Let’s see, what did we learn about the Devil (Ray Wise) this week? Well, he enjoys funerals because they make people question the existence of God. He occasionally makes his minions do light plumbing as well as capture escaped souls. Oh, and he’s got a human girlfriend named Mimi (The O.C.’s Melinda Clarke, pictured, left) and may have a human daughter who’s hot and likes horror movies.
Wise’s Devil is usually a glad-handing, back-slapping, fun-lovin’ guy, but on last night’s episode (titled "Ashes to Ashes"), he was actually scary, and not just for performing parlor tricks like sewing Sam’s mouth shut. Was he more intense this week because of actual concern for the safety of his girlfriend (a naive woman who thinks he’s an importer named Jerry, and whom he’s been casually stringing along for two decades)? Or was there some darker secret being protected? Was that secret Cady (Jessica Stroup), Mimi’s daughter, whom Sam (Bret Harrison, pictured, right) plans to ask out, even though he knows "Jerry" might be her dad? Is Satan trying to throw them together, as Sock believes, to make little baby reapers? And isn’t it convenient that she pops up just as Sam is giving up on the ambivalent Andi (who keeps saying "It’s complicated" to explain why she won’t go out with Sam)? Is it also a coincidence that we saw Sam’s dad for the first time in weeks, and that he also seemed to talk Sam out of waiting around for Andi? I still think Andi has some demonic secret she’s hiding from Sam, and that the Devil and Sam’s dad know what it is.
Notice that I’ve hardly mentioned the soul-of-the-week, a funeral home director who harvested his cadavers’ organs, got sued by their families, killed himself, and returned without a body to take revenge on them by bringing their loved ones’ cremated ashes back to life and choking their survivors. (Admittedly, the ash-monster effects were cheesy-cool.) Again, less interesting than the subplots, but it did provide a red herring that finally allowed us to meet Ben’s family, particularly his millionaire grandmother with the gift of prophecy. She shunned Sam and Sock when she noticed the presence of Satan in Sam’s palm, but after she saw the Work Bench trio capture the ash monster with a hair dryer, she gave them her blessing and said they were doing God’s work. Well, not exactly, Grandma, but sort of.
Questions: Am I right about Andi? Did you catch the in-joke in Cady’s reference to Vampire Bats (the made-for-CBS horror movie Stroup co-starred in a couple years ago)? Is she really Satan’s daughter or the daughter of another Prince of Darkness? ‘Cause her line in the preview for next week’s episode, in which she says she likes to bite the heads off live chickens, makes me think she might be Ozzy Osbourne’s progeny instead.
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I don’t think Andi’s secret is demonic — in fact, I think she’s going to turn out to be an angel sent to try to save Sam’s soul from its ultimate fate. She was meant to befriend and help him, and instead she’s fallen for him; this is why she won’t go out with him, b/c the Guy Upstairs would be displeased if she shirked her duty. Just my guess!
There is definately something going on with Sam’s dad and Andi’s family, I still think there’s something going on with both him and her dad making pacts. However, he didn’t exactly tell Sam to ditch her, in fact he was at first telling him to stick to it…till Sam did the number for him and thought five years is too much to wait for any girl to let you out of “the friend zone”. And Cady will not be the devil’s daughter…yet. I think they will make it a plot line for awhile, the devil will finally say or show something that proves she isn’t…but then in another season his story will be fishy and it will be pointed out the devil doesn’t always tell the whole truth. But there will definately be storylines around how the devil has been her surogate dad for all these years, whether he’s her biologial one or not. And those storylines will test Sam, Sock, Andi, etc. Should be fun.
Chloe great guess! I never would have thought of that. I love this show!! Everyweek my daughters n I can’t wait to see it.
I have to give a shout out to Ben. He’s a truly good guy – smart, loves his family – and totally believable in what is pretty much an unbelievable situation. I felt his pain as he had to weigh his friends against his family security – great acting job!
Can’t wait to see what “Beelzebabe” has in store next week!
