Recap: On SUPERNATURAL Rock is Undead

Season 12, Episode 7 “Rock Never Dies”
Written by Robert Berens
Directed by Eduardo Sanchez

Lucifer (Rick Springfield) decides to pull a Lestat and become a rock star. He’s already a rock star because he inhabits Vince Vincente’s body, but he really wants to become rich and famous because he enjoys power over the fans, so he arranges a comeback for Vince’s band Ladyheart.

We open with a pair of young men trying to raise the devil. One of them keeps giggling but the other one is in earnest. He thinks it’s going to work because he has a fossilized feather of Lucifer’s, and sure enough, it does. Lucifer shows up looking like Davy Jones, which is not too surprising, since he’s been spending time in his locker. He kills the giggly guy faster than he can recover from his shock. The earnest one is delighted that his spell worked, but confused as to how Lucifer could be Vince Vincente. Lucifer grabs the stone and cures his vessel with it. He then kills the true believer. Fine with me, since he didn’t bat an eye when his friend died.

Cas (Misha Collins) and Crowley (Mark Sheppard) call the boys to tell them about Vince’s return. The two of them, unlike a buddy movie, seem to getting along more poorly as time goes by. They aren’t sure if this is really Lucifer since he’s supposed to be in a decrepit vessel at the bottom of the ocean. But really, who else could it be? They know he possessed Vince before, and Sam (Jared Padalecki) is the only one to survive being possessed by Lucifer, as far as we know. Crowley goes off to see a guy he knows.

Russell (Kadeem Hardison), the guy Crowley knows, has a lot of veggies and fruits in his office. He was impressed by Vince’s new energy and decided to give his band another chance, like so many other things that were repacked and resold. (and don’t diss Hootie and the Blowfish!).

Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Sam drive to LA. Sam tries to convince Dean that he’s listening to a podcast on the Reformation but Dean discovers that it’s Ladyheart music. Sam stops trying to hide it and makes Dean listen to it. I love that kind of scene between the brothers. The interaction is very much the annoying little brother versus bossy big brother.

Lucifer’s got the band back together but he won’t practice. Tommy (Woody Jeffreys) wants new music. He wants to practice. Lucifer tells him it was never about the music, it was about the adulation. He talks about the world needing a Kardashian now, not a god, to worship. He has a new publicist, who is a social media expert (Sandy Sidhu). Lucifer, as Vince, flirts with Roseleen (Crystal Allen), the groupie, whom he has always ignored.

The boys meet Crowley and Cas at Vince Vincente’s hotel. Cas is weary of Crowley. Dean chides Sam for drinking vegetable water. Personally, I like the water with floating cucumbers or lemons in it that hotels have in the lobbies. Dean gets some later, so he likes it too.

Vince’s room was trashed with female undergarments everywhere and they find a human tooth. Cut to Vince (Lince? Vucifer?) who is still toying with Roseleen, who is missing a tooth. This time he wants a bigger show of devotion. He gives her a knife to cut herself with. She does it, his whole name. Why the last name? It’s so repetitive. She lives through this and the team visits her in the hospital. She spills the beans about the super secret concert that the publicist set up and she’s going to miss because she’s in the hospital.

Crowley goes to his contact, who won’t give the location about the concert. Cas goes to Tommy, Vince’s friend and fellow band member, but he doesn’t get anywhere. The boys tackle the publicist, pretending to be rock music wannabees. This requires them to wear something other than flannel or FBI suits, and they look really good in the jackets. They strike out too.

Vince kills his agent, Russell,  in the limousine by making him stab himself with his own pen. The publicist quits by running off when he’s not looking, and Tommy calls Cas.

Cas offers to take on Lucifer while Dean and Sam get the concert goers out. They aren’t too happy about this because they know Cas will only last a few minutes. Crowley offers to help, says he can give them one more minute.

They are sadly overpowered in this. They have never defeated Lucifer on their own, or even come close. Dean wants to use magic handcuffs on him. The handcuffs worked on Castiel, but he is not an archangel.

Lucifer kills the rest of the band members,having decided to go solo. Crowley and Cas go after him, while Dean and Sam try to get the crowd out. It’s not easy. They don’t listen to cries of fire, They do listen to the fire alarm but Lucifer cuts it out. Meanwhile,Crowley takes a terrible beating. Lucifer comes out without any guitar and without instruments. . He is just standing there, soaking up the love. Dean pulls a gun and shoots in the air, yelling shooter. That does it. The crowd runs for the door, which Lucifer tries to slam shut. Sam keeps it open. This is a scene where Sam’s size and strength come in handy. Without them, they could never have saved the crowd. He holds the door open while people duck under his arms and escape. It’s a great scene.

The magic handcuffs fail. Cas fails to stab Lucifer with the angel blade. They are down to their last weapon, words. They argue with Lucifer. He talks about being abandoned again. How nothing means anything. How he doesn’t have a plan, and is just going to randomly smash God’s creations. He has some serious issues.

While they are talking, Lucifer’s vessel starts deteriorating because of all the energy he’s spent. Vince Vincente starts rotting before their eyes and Lucifer leaves the vessel, saying he is moving onward and upward.

So really, they beat the devil by wearing him out and letting him soliloquize.

Dean wants to count this as a win, since they saved the crowd. Sam doesn’t, pointing out how much harder it will be to stop Lucifer when they don’t know what his agenda is, because he doesn’t have one. He points out that Vince was a person and meant things to some people. Now, I am most regretful about the death of Tommy. He did protect Lucifer while he was Vince, but he was a nice guy with two girls in college and he did eventually give them the information they needed.

Next time they face him they need to have a plan so that they can actually catch him and put him back.

Yes, God should have fixed this before he ran off with Auntie Amara. He should have taken Lucifer with him. Lucifer is ultimately his responsibility because he created these very powerful beings that are extremely emotionally unstable. Talk about narcissistic personality disorder. This is a textbook case. Lucifer wanted adoration but had no talent, no creative ability, and wouldn’t learn the basics. He soaked up admiration like it was something he needed to survive. I don’t think he does. I don’t think the blood or the passion sustain him. He needs a stronger vessel to stay put on earth. Being worshiped is just something he needs to bolster his damaged ego, because he has daddy issues.

Rick Springfield did a good job. He was very frightening and thirsty when dealing with his groupie, like a vampire. Sexy but scary. He looked like the devil having a good time. He did a fine job of revealing Lucifer’s inner torment. It was childish and neurotic inner torment, but nonetheless real. I am going to miss his portrayal of Lucifer.

Sam is right. I think it’s much harder to fight against a chaotic evil than it is to fight against a lawful one. At least with a lawful evil there’s some predictability. You might have a chance of fighting with the same rule book. If the (almost) all powerful being is just running around, led by their own whims, it’s hard to form a plan against him.

 

Supernatural airs on Thursday night at 9pm/8c on the CW.