Reaper

Meet Satan's favorite tools.


Meet Sam Oliver. He's a college drop-out working at the Home Depot Work Bench with his two best friends, Ben and Sock, and the woman who he's had a crush on since high school, Andi. Then he turns twenty-one and learns that his parents sold his soul to the Devil before he was born. Now he has to work for the Devil as a Bounty Hunter for escaped souls.

One could call it a comedic spiritual successor to Brimstone.

The show ran its second season in May 2009, and was then cancelled for good. There are talks to continue the series as a comic book.

Tropes used in Reaper include:
  • Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Sam, Ben and Sock once had to search the sewers for an escaped soul made of green nuclear-waste goo. The sewers were fairly dank and smelly, but they were easily big enough for three people to walk through.
  • Action Survivor: Pretty much every mortal in the cast.
  • Affably Evil: The Devil seems to treat Sam like a son, giving him advice on dating, although he can be mean, too.
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: The show plays with this trope with Nina. She's a demon, so as she says herself for one thing she can't help but be a little attracted to evil, and for another 'bad boys' are what she's used to by default. She's initially attracted to Ben because of his caring nature, but is put off a little when he gets too clingy. She even lampshades the trope, saying bad boys "treat you like crap, but at least it's exciting". She eventually decides to go back to Ben, but kisses Sam after being attracted to the dark side she thinks he has from being the Devil's son. This later comes back when Nina seems attracted to Morgan, but this turns out to be a ruse so she can lure Morgan to a group of demons so she can kill him.
  • Ambulance Chaser: One of the villains was one who returned from the dead with leech powers. Bloodsucking attorney indeed.
  • Animated Tattoo - One of the escaped souls.
  • Animation Bump: The live-action equivalent: the Pilot was directed by Kevin Smith.
  • Anti-Anti-Christ: The presumed spawn of Satan is fairly depressed to learn that it's his apparent destiny to end the world. He takes comfort from the fact that he's not really all that good at anything, so he'll probably suck at that, too. Subverted in that Sam is not the only son of the Devil. Satan's been around a long time, and has a lot of kids. And he's disappointed in each and every one of them.
  • Archnemesis Dad
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking / Disproportionate Retribution - The old sins.

Devil: Did you know I used to get the people that ate shrimp? Just shrimp. Do you have any idea how unsatisfying that is?

