Ah. I'm glad you said this because I now seem to recall an explanation to that effect in one of the more recent episodes too. (Was it Theo, Mason's reap at the pool? I think I remember him saying something in passing about how he "didn't feel a thing" when he died and Mason replying that it was because he removed the soul "before [Theo] hit the diving board.") That explains a lot and makes Mason's feelings of failure a lot clearer and more logical. So the reap needs to be done, not just before the trauma of the death, but before the trauma of being killed. Thanks for the reminder!

(In another random observation, what were a team of Goth Rockers doing at the performance of a pop icon, anyway? Didn't seem to be their demographic.)