Lucifer recap: 'Mr. and Mrs. Mazikeen Smith’

Sexy danger-flirting, handcuffed combatants, and snowy hijinks combine in a Maze-centric episode that’s a bit of a departure for Lucifer. And frankly, we’re all better for it.

“Mr. and Mrs. Mazikeen Smith” is one of the four episodes plucked from the season 2 lineup and held for this new season. In light of that, I wondered how well it would fit into the flow of the season so far. Happily, it works beautifully as a standalone character study for our favorite demon.

Constant drinking, violence, sex, and now bounty hunting aren’t enough to take the edge off of Maze’s ennui, so she’s filling the void by slamming shots with Dr. Linda at Lucifer’s club. “No rest for the soulless,” she hollers, explaining that demons live in the moment because once they’re dead, that’s the end of the road.

Linda drunkenly suggests that Maze slow down and appreciate what she has, while Lucifer encourages her to burn brighter and hunt the toughest human she can. Naturally, she takes Lucifer’s advice and asks Lt. Thomas Herrera from Organized Crime to send her after Ben Rivers, who’s wanted for killing two teenagers in broad daylight. Herrera warns her that Rivers has eluded every bounty hunter sent to bring him in, which is exactly what Maze wants.

Chloe tries to talk Maze out of following Rivers to Canada, or at least into packing appropriately warm clothes, both to no avail. Chloe worries that Maze isn’t up to the emotional challenge of a manipulative murderer, but Lucifer’s not concerned. Neither is Dan, who’s about to leave on a Hawaiian vacation funded by frequent flyer miles and featuring three layovers. (Is it weird that I’m kind of delighted by the idea of Dan reading a book on the beach?)

In Canada, Maze realizes that her couture is, in fact, no protection from the snowy elements. But no worries; she steals a coat from a mocking passerby and eventually replaces it with a jacket that’s more fashionable than anything hanging in any of our closets.

She uses her seductive wiles to break a Canadian hotel clerk’s propensity for niceness, forcing him to tell her that Rivers is in Whistler with a rich woman named Muffy. One bound and gagged masseuse later, Maze is rubbing the kinks out of Muffy’s muscles and extracting information from the blonde about her new boyfriend.

Back in L.A., a still-worried Chloe drags Rivers’ attorney in for questioning, where she and an unconcerned Lucifer realize that the attorney knows more than she’s letting on. Lucifer hits the woman with his mojo, and she confesses that she’s helping Rivers elude police because she loves him. “He’s charming and handsome, and when he looks you in the eyes, I don’t care who you are, you are defenseless against him.” Gee, does that sound like any lushly accented devils we know?

In the next scene, we meet Rivers himself (Chris McKenna, oozing lived-in masculine appeal), swaggering up to a woman he thinks is Muffy. It’s Maze in a blond wig, of course, and she cuffs him to the bar. He then redefines the meaning of cool by settling in and ordering a drink, and Maze is, dare I say, intrigued. Understandably so, as they engage in sexily charged banter: He tells Maze that she has the same ready-to-run look in her eyes that he does, while Maze is disappointed that she caught him so easily. “Please fight,” she purrs.

Chloe, worrying like a mother hen, tries to warn Maze that Rivers might pack more of an emotional punch than she’s prepared for. But Lucifer texts Maze the address from Rivers’ attorney, assuring Chloe that Rivers is no match for Maze’s fighting skills.

Maze indeed finds Rivers cramming all of his fake passports into a bag in his swanky, fire-lit cabin, and she moves inhumanly quickly to cuff the two of them together. He pulls a gun, and Maze gets the fight she’s craving, which ends with Rivers cradling her from behind. Okay, 12 out of 10, would like this episode to never end.

Rivers then drops the flirty act to give her a serious warning: He used to be Herrera’s bounty hunter before the lieutenant framed him for those two murders, and now Herrera’s got Maze in his sights.

Cut to Chloe chatting with Herrera, who nicely asks for the Rivers file back so he can close the case himself. Chloe gives him the squinty eyes as he walks away.

