Kudos to Reaper‘s writers for shaking up the formula with this week’s Halloween episode, "Leon." Before the opening credits, our heroes had already captured a runaway soul (who turned out to be none other than Leon Czolgosz, who assassinated President McKinley in 1901), only to discover they couldn’t dump him at the DMV as usual because demon Gladys was on vacation. Turns out — in the episode’s cleverest twist — all hell really does break loose on Halloween; Satan gives everyone time off, since it’s the one day of the year no one takes him or his scary minions at all seriously. Cut to a hilarious Ray Wise monologue, bemoaning the holiday’s Christmas-like "commercialization of evil." (Then cut to one of those incongruously cheerful CW "Happy Halloween" promos for the show, where Wise tries to outgrin a jack-o-lantern while Perry Como croons about the most wonderful time of the year.)
The Halloween vacation only made things tougher for Sam (Bret Harrison, left), of course, since he not only had to hold onto the captured Leon, but also go after another escaped soul, who had once been a serial killer known as the Butcher. Keeping Leon under glass (his vessel was a snowglobe) proved especially difficult because Leon (a droll guest turn by Patton Oswalt) refused to shut up, nattering on about how he was improving himself through psychotherapy. This, in turn, led Sock to steal the vessel, first in order to prank Ted, and then (swayed by Leon’s insistence that he was a changed soul), to liberate Leon to help the boys find the Butcher. Not only was this a bad idea, but it threatened to destroy Sock and Sam’s friendship. Oh, and possibly get them both killed.
Still, Leon did raise an interesting philosophical question: does everybody, even escaped souls from hell, deserve a second chance, a shot at redemption? Leon blew his chance — first locking Sock and Sam in the cellar with the Butcher, then later, threatening to blow Sock’s head off with a sniper rifle (how Evil Dead of him to be able to transform his hands into long, metallic weapons) — but he felt really bad about it. On the other hand, Sock redeemed himself by coming to Sam’s rescue. The Devil told Sam that betrayal is a defining characteristic of humanity and that we’re the least trustworthy species on the planet (except bears, he added — was that a shout-out to Colbert Nation or just a nice moment of random absurdity?), but Sam didn’t buy it (I liked how he told Satan he’s starting to be able to tell when he’s lying). In fact, Sam was inspired by Sock and Leon’s examples to demand a second chance from Andi (Missy Peregrym, right), who’d all but ended their friendship after Sam baselessly badmouthed her new love interest last week. The reconciliation was a joyful moment, not just because it was clear Sam and Andi had both really missed each other, but also because it was a treat to see Sam stand up for himself, for once.
Questions: Will Sam ever tell Andi his true feelings for her, or will the two of them get stuck in the friendship track? How come the Butcher came back in the form of a giant hellhound instead of a person? (And how cute was little hell-pup Spike?) Did you like Ted’s surprisingly convincing Capt. Jack Sparrow costume? (His Roman centurion costume, not so much.) And does the Halloween suspension of hell’s bureaucratic rules mean there are other loopholes that might help Sam get out of his contract?
I love EW’s support for Reader. Anyone catch the article on it in the most recent issue? Anyway, I liked last night’s episode, thought it was very funny.
But I do wonder how Sam and Andi are going to be friends again when he knows that he’s going to have to lie to her to cover up his activities. How is he going to prevent lying to her this time?
And finally, just how cute did Sam look in his Pumpkin costume? Seriously, I never thought Sam could get any cuter. Aand how about his shower scene? Yowsah!!!
I thought about Cobert too when he said “…except bears”! The nation has spoken!
Surprisingly, I will second the notion that Sam (Brett Harrison) is popping up shirtless in almost every other episode. I think this is actually not bad, one because he is cute, but also because he is not the usual “hollywood” ripped/lean muscular stud who is seen shirtless. Don’t get me wrong, Brett is beyond adorable, but I think others know what I mean. He is cute, but you don’t exactly see every line in a six pack on his stomach, which seems to be standard these days. I think that in and of itself is remarkable & shows a confidence in both himself and the integrity of the show. Also, Spike never went back to Hell with the vessel, so does that mean he’s Sam’s now permanent pet & added to the regular cast?
“Except bears.” – Colbert doesn’t fit into my schedule so I’m not familiar with what he apparently says about bears. I assumed it was a shout out to Dwight Schrute.
I as well was confused about why the escaped soul of the Butcher was in the form of a dog. I do like the Sam/Andi chemistry and see a Ross/Rachel thing there; where they’re friends for a while, then hook up, then are friends, then hook up, etc. I’d really like to see a season-long villian a la Buffy, maybe some type of super-demon tired of the devil’s ruling of Hell. Sock is a great character and I think the actors that play Sam and Sock work really well together. My only complaint so far with the series is there haven’t been many developed escaped souls, besides the Magician guy. I’d really like to see a soul that proves to be a deep, terrifying guy, like Buffy’s Glory. But I did really like when Sam was telling Leon how he isn’t going to shoot Sock and was really calm about it, he might become a Ash-type bad ass.
I love this show. Labine is the perfect sidekick, and the scenes featuring Sock and Ted are quickly becoming my most-looked-forward-to. I’ve been loving it since episode 1, and having Patton Oswalt stinting just made it my Best Thing on TV.
At the beginning of the ep, I was thinking that Spike might actually BE the Butcher. I think he went chasing after him, and then the next scene we saw the Butcher-hound. I can’t remember, but did we see Spike again after the Butcher was captured? And did Sam turn in the meat thermometer to Gladys, or just the snow globe?
Yes, we saw Spike again. Sock was holding and petting him at the end. And yes, they turned in both vessels at the DMV. Gladys put both vessels in the tube at the same time. You were probably distracted by Leon’s pleas. And the thermometer was so thin that you could barely see it.
Okay thanks–I was pretty sure we did see Spike again, I just didn’t think we actually ever saw Spike and the Butcher together at once. And you’re right, I think I was distracted by Leon! I’m still lovin’ this show! I still love Ray Wise!
Great episode – love the friendship/working relationship that the Devil and Sam are forming. I mean come on, how many people would sass Satan?
This week I didn’t find Sock to be as annoying. I only wanted him gone 85% of the time instead of a 100%. Who knows, if they keep this up I just might start liking him.
Oh, and I hope they get to keep Spike. he’s cute and would make a great spy for the Devil.
Love Ray Weiss. Oh and more half naked Brett please
Loved this episode.
The writers are mixing it up a bit and having fun with the concept a lot more (Spike is adorable). I hope they continue in that creative vein a introduce feature some other historical figures as escaped souls. Imagine the possibilities!
Also, they need to do some more stuff with the Andi character; not only should stuff happen between her and Sam, she should also get in on the evil action. Perhaps she could join a satanic cult? Just a suggestion.
Here, I always suspected that the Devil invented psychotherapy. It just took a half-way decent episode of Reaper to let the cat out of the bag…
not a Roman Centurian, but a “300″ Spartan costume, right? And Sam and Andi will get together right after he saves her from one of the escapees and tells her the truth about his job with the devil. Great episode!
yes the jack sparrow costume was very realistic and i also liked that he made the devil feel inadequate by telling him he could tell when he was lying. my favorite line though was when the devil said, “i invented therapy so that the wicked could justify their actions.”
Sorry. This may be the greatest show ever but, “No Veronica, No CW!”