Supernatural fans knew that Lucifer’s days of being Vince Vincente were numbered. Even Lucifer’s most famous (and popular) vessel Nick, played by Mark Pellegrino, couldn’t hold the power of Lucifer and began to decay quickly. Still, I think Supernatural fans would have expected things to last longer than half a season with Rick Springfield as Lucifer. Yet in “Rock Never Dies” Vince Vincente finally died as Lucifer left his body with a trail of corpses in his wake. Lucifer is onto the next vessel, but we will miss Vince Vincente. Here are three reasons why the Rick Springfield version of Lucifer will be missed.
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The Creepiness Level
The original Lucifer, Mark Pellegrino, did an excellent job of melding the funny and scary parts of Lucifer. For the most part, though, the subsequent Lucifers have played up the chatter-box, egomaniac side of Lucifer’s personality. They have made Lucifer more evil comic relief than anything else. Rick Springfield made us scared of Lucifer again. The Vince Vincente version of Lucifer lacked almost all of the funny side the character has become famous for on Supernatural. Lucifer’s jokes were traded in for an intense and out-of-control fallen angel.
“Rock Never Dies” told us that Lucifer’s new attitude was not solely an acting choice by Springfield but instead telling of Lucifer’s current emotional headspace, believing that the world means nothing now. There is a chance that the new vessel of Lucifer will have the same destructive attitude but the unique terrifying energy Rick Springfield brought to the role will be missed.
An Older (Not Wiser) Lucifer
At 67 years old, Rick Springfield can’t really be considered geriatric but he certainly isn’t a contemporary of Sam and Dean (or Jared and Jensen). Supernatural is never going to find an actor that can accurately look like Lucifer’s real age at millions of years but it was refreshing to get a Lucifer who didn’t look like he belongs in the same age group as Sam and Dean. Lucifer should feel like older and more experienced, even if he isn’t exactly mature. Vince’s age made Lucifer’s temper tantrums all the more terrifying. The outburst about daddy not loving him enough was coming from a man much too old to be upset about such childish things. Lucifer’s threat isn’t just that he is powerful, he is almost completely irrational.
A Washed-up Rock Star Is the Perfect Metaphor for Lucifer
The biggest tragedy of losing Vince-Lucifer is that the story finally seemed to be going somewhere in “Rock Never Dies.” The episode proved that Supernatural’s decision to make Lucifer a washed-up “rock god” was the perfect choice. Vince and Lucifer do share a lot of similarities. They were both beloved by millions but now are almost completely forgotten. There was so much ground to cover and Supernatural did it in just one episode.
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In addition, Supernatural was just getting into very interesting territory with Lucifer embracing social media and pop culture to gain more followers / human sacrifices in “Rock Never Dies.” Vince Vincente was the perfect vessel for Lucifer to reach a larger audience than he ever has on Supernatural. Hopefully the next vessel Lucifer chooses will have as big a reach, if not bigger, to capitalize on the idea.
There is some hope. The midseason finale of Supernatural is entitled “LOTUS,” as in Lucifer of the United States (or President of the United States). While the official episode description says that the President will accidentally make a deal with a devil, it would be much more exciting and horrifying if Lucifer actually becomes the President.
Will you miss the latest iteration of Lucifer? What will you miss the most? What do you hope for the next vessel of Lucifer? Would you like to see the Winchesters deal with a Lucifer with all the power of Commander-in-Chief?
The midseason finale of Supernatural season 12 will air Thursday, December 8 at 9/8c on The CW. Want more news? Like our Supernatural Facebook page!
(Image courtesy of The CW)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Derek is a Philadelphia based writer and unabashed TV and comic book junkie. The time he doesn’t spend over analyzing all things nerdy he is working on his resume to be the liaison to the Justice League.
