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Supernatural: Rock Never Dies

"We're not winning. We're just losing slow."

Well...

Essentially, Lucifer is lashing out because he has Daddy issues. Chuck made up with him but then he skipped town with Auntie Amara, and now Lucifer is an immortal and invincible five-year-old having a tantrum. (Invince-able. See what I did there?) This entire episode was pretty much Lucifer craving worship, realizing that being a rock god might supply that worship, and hurting people for fun.

So I'm going to mention that Anne Rice already went the rock star route with Lestat in Queen of the Damned, the new TV series Lucifer already did a restorative Satan feather, and that Mark Pellegrino and Misha Collins were about a thousand percent scarier during their turn as Lucifer, and move on.

I'm not saying Rick Springfield did a bad job, exactly. It was interesting casting, and he certainly did well enough with the original Vince and Lucifer-as-Vince that I felt a twinge when Lucifer left him behind as a desiccated corpse, another burned out, squeezed out vessel. But I did expect to feel a bit of a threat from Vince as Lucifer, some juice, and I didn't. I felt really bad for Tommy and Roseleen, but that was it.

For me, the boys in "Los Angeles" were the high point of this episode. Just Dean and Sam in black leather making snarky comments about L.A. was enough to make me happy. I also really enjoyed their exchange in the car when Sam was trying his best to make Dean believe he was listening to a podcast about the Protestant Reformation.

And even though Castiel was complaining about Crowley's constant company, it's so cute that our angel/demon Lucifer-hunting team have bonded. ("Feathers and I are all but inseparable now.") The two of them were ready to throw themselves into the fray and distract Lucifer so that the Winchesters could get all of the young people out of the concert venue. Honestly, I think Crowley enjoys pretending to be one of the good guys, even while continuing to be completely upfront about his own evil. (He does have a lot of people in Los Angeles.)


Crowley ended up looking pretty beat up, too, after Lucifer whaled on him with a guitar. I guess Crowley could be injured because the damage was meted out by Lucifer, and Castiel can't heal him because he's a demon?

Bits:

— Dean was playing cell phone word games with Mary, once again trying to explain why she wasn't in this episode.

— Dean mentioned their last case in Los Angeles was a vengeful spirit ten years ago: that was the hilarious "Hollywood Babylon."

— Castiel called Lucifer "ass-butt" before.

— If the two kids in the opener hadn't retrieved Lucifer, would he have stayed at the bottom of the ocean forever?

— This week: Los Angeles. Unlike the usual tacky mid-America motel, the boys were at the sleek and trendy Bellaqua, and instead of the flannel or the fed suits, they went undercover as a rock duo and wore black leather. Castiel was again Agent Beyonce, which might be my favorite FBI fake agent name ever.

— Next week is the mid-season finale. Those are often heartbreakers. Unless they're saving it for the season finale, I'm expecting something terrible will happen to Mary, whose story has been backburnered for most of the season. I don't suppose Lucifer is going to end up possessing her? She does come from that holy vessel lineage, doesn't she?

Quotes:

Crowley: "Hello, boys. Long time. We team up to save the world, and then bupkis. You don't call, you don't write."
Dean: "Yeah. We don't care."

Russell: "Back in the day, those cats sold like ten mil."
Crowley: "So did Hootie and the Blowfish."

Dean: "The land of gridlock, Botox, overtaxing, underachieving, the smell of sweaty desperation. You can't breathe, the beaches are toxic, you have dudes in skinny jeans wearing sunglasses inside, image-obsessed narcissists. I do like the yoga pants, though."

Lucifer: "Humans have always been desperate to put someone or something above them. And let's face it, God ain't cutting it these days. It takes a Kim Kardashian, or whatever Justin Bieber is."

Dean: "Consider switching up the duds there. It's a bit stiff for this town."
Sam: "He could be an agent or something."
Dean: "Yeah. Maybe a third tier agent."
Castiel: "At least I don't look like a lumberjack."

Lucifer: "Religion, celebrity, Twitter – it's all the same rules. If you're not gaining followers, you're losing followers."

Lucifer: "Being Lucifer, so much Judeo-Christian baggage. But Vince, he's famous, everybody loves him. And I need love! I had a really jacked childhood."

You can probably tell I wasn't crazy about this one. Two out of four glasses of cucumber water,

Billie
---
Billie Doux has been reviewing Supernatural for so long that Dean and Sam Winchester feel like old friends. Courageous, adventurous, gorgeous old friends.

8 comments:

  1. The boys in black leather. You're right, Billie. That was enough. :)

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    Replies
    1. "Just Dean and Sam in black leather making snarky comments about L.A. was enough to make me happy" Can't we ask for more than that? There's so many problems with the series and we're all supposed to be ok with it because Sam and Dean look hot in leather jackets. Also don't see how them acting like uptight dicks makes them fun to watch.

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  2. I enjoyed all the crazy ways the brothers tried to get the crowd away from Vincifer--pull the fire alarm, shoot the gun in the crowd--but in the end, it was just the brothers and The devil. It was a great scene. And I did love when Vincifer smoked out, finally forced from the vessel. Poor Vince. Another dead rock star, as Sam pointed out. The collateral damage rises. . . Love, Robin

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  3. I wonder what the four of them hoped for going after Luci with nothing but good intentions? Handcuffs and an angelic sword, really! What about some preliminary research? And what is creepy Mr What-his-name from British MOL doing? The task just for him, or he is only good at killing teenage psycho girls on their way to the lady-room?

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  4. Anonymous the second, it wasn't the best episode ever, so with the black leather jacket comment I was trying for something called "humor." You might want to look it up. I also think that a series that has been renewed eleven times and can basically run as long as the cast and crew want to continue may not have tons of problems to overcome to be a successful series. Finally, "uptight dicks"? They acted like Sam and Dean on a case in Los Angeles. And I'm done.

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  5. >>Dean: "Consider switching up the duds there. It's a bit stiff for this town."
    Sam: "He could be an agent or something."
    Dean: "Yeah. Maybe a third tier agent."
    Castiel: "At least I don't look like a lumberjack."

    This was read aloud to the family, much chortling ensued.

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  6. This season is a strong contender for worst season yet. No momentum, no reason for being, and the twin Lucifer/Mary plotlines have been cringe-level bad all the way. It just plain hurts when Dean is sitting there texting with Mary again. Why can't the show just be fun? Not in a lazy, the episodes write themselves kind of way, which is what they usually do, but with an ounce of effort.

    What the $#%@ did Lucifer even want in this episode? They gave lots of reasons for why the devil would stoop to a small-time monster of the week type plotline involving becoming a second-rate rockstar for an adoring audience of twelve fans. He wanted power over people, no wait, he just wants to be loved, no, he just realizes nothing matters. Which is it? Does it matter?

    Find some new writers, Supernatural. People interested in telling good stories, not resting on laurels and coasting for literally 7 seasons.

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  7. Did anyone else notice that the letters that popped up on Dean’s phone after he played “twerked” were an anagram for “Lucifer”?

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