ReaperThe Sweet Science
Original Air Date: Mar 17, 2009
Ashi – TwoCents Reviewer
ashi@thetwocentscorp.com
Let’s talk about love. Let’s talk about life. Let’s talk about trust— Wait, this isn’t a Celine Dion song. But those topics do drive this week’s episode. With souls and demons trying to be good and co-workers being bad to each other, what exactly makes someone a better person?
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[photo: CW]
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Let’s talk about love. Let’s talk about life. Let’s talk about trust— Wait, this isn’t a Celine Dion song. But those topics do drive this week’s episode. With souls and demons trying to be good and co-workers being bad to each other, what exactly makes someone a better person?
ReplyDeleteBen wants Nina to meet the guys but can’t tell them the truth about her just yet. Nina reluctantly agrees to play along until the others trust her enough to accept her.
Meanwhile, The Work Bench just named Andi Ted’s replacement as store manager. She raffles a gift certificate to lucky Les Nessman. Funny thing – Andi doesn’t know him, Sock takes his certificate and work duties, and Sam seems oddly evasive about Les.
The Devil tells Sam after leading an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting to find “Red” Sabatino, a ‘50s boxer who took a bribe to purposely lose a championship fight and got thrown out of the league. He’s back to win the title, but Sam has to seal him with a boxing gloved vessel knockout to the chin.
At the bar, the gang gets acquainted with non-murderous Nina from the Kansas. Ben’s obviously uptight. Sensing awkward tension, Sam offers up the rest of his burger, which Nina happily claims by knifing it too close to him for comfort. What’s so scary about stabbing things less than a foot away from people’s faces?
Sam and Sock find Red training at the gym, thinking he’ll be an easy catch. When your opponent boasts 31 wins and 29 knockouts with 11 decided in Round 1 though, cards aren’t really in your favor. Red knocks Sam down easily, determined not to go back to hell.
Andi knows who’s Les Nessman: Sock. Ted’s inattentiveness let him create a fictional employee to get double pay. Sorry, but not going to fly by Andi. Either Les resigns or she fires him.
After surviving “training camp” – avoiding pummeling by pitching machines and learning to trash talk his opponent out of his concentration, Sam challenges Red again. But when Red’s mad, he sees red like a bull and punches Sam’s lights out. Later, Red proposes Sam ask the Devil for two years to win the championship. The’ll go back willingly. Sam doesn’t have the heart to refuse.
Next day at work, Andi confronts Sock about the fake sexual harassment suit Les filed against her that almost got her fired. Sock doesn’t see the problem. She doesn’t have to deal with Les anymore, and he still gets two paychecks.
Nina almost runs a car over Sam and Ben, oops. She insists it was an accident, but Ben explodes and the truth comes out. Sam’s turn to blow up now. They meet Sock inside where Sam explains in a fit Nina tried to kill him and they’re in danger as long as Ben keeps seeing her. He makes it clear if Ben cares about his friends at all, he’ll break it off – no ifs, ands, or buts.
Sam asks the Devil to give Red a few years before going back to hell. No go. Turns out “Jerry” offered Red the bribe that ruined his life, and he won’t take any of Sam’s excuses defending the guy. A bad guy’s a bad guy and has to go back.
Ben breaks up with Nina over a dinner date (and hides all the silverware within arm’s reach). He really likes her, but she’s too dangerous around his friends. Instead of ripping him up like he expected (he asked Andi to borrow Work Bench pepper spray and box cutters for protection), she leaves crying (acid). She understands, but it hurts.
Andi announces Les’s untimely death. Sock goes into hysterics – over his lost second paycheck. Two can play the pranking game.
Red gets the answer he expected: he can’t stay to win the title. Sam tries convincing him to run away and forget about the championship, but it’s the only way Red knows how to prove his worth. Devil pops in wanting his soul, and Red picks a fight with Sam. When they get into a grapple, he has guilt-ridden Sam smack him in the jaw with the vessel.
Dealing with Red gets Sam to give Nina another chance, and Ben goes to tell her. Sock outsmarts Andi one last time collecting donations at the bar for Les’s funeral. Sam finds his boss ready to gloat about always winning in the reaping business. Too bad he lost this time. Red let Sam seal him so he’d go back to hell doing a good deed, so the Devil sort of helped him find redemption. Cue Satan making the scariest pout in the show ever – the joke’s on him.
Another great season two episode! Red was valiant, in a way. He was a good guy who made a damning mistake, and he just wanted to set things right. I had a hunch the Devil bribed him. It was too convenient a nice guy made one mistake that sent him to hell. In the end, doing the right thing rather than fairly reclaiming his glory was what mattered most. The last scene was too sweet. I love when Sam outsmarts the Devil. Satan was not a happy camper.
I'm biased saying this, but I love Ben this season. It's been long established that he's the more sensitive of the guys, but this season he's being more proactive and standing up for himself and what he thinks is right instead of letting his heart get him in trouble. The boys' argument after Nina almost mowed Sam over was intense! Sam was seriously angry, and he had a right to be. It's a testament to their friendship that Ben was willing to break up with Nina for his friends, and Sam is willing to trust's Ben that Nina's not after his throat.
What did you think? Give us your two cents. Sam needs life insurance in case demons accidentally try killing him again.