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Jan 25, 2016 By Kyle Turner Web Exclusive

A crooked smile, an intonation of seduction, and “bad boy” written into every action he makes, Tom Ellis’s embodiment of Lucifer is like an obvious, but no less appealing application of “His” adverbial form. Everything Lucifer does is done with a wink and a bit of camp, but italicized with the words “devilishly,” possibly justifying a thinness of character.

Taking a vacation from ruling the Underworld, Lucifer takes a visit to contemporary Los Angeles (written with AD, just as winkingly). And, perhaps predictably with as camp a performance as Ellis’, there are daddy issues involved.

But Lucifer, the show based on the character created by Neil Gaiman (a recurring character in his Sandman series), takes its guise as a police procedural, with the Fallen One aiding the Los Angeles Police Department in a series of crimes. The baddy that he is, his main motivation is sadism: a brand that’s clean enough for network TV, but laced in innuendo, almost like a Pre-Code film.

Lucifer is a little bit of a curiosity on contemporary television, almost in a way a response to some of the more prestigious products doled out by HBO (True Detective), Cinemax (The Knick), and Showtime (Dexter). Not nearly as formally elegant as the aforementioned shows, it also plays with the idea of making sense out of chaos. The ostensible idea seems to be that if we can’t make sense of chaos, who can? The answer: The Devil, supposedly the creator, or at least the exploiter of, that very thing. It doesn’t commit to this idea very much, and quickly becomes bland.

Perhaps part of Lucifer‘s game, though, is in revealing that despite Lucifer Morningstar’s special abilities-which, besides immortality, amount to cajoling out one’s deepest, darkest desires of you-even his power is limited. But this idea is only thinly sketched out, as the series is, so far, more interested in adhering to the conventions of procedural shows (formally, structurally), and it’s only Ellis that separates this show from the pack.

The question is, how long can Lucifer last if it’s almost solely contingent on the Devil’s charm? His articulation is delicious, almost enough to transform leaden dialogue into an aphrodisiac. But beyond that, even the odd couple dynamic between Lucifer and LAPD homicide detective Chloe Decker (Lauren German) is a little wanting. Impervious to Lucifer’s tricks, it’s not a very clever show. Too often, it dips into obviousness. There’s a quip here and there, but less than hot stuff.

While the show dances around creation and destruction of life, Lucifer’s immortal one becomes the core, a question of whether immortality is really worth it. But it’s hard to really care about Lucifer’s existential crisis when he’s one camp performance, enjoyable though it is. Maybe the theological concept of a humanized Harbinger of Doom isn’t inherently interesting. This narrative of bad people who want to feel human, whose flaws are both embedded into their DNA and yet crippling, has gone stale. In the context of a crime show, the gimmick ages rapidly. It’s a bit of a shame, but frankly, my Devil, I don’t give a damn. (www.fox.com/lucifer)

Author rating: 5.5/10