-Muggle Television Series Reviews-

---

Lucifer - My rating: ★★★★ (4/5 stars)

In the beginning…

The angel Lucifer was cast out of Heaven and condemned to rule Hell for all eternity.

Until he decided to take a vacation…

So begins one of the more entertaining shows to premiere this year.

Lucifer follows the adventures of the devil in Los Angeles, where he has established himself as the owner of a high-end night club. When a murder occurs outside his club, the devil gets involved in the investigation, claiming that it is his job to punish the guilty. This is understandably frustrating for Chloe Dekker, the detective on the case, as Lucifer plays by his own rules and doesn’t work well with others. However, Lucifer finds himself inexplicably drawn to the detective, and ends up finding ways to work with her (and annoy her) on other cases, while also dealing with some more personal problems.

The main character, Lucifer, is played brilliantly by Tom Ellis. Lucifer is suave and charming, but also has a chilling disregard for humanity in general, which is exactly the right combination to make him believable as the devil. His relationship with the detective seems to perplex him, as he is constantly trying to justify his reasons for being around her. I can’t really go into more detail about Lucifer’s character without spoiling some of the more interesting parts of the show, so you should just trust me and go watch it.

The other strengths of the show are its snappy dialogue and interesting character interactions. Lucifer was originally developed for television by Tom Kapinos (known for Californication), and his touch is very evident, especially in the pilot episode. Following the pilot, Joe Henderson (who wrote for White Collar, Graceland, and Almost Human) took over as showrunner, and while the show occasionally struggles with cliched characters (Detective Dekker is probably the weakest lead), the majority of the characters are quite cleverly written, and the plot has so far contained enough twists and turns to keep my attention.

If you’re interested in watching this show, it airs in the US on Monday nights on Fox, and is also available to stream online. As of right now, Lucifer has only aired eight episodes, so it’s still easy to catch up and enjoy the ride!

---

Legend of the Seeker - My rating: ★★★★ (4/5 stars)

Based on the Sword of Truth book series by Terry Goodkind, Legend of the Seeker follows the journey of Richard Cypher, a young man who was born to wield the Sword of Truth and save the Midlands. Along with a wizard, Zedd, and a Confessor, Kahlan, Richard reluctantly sets out on a quest to defeat Darken Rahl. Throughout the course of their quest, they have various adventures, and eventually face Rahl in a final showdown between good and evil.

While this series only lasted for two seasons, it was a good light-hearted fantasy, with interesting characters and enough magic, action, and romance to keep things interesting. It’s obvious that the special effects were done on a small budget, but the story is good enough that the lack of fancy effects never really detracted from the show. The acting is also quite decent, and fans of Marvel’s Agent Carter might notice Bridget Regan as the main female lead, Kahlan.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this show during its run, and have since rewatched the first season, which is available in the US on Hulu. Also, if you end up watching and enjoying the show, I would highly recommend reading at least the first three or four books of the series, which are excellent epic fantasy.

Reviewed by Kris Shah