"Reaper" Recap & Review - "Pilot"

Reaper
"Pilot"

Original Air Date: September 25, 2007

Gargy - TwoCents Staff Writer

We open up on Sam (Bret Harrison) getting up before noon, taking a shower, and being harassed by his Stanford-rejected little brother. His mother is weepy and wants to him to have the best birthday ever. His dad on the other hand, is concerned but tells him to go out in style. Sam's best friend, Sock (Tyler Labine), shows up and rightly so lays on Sam's baby brother, telling him that he (Sock) almost went to Community College himself and there's nothing wrong with it.......since baby bro got rejected from what? The 4th best college in the nation.

Sock is telling Sam to wear puke resistant clothes because they are so going to get wasted tonight, it being Sam's 21st birthday and all. A black dog, that's actually smaller than my kitten that's not even six months old yet, starts barking and jumping up and down. That is until that ass Sock opens his door into it on purpose, wanted to punch Sock for that. They head in to the hardware store they both work at, Sam notices a shopping cart goes to retrieve it, but instead, inches away from it, the cart rolls away from him.

In the staff meeting the stupid manager doesn't get Sock's reference to a snake waiting in the grass waiting to pounce, offends the Jewish employee, and generally makes a bigger jerk of himself than usual. Andi (Missy Peregrym) gives Sam a small package, that Satan himself (Ray Wise) labels “not gay at all”, for his birthday present which turns out later to be a bracelet that means “strength” and she thought of him when she saw it.

Sam keeps seeing all these places on fire everywhere he goes, on TV that is. He saves Andi from being crushed by an A/C unit but he wasn't close enough to push it away physically. He's convinced now he's got some kind of telekineses going. Andi finds Sam taking a rest-ped and they have a conversation, that is until a pack of dogs starts snarling at them, Sock saves Sam by chasing the “bitches” out the store.

Sam goes home claiming sick, but ends up with the devil in his back seat causing him to run into a construction trash dumpster. He gets home to find out that his parents had sold his soul to the devil before he was born. He heads out and slams some drinks back......to back. He gets home to find Satan there explaining that Sam is to be a bounty hunter for him. Sam's job is to return escaped souls back to Hell. To help him, the Devil gives him a special vessel to handle the job. The vessel? A Dirt Devil! Later Sam walks into his room except it becomes a deserted hockey arena all except Satan, Sam, and the Zamboni operator-who ends up as a blood puddle all over the ice, apparently he wasn't all the great a person himself - he beat his wife. The point of all this? The Devil doesn't accept failure.

Sam, Sock, and Ben (Rick Gonzalez) head out to take care of an escapee from Hell. They end up with more than for what they bargained for, when this former arsonist is actually a man of fire and Ben ends up in the hospital with scars on his forehead. Stupid Sock bought a Sharpie pen in the gift shop saying that Ben would want them to give him eyebrows. Sam barks at Andi at the hospital, hurting her feelings.

Sock and Sam go to the court house to see Sock's ex, Josie, to help them understand why the escapee is burning the places he is burning, he's an arsonist after all.

They go to their work (WorkBench - think Home Depot) to “suit up” and re-charge the batteries on the Dirt Devil mini-vac, ha ha I get it. Then, they head to the school that's having a Halloween party to stop Mr. Firebug. Sock almost got it between the legs if it wasn't for Sam using his telekineses to make a fireball sending that refugee flying. Anyway needless to say, they capture him and return him to a portal to Hell - the DMV - hell on earth.

Sam decides to continue with his “Reaper” duties. And I'll continue to watch.