TV is the New Reading

‘Reaper’ bites

the dust

So with zero fanfare, a tiny light of weirdness went out on the CW this week.

“Reaper” was a cute little show featuring Ray Wise, cast perfectly as The Devil.

The Devil goes about tempting people to sin and generally being disruptive, but he does have some objective to showing up in Seattle all the time.

Sam Oliver’s parents sold his soul to the Devil in order to save his father’s life. So at the age of 21, the Devil contacts Sam and informs him that Sam is the Devil’s property and as such must work for him.

But Sam works at The Work Bench, a big-box home improvement store, together with his best friends Sock and Ben and his girlfriend, Andi. Not to worry -- the Devil’s work won’t take that much time.

Sam is to be a bounty hunter, tracking souls who escaped from hell and sending them back before they can do much damage. Some of the souls are serial killers, some are thieves, some are just really disruptive, and Sam -- a generally good person -- feels that he can do good in this work, even in service to the Devil.

The Devil is naturally amused by this and is constantly trying to trick Sam into sinning. Sam always realizes what he’s up to and stops himself, which is just part of the fun of the show.

A big reason why this works is even though the Devil is evil and demonstrates this over and over throughout the series, Wise plays him with gallons of charm and a big billboard smile. His relationship with Sam is pitch perfect and perhaps, weirdly enough, some of the best father-son chemistry on the box. Despite Sam’s infuriating refusal to go rogue or corrupt, you can tell the Devil has a paternalistic pride in him and even some concern for him.

Best buds

The world of the show is populated by escaped souls, evil demons, not-so-evil demons, exorcisms and ex-girlfriends. One of the bright spots of the show is Sam’s friend Sock, who’s a big teddy bear of a guy stuffed full of joie de vivre. His easy-going attitude contrasts with Sam’s other friend, Ben’s, more nervous, high-strung nature.

The best-bud chemistry flows beautifully in the writing and acting in their scenes, whether kicking back for a beer, helping Sam chase down escaped souls or organizing paint-mixing machine rides, they’re an endless stream of joy.

Until the show itself ended.

See, as the series progressed, we learned that the Devil might actually be Sam’s dad, rather than John Oliver, the man who raised him, then died and kicked around for awhile as a zombie before voluntarily going to hell. While there, he discovered a way Sam might be able to break his contract with the Devil, and got the message to Sam through Ben’s demon girlfriend, Nina. While Nina was being exorcised by Ben’s grandmother’s priest and rescued by Sock, Andi convinced the Devil to play quarters for Sam’s freedom by putting up her own soul as the prize.

As the second season closed, Steve, one of Sam’s friends, a former demon who helped him defy the Devil, breaks Sam’s hand so he can’t win.

So Sam is still under contract, and now so is Andi. The Devil couldn’t be happier and Steve is rewarded with angel wings.

It seems clear that Sam has more to do as a pawn in an ongoing war between the forces of Heaven and Hell, but unless some other network miraculously picks up this cute little show, Sam’s fate as a bounty hunter for the Devil seems pretty well sealed.

And barring such a miracle, goodbye little show, and thanks for the laughs, the adrenaline and a bit of light-hearted theology mixed in with general fun. You will be missed.

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