When Chloe tries to call Maze again, she and Rivers are a little busy ducking a hail of bullets from Herrera’s assassin, who’s disguised herself as room service and doesn’t buy for a second that they’re merely Mr. and Mrs. Mazikeen Smith, vacationing couple. They take cover behind a heavy wood table, and Rivers scoffs when Maze pulls a knife out in the middle of a gunfight…until she whips it backward over her head and hits the shooter in the chest. And yes, they’re still cuffed together; 15 out of 10, keep piling on these amazing clichés. (Next page: Maze’s bedside manner might surprise you)

When Maze asks for surgical advice, Linda is yet again forced to explain that she’s not that kind of doctor. Seeing the severity of the wound, though, she sighs and asks Maze if the bullet exited Rivers’ body. If you’re Maze, how do you check for that? By sticking your finger in the wound, of course. The bullet’s still there, so Linda tells her to take it out and stitch it.

As Maze rushes to get alcohol and a sewing kit, Rivers blearily looks over to see Linda and Luci peering at him from Maze’s phone. Lucifer, trying to unravel the mystery of Rivers’ appeal, declares, “You’re not that handsome.”

“That’s helpful, thank you,” Rivers retorts before Maze returns and, lacking sedatives, knocks him out with a punch. Then she places a pillow under his head, fluffs it, and strokes the hair off his forehead. Flustered by her actions, she hangs up, leaving a gobsmacked Lucifer to exclaim, “He broke my Maze!”

When Rivers comes to, he’s shirtless and surprised to see that Maze sewed a button onto his wound. Ha! Then they have an on-the-nose discussion about Maze’s struggle this episode: Rivers refused to kill those teenagers in order to hang on to what was left of his soul after acting as Herrera’s enforcer for years. When Maze says that’s not a problem for her because hello, soulless, he tells her she’s wrong.

Then there’s a knock at the door, and Maze whips a knife into the doorframe, missing Dan by inches. One of his layovers was in Vancouver, and when a worried Chloe called, he agreed to check on Maze. As he and Maze discuss the possibility that Herrera’s a dirty cop, Rivers slips away again. Maze leaves to pursue her bounty while Dan calls in the Canadian authorities.

In L.A., Lucifer’s now the one worrying that Maze has fallen for Rivers’ manipulative charm, while Chloe’s become convinced that Rivers is Herrera’s pawn. They track down the security guard who testified against Rivers, and he confirms the Herrera frame job.

Maze, meanwhile, tracks Rivers’ blood trail through the snow and smiles in victory when she finds him — until she realizes he’s on his knees with the assassin’s gun trained on his head.

Although the assassin is accompanied by three goons, Rivers assures Maze that he’s got the situation under control. Then Dan, who didn’t pack his gun for what he thought would be a trip to Hawaii, leaps into the fray. He’s joined by Maze and Rivers, who’s escaped from his cuffs again. (He’s so good at that!) They subdue the bad guys, and Dan orders Maze and Rivers to run while he deals with the Canadian authorities.

When Chloe tells Maze that Herrera’s been arrested, Maze delivers the good news to Rivers: He’s no longer a fugitive and can return home. But Rivers warns her that the people Herrera works for will keep chasing him — and Maze, too, now that they know everything about her.

She doubts they know everything, but when Rivers asks her to go on the run with him, she looks mighty tempted. However, not even a few snow-melting kisses are enough to get her to say yes because, in the end, she actually does have people she cares about back home. “And here you thought you didn’t have a soul,” Rivers says. A million out of 10, please let Ben Rivers turn up again in a future episode!

Maze returns to L.A. a little quieter and maybe even a little softer. When Lucifer asks if she’s all right, she tells him, “I’m exactly where I want to be.”

And then the episode ends with a potentially huge reveal: Someone wearing black gloves puts photos of Maze and Rivers into a folder, then stashes it in a cabinet with other files on Lucifer, Amenadiel/Dr. Canaan, and Charlotte Richards. And this mystery filer sprang for some high-end labels, too. None of the store-bought, print-on Avery stickers here — we’re talking color-printed blue-and-white jobbies. Fancy!

Stray feathers: