Reaper
Year of release : 2007
Run time : 40-43min / 2 seasons
Genre : Dark Comedy / Supernatural / Tv Series
Cast : Bret Harrison, Ray Wise, Tyler Labine, Rick Gonzalez, Missy Peregrym
Season 1
Run time : 18 episodes
Episode 1 - Pilot
Sam Oliver lives at home with his parents, although he just turned 21 years old. Sam dropped out of college because it made him sleepy, and he now works at the Work Bench, a home repair supermarket, with his best friends, and the girl he likes, who's also one of his besties.
On his birthday his parents tell him they sold his soul to the devil (which doesn't make any sense, you can't sell somebody else's soul, like one of his friends put it..unless it's like "you give me your first born") so his father would get better, when he was sick.
The whole day weird things happen to Sam who is a pretty decent and nice guy, and on his way home, the devil appears in his car. Sam freaks out, and later says "the devil tried to high jack his car".
The devil, who's always wearing a suit, looking classy and elegant, tells him the rules of engagement, and he basically needs to catch the souls who escaped hell, and put them back where they belong.
He is given a ridiculous device he has to figure out how to use in order to catch the escapee who is a pyromaniac, setting fires all around town.
In order to find out where to find this escapee, (the devil actually takes him to where the guy is, and he sees how he looks), he needs to figure out who he was in life.
Episode 2 - Charged
Sam wakes up to the device which is meant to capture the next soul next to him. He refuses to do the devil's bidding,so he and Sock come up with the idea of leaving it in the forest,just that it materializes right next to Sam's car, when he gets out at the supermarket he works for.
The devil shows up and transports him to where the new escapee is, who is charging with electricity ,while blackouts keep on happening around town.
Sam seems to be getting some special powers, the devil's gift to him, so he can figure out what's going on. He is not happy with it, especially since the devil keeps on handing him these ridiculous devices, to catch the escapees with, this time being a toy car with a remote!
Episode 3 - All mine
Since the moment Sam wakes up in the morning, he sees bugs on everything he touches, and can't eat anything or brush his teeth, as bugs appear on everything he touches.
Andi is asking him out, but he refuses,because he doesn't want to feel stupid in front of her college friends at a lecture.
His boss is offering him a promotion but Sam refuses, as this means he'll work forever at the Work Bench, and scares him.
He complains to the devil about it, but he tells him he doesn't want to work at the Work Bench, doesn't want to work for him (the devil),what does he want?!
The devil offers him a "visual presentation" of the victims of the new hell escapee (all k1lled by different kind of insects), letting him figure out who it is, and why are they doing it .
Episode 4 - Magic
Due to his weird devil given powers, everything Sam touches now, disappears. So he can't get to work in time, for his car keys disappear, and then the money he wants the pay the cab driver with, and the wallet.
His friend, Benji, finds Sam's keys in his own pocket. And Sam's wallet, in a paint can.
Sam also has visions of being stabb3d.
They are given the vessel, and Benji gets attached to it, as it's a dove.
Andi invites Sam to a Flaming Lips concert, and although at first, Sam accepts, he then refuses, as the devil puts Andi in danger, and he promises his boss he'll work weekends, to go rescue her.
Episode 5 - What about Blob
Sam asks for the contract his parents signed with the devil, and he receives it (the biggest book ever!) when he has to meet with Andi, taking him hours to sign the papers that he received it, becoming obvious that the devil is trying to sabotage his relationship with her.
His new power is making him unable to walk, as it's as if walking on ice.
At the date he missed with Andi and their friends, Greg made an appearance again, and now they are dating.
Andi has enough of him blowing her off all the time, and doesn't talk to him anymore.
The devil makes an appearance,telling him about the people dead due to the soul escaped from hell, and gives him another vessel, a Christmas sweater, to catch it with!
Episode 6 - Leon
The boys catch a soul, but due to Halloween, all demons are on vacation, and they have to keep it until after the holiday. Sock gets attached to it, by his name Leon, and keeps on taking the vessel he's in, out.
The devil tells Sam about a new escapee, a former serial k1ller, and gives him a meat thermometer, and a hell hound which looks pretty small and cute.
Andi still gives Sam the cold shoulder.
The Leon thing Sock has, makes him fight with Sam all the time, especially since Sock lets Leon out, thing they'll come to regret.
Episode 7 - Love, bullets and blacktop
The boys are taking Sam out, to make him forget about Andi.
Sam receives the new vessel, the soundtrack to a movie "Love, bullets and blacktop", one of the songs being the one Sam keeps on hearing on his radio.
The devil transports Sam to the place the escaped souls crashed, as they are,or were, into living dangerously, so they like to get into car crashes, and jump off buildings. They are obsessed of a certain color car, so Sam thinks this is the way to find them.
This episode was very funny.
Episode 8 - The cop
Sock spots Gladys at the Work Bench, and he and the boys follow her around the store, thinking she's up to no good. They find out her life is not that easy, as kids egg her house, among other things.
Sam starts receiving tattoos, as his next soul to be captured has many.
He is awarded at work the prize for being the laziest employee, Dog of the Month, and to cheer him up, the devil gives him a watch, calling him, his Employee of the Month. The watch gets him into trouble with a cop.
He also got Andi a neckline for her birthday, which his friends tell him is what a boyfriend gives his girlfriend, not a friend.
This episode had me laughing with tears.
Episode 9 - Ashes to ashes
The devil gives Sam a tool box and sends him to his (the devil's) girlfriend's place to fix her washing machine.
The new escaped soul k1lls the families of the people who were cremated,people who's organs he took and sold, by embodying from their ashes.
