Reaper review

A young, well-above-average-looking college drop-out, who works a drudge of a job and has a loyal cadre of misfit friends, has thrust upon [third person pronoun] a calling to fight against supernatural forces. It’s Buffy, right, the show nearest and dearest to my heart? Well, yes, but it’s also the CW’s new Reaper, which premiered last night and which has been racking up quite a few comparisons to BTVS.

Upon his 21st birthday, Sam discovers that his parents sold his soul to the Devil before he was born, and now Old Nick (Ray Wise, clearly enjoying himself) has come to collect what is due. He gives Sam a new job as a bounty hunter (Sam is a floor clerk at some amorphous big-box store) , collecting souls that have escaped back to earth from Hell. Sam’s buddies think this new gig is cool and soon this 2007 version of the Scoobies is sleuthing, tracking and sucking demons back where they belong. There’s also a love interest from whom Sam feels the need to hide his new otherworldliness: she looks like Hilary Swank and is played by Missy Peregrym (most recently Candice, the shape-shifting bad girl from Heroes. Guess we won’t being seeing Candice so much this season).

I was pleasantly surprised by Reaper. I thought the two main characters, Sam and his best friend “Sock,” had great long-time friend chemistry and were fairly funny. I even laughed out loud three times – that’s a lot for regular TV for me – although it may have been more due to guest director Kevin Smith’s hand on the helm than from the writing. Time will tell. While I won’t spend precious time recapping this one for you (sorry!), I am more than willing to keep it on my DVR record list until further notice. Pretty good job, CW (although I’ll still never forgive you for canceling Veronica Mars)!