Early on in Reaper‘s run, there were worries about how they would keep the show from falling into a ‘soul of the week’ formula. Over the last 20 episodes, they’ve done a nice job mixing things up. We’ve seen the evil monster type, the charismatic dealers, and even those that were nothing more than an afterthought.
This week though, we had something different yet again – a soul that managed to beat the system. Somehow, Billy Boyland (Jake Sandvig) managed to escape the Devil’s grasp. Along the way, Ben conquered one of his fears, and we might have seen the conclusion to the Sock and Kristen story.
Starting with Billy, how did he manage to dodge The Ender? And, sidebar, did The Ender immediately make you think ‘dementor‘? For lack of a better explanation, I’m going with Ben’s answer for now. What Billy and Cindy (Claudette Mink) had was true love and Jerry has no dominion over that. It made for an interesting twist, and also dovetails nicely into the bigger story of Sam trying to get out from under his contract.
The courtship also provided some good laughs with Billy’s assertion that “It’s not just about me. It’s about Cindy’s pleasure, too. It says so right on the condom box.” And Sock’s perfect love den that included, of all things, the music of Extreme. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be, and Morgan crushed Sam’s hopes yet again, bouncing Billy back below.
Speaking of that bigger picture … it wasn’t much, but there was at least some acknowledgment of Alan this week. A bit of a strange coincidence that Billy happened to be buried in the same cemetery where Alan works, but it did make for a nice reveal.
I have a suspicion that we’re going to have to wait a little longer before getting really involved with that story, but it’s good to know it hasn’t just been forgotten. Also worth noting is that it happened while Andi was there. I’m guessing that trying to get Sam out of his contract is what will send them on the latest upswing of their yo-yo romance.
And then there’s Sock and Ben. I was a little disappointed at first, when we heard that Mrs. Wysocki and Morris had just moved out. Thankfully, they were still in the picture. Sock’s meeting with Morris was everything you would have expected it to be, right down to telling him how he made sweet love to Kristen. Yikes. That, of course, led to Kristen deciding to go back to Japan, leaving as a woman who has “discovered her sexuality, and her ability to run an extended stay hotel.” I’m good with that. That story seems to have run its course. As for Ben and Nina, it continues to be a crazy story, but I’m infatuated with her.
Some final notes:
Clacked by Brett Love 
on Apr 15, 2009 @ 09:00 EST5EDT
