The CW Source

It all comes down the question of nature vs. nurture. Are we born evil or good or are we raised to embody one of those traits? This week’s episode of Reaper tackled this idea with the appearance of a bouncing, bubbly baby girl…from Hell. Sam and the boys capture the baby’s vampiric mother, who escaped from the fiery pits to give birth on Earth, and then are left with caring for the little one. After a few clichéd scenes showcasing the lads’ ineptitude when it comes to punching the clock on baby duty, our old demon friend Tony shows up. Seems Tony and Steve thought about adopting before Steve’s untimely death, so it’s almost a no-brainer that Tony would readily agree to take the baby off of Sam’s hands to raise her as his own.

It’s the perfect plan until the Devil demands the baby back. Sam tries to kidnap her from Tony, but just can’t go through with it -- she looks so angelic! The Devil’s claims that the baby is destined for Hell must be wrong and besides, Sam would have to find a way past Tony. Demons have a paternal instinct to protect their young, too. Ben comes up with the brilliant idea to baptize the baby, thereby eradicating the Devil’s claim on her. Things go awry at the church and Sam must stand up to the Devil and plead for the baby’s soul. Sam’s use of reverse psychology on the Devil convinced us, but the Devil knows when he’s being tricked. In a strange twist of events, we’re not sure of the outcome of this exchange. Did the Devil take the baby back or did Sam return her to Tony? Leaving this loose end just hanging seems like a mistake, but maybe we’ll revisit the child later.

The baby was really just a metaphor for Sam. Our hero must contend with his zombie father and Andi finding out about Sam’s genetic link to the Devil. (Thanks to Morgan’s futile attempts at wooing Andi, he slips the news about sharing a father with Sam, which puts Andi right over the edge). Andi must decide if Sam is inherently evil just as Sam must ponder the same question. Does being the son of the Devil make a person bad? The dad Sam knows and loves may not be his biological father, but the person Sam is today can be credited to him. Does biology erase a lifetime of teaching right from wrong?