Review and news hub for movies, music and video games

Show:		8.0
Picture:		6.0
Sound:		7.0
Extras:		6.0
Score:		7.0

Director(s):	Stephen Cragg • Kevin Dowling • James Head • Ron Underwood • John Fortenberry
Writer(s):	Tara Butters, Michele Fazekas, Thomas Schnauz, Craig DiGregorio, Tom Spezialy
Starring:	Ken Marino • Bret Harrison • Tyler Labine • Rick Gonzalez • Missy Peregrym • Ray Wise • Donavon Stinson • Michael Ian Black • Jenny Wade
Genre:	Comedy • Television
Website:	http://www.cwtv.com/shows/reaper
Release Date:	June 09, 2009

List Price:	DVD - $29.99
Amazon:

Reaper opened its first season with a fresh cast, a great premise and a pilot directed by Kevin Smith; for all intents and purposes it had a sweet start. However, after the first 6 episodes it became clear that this show about Sam Oliver (Bret Harrison), whose parents sold his soul to the devil, had fallen into an unfortunately formulaic funk. It seemed like the show with such promise had devolved into nothing more than procedural wherein boy receives tool, boy reaps soul and the sidekicks provide some laughs along the way. Luckily, that slack didn’t stick.

Careening wildly off course in the latter third of the season by introducing the demonic couple Tony (Ken Marino) and Steve (Michael Ian Black) and establishing its own mini-mythos, Reaper found a new course and a new life (to take) with a terrific season finale; which is why Reaper: Season Two comes with such high expectations. The cat’s pretty much out of the bag and demons and hellish beasts start popping up everywhere as it becomes clear that the demons and angels are quite actively among us.

Reaper: Season Two starts with Sam, Ben (Rick Gonzalez) and Sock (Tyler Labine) coming to the end of their month-long road trip after the revelations of the first season. Returning to the Work Bench, they reclaim their jobs and attempt to rediscover their place in their own lives. As Sam plays catch-up reaping souls escaped from Hell, the devil (Ray Wise) pits Sam in competition against his son Morgan (Armie Hammer) to root out the stronger of the two to be his successor. Ben finds himself enamored with Nina (Jenny Wade), a demon once-obsessed with killing Sam and Sock just sort of does his own thing off in the background – like he’s wont to do. As Sam struggles with the devil’s intentions to groom him, he and Andi (Missy Peregrym) attempt to uncover the secret breaking out of his deal with the dark one.

The sophomore season manages to cut out the worst parts of the first season while improving the best – everything an exemplary second season should do. For example, Sock’s love interest Josie (Valerie Rae Miller) from the first season has been cut out entirely and replaced with a somewhat twisted side story where Sock pursues his step-sister instead. Also, as mentioned, the very cut and dry formula of recapturing souls only serves as the main plot of a handful of episodes instead of all of them, allowing for lots of mythos and character development. As an added bonus, Ray Wise and Ken Marino still get their fair share of face time as two of the most entertaining characters the series has to offer.

Unfortunately, not all of the obnoxious elements of the series can be cut out from season to season. Sock still comes across as a Jack Black clone, though his antics are given a bit of a boost to subdue the obvious comparison between the two and make Sock more likeable as a character. Structurally, each episode has an omnipresent foil: the episode’s premise is always stated in a very overt way right at the outset. For example, when Ben first meets Nina, Sock and Sam criticize him for needing to meet a girl because he’s become attached to his pet rabbit in an unhealthy way. They just sort of lay it out right there and you just know – oh, Ben’s going to meet a girl in this episode. Each episode retains that mold, but at least the predictable new episode-new soul formula has been diminished. Considering the over-the-top nature of the show, the less than perfect special effects still bug me, though there’s been a definite improvement between what the first season had to offer and now; but the movement of demons is still somewhat choppy.

Overall, I’d place the second season of Reaper slightly higher than the first as it does build strongly upon the foundation the first season took so long to build. Reaper: Season Two doesn’t stall like and its predecessor, building momentum quickly it never really slows down with development or comedy. Really, it’s everything you could’ve asked for from a second season of Reaper.

DVD Bonus Features

There’s one real featurette and then a decent gag reel (8 minutes – not too shabby) and selection of extra scenes. “The Devil Made Me Do It” goes back to the beginning and discusses the filming of the pilot episode and how the feel of Reaper was established. Series creators Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas, pilot director Kevin Smith and the cast and crew all voice their opinions on where they thought the show was going and where it’s gone so far. At 15 minutes it has a decent amount of information on all the aspects of filming including the creation of the Work Bench set.