I Fear for the Reaper
My review of the new CW show Reaper:
Oh Kevin Smith. . . you're so genuine, and geeky, and you so know how to reference all our favorite pop culture moments to humorous effect. Buffy, Ghostbusters, James Bond. . . it was all in there. And it's definitely a lovable ploy - boy's parents sell his soul to the devil, he in turn has to send evil souls back to hell. It's like Buffy meets Dead Like Me meets Clerks (the protagonist and his buddy are slackers living at home and working at a kind of Home Depot).
Some moments were outstandingly funny: After trying to ask out a girl, our hero asks his buddy to punch him in the face. Instead, the friend pats him on the back with the most perfect timing. . .I was laughing out loud through the first five minutes.
But then the flaws started to show.
1) The show needs a bigger effects budget. It's a little painful when you can practically see the strings jerk as a guy flies across the soundstage. Ew.
2) I just saw a phrase used to describe the flaws in another new scifi show, "Journeyman" - the reviewer said it "lacked a natural science fiction logic." I think the same is true here. The hero has ample logic to push him into his first soul-sucking mission - an endangered elementary school, his mother's immortal soul, superpowers handed to him by the devil. . . yet he ends up going after the bad guy largely cause he has nothing better to do. He has every reason to keep his night job secret, yet arbitrarily decides to tell two buddies, and leave out their hot female friends (because they're girls? so there can be a tearful reveal later in the season?) - the classic hero-discovers-powers stages of grief are missing - maybe because we've been so inundated with hero culture that it's assumed that we know what happens next. We can skip ahead to the celebratory ham.
Oh well, they've got a while to go yet - I'm holding out hope that the solid writing will win out over evil. Cause it's a damn cute show.
p.s. I'm currently watching Cane. My review? 10pm is waaay too late for this much talking. Seriously.
Oh Kevin Smith. . . you're so genuine, and geeky, and you so know how to reference all our favorite pop culture moments to humorous effect. Buffy, Ghostbusters, James Bond. . . it was all in there. And it's definitely a lovable ploy - boy's parents sell his soul to the devil, he in turn has to send evil souls back to hell. It's like Buffy meets Dead Like Me meets Clerks (the protagonist and his buddy are slackers living at home and working at a kind of Home Depot).
Some moments were outstandingly funny: After trying to ask out a girl, our hero asks his buddy to punch him in the face. Instead, the friend pats him on the back with the most perfect timing. . .I was laughing out loud through the first five minutes.
But then the flaws started to show.
1) The show needs a bigger effects budget. It's a little painful when you can practically see the strings jerk as a guy flies across the soundstage. Ew.
2) I just saw a phrase used to describe the flaws in another new scifi show, "Journeyman" - the reviewer said it "lacked a natural science fiction logic." I think the same is true here. The hero has ample logic to push him into his first soul-sucking mission - an endangered elementary school, his mother's immortal soul, superpowers handed to him by the devil. . . yet he ends up going after the bad guy largely cause he has nothing better to do. He has every reason to keep his night job secret, yet arbitrarily decides to tell two buddies, and leave out their hot female friends (because they're girls? so there can be a tearful reveal later in the season?) - the classic hero-discovers-powers stages of grief are missing - maybe because we've been so inundated with hero culture that it's assumed that we know what happens next. We can skip ahead to the celebratory ham.
Oh well, they've got a while to go yet - I'm holding out hope that the solid writing will win out over evil. Cause it's a damn cute show.
p.s. I'm currently watching Cane. My review? 10pm is waaay too late for this much talking. Seriously.