Reaper: It's the great Satan, Pumpkin Sam

Spoilers for the much-improved Halloween episode of �Reaper� coming up just as soon as I figure out whether I still have my copy of Stephen Sondheim�s �Assassins� script...

Just when I was about to write off �Reaper� as a one-episode wonder, along comes an episode that was easily the best since the pilot, full of humor, pathos and tweaks on an already-tired formula. Now, a show about Satan�s minions should consider a Haloween episode a gimme, but the �Reaper� of the last few weeks seemed incapable of rising to the occasion. (I figured, at best, that we�d see Sam go after the soul while dressed as a ballerina or something else humiliating.)

When I�ve complained about the lack of face time for the escaped souls, a character like Leon -- very loosely based, given the real guy�s fondness for anarchism, on Leon Czolgosz -- is exactly what I had in mind. It�s a lot more interesting when Sam�s prey has a personality � compare how Leon dominated the episode while the primary target, the Butcher, was just an afterthought (and the lamest-looking CGI hellhound since Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis at the end of �Ghostbusters�). It helps when you have a very funny guy like Patton Oswalt around, but Leon was entertaining both as himself and as a wedge between Sam and Sock.

Meanwhile, we got the first real growth in Sam�s relationship with the Devil, who (perhaps foolishly) let Sam witness an unguarded moment of his Linus-esque melancholy over the commercialization of Halloween. I don�t know if any other Satan-themed movie or TV show has made that point before (I stopped with �Brimstone� after the pilot), but it�s an astute � and, as beautifully played by Ray Wise, funny � one.

There were some other nice touches throughout, like the shameless Sock�s pumpkin envy, the visits to the DMV both without and then with Gladys, and Ben bonding with yet another animal from Hell. I even found Ted amusing for once with his overenthusiasm for Halloween.

So, one-time fluke thanks to the Halloween inspiration, or a sign that Fazekas and Butters have realized they can�t just stick to the formula every week?