Reaper: Cancun
By fred | May 21, 2008
(S01E18) Another one bites the dust. Of course I’m not talking about Reaper, just another escaped soul. Because as we now now, The CW has indeed renewed this great little show for a second season. Because they’re not that bright they only went with a mid-season plan, ordering only 13 episodes, but it could have been a lot worse so I won’t complain. In fact, I’m incredibly happy that this was only a season finale, because the show is great, has even been getter better & better with time, and from what we can see from where we stand, next season is shaping up to be a really good one as well.
We still had many plots open, the very first of which being Tony and his demon buddies finding out about Sam’s secret, a secret even he didn’t know about : the real identity of his father. Like most of us have for a little while now, they thought Sam was no other than the son of the Devil himself !
But they had to be sure, hence the well-known “dropping a washing machine” test that took place in this episode, revealing that Sam had some special powers of his own. Which was also a nice echo to the pilot : if recently Sam has only fought demons and all kinds of escaped soul using the appropriate vessel, back in the pilot he seemed to have some powers on his own.
But we hadn’t heard from that ever since, and I was wondering if this had been simply dropped since the pilot, and here was our answer. No, Sam is special, for more than one reason, and he does have some super-powers, even though he’s not fully aware of it and cannot really use or control them.
When Sam had the washing machine hanging in the air so he could move away before letting it crash down, Tony & co knew. It was hard to believe, he looked like such a nice innocent kid, but the proof was there. When he put a sticker to sell it for half the price, there was no doubt left : “Oh, he is evil like none have known before!”
But as the episode moved on, things got a bit more confused and it left us not actually sure of what the truth really was. Yes, there is something fishy when it comes to Sam, his birth and his biological parents. Yes, his parents are hiding things, and his father did took out all pages from the contract that referred to the identity of Sam’s actual father. And yes, even the Devil admitted something was going on, as well as refusing to give Sam the truth.
All that said, Sam being the son of the Devil might be just a little too easy. It now seems obvious that things are a bit more complicated than that, and that Sam might not be destined to rule in Hell and alienate the human race. Maybe, he could head the other way and save everyone, freeing the world from Evil. Because this episode also introduced something new to the show : the element of good.
Sure, Sam is a nice guy and he wants to do good. Still, he sends people back to Hell for the Devil, he’s clearly not working for the good team. And while we’ve seen a few people willing to take over the Devil, it should be pointed out that, one, they are demons, and two, who knows they don’t intend to simply take over because all they really want is power ?
But so far we had no sign of good. God had been referenced, even by the Devil himself, but despite what it may look like Sam isn’t actually fighting for the good guys, and the good guys were really nowhere to be seen. This episode changed that, when Steve showed up. Steve is the other half of the couple of gay demons we met a while ago, Steve died while trying to take over the Devil.
Despite being not that much satisfied with this episode, I can’t agree more : Reaper is a hell of a show.
Surprising how it improved itself from a really fun, but so-so premise to a well written, weekly enjoyment.
The 13 episodes deal is perhaps not what we wanted, but at least, the quality will never fail.
Looking back to the 18-ep from season one, at least quarter of them were anything but useful.
So, now the formula is well established (and working), we have that exciting mythology and plot development…
Please don’t screw your only great, devilish show, CW!
One of the ideas I’ve been playing with in my head is the idea of some kind of Reaper from heaven. No idea how they would be introduced or even what they could do, but still something fun to think about.
Also wouldn’t that be bad-ass if the Supernatural boys paid a visit to the Work Bench and had a Supernatural-Reaper crossover?