  • Ascended Demon: Had a group of demons who were trying to overthrow Lucifer through being nice. One of them apparently ascended to angelhood after death, though the finale indicates that angels can be pretty ruthless too.
  • Asshole Victim: Sam has to save his old Sadist Teacher from an escaped soul wanting to kill him in revenge, and it would have been better had they just let him get killed first. Fortunately he got his comeuppance in the end.
  • Badass Normal: Sam's friends do not have superpowers, but the three of them are able to capture souls with ease with their know how from the Work Bench.
  • Batman Gambit - The Devil, in "Rebellion," is revealed to have set Sam, Sock, and Ben in their new apartment next door to two demons who happen to be members of a demonic underground dedicated to fighting the Devil with goodness. Because of Sam's special relationship with the Devil, the demons devise a plan to trap the Devil and kill him - which is just what the Devil wants. He kills all the demons in the rebellion (except for one), because the goodness plan would have eventually worked in about 400 years. What's more - The Devil left a series of clues that he easily could have avoided. Giving them gifts meant for the escaped soul that Sam is chasing, and putting his own name on the lease are the big ones. This allows Ben to figure out what's going on exactly one moment too late to stop it.
  • Bavarian Fire Drill - Employed by Sock every once in a while.
  • Bland-Name Product - Work Bench, the Home Depot/Best Buy Fictional Counterpart.
    • Averted elsewhere. Sam's Prius is heavily featured thanks to Toyota paying a promotional consideration, and the first episode features Sam using, what else, a Dirt Devil as a vessel. They also usually don't bother to cover logos on the wide shots when Sam and company are stealing massive amounts of merchandise yet again.
  • Book Dumb: While Sam, Ben, and Sock might not be particularly smart about other things, some of their plans to capture souls are really elaborate and complicated. Ben is slightly smarter than Sam, they are both much smarter than Sock. That being said, none of them are intellectuals.
  • Bounty Hunter: Sam works as a bounty hunter for the Devil: instead of escaped criminals, he catches escaped souls.
  • Bring My Brown Pants: Referenced often.
  • Brother-Sister Incest: Sock and his stepsister.
    • One of Sam's girlfriends, Cady, is implied but never confirmed to be a daughter of the Devil. If she is, that means Sam slept with his own half sister.
  • Butt Monkey: Benny
  • Cain and Abel: Morgan and Sam.
  • California Doubling: The show was filmed in Canada-- Stargate City --and while the series does a good job of showcasing a general location, a couple parts of the show suggest that it might be taking place in Southern California.
    • The license plates are Washington, and there's numerous references to Seattle. At one point someone mentions The Space Needle, and Sam's dad talks about putting up his Seahawks posters.
  • Call Back: In the two episodes "Unseen" and "Cancun", Sam asks the Devil to give him a straight answer and just tell him the truth. In both cases, Sam asks about the Devil's children. In "Unseen" he's asking about Cady, in "Cancun" he's asking about himself.
    • The Call Back also shows how the Devil's relationship with Sam has changed. In the earlier episode "Unseen", the Devil flippantly replies that he'll tell the truth. In "Cancun", the Devil decides to be honest and tells Sam that he's probably going to lie.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: A lot of problems come from Sam's inability to tell Andi about his problem with the devil.
  • Cassandra Truth: Sprong. Though he deserves it.
  • Cast From Lifespan: Kissing a succubus takes years off the end of your life. You temporarily gain super-strength, super-speed, and the good effects of a hundred cups of coffee.
  • Chekhov's Gun: the "Get Out of Hell Free" card used in "Greg, Schmeg" to null and void Greg's deal with the Devil.
  • Chess with Death: Sam plays coin toss with the Devil. He loses. He plays again and is going to win...but an angel CRUSHES HIS HAND. Cause the forces of good don't want him to win. While it's all part of their plan, they really didn't need to be such assholes about it.
  • The Chosen One: Sam is special even for a Reaper - Satan regularly talks to him. He might even be the Devil's son.
    • He's special even as one of the devil's children. It is implied God had a plan for him, but we never find out what it is.
    • Series 2 implies the reason the Devil favours Sam to be his eventual successor over his other children, such as the more obviously evil, Morgan, is that while their personalities are in line with his own and willingly obey him, they don't have any drive to complete the tasks he assigns them. Sam on the other hand, despite his protests, is the only one who actually gets the job done.
  • Christianity Is Catholic: The show tries to make its theological underpinnings as ambiguous as possible, but whenever we get exposition (especially from Ben) the result is clearly Catholic.
  • Chronic Pet Killer: Cady.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Sam's brother disappears after the second episode.
    • Josie vanishes after the first season.
  • Citizenship Marriage: Ben gets into one.
  • Clingy MacGuffin: The vessels.
  • Cold Turkeys Are Everywhere: Alan Townsend escapes from his deal with the devil by winning a poker game. The condition of his release is that he is forbidden to sin again or he goes directly back to Hell. The problem with this is that he's a gambling addict and gambling is a sin. He eventually ends up back in Hell when the devil arranges for his plane to be grounded in Las Vegas.
  • Comedic Sociopathy: Sock!
  • Continuity Creep: Started off as a Soul of the Week show, but about halfway through season one it started with the demon rebellion arc and examining the thorny questions of who Sam's dad is most likely candidate is The Devil himself.
  • Cursed with Awesome: Subverted. At first it seems like the devil owning Sam's soul looks like the best thing that's ever happened to him: he gets a cool job as a hunter of escaped souls, powers specially designed for each soul so he shouldn't have too much trouble with them, and the big guy's inside advice on how to get laid. However, the devil also occasionally screws with Sam's life just for the hell of it, and he can't say anything about it to the girl he really loves since it would jeopardize her ownership of her own soul.
  • Cut Short
  • Dangerous Sixteenth Birthday: The 21st birthday is the dangerous one.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Tony, as well as most of the other fallen angels.
    • And Sam, as the son of the Devil.
  • Dartboard of Hate: Sam, Sock and Ben have one of Ted.
  • Deadpan Snarker: sometimes Sock and Ben, always the Devil. Occasionally Gladys and Andi.
  • Deal with the Devil: The protagonist's parents' Deal with the Devil before he was born forces him to work for Satan as the title character.
  • Depraved Bisexual: The Devil admits to "swinging both ways".
  • Devil but No God: God is mentioned several times but never appears or intervenes until the end of the series, when an angelic Steve sabotages Sam's attempt to get out of his contract with the Devil. This implies that God actually wants Sam to keep working for the Devil, which might make this a Justified Trope.
  • Devil in Plain Sight: The Devil, appropriately (or strangely) enough, who apparently sets off no alarm bells when he's interacting with humans other than Sam.
  • Diabolus Ex Machina: In the season 2 finale, there is a perfectly logical opportunity to end the series -- Sam will win the contest, he and Andi go free, and the devil is sad. Presumably in order to make way for Season 3, the Diabolus is employed: picking up on some rather vague hanging plot threads, an angel comes out of nowhere and ruins everything by breaking Sam's hand. And then the show got canceled.
  • Discriminate and Switch:

Sock: Yes, Steve and Tony smell terrific, and yeah, they've got great taste in beer, but They. Are. *oh-so-short pause* Demons.[1]

  • Disproportionate Retribution: A bunch of rebellious demons set up a human sacrifice so that Sam can get out of his deal with the Devil. When Sam protests, saying he won't send an innocent soul to Hell in his place, Tony contends that the guy isn't innocent, he's a drug dealer who tried to sell him weed in the park.

Tony:It's a gateway drug!

Devil: Quick question: Quoting Shakespeare--too cliche?
(glances at corpse)
Devil: Nah, he'd totally do that.

  • Hard Gay - Tony in his demon form. Seriously, he is super badass.

Girl runs away.
Tony: They always do that. And it always hurts.

Sam: I need to ask you something, but I need you to promise me you'll tell me the truth.
Devil: Sam, I like you. So I'm going to be honest: I'm probably going to lie to you.

  • Improbable Weapon User - For each job, Sam gets a new vessel to use to capture the escaped soul. They range from the reasonable (e.g. a taser, a whip, a scythe) to the bizarre (e.g. a remote-control toy car, a dove, or bubble solution).
  • Inconvenient Summons - How the Devil meets Sam.
  • Innocent Fanservice Girl: Sock's stepsister is blissfully unaware that he's got the hots for her.
  • Invisible to Gaydar - Tony, sort of. He acts straight most of the time anyway.
  • Ironic Hell: Although we never see it first-hand, apparently this is the case for most souls.
  • Jerkass - The Devil loves screwing with Sam, and it becomes worse when Morgan is in the picture. Morgan fits this as well, although he doesn't realize it.
  • Just Friends - Andi wants to remain just friends with Sam, even when he wants more until she decides to be his girlfriend.
  • Kavorka Man - Sock verges on this from time to time.
  • Kryptonite Factor - The Devil seems nearly omnipotent but has some weaknesses that even humans can exploit. Most notably, he cannot enter a circle without an invitation nor can he see or hear anything that goes on inside. He can also be killed by the sword of the Archangel Michael, though he has that safely hidden away. He is also weakened when people, humans or demons, do good deeds. It's implied that if they had not been killed, Steve's group of rebel demons would have successfully defeated the Devil in 400 years by doing good deeds. For a being that existed long before Earth was created, that probably seemed like a very immediate threat.
  • Left Hanging: Cancellation is a bitch.
  • Like a Badass Out of Hell: Played straight and subverted. Although all the souls are escapees from Hell, implying a certain amount of badass-ness, the fact that Hell is apparently extremely overcrowded means that pretty much anyone can get out if they set their mind to it.
  • Limited Wardrobe: Given their level of income, the main cast has maybe three outfits apiece. Sock is the most noticeable in this regard because one of his shirts is prominently stained.
  • Lock and Load Montage: Starting with the first episode when Sam and Sock suit up to face off against Schmecker, and to varying degrees afterward...always using stuff that happens to be on sale in their place of work.
  • Loophole Abuse: In The Cop, the detective sells his soul for catching five high profile killers. Satan then turns around and gives him four and the fifth ends up the detective shooting himself since he failed to specify what he meant by catch thoroughly enough. Satan admits it was a little sneaky.
  • Meaningful Name: One of the escaped souls is named Jack King, who uses sperm banks to trick women into carrying his children.
  • Monster of the Week - practically all the escaped souls Sam catches are these.
  • Morton's Fork - At the end of the first season, Tony tests if Sam is the son of the Devil by dropping a laundry machine on him. If Sam dies, it proves he's human (but still dead). If Sam uses his demonic powers to save himself, Tony will execute his plan to kill Sam.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Nina. Her demon form... not so much.
  • Mushroom Samba - Sock gets one in the finale. On accident.
  • Narcissist: This is The Devil's weakness. The secret to beating him in a contest is to bring a mirror to the competition ground with you, because The Devil is incapable of not looking at his own reflection.
  • Oh Crap -
    • When The Devil confronts Gladys the DMV Demon about allowing souls to escape from hell, her face says it all.
    • Alan, when he realizes that, the plane he's in is landing in Las Vegas instead of the Vatican, and he's been given $100 in poker chips. And the Devil is right behind him.
  • Omniscient Morality License - Steve breaks Sam's hand to prevent him from winning his rematch with the Devil, citing an undefined greater good and orders from "upstairs".
    • god was using sam to stop some plan of the devil and it required his soul being in the possession of the devil t do so. it was outright hinted through the series that sam was being used as a instrument by god as well as the devil.
  • One-Hour Work Week - The characters do have jobs at the Work Bench (and its one of the major settings), but the boss is so terribly incompetent that they can come to work, clock in, and just leave.
  • The Other Darrin - Ben's grandmother is played by a different actress in season two.
    • Sock's mother's husband, Morris from season 1 to season 2.
  • The Other Marty - Nikki Reed played Andi in the pilot.
  • Our Zombies Are Different.
  • Outlaw Couple: Had a pair of escaped souls in an Outlaw Couple relationship.
  • Plucky Comic Relief - Ben and Sock are often relegated to this role
  • Pointy-Haired Boss - Ted, mild overlap with Bunny Ears Lawyer. While Ted is a jerk that almost no one likes, he seems fairly good at his actual job.
    • Until he gets fired, and for excellent reason.
  • Put on a Bus - Sam's Dad.
    • Sam's ex-girlfriend, Cady, says that she's going to New Mexico for a short amount of time while taking a break with Sam. She never appears in the series again.
  • Refusal of the Call - Sam, in the second episode, tries to leave the vessel behind. It follows him.

