06.00 Reaper
08.00 House
Reaper. Season 2, Episode 13. "The Devil & Sam Oliver" Sam challenges The Devil to a contest, Nina agrees to an exorcism.
The final episode of the season brings the simmering plotlines to a conclusion: Sam figures out how to beat The Devil, Andi comes to terms with his evil lineage and Ben and Nina's relationship faces a major crisis. While Sam, Ben and Sock are the main characters of the show it is their lady friends (Nina and Andi) who come best in this episode. Both are written as heroic, selfless and very much in love with the men in their lives.
The character of Andi has been very well written this season. I thought they were making a mistake when she broke up with Sam, but I was wrong. They kept her on the show and kept her as an asset to the team. Her sacrifice in this final episode was an excellent twist. You could see it coming, but it was still a dramatic turning point for the character. Nina, likewise, prepares to make a sacrifice for the man she loves. And, for a light hearted show, her exorcism was successfully scary/thrilling.
Ray Wise and Bret Harrison make a great team in every episode, but seeing them do their thing when their characters are duelling was fantastic. Some of the best moments in Reaper have been when Sam 'steps up' and acts like a hero, and this is no exception. Seeing him go head to head with his foe was thrilling.
Not that it worked.
But the final scene was a wonderful example of why this is such a wonderful and unique show. The team sits side by side, utterly defeated, yet they are happy. Happy in themselves and happy to keep trying.
Matters of evil and evil-doers are not as weighty on this show as they are on shows like Buffy. In this world, the hero always has time to for a beer with his friends and he holds down a mundane job and... he's pretty okay with his lot in life. Yes, there are few things he would fix (and, to his credit, tries to fix) but he just gets up and gets on with his life no matter what.
I loved the ending, and I love Andi for her reaction. Supportive and... likable.
And, if that has to be the last time we see these characters, I feel that (for all their problems) they are in a pretty good place and they will go on just fine.
Reaper has been cancelled, but it's chances of it returning in syndication look very good.
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House. Season 4, Episode 24. "Both Sides Now" Feeling pretty darn good about the sex he recently had with Cuddy, House tries to cure a man who has to deal with a left arm that has a mind of it's own.
A case-of-the-week that's straight from the comic books and a very predictable twist doesn't stop this one from being a very enjoyable episode. The case-of-the-week has a very touching scenes (where the arm is suddenly nice to the girlfriend) and the twist is fun to watch, fun to watch how they pull it off and explain it in the final minutes.
It's clever and it's fun. I'd be more impressed if they had done it over a few weeks. NCIS did a season-long twist that totally worked. They showed us snippets of something (Tony's relationship) and the audience filled in the rest. Incorrectly, as it turned out. House could have done that, I feel, and really pulled off something special. Instead they did it over the course of a few episodes. A few very enjoyable episodes, yes, but - surely - they could have reached a bit higher?
Highlight? Reaper (thrilling)
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Thu, May 28, 09 - Reaper, House
