okay im making a thread about how the showrunners have mishandled lucifer and maze’s bi/pan sexualities over the course of the series.
PS THERES SPOILERS IN THIS THREAD SO DON’T READ IT UNLESS YOUVE WATCHED ALL FIVE SEASONS.

okay ! so first of course we’ve got to talk about the fact that both maze and luci come from actual hell, and early on they both used sex to gain information or idk just manipulate someone else, instead of actually forming actual connections. obviously neither of them are-

- ‘paragons or virtue’ or anything, but given the fact that they are both queer, lack a “conventional” morality, and come from hell is kind of a yikes when its added all up.

also ! they both fall into a Lot of negative tropes for bisexual/pansexual people ! if ildy and joe had decided to balance out their questionable behaviour with some positive rep too, the other stuff wouldn’t be as much as a problem.

some examples of the questionable representation- the queer characters in general on the show are consistently showed as suspects in cases or yk .. actual demons, instead of regular day to day people.

also.. the show uses luci’s bisexuality for laughs most of the time. for example, in season two, where we get to go over some of the people lucifer has been with in the past. then a guy appears murdered and bam turns out lucifers bi- which was great ! -

except for the fact that since then, it has been Barely expanded on and when it is, its usually not in a good way.

remember when maze started hitting on charlotte ?? and it was because she ‘smelled’ like despair and torture and yk . hell . then again, maze is a demon and it could be explained as just her being that but idk its always rubbed me the wrong way how it was handled.

yikes and now we’ve got to talk about til death do us part. sure, once again, a lot of it is supposed to be funny, but you’ve got to admit that it was a pretty low point in the show. throughout the episode there are tons of stereotypes that are fallen into, not-

-mentioning how pierce Really doesn’t want to pretend to be married to lucifer, putting the entire investigation in jeopardy because he’s lowkey homophobic. gonna just put a paragraph from the article i’m using for this thread here-

“Even if Pierce was just a regular character, this kind of homophobic behaviour doesn't sit well on a show which already skirts around its inherent queerness. -

- And honestly, would a Biblical figure who's been around since the dawn of time share the same prejudiced views as a modern-day American?”

in season four, yeah, they did showcase maze’s queerness more, but as we all know, she and eve aren’t on good terms right now. also.. 5a really did maze dirty in terms of character building.
ok now we Really need to talk about lucifer.

i think i’m just gonna put in another paragraph from the article because i can’t think of a better way to phrase this.

“While labels aren't always necessary, it's rather telling that Lucifer never describes himself explicitly as bisexual. Apparently, he's so good at flipping men that people call him 'The Skillet' but we very rarely see that. -

- At one point, in an episode called 'Orange Is The New Maze', Lucifer even denies his queerness outright, saying, "I'm not one for gorilla-sized ham-hands or stale alcohol breath or, just in general, blokes." “

lets just remember that lucifer can’t lie, which indicates that he could just be confused. (yay negative bi stereotypes) he also contradicts himself more by saying things like “I usually have women over, or men, or both, for sex.” so .. yk, these-

inconsistantes just betray how (from the perspective of the writers room) lucifers queerness is mostly performative. “

lucifer is, quite obviously, primarily attracted to women. he is described as a womanizer over the course of the show, and anything remotely “bisexual” that lucifer participates in are usually shown as gags, with the main focus being on his relationship with chloe-

of course. while this couple is the heart (and soul wink wink) of the show, now that they’ve finally gotten together, theres very little chance that lucifers bisexuality will get explored in a way that isn’t harmful.

deckerstar’s relationship is also what “redeems” lucifer in a traditionally moral sense. the shows constant refusal to acknowledge lucifer’s identity is resulting in bi erasure. when the protagonists queerness is rarely showcased, it tends to be conflated with evil.

“By loving Chloe and adhering to heteronormative standards, Lucifer can be freed of his bisexual and so-called "evil" tendencies. That's something the show has doubled down on in recent years, and now that Lucifer's story is officially ending with season six, there aren't many-

-ways to actively explore his queerness without cheating on Chloe, feeding into even more harmful tropes about bisexuality. “

i’m not completely sure on how the show can redeem itself at this point. to be clear, i still love it with all of my heart. i just thought it was necessary to point out how its not perfect.

heres the article i paraphrased a bunch from

https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a33755517/lucifer-season-5-bisexual-queer-lgbtq/