Ben: You put it on a truck to Delaware? You think that'll work?
Sam: Can you find Delaware on a map?
Ben: ...good point.

  • Relationship Upgrade - Sam and Andi and Sock and Josie in the episode "Rebellion."
  • Satan - self explanatory
  • Scream Discretion Shot - Subverted. The shot pulls back and you hear a scream, but the person doing the screaming is extremely happy.
  • Screwed by the Network - CW According to The CW = Quality Programming < Impractical Targeting of Particular Audience
  • Shirtless Scene - several. The most gratuitous was Ben in the second-to-last episode. Absolutely necessary for the plot.
  • Shout-Out - The premise owes more than a bit to Ghost Rider, but there's a lot of smaller nods as well, most blatantly to Ghostbusters in the first and third episodes.
    • One episode deals with a soul of an assassin named Leon.
      • The assassin is named after the actual assassin of President Mckinley, Leon Czolgosz, making this more of a Historical In-Joke
  • Small Name, Big Ego - Ted Gallagher. Especially funny when the trope was still called Ted Baxter.
  • Stealth Pun - Episode 4: The Monster Of The Week is a woman scorned, and controls a swarm of bees.
  • Stigmatic Pregnancy Euphemism: Sock attempts to cheer Sam up by telling him a story about a girl he knew in 11th grade who got shipped off to convent school for getting pregnant in high school.
  • Summoning Ritual: Subverted: You can summon the Devil by calling him on his cell. (The area code is Phoenix.)
  • Super Slave Market: Sam and his friends spend as much time dealing with the incompetent management and obnoxious customers of The Work Bench as they do chasing down escaped damned souls. It's a toss-up which job is worse.
  • Tarot Troubles: Villain of the Week tarot reader lady understood that Sam is working for Satan by drawing several devil cards in a row.
  • There Is Only One Bed: Deliberately invoked by Sock when he and everybody went to the mining town to find the soul to get with Kristen. It works.
  • Title Drop - Sam is referred to as a "bounty hunter" for most of the series. Only once is he ever called a "Reaper."
  • Toad Licking - One the escapees from Hell was a stoner whose preferred method of getting high was licking toads. Fittingly, his demonic power was having a prehensile, Overly Long Tongue.
  • Tonight Someone Dies: The season one finale was heavily promoted as, "Someone Will Die". However, it seems that this death is the main character's (Sam's) dad, buried alive and presumed dead by the characters. In the last few minutes Sam's mom seems to have dug the still-alive man out of the ground. In a later episode, it was relieved that the commercials were technically correct. Sam's dad is no longer alive. Apparently Exact Words matter when making a Deal with the Devil.
  • Too Dumb to Live - Especially in the early episodes, Sam frequently decides it's a good idea to tell the Prince of Darkness off to his face. Then again, if you could do this and get away with it (as Sam obviously can), wouldn't you?
    • He is also frequently shocked and offended that Satan, known as the Father of Lies, would lie to him.
    • Not to mention how frequently Sam trusts Sock, of all people, with aspects of his job.
    • Sam's parents are the worst of the whole bunch for thinking they could trick the DEVIL. You didn't honestly expect the Prince of Lies to play fair did you?
    • Sam announcing to the escaped souls that he's a bounty hunter. Because, you know, element of surprise is overrated.
  • Trickster Mentor: The Devil to Sam.
  • Tropaholics Anonymous:
    • The Devil runs an AA meeting to promote relapse.
    • The demon resistance under Steve also ran a meeting to talk about their attempts to do good and avoid evil. Sample day: Did some recycling, put quarters in a stranger's parking meter, almost ate a child.
  • Unwitting Pawn: Sam, constantly. He plays a major role in undoing the demon rebellion. As the series progresses, though, he becomes more savvy and sometimes comes out ahead.
  • Viewer Stock Phrases: If you watch Reaper, you might've said some of the following things once or twice....
    • "Damn it, Sock!"
    • "Yep, they're gonna die."
    • "Why do they keep falling for that trick?"
  • Villains Blend in Better: In one episode, the next escaped-from-hell soul that the protagonist Sam must capture is a thirteenth-century Mongolian warrior. Sam's employer urges him to hurry lest the Mongolian adapt to our world well enough to start conquering it. It never goes that far, but after the heroes lose the Mongolian for several days, he's wearing an expensive tailored suit by the time they catch up with him. Subverted in that he's still a roaring, raving and destructive brute attacking Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese restaurants. Doubly subverted when the heroes attempt to repeat a previously successful trick and scare the Mongolian with the ringing of a cell phone. The Mongolian grins and shows them his brand-new Bluetooth head-set.
  • Walking Wasteland: Cady. She's mostly a nice girl, though there have been hints of Psychotic Lover tendencies, but flowers and small animals die in her presence. She may or may not be the devil's daughter.
  • Weapons That Suck: In the first episode, Sam is given a demonic dirt devil vacuum in order to recapture a soul that escaped Hell.
  • Where Everybody Knows Your Flame - Sam meets the Devil here.
  • Will They or Won't They? - Sam and Andi until "Coming to Grips"
  • Woman Scorned: Dumping an ordinary woman is bad enough. Dumping a demoness who's got a crush on you and is really, really trying to overcome her murderous cannibalistic urges is criminally and suicidally insane!
  • Word of God tells us what the big plan was for the show. Sam's dad was really his dad. He was originally a demon who fell for Sam's mom (the "sickness" he came down with was love) and made a deal with Satan to be turned into a human. However, the Prince of Darkness couldn't transform him completely, which is why he couldn't die. One of the conditions of the deal was that he could never allow Sam to learn the truth, hence why he burned the pages referencing who his father was. As the son of a demon and a human, Sam was a candidate for the Anti Christ, but he also has the potential to destroy the Devil, which is why Satan keeps him close: He's trying to influence Sam to become evil, thus guaranteeing that he becomes the Antichrist. Knowing this, Steve's comment in the series finale that breaking his hand was for the greater good: God was planning to have Sam remain close to the Devil, ensuring that he could gain his trust and stay close enough to destroy him.
  • The Worm That Walks: A woman made of bugs.
  • You Are Not Alone: The last line of the series, followed by a reveal that leaves Sam and Andi speechless.
  • You Can't Fight Fate: One guy manages to weasel out of his Deal with the Devil. The Devil gets his soul anyway.
  1. ↑ They're also gay...
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