I would love it if Andi was either an angel or a demon, because either one would be fun and give her some depth, but…I just don’t think there’s anything interesting going on with her. She’s just the lame girl the hero’s going to spend the entire series chasing after, even if other, more interesting romantic possibilities show up.
I agree with sje – I don’t think there is anything to Andi other than being boring. If we’re supposed to feel something for her, I wish I knew what.
I’m waiting for them to do something with the page of the contract Sam’s dad burned in the fireplace – when is that going to come up? If it finally does, it’ll probably be after everyone has forgotten that it ever happened. Not cool.
I’ve heard that song in the last scene at the lake before!!! I searched my entire library to no avail. Can anyone help?!!
I’ve heard that song in the last scene at the lake before!!! I searched my entire library to no avail. Can anyone help?!!
I’ve heard that song in the last scene at the lake before!!! I searched my entire library to no avail. Can anyone help?!!
I don’t think grandma got confused. Remember that in the pilot, the Devil revealed that God ultimately wins their battle. I think that Sam is actually doing God’s work in a roundabout way. After all, why would the Devil care what the souls did on Earth? He showed a lot of contempt for the living when he found out that Sam was trying to save the families of the cremated deceased.
Sorry. This may be the greatest show ever but, “No “Veronica Mars: FBI”, No CW”!
I like to think of Melinda Clark as Lady Heather. hr “CSI” character. So it would kinda be fitting for LH to date the Devil, and putting him in his place.
Did anyone else catch Sam’s dad saying he chased Sam’s mom for two years? Who thinks that the page he ripped out has to do with him eventually “winning” her heart?
Love Ben and his Grandma. Now that she knows their secret – remember the devil said it was never good when mortals came onto his radar screen -will she and the devil face off? That would be cool.
I don’t know what the deal is with Andi. I don’t think she’s a demon or an angel but maybe someone like Ben’s gradma who has the gift but is surpressing it out of fear. That would explain why she keeps her distance from Sam – in her heart and gut she knows he’s bound to Satan’s service.
Oh and I had hard time believing that Mimi was old enough to have been with “Jerry” for 20 years – and to have a child who is about that old too. She just looks soooooo young. I thought maybe the plot twist was going to be that she was some trapped soul or something.
This is by far the best new show of the season, I thoroughly enjoyed this ep and the stories keep getting better. CW execs, if you’re listening, keep Reaper on the air! Promote it, nurture it, let it grow and build an audience, it’s worth it. I’ve told my friends about it, made some of them watch and I intend to buy the DVDs. Anyone else who cares needs to let the CW know. Save Reaper!
Get over it. Your loser show Veronica Mars got 3 seasons and tanked. Boo hoo! You’re lucky it didn’t get cancelled after 3 episodes.
BLASPHEME! Veronica Mars was GREAT and NEVER should have been canceled! Reaper, while I enjoy it, has only HALF the wit and acting and NONE of the Kristien Bell and Jason Dohring!
I think that guy is just tired that SDA333 keeps posting on this message board every single time with the same exact message. Like the CW executives will read it and feel guilty or something. SDA333 is just a board troll and should be completely ignored.
Anyway.. good episode. Makes me sad that CW clearly doesn’t know what to do with this show. They’re hardly advertising for it anymore, didn’t give it a full season order (even though that crappy and lower-rated Gossip Girl did), they placed this up against “House” which has high ratings in all demos including young adults, and is replacing it with “One Tree Hill” in January.
Interesting thoughts on Andi… I kind of see things developing differently. I think Andi and Sam will get close to a relationship… and then her dead father becomes an escaped soul from hell that Sam must capture. But he escapes to warn Andi about Sam’s soul-ownership and things get hairy after that… Just my thoughts.
I saw Bret Harrison sitting in a coffee shop in Vancouver yesterday. He was being totally left alone, but it was cool to see our Sammy!
Yep – this is SDA333, the “Veronica Mars: FBI” Official Board Troll! I just like to remind the CW suits of what a mistake they made in cancelling our beloved Veronica. And I know there’s thousands of us out there who, because of this cancellation, will never watch a CW show again. Unless, of course, the CW does the right thing and brings back Veronica! Are you listening, CW?