MagneticMediaFed

“It’s not just about ham… it’s about self-respect”

Of all the fall pilots, this is the one I had watched the most. In fact, this morning when I saw the actual air version that I had recorded last night on The CW, it might have been the fifth or sixth viewing (though the first with the new “Andy”). Did I keep watching to try and pick up on the intricacies of reaping? No, I kept watching because the show is really really funny… and fun. More after the jump…

There are many things that make this the perfect pilot, and its all stuff you would expect. In the first fifteen minutes we’re introduced to all the necessary characters, told of the premise, and put everything in line so that the remaining thirty minutes can be used to tell a story and show what future episodes would resemble. That’s all well and good, but what sets aside the Reaper pilot from other great episode ones (though rightfully excluding “Episode 1”) is the little things – like the fact that when Sam tells his friends that his parents sold his soul to the devil they INSTANTLY believe him. Sure. Of course. Why wouldn’t you be sold to the devil? It makes perfect sense! This was a brilliant decision. The show could have spent seasons playing the old “my friends think I’m crazy” card, but who wants to see that? Also included in brilliantly underplayed key moments is the scene where Sam’s dad breaks the news to his son. It was so matter of fact. Such a “sorry kid, these things happen” moment you almost felt worse for the dad than for the now indentured fiery servant — and arguably rightfully so.

There’s also the genius that is Ray Wise as The Devil. He plays the part with such snakely charm you totally want to hang out with him on a nondescript Saturday and torture lost souls. Of course this is also the guy who played the dastardly Leland Palmer on Twin Peaks. This is brilliant casting. A lot of famous people have played the devil over the history of motion entertainment, but few have captured the simultaneous sense of childlike glee and horror-movie menace like Wise. Think about it. If you were the devil, you wouldn’t want to run around all day in blood soaked threads wreaking havoc on the earthly peons. You get plenty of that action back in hell. Your time on earth should be way more fun, and we see that fun in his portrayal.

The last act of the show is great because we’re suddenly shifted from funny, work-place comedy to funny Ghostbusters-esque fantasy extravaganza. You got your matching red jumpsuits, there’s a monster, there’s fire and special effects, there’s a magical dirt-devil hand-vac and who could forget the DMV. Fun stuff, right?

Yesterday on NPR’s Fresh Air Wise and pilot director and producer Kevin Smith were interviewed about their roles in the new series. Smith rightly describes how Reaper has by far the most interesting look of anything he’s ever directed (of course this isn’t saying much from a guy has built a career on just setting up the camera and having actors start talking). His mark on the pilot is unmistakable despite having nothing to do with the actual writing of the series (which was created by two women who used to write for the X-Files). The interview is definitely worth 20 minutes of your aural time.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 26th, 2007 at 1:42 pm and is filed under Reaper, The CW. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.