#dollythebun

The only hotel resident he shows any affinity for besides Charlie is Vaggi, Charlie's girlfriend and a fellow fallen angel (though he still struggles with her name, get it together dude).

(Greeting her warmly, while he either ignores or actively fights with the sinners)

(Lauding her underappreciated efforts around the hotel, albeit to piss Alastor off)

(Disclosing a tightly held, dangerous secret to her with little prompting when he could have simply refused to do what she asked because he's the Motherfucking King of Hell)

Another aspect that warmed me to him was S2, which assauged my two main concerns from S1 that made him feel kind of flatly written to me: his relationship with Charlie and his amount of power.

I didn't buy him and Charlie's sweet reconciliation in the same episode he's introduced in S1, it felt too neat and didn't ring true to a strained father-daughter relationship the way say, Stolas and Octavia do to me. But S2 made it clear there's still issues between them, which I appreciate.

Additionally, his Big Damn Hero moment in the S1 finale had me worried he may become too OP/a deus ex machina/a writer's pet/Gary Stu. His edgy "I'm so cool haha fuck you" dialogue while he dunks on Adam, as fun as it may be, didn't help.

So naturally, I adore the "can't hurt sinners" limit on his powers, proving my concern there wrong. What a perfect punishment for the prideful angel who gave humans free will! Make him live with the worst consequences of that and unable to fight back!

I know it's fun to make "X character is a fraud" jokes but like. It's Hell. Of course it's gonna be full of frauds and liars who act like they're hot shit. Power is based on who's the best salesman, the best performer in the circus ring. For a while, that was Lu and he's still riding on that reputation a bit, but without Lilith to back him up that power is being challenged.

Lilith, as a former human herself, was evidently much better at connecting with sinners, and likely helped remind him of the positive side of giving humanity the power to choose. On his own, Lucifer is weaker than ever and more prone to regretting that decision. S2, much more than S1 where the main antagonists were the angels, demonstrates why he may feel that way by showing some of the worst downsides of a free, lawless society.

What's the good of free will if the majority of people choose to reject self-actualization in favor of senseless violence?

What's the good if they choose to turn their brains off and follow a conman/aspiring techno-dictator? (Man, do I feel this one.)

What's the good if they use their free will to override the consent of those weaker than them?

I think it's significant that Lu was absent for the entirety of Hear My Hope, stuck in a torture machine devised by Vox, and unable to see a group of sinners come together, reject Vox's plan and choose to value life more than hatred.

In the aftermath and with little context of what happened, he's in a more vulnerable position than ever. As far as we know, this is the first time a sinner has learned his weakness and exploited it, and he got dangerously close to all of Hell discovering it. He has more reason than ever to fear sinners (and as mentioned before, he is likely too prideful to admit this or ask for help).

(Maybe I'm reading too much into this and he's just embarrassed about being clumsy, but doesn't he seem a bit wary here of the new sinners who have checked in? Like "Oh shit they can't see me fumble again what if they figure it out")

And with S3 poised to heavily feature the Morningstars and Alastor...well, things are about to get interesting. Especially since Alastor seems to have already known this secret, and Lu knows he knows.