Brimstone (TV series)

Brimstone is an American television series that aired only one partial season on Fox, during the 1998–99 American television season. It features a dead police detective whose mission, as assigned by the Devil, is to return to Hell 113 souls who have escaped to Earth.
In 1983, Ezekiel "Zeke" Stone (Peter Horton) was a New York City Police Robbery-Homicide detective whose wife, Rosalyn, was raped. He tracked down and arrested the offender, Gilbert Jax, who was cleared of the charges. Furious, Stone then secretly murdered Jax. Two months later, Stone was killed in an unrelated incident and went to Hell for murdering Jax. Later in the show it was revealed that it was not the killing itself that condemned Stone to Hell, but the fact he took pleasure in it. Stone died the most decorated cop in east NYC history.
In 1998, a breakout from Hell occurs, led by a 4000-year-old Canaanite priestess named Ashur Badaktu. The Devil explains that, over the centuries, a few souls have escaped (and presumably been returned to) Hell, but nothing of this magnitude, which includes 113 souls. Because the Devil is largely powerless on Earth, he makes a deal with Stone: Stone will be returned to Earth to track down these 113 escapees, and if he can return all of them to Hell (before one of them kills him), he will earn a second chance at life on Earth (and thus, possibly, Heaven). The Devil seems to hinder Stone's work almost as much as he helps it, however, divulging some information but withholding crucial facts or giving only cryptic clues to where Stone will find an escapee, apparently delighting in watching him become more irritable with his interference. It was suggested by an angel (in the episode "It's a Helluva Life", played by John Glover in a dual role) that Stone served God's purpose as well as the Devil's in his former life when he killed his wife's rapist.
Both Stone and his quarry have superhuman powers related to the amount of time each individual had spent in Hell. Being deceased, immortal souls, both Stone and the escapees he chases do not display many of the same physical limitations and weaknesses as the living. Throughout the series, they are shown to be unharmed by traditionally fatal encounters with fire or falling from great heights. They do not bleed, nor do they have a heartbeat. The souls cannot be killed, and injuries can only be inflicted to their eyes (it is shown the Devil can alter this rule somewhat, as he did in the episode "Encore"), by the living or dead. Even with the relatively restricted ways in which a soul can be harmed, as told by the Devil, they can only feel pain if it is inflicted by another escaped damned soul.
Each morning the souls (including Stone) wake up in the clothing they were wearing at their time of death. Any material items they had in their pockets when they died continuously regenerate each morning. In Stone's case, this means he awakens to find his badge, his fully loaded service pistol, and $36.27—the amount of money he was carrying when he was murdered—on his person. This is a not-so-subtle biblical reference. Ezekiel 36:27 says "And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws" which is a succinct summation of Stone's new role. Normally Stone's items (gun, badge, etc.) retain no damage from day to day, even if they are hit by bullets. However this rule is inconsistently applied, as he takes his coat to a tailor in "Repentance", attempting to have it mended on a different day than when the damage occurred.
The Devil informs Stone that because the eyes "are windows to the soul", Stone must pierce the eyes of an escapee to return them to Hell. This rule also applies to Stone himself; however, this was modified by the Devil in a special case when Stone had to return the man who raped his wife. To kill him, Stone had to employ the same rage as he did when he killed the rapist before. If Stone is returned, his mission would be considered a failure; therefore, he would remain in Hell and another person would be chosen to return the fugitive souls. The Devil has taunted Stone by reminding him of this and suggesting that certain escapees would be good replacements. However, in "It's a Helluva Life", an angel hints that the reason Stone was selected is because he was the only soul in Hell suitable for the task and for a second chance at life.
Some escapees have other preternatural powers, such as the ability to control the elements or turn invisible. The Devil explains that the longer one spends in Hell, the more Hell becomes a part of them. Even though Stone himself describes them, literally (in the opening narration) as "the most vile creatures", some of the escapees seem to be no more evil than Stone himself. He wears the name and pictographs of these 113 souls as tattoos over his body. As each soul is sent back, their corresponding tattoo disappears in a burning fashion, causing Stone considerable pain.
Among Stone's allies are Maxine (Lori Petty), the woman who owns the hotel where he stays, and Father Cletus Horn (Albert Hall), a blind priest who eventually learns of Stone's mission. Stone occasionally worked with police detectives Ash (Teri Polo) and Fraker (Scott Lawrence). Much of the series' internal conflict was generated by Stone's inability to stay away from his wife, Rosalyn (Stacy Haiduk), who was still alive. Near the end of the season/series, Ash was revealed to be the priestess who engineered the escape from Hell by using her implied romance with the Devil, though he insisted he never loved anyone but God. She also became infatuated with Stone.
Episodes were originally aired out of order; for example, the episode “Poem” was filmed to be episode 2 but instead it was aired as episode 5.
Since cancellation, Brimstone reruns have aired on Syfy (originally the Sci Fi Channel) in the United States from the summer of 1999 onward. The reruns have no set schedule, but are usually aired in marathons during the channel's seasonal events like "Creatureland", "Inhumanland" and "The 31 Days of Halloween". Chiller also began airing reruns, on July 28, 2007. It currently airs in sporadic weekday marathons, like Syfy, and has no set airing schedule.
Notes:
Brimstone was 13th-ranked on TVShowsOnDVD.com's list of unreleased shows until the website closed on May 25, 2018. On September 15, 2008, during a Home Theater Forum chat, Warner Home Video representatives said that "Despite the wonderful work of Peter Horton and John Glover, there are no plans at this time to release Brimstone".