Reaper“Episode IV: A New Hope”
Original Air Date: March 3, 2009
Ashi – TwoCents Reviewer
ashi@thetwocentscorp.com
Fellow Reaper fans: our boys are back! Some people are happier than others to have them back, though. The Devil welcomes his beloved Reaper Sam with his biggest bounty hunt yet, a worried Andi less than welcomes him back after fearing the worst for him, and Ted is all too thrilled to welcome all the boys back with the cops. But what else is in store for them besides angry girlfriends and slightly sadistic bosses?
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[photo: CW]
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Reaper
ReplyDelete“Episode IV: A New Hope”
Original Air Date: March 3, 2009
Ashi – TwoCents Reviewer
ashi@thetwocentscorp.com
Fellow Reaper fans: our boys are back! Some people are happier than others to have them back, though. The Devil welcomes his beloved Reaper Sam with his biggest bounty hunt yet, a worried Andi less than welcomes him back after fearing the worst for him, and Ted is all too thrilled to welcome all the boys back with the cops. But what else is in store for them besides angry girlfriends and slightly sadistic bosses?
In light of his father’s death (or, one of his fathers, that is) in last season’s finale, Sam took a month-long road trip with his buds Sock and Ben to get away from life. When they finally decide to come home, they find out from Andi they don’t have a home to come back to anymore. They’ve been evicted from their apartment and fired from the Work Bench. More than that, though, Andi’s mad at Sam for not keeping in touch at all while he was away, leading her to think he doesn’t respect her enough and that he died on a hunt. Despite his efforts to talk things out with her (as well as Sock and Ben’s “memorized” recital of the letter Sam wrote to Andi Sock forgot to mail), she won’t hear it.
In the meantime, the boys try moving into Sock’s mom’s house, but a pretty squatter thinking they’re strangers won’t let them in. They break into the Work Bench for the night, when the Devil whisks Sam away to a run-down warehouse eager to show his favorite employee back to work. What better way to do it than make him catch 20 dangerously buff, unruly souls with a single cattle prod? The next morning Ted finds the boys and can’t wait to call the cops on them for trespassing. That is, until Sock calls him out for buying Bench products on discount and reselling them. Blackmail’s the way to get your job back.
After work, Sock tries getting into Mom’s house again and succeeds in falling down the steps and banging himself up. The pretty squatter helps him up and explains everything: she’s Kristin, his stepsister, and she’s minding the house while their parents are on their honeymoon. Fine and good, until Sock realizes his hot new sister is going to make this sibling relationship a lot more complicated. Her skimpy attire and completely platonic intentions won’t help the situation either.
The boys go to the warehouse to scope out the behemoth souls until two of them dragging out an unconscious third find them and attack. It’s two against three with the odds against Sam, Sock, and Ben, but after some hustle and tussle they manage to prod the souls into the vessel. The task is still too much for poor Sam, so he tries to convince Devil Daddy Dearest to lighten the load. Nice try, Sammy, but no. Have 20 more souls on top of the other ones instead. By the way, using the family card on Satan won’t work considering he’s had plenty other children throughout time, and not one of them have shown any promise in wreaking hell on earth.
That leaves the boys on their own to come up with ideas to catch scary souls – over a night’s worth of beers, of course. At least Ben wakes up with a loud idea: get the souls drunk and stupid, then bag ‘em while they’re out cold. Who says alcohol’s good for nothing? A failed attempt at hijacking a beer truck makes the boys turn to other means of acquiring booze for the hunt a la repainting a Work Bench truck with a beer baby logo and filling said truck with beer bought on a Bench corporate card found in the lost and found. They leave the truck in front of the warehouse as bait and the souls bite, but not without torching the truck after wheeling out the booze. Sock and Ben rappel Sam through the roof over the sleeping souls. One by one and looking like a fairy princess in the act, Sam seals the souls until a knot loosens and drops him atop the cranky bunch. The souls chase Sam into a corner, and he tries water hosing them back to little effect. But water conducts electricity, and Sam electrifies the puddle under their feet, sealing the souls into the cattle prod in one go.
All but one soul, at least. One who, after the vessel doesn’t work on him, claims he broke out of his deal with the Devil and is home free. Sam obviously wants answers, considering how difficult his hellish contract is making his life. Just when he thinks he’ll get them, the soul knocks him out with the vessel. So gullible, Sam. He comes out of the ordeal reinvigorated now that he knows he can get out of his contract and there’s a chance he and Andi can have a normal, danger-free relationship. Even the Devil notices Sam is stoked. When Sam suggests they go to Vegas for a good time and the Devil’s not feeling it? There’s definitely something up. The Devil thinks our Sammy is much more promising of evil than he expected, and that ends the season two premiere with a creepy undertone beneath Sam’s celebrating.
Just how good is it to have this show back? The cast is still awesome, the jokes are still hitting the right notes, and right away we’re introduced to a continuing plot: who is that sly soul, and can he help Sam out of his contract? This season also promises to explore Sam and the Devil’s relationship even further. Something tells me their father/son relationship isn’t as clear-cut as it looks.
What did you think about Reaper’s season two opener? Give us your two cents. The boys will probably need them to pay off the truck they got torched.
Great recap of a really satisfying premiere. Happy to see you're doing this; thanks. I was pleasantly surprised that they introduced the story arc of the "sly soul" and I agree with the ominous undertone of that final scene, which I still can't figure out. I look forward to more Reaper, and more recaps!
ReplyDeleteI think they should bring back Kevin Smith to give this show a little more mojo. He could direct and episode or two. He's not doing anything but moping about poor Z&M box office.
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