Reaper: Follow the White Rabbit

"Adapt or die, Sam," says the Devil (Ray Wise) at one point during the very funny "Dirty Sexy Mongol" last night, and the same could be said for the Reaper series, as it still struggles to find an audience in its second season. While the series maintained its numbers from last week's premiere, it's still the CW's sacrificial lamb left to Idol's slaughter.

'Adapt' was the theme for the episode, with the escaped demon being the infamous mogul Genghis Kahn, who quickly adapts to his surroundings, becoming a corporate raider, Bluetooth tech and all. But the symbolism of Ben's white rabbit should not be overlooked. Usually, a white rabbit means innocence (hello, Ben!) and rebirth, while the act of following the rabbit is a metaphor for waking up to the reality of your situation (see Alice in Wonderland, The Matrix and Lost). The somewhat innocent Reaper has now hopefully followed that rabbit and woken up to the reality of the series' surroundings and is now ready to kick some butt. This episode reminded me a lot of how Buffy was when it was firing on all cylinders, and I'm hopeful that it means a return to the demon rebellion story while Sam searches for Alan and the hope of getting out from under the thumb of his devilish father.

Musically, the series continues to impress, having fun with the "Sock wants to sleep with his stepsister" storyline. First there was the "I'm wrestling with my brother!" bit to Santogold's "Lights Out," which made me thirsty for a Bud Light. Then, as Line Out warned us, The Saturday Knights' "Foreign Affair" made an appearance. It was a short, but oh so sweet cameo for the song, which fit in with Sock's desire for his Asian relative. After that, Sock's dance-off, pants-off was hilariously choreographed to Chromeo's "Fancy Footwork," forever linking the image of Tyler Labine's dancing to the song in my head.

Playlist: Reaper - Episode 2.02
1. "Lights Out" - Santigold
2. "Foreign Affair" - The Saturday Knights
3. "Fancy Footwork" - Chromeo
4. "A Little More of Me" - Juliana Cole
5. "Ride Them Tails" - Brian Desveaux

Previously: Family Bonding (Episode 2.01)

Chuck: Semper Fidelis

The second season of Chuck has worked much better due to some minor retooling, namely, putting less focus on the relationship between Chuck and Morgan. Last night marked a return to that Chuck/Morgan focus, but because we haven't seen it week after week (after week,) it actually was quite refreshing. "Chuck vs. the Best Friend" also worked well in it's incorporation of the Buy More into the mission, something that's not always so easy to do gracefully. Add to that the 8 Mile homage of a side story for Jeff and Lester's band Jeffster, and you have probably the best episode of the new year for the sophomore series.

Which makes it all the more unfortunate that "Best Friend" was pre-empted by President Obama's address a couple weeks ago, as it forced NBC to air it out of order (flipping it with "vs the Suburbs,") blemishing an otherwise fine pair of episodes. The main issue I had with last Valentine's day episode was the added layer of awkwardness between Chuck and Sarah that went unexplained. The touching moment they share near the end of the episode carries over into last week's mission in the suburbs. Seeing this retroactively makes Chuck's heartbreak more real, but also makes it more annoying that they aired these episodes out of order. Would folks really be that put off by having Chuck's Valentine's Day episode a week after the holiday?

Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti
I seek to cure whats deep inside, frightened of this thing that I've become

I enjoyed Jeffster's take on Toto's "Africa," in part because it provided an interesting lift to the rekindling of the Anna/Morgan pairing, and also because it provide the opportunity to remember just how bad some of the lyrics were to this song. Elsewhere, in a Morgan/Chuck flashback we were treated to some classic Jane's Addiction ("Been Caught Stealing,") which served no purpose other than to illustrate the time.

The other choices, however, worked better in telling more of the story. Chromeo's "Momma's Boy" provided a nice backdrop to the geek surveilance being laid out on behalf of that *momma's boy Morgan. But it was Benji Hughes' "Why Do These Parties Always End the Same Way" that provided the most succinct commentary on Chuck, pointing out (with a nudge and a wink) the inevitability of something going wrong, as it goes with any party that Chuck attends in the series. The ending here isn't nearly as bad as in the song, though ("We need to call the cops, somebody killed the DJ!")

*Speaking of Morgan's mom, you can add her new relationship with Big Mike as another casualty of the episode flip-flop. I've been assured that they do indeed pick up that storyline again next week.

Playlist: Chuck - Episode 2.14
1. "Been Caught Stealing" - Jane's Addiction
2. "Momma's Boy" - Chromeo
3. "Why Do these Parties Always End the Same Way" - Benji Hughes
4. "Africa" - Toto

Previously: How do I work this? (Episode 2.13)

Ear on TV: Week of October 15

On paper, it's a bit of a thin week, but there's still plenty of treasures out there to be had. On Letterman Thursday night, Band of Horses perform "Is There a Ghost" from their second full length, Cease to Begin, and it will be interesting to compare it to last year's network television debut on the same program, where front man Ben Bridwell was noticeably nervous.

Meanwhile, two dance-oriented duos make their network television debut this week. First up is the Austin electro-dance rock duo Ghostland Observatory who appear on Conan Tuesday night, and when they perform "Sad Sad City" the studio audience won't be able to stay in their seats. Same goes for Chromeo when they appear on The Jimmy Kimmel Show Wednesday night, as their electro-funk, while sometimes ironic, is always irresistable. They claim to be "the only successful Arab/Jewish collaboration since the beginning of time," so there's that as well.

Elsewhere, Spoon is becoming nearly ubiquitous, hitting Conan Thursday night. Thank goodness Spoon are at a point where they can dictate which songs they play, as they have yet to play the same song twice, to my knowledge. One can only guess which song from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga they'll play this week.

Playlist: Picks for the week
Monday, October 15
SYNDICATION: The Ellen Degeneres Show: Angie Stone
Tuesday, October 16
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Sondre Lerche
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: PJ Harvey
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Ghostland Observatory
Wednesday, October 17
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Chromeo
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Mute Math
Thursday, October 18
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Talib Kweli
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Band of Horses
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: They Might Be Giants
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Spoon
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Teddybears (REPEAT)
Friday, October 19
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Every Time I Die
IFC: The Henry Rollins Show: The Blood Brothers
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Brother Ali
Saturday, October 20
NBC: Saturday Night Live: Kanye West (REPEAT)
PBS: Austin City Limits: Femi Kuti

tags: music, television, soundtrack, talk shows, spoon, chromeo, ghostland observatory, band of horses, indie rock, rhapsody