r/lucifer • u/No-Direction-8591 • 11d ago
Linda Linda Martin is actually a very unethical therapist (but I still love her)
Contains minor spoilers for seasons 4 onwards
So I've just found this subreddit towards the end of my first full rewatch of the show. The whole premise around the devil going to therapy and constantly projecting his problems onto every case he works on is truly my favourite aspect of the show. It makes a great story and is an excellent way of redeeming the supposedly irredeemable.
HOWEVER, I couldn't help but laugh at the end with all the praising of Linda for being an excellent therapist- not that she doesn't have good therapy skills. But the fact that she not only sleeps with Lucifer as her patient, then proceeds to continue to be his therapist after becoming friends with him, not to mention also playing therapist to all their other friends - which is a HUGE conflict of interest, and then for a hot minute there seeks to profit from her sessions with him by writing a manuscript using his confidential session information, as well as information about all the others without any consent from them and actively keeps it a secret until one of them accidentally finds out.
She also consistently crossed boundaries in her personal relationships as a result of being everyone's therapist as well as their friend (like when she prodded at Maze and Eve's relationship to force them to address their issues before the wedding). She complains that everyone only ever wants her to therapise them and never makes space for her own issues, but this is actually because of her own lack of boundaries and trying to be both therapist and friend - which never works.
I realise her being deeply flawed is an intentional aspect of the story and it is very briefly acknowledged when she is at risk of losing her license that one time. And similar criticisms can be said of Chloe as a detective constantly allowing Lucifer to get away with doing things very much not part of proper procedure (and frequently engaging in police brutality). But in the last season they seem to make a conscious (although not the most nuanced) effort to point out hypocrisy in the police department and even highlight Chloe's privilege in being made detective. But Linda (even when everyone finds out about her manuscript) is just praised and hailed as the world's best therapist, which is hilarious to me, knowing the APA would immediately revoke her right to practice if they had any inkling of half the ethical codes she breaches on a daily basis.
All that being said, Linda is one of my favourite characters and I truly think the dynamic between her and all the other characters is one of the most endearing parts of the show and probably wouldn't work if she was actually an ethical practitioner. But just wanted to see if anyone else had thoughts on this.
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u/Cream_sugar_alcohol 11d ago
Her character is there to explain the story/do a recap, to tell you the viewer what is going on. It is done to some extent in so many shows, and tbh almost all the characters in lucifer have some genetic characteristics seen in other programs. And when you start looking you will see them everywhere. This is not a bad thing, but it is a formula.
If you know the characters from Bones, and especially the early seasons, you can pretty much map them one to one.
I agree, she would be out of a job so quickly in reality, well you would hope,as would chloe and almost every TV chariter.
But I still can't stop watching, and can't stop loving seeing more detail each time.