Sam meets Benji's grandmother, who has the eye. He and Sock find out Benji is ashamed of the two of them.
Andi keeps her distance from Sam,as he gave her the necklace for her birthday, and she said, it's not appropriate.
Episode 10 - Cash out
Sam is dating Mimi's daughter, the devil's girlfriend, who might also be the devil's daughter. Benji and Sock do not approve for that very reason.
The devil gives Sam another assignment, 2 souls who robbed a bank and got away with it, as in, nobody knows where they hid the money.
They find the money in the house of one of the souls they capture, and Sock followed by Benji want to keep the money, fighting with Sam about it, as he wants to get rid of it.
The two use some of the money, Sock using more than Benji, as he bought back everything that burnt when he burnt down his ex girlfriend's place.
Episode 11 - Hungry for fame
Sock's mother comes back from Las Vegas, and tells him she got married to a man who came back with her. Sock has fit and moves in with Sam's family.
Cady finds the necklace Sam gave Andi but she refused it, and he gives it to her, panicking.
The devil tells Sam about the latest hell escapee, a cannibal.
Sam also tries to save an aspiring rocker from himself, as in, from signing a contract with the devil.
This was the Christmas episode.
Episode 12 - Unseen
After his mother throws him out of the house (best mother ever! sarcasm) , because he needs to live on his own, Sock lives at the Work Bench, and hunts for houses.
Sam starts avoiding Cady, as he sees some weird things happening around her, and he thinks her the dev1l's daughter.
Sock finds a place to live, and puts Sam and Benji's names on the lease. When the guys get mad, Sock uses the fact he helps Sam to hunt souls, against him, so they all move in together.
They befriend this really nice gay couple, who cook delicious foods.
I liked the parallel between Sam's parents who don't want him to move out, and Sock's mother, who threw him out.
The Devil gives Sam a new case, of a s3rial k1ller, who lived in the woods, and hunted whoever walked on the premises.
Episode 13 - Acid queen
Andi tells Sam she has feelings for him.
The boys find out their besties, the gay couple, are d3mons, and are avoiding them. When they finally "break up" with them, it's very hard for both parties, as they really like each other.
The devil gives Sam a new file, of a woman who k1lled any beautiful woman with acid, seeing her as a threat. Now her weapon is acid.
Episode 14 - Rebellion
The boys patch things up with the d3mon couple, who are surprised the devil talks to Sam. They tell him they are only doing good things, as they want to gain their place back into heaven. They lose their patience though, and work on k1lling the devil, and ask Sam to help.
Sam and Andi finally start dating.
The devil gives Sam a new file, of an escaped soul who bleeds people dry.
The devil is upset Sam doesn't want to spend time with him, and he's "all business".
Episode 15 - Coming to grips
Tony comes for Sam,thinking maybe, he betrayed them, and ends up cooking his dinner.
Sock is back with Josie.
Benji has a list his of how his perfect woman must be like, and ends up marrying for 1600 dollars, to keep a British woman in the country (who turns out to be a real b!tch, taking advantage of his kindness).
The devil gives Sam a new mission, a soul who fathered hundreds of kids, unbeknownst to the mothers.
Andi keeps on hearing Sam and his friends talking about the devil, and ends up following them..and sees them k1lling a soul. So she's now afraid of him.
Episode 16 - Greg, schmeg
While on a date with Andi, who now knows that Sam and his friends work for the devil, a man in a mask, with a chainsaw, almost k1lls them,destroying Sock's car.
They think it's a soul, but they never got the vessel.
Greg is back in Andi's life, and he seems to have a weird effect on her, as she does everything he wants her to.
The devil shows up telling Sam Greg sold his soul to have Andi. And the masked man with a chainsaw chasing Sam, might not be an escaped soul, but the spirit of a living person.
Episode 17 - The leak
The devil teleports Sam to his dinner, where he asks him to send the guy he was having dinner with, to hell.
The guy is a real charmer, and he keeps on getting out.
Benji and his fake wife have immigration office problems.
The boys find out Gladys lets the soul out, and Andi asks Tony and his resistance members to look at Sam's contract with the devil.
Episode 18 - Cancun
Tony and his gang decide to k1ll Sam, as they find out he's the son of the devil,so they create a cage to trap him in.
The devil gives Sam a new assignment, to find and send back to hell Lady Ozera, a Romanian fortune teller.
Sam keeps on seeing Steve, Tony's partner, who died, at first in the stain on the wall, then on the security monitor.
Sock gets involved with a demon, who's a succubus. She takes his energy (about a year of his life) with a kiss, and after he blacks out he is full of energy, after which he feels lethargic. Somehow he likes this.
This was one of my favorite tv series, as it has it all, action,comedy, suspense, thrills..i still liked it, and the more I watched, the more I felt like watching.
The characters are likeable (even the demons,who are trying to win their way back into heaven with good deeds. The episode with Gladys always being picked on by kids showed a different side of her. -And the devil, who is charming, and seems to have a soft spot for Sam.), although I didn't like them always picking on their boss, as I didn't see the reason for it, and that made them,especially Andi, unlikeable. Andi also becomes unlikeable when she's not impressed at all by Greg selling his soul to have her .
The visual effects were good at times, bad at other times, as they look cartoonish, like in episode 6.
The acting was good from everyone involved. The gay couple were my favorite.
The ladies were beautiful.
The soundtrack was so and so.
The series had positive reviews from critics and audiences, with a rating of 81% out of 100.
The series are for free on the CW, and for sale on Amazon, AppleTv, Fandango at Home.
Rating : It's so money!