Pilot Review: Reaper

(Note: Picture is from before recasting)

Reaper
The CW. Tuesdays at 9
Starring Bret Harrison, Tyler Labine, Ray Wise, Missy Peregrym, and Rick Gonzales

Ah, finally. A decent pilot to wash the taste of Cavemen out of my mouth. Reaper is the story of Sam (Harrison), a 21 year old slacker, who, unbeknownst to him, has had his soul sold to the devil (Wise). You see, before he was born, his dad got really sick, and the only way to get better was to sell their first born to the devil, who, upon turning 21, would have to do the dark lords bidding. Well, time’s up for Sam, who begrudgingly accepts his task as bounty hunter of escaped souls. He’s not alone though. His slacker buddy Sock (Labine) is there to help him, along with another co-worker Ben (Gonzales). Oh, and there’s the requisite crush, Andi (Peregrym) as well.

I’m going to start by talking about what’s not quite good about this pilot. I watched the original pilot, before they recast the role of Andi. And good thing. The original Andi, Nikki Reed, is the biggest flaw in this pilot. She’s unconvincing with the little bit of role she’s given and she has no chemistry with Harrison. But Ms. Peregrym has taken over the role, and I can only hope she proves better. Also, while Labine fits the role of the idiot slacker well, the character can get very grating at times. I only have minor quibbles besides that though, like the parents being a little too over the top and Sam accepting his job with the devil a little to easily.

Now, on to the good. This pilot has a whole lot going for it. Firstly, Bret Harrison is really good. I loved his last show (Fox’s The Loop, cancelled too soon) and he continues to show good comedic work here as well. His timing is on, his bewilderment is convincing. He’s weaker in the dramatic scenes, but he still manages to pull them off decently. Ray Wise as the devil is also great, fluctuating between comedic devil and mean devil well. My only quibble with the character is that, at times, the devil comes off too nice. I mean, he’s the Devil. Don’t make him be nice and caring. The show moves at a good brisk pace managing to keep the energy mostly up, with the occasional down scene. It’s clever without being too smart, has a lot of great little jokes, like the use of a dirt devil in order to capture the first soul. In fact, the weekly change of Sam’s capturing aid could become something that people look forward to, like the changing couch sequence on The Simpsons.

This show is a fun way to kill an hour, and could be the breakaway hit that the CW so desperately needs. CW, I still haven’t forgiven you for canceling Veronica Mars, and I doubt I will for a while, but this makes up for it slightly. Only a little bit though. And any goodwill that this show may have created is crushed by the fact that you picked up Farmer Wants A Wife. I mean, seriously? You cancelled Veronica for that? For shame. But that’s beside the point. Reaper is fun, well acted, and could become another cult hit along the lines of something like Buffy, which is why this earns:

Rating: Definitely Worth Another Viewing