Lucifer presented us with many interesting characters. The characters develop and grow and we see how they connect with other characters, yet remain true to their established characteristics. Their arcs make sense. Lucifer, the title character, discovers that while resenting being made the King of Hell by dear Dad, he also fears that there is evil inside of him. Much of the show is about him trying to change the narrative that he was dealt on top of understanding his role in the bigger picture.
Like Lucifer, Maze is changed by her experiences on Earth. She starts the show as Lucifer's loyal demon, following him out of the gates of hell to Earth. Maze, loyal to Lucifer, protects him and follows his orders about punishing (or not punishing) people, but her character develops throughout the four seasons. There are ways that she has changed and ways that she hasn't.
Grown: Gains Independence
This is a major change for Maze. All of her life has been determined by Lucifer's whims and fancies. She lives to serve him. While she still supports him, she now is more of a free agent. She discovers a purpose, a way to fit in this world. She does this by working as a bounty hunter and no longer at Lucifer's bar. This job works towards Maze's previous strengths: finding and punishing people.
In addition, she moves out. First, she lives with Chloe, and now, in season 4, she is living with Linda. Though still loyal to Lucifer (most of the time), she has a life outside of his. When Eve complains about Lucifer being gone for so long for his job with the detective, Maze commiserates. She says that it used to bother her, "Until I got a life. Smashing heads, hunting bounties. You know, my own thing. " Independence looks good on Maze!
Grown: Develops Friendships
While Maze had a friendship with Lucifer, she didn't really have many friends. She also didn't really value humans or human friendships. This changes with Linda and Chloe. She lives with Chloe, and Linda is her best friend.
When Linda is hurt by Lucifer's mother, Maze is immediately there to help her. She comforts Linda as Linda cries and gets her to medical help. Maze would do anything to protect those that she loves, and she does love her human friends.
Grown: Practices Forgiveness
Forgiveness comes hard to Maze. Not one to show vulnerability, once she feels hurt by those she has made herself vulnerable to, she becomes defensive and can hold onto grudges. When she discovers that Linda, her best friend, and Amenadiel, her former flame, have been seeing each other behind her back, she reacts in anger and is deeply hurt by them. It seems that she wants nothing more to do with them.
However, she learns to practice forgiveness, and she forgives Linda. Linda and she return to being best friends, and their friendship becomes even stronger than it was before.
Grown: Shows Vulnerability
This is a hard one for Maze, as to show vulnerability can be seen as a weakness. She worked as a Punisher, exploiting people's weaknesses. However, in working with Linda, she comes to acknowledge her vulnerability and learn from it. In Season 2, Linda has Maze and Lucifer sit down, and Maze is able to tell him how abandoned she felt by him. This is something that Maze wouldn't have been able to do in the early episodes of Season 1.
In Season 4, Dan guesses that Maze is attracted to Eve. Initially angry at him, she later tells him that he was correct. He advises her to tell Eve, and Maze actually listens to him. While the outcome wasn't exactly what she wanted, had she not made herself vulnerable, she would never have known where Eve stood.
Grown: Loves Children (Specific Ones)
While it is not clear that Maze loves all children, she does love Trixie and Charlie (Linda and Amenadiel's baby). She has a very special relationship with Trixie. Matter of fact, Maze is probably closer with Trixie than she is with Chloe. In Season 3, Trixie is really hurt by what Maze says about her, and Maze regrets it and apologizes. We can tell how relieved Maze is when Trixie forgives her, embracing her in a hug.
Maze acts as an aunt to Charlie. She is there to protect Linda and support her throughout the pregnancy. When Linda goes into labor, Maze runs to be by her side and welcome Charlie into the world.
Hasn't Grown: Remains The Punisher
Maze's role in hell was to punish those that Lucifer deemed deserved punishment. As a bounty hunter, Maze is still able to retain that role. When Lucifer asks her help in punishing, she eagerly joins.
Not only has she remained the Punisher, but she also really enjoys her job. She knows that she is good at it; as a demon, it was something that she was built to do.
Hasn't Grown: Sees The World In Black & White
Sometimes Maze's difficulty in seeing the gray delivers comedy. Even Lucifer has developed to see the world as more nuanced than black and white, though he reverts back to this simplicity sometimes.
Maze sees the world in black and white, right and wrong, those deserving of punishment and those not. While she has a few moments where this is challenged, she pretty much sticks to this world view. It would be interesting to see it challenged more in Season 5.
Hasn't Grown: Is Loyal to Lucifer (Most Of The Time)
Maze has doubted and criticized Lucifer many times. And, well, she did try to kill him once and send him back to hell (but only because she missed home). Overall, though, she still is loyal to him. She is there to help him when he calls, even if she complains about his request. When she moved out and became more independent, she didn't have to keep up her relationship with him, but she did.
Loyalty is a core value of Maze's. Where this value has changed is that it has stretched to include more people than Lucifer. However, he still is very important to Maze and is someone that she listens to.
Hasn't Grown: Disregards Human Law
Maze will work around the system because she doesn't have much regard for it, and she encourages others to do the same. When Dan worries about how long he will have to wait to get information from a local gang, Maze proposes that they do it the illegal way.
Dan and Maze have done this before, so it could become a pattern in Season 5. It makes sense that Maze, a demon from hell, would have little regard for human law and the legal system.
Hasn't Grown: Doesn't Always Understand Nuances
Maze loves her weapons and has hidden them all over Linda's apartment so as not to worry Linda. She has Trixie, a child, pick out knives for Linda's baby. Dan catches her having Trixie looking over knives and tells her that he doesn't want to see Trixie with them. Maze responds that they aren't for Trixie; they're for a baby. She doesn't understand that knives don't make a good gift for a baby or the reasons why Linda wouldn't want weapons in her house.
When Linda tells her that babies can hear things while in the womb, Maze talks to Linda's belly, describing her first killing in detail. Linda tells her that the story is disturbing and not appropriate, which Maze doesn't see. These moments give us opportunities for comic gold. While we acknowledge that they show that a lack of character development, we hope that they stay, as the moments ring true to Maze and make us laugh.
Season 5 will continue Maze's interesting journey. She may be the bridge to Lucifer, having one foot on Earth and one in hell. She could develop as his messenger between both worlds. Without Lucifer on Earth, we're curious to see how Maze's role continues to change. After all, she may have followed him out through the gates of hell, but she didn't follow him back.