I finished watching Dead Like Me, so I suppose I could write a bit about the Grim Reaper scenario it presents. Basically, random few folks are made Reapers when they die and have to harvest one or more souls per day, while actually being physically re-incarnated and having to support themselves as well. Some steal from the dead, and some get part-time jobs to survive. They only get the power of fast healing and reincarnation from ordinary death type events. The universe they live in is one where accidents don't happen, they have to be set up by Gravelings, a type of deathy gremlin, and where souls don't go anywhere after death without reaper intervention. On the plus side, everyone goes 'to the other side' and there doesn't appear to be a heaven or hell to deal with.
My dislike of the that version of death and souls is that accidents have to be arranged, and all souls have to be manually handled by somebody, and Reapers don't get any powers to help with their job like intangibility or stuff like that.
I suppose I like the version in 'On a Pale Horse' better, where the reaper only has to handle borderline souls and gets powers to do so.
I also think there's enough accidents in the world that occur naturally that they don't need to be arranged. Their version strikes a bit too much of predestination. That's not to say I dislike the series, I just wish the mythos spoke a bit more to me.`
