Cable for One – Reaper – Episode 1-06

Shows

I was so happy to see Reaper deviate from its standard formula this week. Even though the show is only a little over a month old, it was in danger of becoming stale thanks to the formulaic nature of each episode. Even though there are a number of problems with the latest episode, it’s such a relief to see a less formulaic episode that the problems are easily overlooked.

Up until “Leon” the general formula for each episode has been: Sam’s devil powers lead to ‘hilarious’ hijinx; the Devil gives Sam his assignment and a silly vessel; Sam, Sock and Ben have an initial encounter with the escaped soul, something goes wrong (usually with the vessel) and the soul remains at large; Sam’s duties interfere with his job and/or his relationship with Andi; Sam, Sock and Ben capture the soul; Satan shows up to talk with Sam and either helps or hinders his job/his relationship with Andi. Occasionally the order was switched up a bit or one element was downplayed, but that was essentially the formula used in the first five episodes.

Even though it was easy to overlook, the episode had more than its share of problems. I’m perfectly willing to buy into the idea of Satan being depressed around Halloween; I just don’t buy his giving everyone a holiday because of said depressing day. For one, if Satan really is keen on getting escaped souls back into hell, it seems incredibly lax of him to have no way for that to happen for several days a year (and if, as Satan implied, just about everyone gets a holiday in Hell, one imagines that a great many escapes happen in and around Halloween). Additionally, you would think if Satan was depressed, he would try to make himself feel better by being even harder on his minions, instead of giving them a break. The whole holiday felt like it was created by the writers merely as an excuse to keep Leon around.

It was kind of intriguing to see a presidential assassin being more or less humanized. Leon was still a person (or soul) with some serious issues, but he was working to better himself and in the end he even allowed himself to be captured rather than harm his new friend, Sock. Certainly not the portrayal of an American presidential assassin that one expects from an American network. Admittedly, the assassination was more than a century ago, and President McKinley isn’t really remembered all that well by history, but it was still neat. Maybe fifty years from now we’ll get a show portraying the lighter side of Lee Harvey Oswald.

One thing that Reaper is really good at is making you feel bad for Sam. This week’s you really had to feel bad for the guy (Not for his problems with Sock, those felt kind of forced actually) with how things were going with Andi. It’s not like the writers portray Andi as a bitch; she has perfectly valid reasons for being hurt by Sam’s actions and no longer trusting him as she once did. Granted she may have been overreacting a little bit with the never want to speak to you again attitude, but you couldn’t really blame her for being pissed at Sam. And yet Sam’s got some pretty good damned reasons for doing what he’s done, it’s just that Andi has no clue as to what those reasons are.

There were some definite problems surrounding this week’s episode (primarily with certain plot elements feeling way too forced), but if this is a sign that Reaper is going to stop being so damned formulaic, then “Leon” was a huge step in the right direction.