Rock is dead…and the devil did it.
Thanks to a pair of devil-romanticizing noobs and an actual feather from the Prince of Darkness’s wings, Lucifer is pulled from the ocean depths and back into the real world. Said feather allows him to temporarily heal his rotting meat suit (also known as the has-been rock star Vince Vincente) and go about his latest plan. What’s that plan? Why getting the band back together, of course. Or should I say Vince’s old band.
In truth, “Rock Never Dies” is a one-note wonder, straight forward in its approach as the Winchesters and the Laurel & Hardy divinity team (Crowley and Castiel) head to L.A. where Lucifer has begun his machinations to once more make Vince Vincente a household name. But can he play a musical instrument? Doesn’t matter because, as he says early on to his crew, the music is no longer the big thing; it’s the fame and renown, the exact things Lucifer’s looking for. But why? After a few hoop jumps and a lot of dead bodies thanks to the Morningstar, Sam, Dean, and Castiel confront Lucifer in time to thwart his latest plan of bleeding an entire crowd of fans, only to find out that Lucifer’s plan is…well, he has no real plan. Even though he and God had made up at the tail end of last season, Lucifer still feels the Big Guy abandoned him to go back to the great unknown with “Auntie Amara”, so his latest scheme is nothing more than a temper tantrum.
Yep, the devil is whining and crying because his daddy left him again. When you really think about it, as human as that may make him, it also mutes Lucifer’s air of invincibility a bit. (Don’t tell him I said that!). But all good things, as they say, come to an end and Lucifer’s ride in Vince’s meat suit comes to a gruesome and rotting end as he abandons it moments before it crumbles into a lifeless husk. “Onward,” he says before shooting from Vince’s body, “upward.”
In the end, Sam, Dean, Castiel, and a very beaten up Crowley gather. An aimless Lucifer, they surmise, is more dangerous than a Lucifer with a plan. He’s unpredictable and his disregard for human life has Sam upset in letting him get away. “And we will stop him,” Dean tells his cadre with conviction. “We will. It’s what we do, man.”
He’s right. Some way, somehow, the Winchesters always find a way. Let’s hope the lead up will be a bit stronger than this one.
Supernatural Vibes
This wasn’t a strong effort as Supernatural episodes go in the least but there were a handful of moments that prevented “Rock Never Dies” from being completely forgettable.
- “Nothing down here but a bunch of hopeless distraction addicts.” Lucifer’s castigation of our modern society is spot-on. Without getting too preachy, all too often people now are looking for the next big thing, the next performance to take their breath away before moving on to the next exciting ride. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are a small part of Lucifer’s very valid criticism of the world today.
- I never thought I’d see Castiel become such a grumpy gills. His “At least I don’t look like a lumberjack” line to Dean was a testament to that humbug-ness. Maybe it’s his time palling around with Crowley that, while great material for the audience, seems to be wearing a bit on him. It seems that he has some sort of internal chaos going on that we’ll hopefully explore more of in the second half of the season.
- Speaking of Crowley, he really took one for the team. Lucifer wailed on him something fierce and Crowley never flinched (though he may want to put a raw steak on that eye…yeesh!). Also, we were reminded how enterprising of a King of Hell that Crowley was: making deals with humans like Russell for human souls. Very progressive, Crowley. I have to wonder if Crowley is reverting back to the changes we saw in him a few years back when he was becoming more in touch with his humanity. It’s tough to gauge but, like Castiel’s gruffer nature, Crowley’s arc is something we’ll have to see more of as Season Twelve continues.
Supernatural: “Rock Never Dies”: 2.5/5
