REAPER: SEASON TWO

I mentioned Supernatural in an aside in that review of The Cleaner you just finished reading, but I referenced that show in my mind almost constantly while watching Reaper: Season Two. I don't mean to give myself full fanboy credit - I'm nowhere near as heavy a fan of Supernatural as many others are - but even with some jovial performances and a handful of engaging story arcs, I couldn't shake the feeling that Reaper is kind of Supernatural-lite, a show with good intentions and a nice finger on the pulse of dark doings, but one that never really gels.

The show's second season continues to follow Oliver (Bret Harrison), a poor sucker whose father sold his soul to the devil (Ray Wise - excellent casting choice, people...) in order to save his own life. Turns out Oliver has to pay for his dad's dubious decision-making by finding folks who escaped from Hell back to Earth and sending them back to Lucifer's fiery underground.

This scenario is all fine and good, but where Supernatural takes their otherworldly adventures and fuses them with character development, Reaper is pretty much one or the other. It has moments of freaky goodness as Oliver and his buddies track down some often quite nasty stuff, but when it comes time for personal emotional interaction - which this second season unfortunately has a lot of - the show literally grinds to a halt.

But whether it's a rock-solid show or not, Ray Wise has work again, and for any Twin Peaks fan, that's a good thing.

Video/Audio: The video presence of Reaper: Season Two is more impressive than its sonic qualities, but for the most part, fans of the series will be happy with the way the show looks here. Flesh tones are accurate and well-defined on the show's 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfers, and black levels are punchy and consistent. Finely detailed texture also comes through nicely - there is often a bit of smear here and there to mention, but it's never too noticeable. And while there's a clarity to dialogue and music in the show's Dolby Digital 5.1 sound mixes, things rarely move into surround territory, leaving these mixes as being strong stereo presences. Sure, when things get loud (explosions, etc.), we get a hint of panoramic soundtrack exploitation, but everything in that regard is pretty few and far between. Not terrible, by any means, but not quite up to snuff.

Supplements: We get a featurette entitled The Devil Made Me Do It: A Look Back at the Making of Reaper (15:00), which is a pretty self-explanatory peek at the show's sophomore season and the trials and tribulations cast and crew members went through in order to get everything done, as well as four deleted scenes and a blooper reel.

Final Thoughts: As with much TV-on-DVD, I can say that if you already like Reaper, this second-season DVD set is going to make you one helluva happy camper. The set's video transfers are great, audio mixes are above-average, and there are a couple of goodies to soak in. Non-devotees might want to rent a few DVDs of the show first and see if there's enough there to merit a purchase.

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