Misha Collins tells a story that when he found out he was to play Castiel possessed by Lucifer, that he had the good fortune of finding Mark Pellegrino (Supernatural’s original Lucifer) and his wife staying in Vancouver. So, he went right to the original Lucifer source for advice on how to play the feisty fallen angel. Misha says that Mark told him he played Lucifer as if he either wanted to have sex with you, or kill you. And while Misha’s version of Lucifer was a little goofier than Mark’s original, he totally played that intention.

My biggest problem with Rick Springfield’s version of Lucifer was that he was playing him as the classic, angry devil. No nuance, really. Until this last episode. Someone gave him the note, I thought as the episode played. So, my only quibble with this entry in the Lucifer canon, is that it took a whole episode before we really got Lucifer’s motivation. What is he up to? I thought for most of the episode.

And now we know. Lucifer, the ultimate Daddy’s boy, is angry that Pops went and abandoned him yet again, even after the big apology, and them fighting together towards a common goal. I guess ol’ Lucy wanted Dear Old Dad to stick around and play catch, and pet him for being a good son, or whatever, for eternity. And because God went off to traipse about the universe with Auntie Amara, Lucifer sees fit to run roughshod over Daddy’s greatest creation, humanity, and slice and dice until there is nothing left but chaos and misery. And he wants the Winchesters to watch.

The episode opens with a couple of part-time basement Satanists invoking Lucifer, luring him with one of his fossilized feathers from back in the way back. Of course, as with most amateurs in this show, when the demon that is summoned actually shows, he tends to grab the goods, kill everyone, and flee. Which Lucifer happily does, once he realizes that his vessel’s fame could be of use to his current mood.

Castiel and Crowley, having been on the road together for weeks, much to Cass’ chagrin, give a heads-up call to the beautiful brothers regarding the reappearance of Vince Vincente. Once it’s agreed that this is most likely Lucifer back in the game, the boys head to Los Angeles. It makes me happy to know that Dean hates LA as much as I do, and I take great pleasure in his list of complaints about the town. Also, there is a nice callback to their season two episode, “Hollywood Babylon”.

Many LA jokes later, our boys track down Vince and his band Ladyheart at a small club, and crash the party in their attempt to stop Lucifer. There are many failed attempts by a brave Castiel and a game Crowley, (“What? I help.”). There is a heroic move to empty the venue involving a fire alarm, a gun shot into the ceiling, and Sammy’s ginormous wing span keeping open doors long enough for everyone to escape.

Castiel gets in one more “Hey, Assbutt!” before Lucifer takes him down. And we finally learn what is really rubbing Lucifer the wrong way. Rick Springfield plays Lucifer appropriately furious and scary here, and while we know he isn’t going to harm Sam and Dean, he does put a good scare in them. And then Lucifer vaults out of his rapidly decaying Vince vessel, promising to choose something even bigger the next go around.

We get a four-way talky, end-of-the-episode this week. While Dean tries to pep talk the crew, Sam points out that they are out gunned, that they didn’t stop all of the deaths, and that, “We’re not winning. We’re losing slowly.”

And on that happy note, we are off to the Mid-Season Finale.

Don’t get me started on how every single network has decided that a Mid-Season Finale is a thing, and that they all now promote it like it is something cool and exciting. All it is, is just an extended break from the shows I love, so a big ol’ MEH to all y’all and your dumb Mid-Season Finale marketing schemes.

NEXT!

Possessed priests and stuff!!