By Brandon Nolta

I’ve never been approached by the Devil and told I have to hunt down souls that have escaped from Hell, but I would imagine such news would be tough to process. The slacker hero of REAPER, Sam (Bret Harrison), certainly finds it so. Despite successfully capturing his first soul in the pilot episode, he’s still trying to get out of his bounty hunter duties, but Satan (Ray Wise) isn’t having any of it. After Sam repeatedly avoids opening the box that holds his soul-snatching vessel, Satan explains (pretty nicely for the Prince of Darkness, really) that Sam doesn’t have a lot of choice, unless burning in eternal torment sounds like a valid option.

Sam is many things, but he’s not completely stupid, and he soon bows to the Devil’s ineluctable logic. Opening the box, he finds a remote control monster truck … a choice that seems questionable at first, since the only thing he knows about the escaped soul is that it can call down lightning strikes. What’s the connection? Well, Sam resolves to find out, especially since the sooner he does, the sooner Satan will get off his back for the time being, allowing him to finish inventory, get off the night shift and back on days working with Andi (Missy Peregrym), the girl Sam loves. Not only does he enjoy her company, but she turns out to be even more of a master of avoiding work than anybody else, including Sam’s best bud and soul-hunting partner Sock (Tyler Labine). Hot and an über-slacker? What’s not to like?


Now that EUREKA has ended the season, it looks like REAPER is standing up to fill the comic relief quotient on Tuesday nights, and it’s doing a bang-up job so far. Although Satan appears less in this episode than in the pilot, his popups still amuse, and Wise continues to have fun as the Big Kahuna of Evil. Harrison and Labine make convincing friends, and Rick Gonzalez makes three as their hapless fellow employee and occasional soul hunter Ben … when he’s not in the hospital regrowing his eyebrows, that is.

Sam’s folks make more of an appearance in this one, and come across as sympathetic folks, despite being responsible for Sam’s predicament. Even if they weren’t, their presence would be welcome, if for no other reason than the cosmic irony of Old Scratch advising Sam not to lie to his parents. That’s one of those moments when you’re not sure whether to laugh or just goggle at the screen.  REAPER is filled with little moments like that, scenes when irony and absurdism collide at full speed, and it makes the show an absolute hoot to watch.


Plus, in a roundabout way, it celebrates ingenuity and hard work. Since Sam and his friends are such major league dipsticks, Sam has to exercise his imagination and problem-solving skills to avoid a painful demise. There’s nothing like the possibility of imminent painful demise to sharpen the mind, a truth which Sam finds new and exciting proofs of in each episode. Granted, we’re only in the second episode, but REAPER shows every sign of going the distance in this vein. I’m crossing my fingers, and if it helps, I’ll be sending a letter to Ray Wise to ask for his help in this matter.