Premiere Watch '07: Reaper

Ok, just as it was difficult to talk about Gossip Girl without mentioning The OC, it's kind of hard to discuss Reaper without at least thinking about Chuck. Because, wow, in a lot of ways, they're almost the same show. Funny, underachieving guy who works in a huge "box" store unwittingly becomes a secret agent (or, in the case of Reaper, a secret agent demon hunter). Based on the pilots, I think I liked Reaper just a little bit better...due in no small part to the fact that the main character is played by Bret Harrison..

In sticking with the 5 points per actor rule I pulled out of my butt established yesterday, I'd like to report that Bret Harrison totally delivered his 5 points for Reaper. I love Bret Harrison. He's the reason I still occasionally watch the Grounded for Life reruns on ABC Family. I love Brad and Lily (and especially their big dance at the prom). And, of course, finding out that Bret is in Adam Brody's band put him way over the top in my estimation. Like Michael Cera, Adam Brody has exceptional taste in friends. And, to prove that I'm a real Bret Harrison connoisseur, when I watched the repeat earlier this summer, I totally recognized that it was him playing the really weird, hip hop-ish VJ on the episode of The OC when Seth and Ryan go to Spring Break in Miami.

But why did I love Bret tonight? Well, he plays the lovable slacker very well. And he can do an impeccable freak out. And he has a very expressive face. And, in the scene where they vanquished the demon, and Sock said, "I think I wet my pants," Bret actually looked down to check. Eeeeeew, but so funny!

Other great things about Reaper include Ray Wise making the Devil seem like a pretty charming fellow and a very solid supporting cast. Sometimes Sock (that nickname is awesome) was a little over the top and trying super hard to channel his inner Seth Rogen (do we all have an inner Seth Rogen, and is that good or bad?), but he delivered a lot of the episode's funniest lines. And, let's face it, I like TV that's funny, so while the demon guy bursting into flames was pretty creepy and the Zamboni thing was gross, it's the comedy that will keep me coming back.

I'd also like to mention that the directing and camera work in this episode was fantastic. The scene where the shopping cart eluded Sam's reach was particularly cool. This episode was directed by Kevin Smith, and I admit that I haven't seen much of his work, except for a little bit of Jersey Girl, but we won't hold that against him. A lot of people made career choices during Bennifer 1.0 that they came to regret (um, namely Ben Affleck). Anyway, nice job, Kevin.

Highlights:

• Sam's mom: "Sam did go to college. He went for a month, and we're very proud of him for trying. It's just that college made him sleepy."
• Sock called Sam's brother "K-Fed" just because he didn't get into Stanford. Ouch!
• Sock throwing the bleach at Sam. "You were supposed to move that with your mind."
• the Devil explaining where the portals to hell are: "Anyplace that seems like hell on earth is hell on earth--like the DMV on Union Street."
• Devil: "Oh, I forgot, you got a 600 on the SATs."
• Ben: "I take it back, Sam; that's a really evil mini-vac!"
• Ha ha, asshat. Did we all learn our name-calling from Summer Roberts? It's nice to have a friend who will forgive you for anything just because you say, "I'm an asshat."
• Sock: "You're evil."
  Sam: "So I heard."
• I loved the scene where they got all suited up to go fight the demon and then had to sit and wait for the Dirt Devil to recharge.
• Sock: "You are Neo; you're the one!"
• DMV lady: "The boss give you the vessel he thinks you can handle... you must be a real moron."
• Sam: "My parents sold my soul to the devil! I mean how crazy is that?"
  Sock: "My dad forgot to pick me up from sleep-away camp for three days."
  Sam: "That's not the same thing."

My one problem with this episode was that you could totally tell that all the scenes with Missy Peregrym had been shot at a much later date than the rest of the episode. This is the problem we run into, CW, when we recast actors months later. The camera work in the new scenes seemed different, the lighting seemed different, and the real problem was that Bret looked different. He had longer hair, there were highlights in his hair, his face was scruffier, and he looked a little bigger. It was just silly.

Other than that, pretty awesome pilot. My fave so far.

Premiere Rating: 8.5 / 10

(photo source: cwtv.com)