The Collector
The Collector is a Canadian television series that was created by Ali Marie Matheson and John Cooksey. It lasted three seasons, originally airing from 2004 to 2006.
Premise
The show followed the adventures of Morgan Pym, a 14th-century monk who, after selling his soul to the Devil, became a soul collector, working for the Devil rather than going to Hell himself. (See Christianity in SF)
When the series begins, Morgan is working in Vancouver in the 21st Century. After meeting a dying prostitute named Maya, who reminds Morgan of his long-dead lover Katrina, Morgan asks the Devil to allow him to offer his clients a chance at redemption in the last 48 hours before the end of their deals. The Devil, who has a soft spot for Morgan, agrees, if only to get additional enjoyment out of seeing those clients struggle against impossible odds.
Maya makes a miraculous recovery from AIDS, and becomes entangled with Morgan's life from that point on, as she struggles against drug addiction and the trauma of past abuses.
A journalist named Jeri Slate picks up Morgan's trail of dead clients and begins to investigate his connection to those deaths. Jeri's autistic son, Gabe, also seems mysteriously connected to Morgan.
Devil of the Week
The part of the Devil is played by a different actor every week, thus assuming both male and female bodies of various races and ages at different times.
However, the personification of the Devil with whom Morgan originally made his deal, and later trained as a soul collector, was male, so Morgan consistently refers to the Devil in the masculine, even when the Devil is in female form.
(And they have quite a slashy relationship.)
Episodes
See: List of The Collector episodes
Cast
- Chris Kramer as Morgan Pym
- Carly Pope as Maya Kandinski (season 1-2)
- Sonya Salomaa as Maya Kandinski (season 2-3)
- Ellen Dubin as Jeri Slate
- Aidan Drummond as Gabriel Slate
- Christine Chatelain as Taylor Slate (seasons 2-3)
- Ona Grauer as Katrina (recurring)
- Colin Cunningham as the Nuremberg Devil / Narrator
Notes
The regular cast always consisted of at least two female regulars to one (in seasons 1-2) or two (season 3) male regulars, thus achieving a gender parity rarely seen in genre television, although not always meeting the Rule, since Kramer's character was the pivot of most of the interactions in the series, and therefore often the topic of conversation between female characters.
Due to contractual reasons, Carly Pope could not continue as a regular after season 1. Sonya Salomaa replaced her in the role of Maya early in season 2.
As has been mentioned above, the part of the Devil was interpreted by a different actor in almost every episode. The Nuremberg Devil, played by Colin Cunningham, provided the narration to the opening credits of seasons 1 and 2, and made recurring appearances in flashback sequences.
External links
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