By Brandon Nolta
There doesn’t seem to be a lot of upside to hunting escaped souls for the Devil (Ray Wise). No vacation days, no sick time, things keep disappearing and everything that happens to Sam (Bret Harrison) at work just draws the wrath of Ted the managerial douche bag down harder on Sam and the crew. This time, Andi (Missy Peregrym) suggests a road trip to a Flaming Lips concert at the University of Idaho (My alma mater! Go Vandals!) for the weekend, but Satan doesn’t like the idea of Sam taking a break.
Anyway, when things continue to vanish and Sam pops open the box from Hell to find a dove in a cage, Sam (with a little help from Google) figures out that the escaped soul is a former magician named Bellifiore. A little deductive work, a sharp observation or two, and the boys are on the track of one bad fellow. However, in the eight decades or so since his death, Bellifiore has learned more than a little real magic, and he’s … well, tricky. I know, another terrible pun. What can I say? This show brings it out in me. Must be the Devil.
How will Sam, Sock (Tyler Labine), and Ben (Rick Gonzalez) trap a real magician using only their wits and a dove from Hell? Will Sam ever learn not to tempt the Devil to screw up his life in ever more ingenious ways? Who cares? Wherever the show is going, it’s a hoot getting there.
Truth be told, I get such a kick out of this show, I have a hard time being objective about it. Sam and the guys are amusing all by themselves, probably because they remind me of people I used to know. Throw in Ray Wise, though, and it’s fried gold. You gotta love hanging around someone who takes such glee in their work, and Wise makes it clear that the Devil really enjoys his job. Nothing seems to bother him, even the knowledge that he’s playing for the losing side in the cosmic shooting match, and despite the fact he’s the Father of All Lies, he’s just so much fun to watch. If I could change anything about the show, however, I would have Sam tell Andi the truth from the get-go. Every other damn show in existence uses a form of the Idiot Plot to keep their romantic leads apart, and REAPER could do without that. With Sock around, the Idiot Plot’s already built in.
Anyway, REAPER continues to be a fun show: The cast works together so well you’d think they’ve been doing this a lot longer than four episodes, and with a premise like this one, the show could go anywhere. Certain things are guaranteed to happen if the show runs long enough—Sam and Andi will get together, Sam will visit Hell at some point, somebody’s gonna die—but it’s how REAPER gets there that makes up all the fun. Don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m looking forward to the trip.