By Brandon Nolta

Snot creatures from the sewer. That sounds like a Roger Corman film title to me, but it’s actually just what poor Sam Oliver (Bret Harrison) goes up against this week on orders from the Devil (Ray Wise). When Sam starts slippin’ and slidin’ on everything in sight, he knows something’s up, but he’s having a hard time focusing lately. Seems that his constant errands for Old Scratch are causing him to make up lamer and lamer excuses to miss out on hanging with Andi (Missy Peregrym), and she’s getting tired of it. Now she’s hanging with college student Greg, and Sam’s left at home with his thoughts and the long-awaited copy of his contract, delivered with three hours of paperwork from a grumpy courier demon (Aaron Douglas, filling his days until he gets back onboard BATTLESTAR GALACTICA).


Still, Sam’s travails are not being ignored by everyone. Sure, he can’t tell Andi, but his loyal buds Ben (Rick Gonzalez) and Sock (Tyler Labine) are keeping the faith with him, suiting up to do battle with escaped souls and Gladys at the DMV. Even Sam’s dad (Andrew Airlie) is getting into the act, asking Sam to set up a meeting with the Prince of Lies and, when that falls through, volunteering to go through Sam’s contract for him. Pretty generous, considering he’s the reason Sam’s an indentured bounty hunter in the first place. However, the course of true love or homicidal slime never did run smooth, and Sam’s got lots of tough duty ahead with this soul, a crooked businessman bent on killing whoever it takes to kill a lawsuit that threatens to derail his son’s political ambitions. Not to mention the fact that Sam’s dad has more than just a passing interest in the contract, or keeping some of it hidden from Sam.

It’s a fun episode as usual, but there’s no escaping the darkness of this one. Satan warns Sam off telling Andi in no uncertain terms about his new job, and given the issues he’s had so far, it seems the Idiot Plot movement will be with REAPER fans for a while longer yet. More importantly, there appears to be unfinished business between Satan and Sam’s dad, and having Sam’s dad destroy pages of the contract raises the question of what that business could be. Wise is definitely working in a more traditional Father of Evil mode this go-round, and it suits him. Maybe it’s that vast forehead, or the eyes that go warm to steely in a heartbeat, but Wise would have been a good choice for playing the old-fashioned chief among the fallen. Harrison does what he can to keep Sam charming, but his mounting frustration and fear of losing Andi spins him in circles, like one of those damn yapping dogs old ladies seem to like. Sock and Ben are reliable as ever, though.

Now that DAMAGES is over, and EUREKA still has yet to return, REAPER stands tall on Tuesday nights for viewers looking for that je ne sais quoi of humor that meets at the crossroads of slacker and black. I don’t know if it’s gathered enough viewers to run past the original 13-episode order, but here’s hoping.