Given the lack of truly bold and unique television programming currently available, it is a shame that the show “Reaper” was unceremoniously cancelled from the CW in 2009. The pilot episode of this show was a dynamic foray into comedy by way of paranormal challenges undertaken by hapless and affable characters. The pilot episode shows promise and potential for the success of this show by drawing viewers in with adventure and hilarity right away, which is why it so unfortunate this show never made it past a second season.
The premise of this show is that Sam (Bret Harrison) a likeable slacker working at a hardware store similar to Home Depot has zero prospects. His life is in essence, going nowhere and he is panicking at the banality of his existence. On his 21st birthday he makes a grim discovery: his parents sold his soul to the devil before he was conceived. His father was sick, and his mother sold the soul of her first born to the devil in exchange for saving her husband; for this reason they never intended on having children, but due to the devil’s meddling with the doctor that tells Sam’s father he is sterile, Sam is born. The devil (played by Ray Wise) appears to him on his birthday to inform him that he has a task for him: abduct souls that have escaped from hell and send them back down. The devil informs Sam, he has no choice; he must fulfill the contract. So Sam now works for the hardware store and Satan, which means his boring life has just taken on new meaning. This new job requires that Sam engage in dangerous fights with demons to capture them in specialized vessels and drop them off at portals leading back to hell. This procedural technicality has its own hilarious details. For instance, the first vessel Sam is given to capture a demon arsonist is a Dirt Devil handheld vacuum cleaner; the portal where the vessel must be delivered is the DMV (hell on earth). So the job is dangerous but funny.
Sam has help though, his best friend Sock, played by Tyler Labine, is beyond excited to help Sam abduct these demons that terrorize Earth. Sock and Sam make an excellent duo and they play nicely off of each other. Sock is the perpetually lazy, chubby, and hilariously sarcastic best friend making Sam, an equally unmotivated slacker playing the straight-man in the series, look like a real go-getter. Sam and the devil have a nice dynamic as well. The Devil is charming and mostly friendly, but he is quick to remind Sam who is in charge and that Sam must obey his commands forever. The Devil is sharp-witted and funny but also encouraging, interestingly, he is the only source of encouragement Sam has in his life. His parents, out of guilt for selling his soul, are perpetually inclined to let Sam coast and therefore he is a chronic under-achiever. The Devil pushes Sam to be better, not that Sam really has a choice.
In a side storyline, Sam has an interest of the romantic sort in Andi, played by Missy Peregrym, who works with him at the hardware store. She is the sort of girl next door that a loser like Sam would pine for. Her character is flat and not very engaging, and it is hard to tell if this is a result of Peregrym’s acting skills or if in the pilot the show’s writers weren’t intending to draw attention to Sam and Andi’s dynamic quite yet. The chemistry between Sam and Sock is far more electric and interesting than that between Sam and Andi. It would be mildly interesting to see how Andi and Sam’s relationship develops throughout the course of the show, and if Sam would ever tell Andi that he is in fact the bounty hunter for Satan himself. Could she deal with that much baggage? Her one-dimensionality indicates that probably not, but her life also seems boring so maybe she would enjoy the excitement. If things did pan out for Sam and Andi, maybe they could be a demon-catching couple that goes off on these dangerous adventures together and this sort of duo might make for interesting television.
Overall, the show has a certain Buffy the Vampire Slayer quality to it because of the supernatural hijinks but is so much better because of how sarcastic and funny the characters are. I think they each add a unique something to this show that makes it completely watchable. The show is fun and carefree without being too silly. The Devil really steals the scene in most cases during the pilot for casting a dark humorous cloud over these humdrum characters’ lives. This pilot displayed a show with a lot of potential to be entertaining, funny, and exciting, it’s too bad it failed to deliver in its second season.
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