other projects, to support us, and join the Guy Girls' family, visit us on Patreon.

Send us Fan MailAs season 6 progresses, the Guy sisters have some moments of joy and appreciation and quite a few quibbles for the writers. Though the cartoonified episode is in some ways delightful (Tracie wanted to be an animator when she was a kid), there are moments in the writing that feel either ableist or rushed (or both). The sisters note that it feels particularly hypocritical that the episode seems to judge Jimmy Barnes for being less-than rational/typical when the whole show is a daydream from a comic book. In the second of the two episodes, Lucifer’s one-time lover, Esther, who is now a rabbi provides fodder for musings on the kinds of theological and cosmological God-wrestling the character of Lucifer Morningstar engenders. We also spend more than a little time (and intentional and unintentional double entendres) wondering about the seemingly misplaced erection jokes that pop up in the episode (see what we did there?).In the end, though there remains some good things to recommend even these season 6 episodes, the sisters are left with the sense that the whole enterprise would have benefited from a bit more time for reflection, review, and revision.Our theme song is "Feral Angel Waltz" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/To learn more about Tracie and Emily and our other projects, to support us, and join the Guy Girls' family, visit us on Patreon

Send us Fan MailAnd so begins the Guy sisters’ rewatch of Season 6: Nobody’s favorite season.With these two episodes, the sisters spend considerable time lamenting the fact that there are no media role models for people who are childless by choice, including, it seems, Lucifer. We also are perplexed and perturbed by multiple details of these two episodes, from Lucifer’s assertion that he is a “wonder-seeker” to what the heck is sexy about all the broken furniture to how Ella Lopez could be at all attracted to vanilla, milquetoast, Carrol. On the other hand, there is a unanimous appreciation for the drag performers in the second episode and the writing that had one of those performers sharing she always aims to make people laugh to avoid having them laugh at her in the wrong way. We get a little bit ahead of ourselves in thinking about the storybeat that is Rory, and whether or not hers is the ending the show deserved, and puzzle over the inclusion of Michael in Hell, whose face we never see (because they couldn’t get the actor back? J/k Michael is Tom Ellis, too!), and close out the episode by sharing our own drag names. Our theme song is "Feral Angel Waltz" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/To learn more about Tracie and Emily and our other projects, to support us, and join the Guy Girls' family, visit us on Patreon.

Send us Fan MailThese two final episodes of season five pack and emotional wallup. With more than one major character death (though 2 don’t stay dead), the Guy girls both admit to shedding some tears, even in rewatch. The views we get of both Heaven and Hell have Emily and Tracie thinking deeply about the nature of punishment, the compatibility of justice with pain, and whether or not free will is worth the huge risk we face to have it. We help each other with head canon around why Michael behaves the way he does, how Lee managed to get out of Hell, and what’s going on for Chloe when she confesses to no longer feeling guilty on her death bed.As we often do, we speculate a bit around alternative storytelling paths the showrunners might have taken, and unlike our sometime-dissatisfaction with Lauren German, both sisters agree the actress rose to the occasion in this season.Our theme song is "Feral Angel Waltz" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/To learn more about Tracie and Emily and our other projects, to support us, and join the Guy Girls' family, visit us on Patreon.

Send us Fan Mail“A Little Harmless Stalking” & “Nothing Lasts Forever” are ripe for overthinking, and the Guy girls do. These two stories invite meditations on the reconciliation of adult children and their parents, a scene that has become common in contemporary pop fiction, and which Tracie & Emily dub psychological or family dynamic fiction: art that creates an aspiration that isn’t true, yet, but could be because of the art. As is often the case in Lucifer, upon deeper reflection, the overlapping lines of connection between the characters is a bit unsettling as we realize that Eve and Maze together means the latter is dating her ex-husband’s ex-wife’s daughter. Emily analyzes Ella’s “darkness” and names it intrusive thoughts, which she wishes the show itself had done. Tracie is disappointed in the off-brand nature of the joke of Handjobiel’s name, and both sisters linger over what it even means for God to retire from a universe that was made by God but also is God. Originally published as a YouTube show with different theme music. Our theme song is "Feral Angel Waltz" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/To learn more about Tracie and Emily and our other projects, to support us, and join the Guy Girls' family, visit us on Patreon.

Send us Fan Mail“Resting Devil Face” is a delightful romp the sisters want to revisit more often. “Daniel Espinoza: Naked and Afraid” may be both of their least favorite. In “Resting Devil Face,” the celestial siblings’ relationship digs in to the very human experience of realizing one’s parent is vulnerable. In a satisfying dovetailing of the case-of-the-week and the celestial story line, we see the unintended consequences of parenting choices and also receive the Hollywood trope that so many of us still need to hear: you already have what you need to be  happy and/or worthy.“Daniel Espinoza: Naked and Afraid” provides quite a bit of fan service and clues to what is going on through campiness and subtext which neither Emily nor Tracie are particularly skilled at seeing on first-watch. The sisters agree that it takes a certain degree of cruelty to execute such an elaborate and emotionally taxing prank, and neither of them like to think of Lucifer as cruel. We realize that “a theological aside” could have been the subtitle of this podcast and take a moment to plug our other project, Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t.Originally published as a YouTube show with different theme music. Our theme song is "Feral Angel Waltz" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/To learn more about Tracie and Emily and our other projects (including Deep Thoughts about Stupid Sh*t), to support us, and join the Guy Girls' family, visit us on Patreon.

Send us Fan Mail“Family Dinner” and “Bloody Celestial Karaoke Jam” deliver both some of the funniest and some of the most poignant moments of the whole series. With a general appreciation for the relatableness of so much of what happens between characters in these two episodes and a very specific appreciation for Tom Ellis’ collarbones, the Guy sisters overthink these two season five episodes.The sisters spend significant air time enjoying the Gen-X-appealing music, the commentary on parent-child relationships, and the elegance of metaphors made manifest in these two episodes. They also dig deep into the nature of shame and internalized oppression and the significance of Chloe having “faith” that Lucifer is capable of love. Originally published as a YouTube show with different theme music. Our theme song is "Feral Angel Waltz" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/To learn more about Tracie and Emily and our other projects, to support us, and join the Guy Girls' family, visit us on Patreon.

Send us Fan MailOn rewatch, the Guy girls were reminded just how much they compartmentalize their memories about these two episodes. “Our Mojo” and “Spoiler Alert” provide delightfully fun and funny moments intermixed with grim details of the serial-killer-right-under-our-noses storyline. The sisters spend time teasing out the phenomenological and metaphorical mechanisms behind the supernatural elements of “Our Mojo,” including Lucifer’s emotional immaturity and the consequences of having the drawer-of-desires finally achieving his own desire. Comparing and contrasting the three angelic siblings (as well as the two villains, Pete and Michael) captures their attention, and they agree that Pete is the most chilling of the killers in the procedural portion of the show.In the end, Emily longs for an encouraging gif of DB Woodside believing in her and Tracie refuses to believe that a hardboiled detective like Chloe Decker would drink a frou-frou coffee order. Originally published as a YouTube show with different theme music. Our theme song is "Feral Angel Waltz" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/To learn more about Tracie and Emily and our other projects, to support us, and join the Guy Girls' family, visit us on Patreon.