Reaper“Cancun”
Original Air Date: May 20, 2008
Ashi – TwoCents Reviewer
ashi@thetwocentscorp.com
Sam: Now I wanna know the truth.
I want to know the truth too, Sam. Does your dad have an earthworm’s respiratory system, or is there something weird about him? Thank the big guy there’s a second season. The finale left me asking more questions than it answered, and if this were the last episode period I’d hate never watching them explored.
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Reaper
ReplyDelete“Cancun”
Original Air Date: May 20, 2008
Ashi – TwoCents Reviewer
ashi@thetwocentscorp.com
Sam: Now I wanna know the truth.
I want to know the truth too, Sam. Does your dad have an earthworm’s respiratory system, or is there something weird about him? Thank the big guy there’s a second season. The finale left me asking more questions than it answered, and if this were the last episode period I’d hate never watching them explored.
Our dear Reaper is seeing things at the Work Bench. He’s seeing Steve in weird mold stains that reappear after painting over, in surveillance monitors while he’s counting money, and in the locker room with a random message. “Ask about Cancun.” Around the same time Tony reveals to Sam and Sock the rebellion’s latest plan. The rebellion is building Solomon’s cage in the middle of a field surrounded by circles to trap and kill Satan. When a baseball vessel for an escaped tarot card-reading soul named Madam Ozera finds its way to Sam, the Devil conveniently brings his charge to a baseball field. After playing an eerily paternal game of catch, he gets painfully right to business and twists Tony’s plan out of Sam (his hand actually, ouch). Sam warns Tony that the Devil knows. Well, good thing Tony lied to him about the plan – the demons had a hunch he’d spill. Too bad Sam doesn’t know whom it’s really for.
Josie’s sick of Sock putting no work into their relationship and dumps him, but he doesn’t wallow for long. Marlena, a succubus with the hots for Sock, kisses him to a high giving him super strength but drags him way down afterwards. Since each kiss sucks a year from his lifespan, they agree to meet annually to get their fix. Sock tries to get jealous Ben in on their agreement, which drives Marlena away. She honestly liked Sock, and he treated her like a demon kissing booth. Jerk move, Bert.
Meanwhile, Andi researched fortunetellers for hours for Ozera, and in amusing men are from Mars, women are from Venus conversation Sam and Sock narrow the search down to the hottest card reader. (What the libido says goes.) Despite Sam hanging from an invisible noose, the boys seal the soul quickly. Sam’s fortune bothers him, though. It said his father is lying to him and the Devil is obscuring the truth about his birth. Earlier he also caught his parents arguing inside a chalk circle, and the Devil brushed off answering how he met the Olivers. Sam confronts his father about his contract but gets squat. It pains Mr. Oliver, but he can’t tell him the truth or “everything would fall apart.”
Sam stops by the construction site and confides in Tony about the secrets his father’s keeping from him. Lucky for him, Tony knows the answer: Sam is the spawn of Satan. Not so luckily for him, he has to die in Solomon’s cage. The other demons pour dirt over as soon as Tony pushes Sam inside. Mr. Oliver tries to talk them out of killing Sam, but they knock him unconscious and toss him in with his son. Or “son.” Desperate, Sam mentions Cancun and Tony stops. He and Steve took their first vacation at that heaven. Steve appears as an angel, telling Tony he’s been in a heaven with God miles better than Cancun. Tony suddenly changes his mind, goes demon, and pulls Sam out of the half-buried cage, but it’s too late to save Mr. Oliver.
Mrs. Oliver takes the news tight-lipped and strangely well. The Devil shows up outside of the house, and Sam starts to ask about his real father but realizes the Devil would lie to him anyway. Sock and Ben find their grieving friend with Andi at the bar and steal him for a while to pay their last respects to his departed father. He tells them he might be Satan’s son (Sam: I’m doomed to destroy the world.) and they’re free to keep away. They said it before, and they’ll say it again. They’re sticking with him. In the most touching scene of the series to date, the guys light a fireworks memorial and watch the sparks shoot off.
Mrs. Oliver digs up the burial site.
Mr. Oliver: What took you so long?
If the CW cancelled Reaper, “Cancun” would make a satisfactory ending. It tied up the contract and rebellion arcs enough for some closure while leaving room to speculate how they could have developed, and it cut off with one hell of a cliffhanger. But for those exact reasons I’m psyched for season two so those storylines can be played out. The ending teases Mr. Oliver might not be entirely human if he survived being buried. I could see that kind of revelation impacting the question of Sam’s parentage. Who and what is his real father? I hope the Olivers will play a larger role next season. The series only begins hinting at their dirty secrets, and we still don’t know what’s written in that contract. I doubt Tony will give up on the rebellion, but I wonder if there’s more to saving Sam than a guilty conscience. Steve could have appeared to Tony to stop him from planning Sam’s death, but he let Sam see him first. Signs of divine intervention? Maybe.
What do you think? What’s up with Sam’s dad – either of them? What’ll happen with the rebellion? Why is Steve and Tony’s idea of heaven the same place as drunken college kids’ spring break getaway, and how are we going to survive half a year without Reaper? Give us your two cents if you want a trip to gay demon heaven.