"Charged" - October 2, 2007
I didn't review the first episode of "Reaper," because lots of people did. Second episodes of new shows are always interesting for me. Sometimes they are 'fillers,' that are sometimes meaningless, just meant to fill in time. Some continue the story of the first. I feel they are completely different from the pilot. Unique and sometimes, not similar to the rest of the season. Most second episodes are written by other writers and never write other episodes.
The cast gels, Brett Harrison is awesome as Sam, endearing and cute. His sidekick Sock (Tyler Labine), like Entertainment Weekly says, you actually want to hang out with him. Tyler has played sidekicks a lot and in other 3 shows. Andi (
Missy Peregrym), the love interest is actually likable as well. You can understand why Sam likes her. She is fun. One complaint: Ben (Ricky Gonzalez) is Hispanic and almost a 'red shirt'. For those that don't know, that is a Star Trek reference. Almost everyone with red shirts got killed. He got hurt and seriously burned in the first episode. Then in this episode, Sam says that 'somebody' ended up in the hospital. Ben's name was not even mentioned, in terms of him being the one that ended up in the hospital. Ben gets hurt once again in this episode---and still is on Sam's side and wants to continue fighting. Everyone has talked about Ray Wise as the Devil, the role is delightful. I was afraid he was going to be annoying but so far none are.
The series is like any superhero/sci-fi/fantasy show but much funnier and with a complicated plot made simple. To save his life, Sam's dad soul his first born's soul, thinking he wouldn't even have kids because the doctor told him so. What he didn't know was that the doctor was paid to lie to them by the Devil. So then Sam was born and when he became 21, he would be the Devil's bounty hunter for the rest of his life. The Devil threatens Sam's mom's life to do the job. So Sam lies to his mom telling him he is not working for the Devil anymore. What is cool is that Sam's friends Sock and Ben and his father know about his 'secret identity.' Interestingly enough, the Devil is not the one encouraging Sam to lie to his mother, it is his father--with a new car. Said car is then turned against him.
So for the second episode, Sam is not sure about his destiny. He avoids doing his bounty hunter job. The Devil convinces him like a father that sees potential in their son and encourages him with tough live. Cool things that remind me a bit of Beetlejuice, Sam gets transports (Vessel) for his prisoners in a creepy box that follows him. Also, when he finally has his prisoner trapped, he takes him to 'hell on Earth.' Like in the first episode, he went to the DMV, that reminded me of afterlife office Beetlejuice went to. Each Vessel is designed especially after each target, supposedly--their 'fighting' outfits change with each foe as well. The first one is a dirt devil, the second is a remote control car. Basically, regular stuff. In this second episode, the foe ('The Soul') is barely seen until halfway through the episode, which is interesting.
