Reaper: The Devil & Sam Oliver [season finale]
By fred | May 27, 2009
(S02E13) Alright so I’m calling this a season finale even though the show has been canceled by The CW already, just because the studio is trying to keep it alive and maybe have it found its way to The CW affiliates or something. I would say the odds aren’t really in favor of our show, and unfortunately it will probably be made official in a few days that this was the series finale after all, but for now let’s pretend, let’s hope…
Another reason I decided to call it a season finale is because I don’t want to say bad stuff about this episode, and while the episode in itself – and taken out of all this renewal considerations – was a pretty good and funny one, as a series finale it would be one Hell of a let down, let’s be honest.
We had some of the typical Reaper development, and while not everything came to a conclusion, a few stories did, and in a very nice way. Ben & Nina were as cute as ever, and it was interesting to see both Ben resolving issues with his grandmother, see him standing up to her for a change and defend his demon of a girl, while at the same time we saw her willing to give up her time on Earth and risk going back to Hell (even though she recently was down there and can’t ignore how horrible it must be…) and, luckily, despite being completely high Sock managed to save the day.
It all came together very nicely, and offered lots of laughs as well as references to The Exorcist of course, or The X Files — where Labine played a guy getting high in pretty the same way we saw here, didn’t he? But while all of that was good, that’s also obviously not what we were most interested in. We wanted to see the big fight, the challenge between Sam and his (probable?) father, the Devil himself.
On that note, I have to say this was a bit of a disappointment to me. For one, I just can’t accept that after all we’ve seen last season or even this one (in the beginning), where people took care to always hide themselves in circles so the Devil wouldn’t hear them (and yet he still knew and the demons’ rebellion), that after having done nothing to try to hide his plan, almost admitting them to the Devil at times, that in the end Sam managed to actually surprise Him, it makes no sense.
He had to have known what Sam was preparing, that his father was walking in Hell looking for a way to help his son, he couldn’t possibly not have known/suspected a thing. But truth be told, it’s been a problem with the show all along, and that – now that we might have seen the end of it – just got even more obvious. Much like his main character, Sam, the creators of the show (and the writers/producers who stick around after they left) never seemed to really have a plan.
They just made things up as they went, and it can get pretty frustrating, like whenever the show deals with mythology-heavy episodes such as this one. I don’t think Sam’s ability was ever mentioned before, this season or the previous one, Steve coming back seemed like oddly convenient, and where is this even going?? Of course it could be interesting to see Andi in the same situation as Sam, maybe even having to hunt escaped soul as well.
After all the shit she gave Sam, now she’d find herself in the same situation, except she willingly put her soul in the balance, and maybe she would finally be used on the show. Or, maybe they just didn’t even think about any of that, just like when they made her manager of the Work Bench…
And you know, just like the final challenge between Sam and the Devil lacked something, I was hoping for more intensity and the feeling of bigger things at play, more risks and potential consequences or something, how about Andi!?? After all the ways she’s been confused regarding Sam because he was the “son of the Devil,” when she finally got to meet with Him and offered her own soul (no less!) to get Sam another chance, that happened off camera!??
Are they kidding!?? Oh come on! That would have been awesome to see, her probably curious, surely intimidated and yet determined to have it done, and him all the more pleased and amused by the situation, how could they not show us that!!
So sure, I was laughing out loud at Sam having to dance like a monkey (just awesome), Sock saving the day while high or Andi getting drunk, but in the end it was a bit disappointing, especially on the mythology side, and even more so if we never get to see what happens next, what happens now that Andi lost her soul to the Devil while somehow Steve got his wings back by ensuring that Sam didn’t get out of his deal with the Devil? We don’t know much more than we did when the season started, and the fact that we might never know more is really making me sad… and a bit angry.
What did everybody else think?
