SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

Welcome to Digital Digest! We're quickly approaching the fall TV season, but before we get there, we've still got a busy few of hits from last season coming to DVD, and today, we review one of those with our review of Revenge - The Complete Second Season. Let's get going!

DIGITAL NEWS

Complete series sets are becoming the "in" thing now (in fact, we counted eighteen significant ones coming between now and the end of the year, and that isn't even counting ones that have yet to be announced), and Lionsgate isn't going to be left out. In fact, they have three on the way, all on November 5. First up are releases of Saved by the Bell and Boy Meets World. Also, they'll have a Blu-ray release of Weeds. All of these releases will include new special features that were not on the previous releases. It appears that none of these are available to pre-order just yet.

On the other hand, there are a few other releases that ARE available to pre-order that haven't exactly been announced, and also seem to lack firm release dates! In the past week, pre-order listings went up for The Mod Squad and Diagnosis Murder on amazon.com. Neither of these are the complete series releases that are still in the works, but rather half season releases. Among the releases for The Mod Squad are The Mod Squad - Season 3, Volume 1; The Mod Squad - Season 3, Volume 2; The Mod Squad - Season 4, Volume 1; and The Mod Squad - Season 4, Volume 2. For Diagnosis Murder, we have Diagnosis Murder - The Fourth Season, Part 1; Diagnosis Murder - The Fourth Season, Part 2; Diagnosis Murder - The Fifth Season, Part 1; Diagnosis Murder - The Fifth Season, Part 2. Dates are given for these releases on the listings, some of which have already passed even... but none of these are actually out yet. These releases are coming from VEI, which has a tendency to not exactly give firm release dates, but in any event, we would expect these before the end of the year.


UPCOMING WEEK PREVIEW

Tuesday (August 20) has one sitcom release, with Warner Home Video's release of Mike & Molly - The Complete Third Season. For those interested in dramas, ABC has Revenge - The Complete Second Season and NBC has Parenthood - Season Four. We have a review of Revenge today in Digital Digest.


BLOG FEATURE REVIEW



Blog DVD Review: Revenge - The Complete Second Season (ABC Studios, $45.99)
by Pavan

It's her next move! Emily Thorne's enemies may be the same, but her mission now takes on a suspenseful twist. In the second season of ABC's smash hit series, new faces from the past will complicate the already tangled web of deceit and divert Emily from her path to vengeance. Relive every biting and brilliant episode of ABC's Revenge: The Complete Second Season, complete with all 22 action-filled episodes and never-before-seen bonus features that will lure fans even deeper into the drama. This season, Emily will stop at nothing to uncover the secrets of her father's murder, but the web of deceit is larger than she ever imagined. Now, with her mother (guest star Jennifer Jason Leigh) in the picture, even more will be revealed. Watch the sparks fly as Daniel and Ashley begin a torrid romance, while stunning events change the face of Amanda and Jack's relationship, and new faces mean more trouble for Emily and Victoria, while a mysterious man from Emily's past adds to her complications. Feel the power of television's most seductive series, when this season arrives on DVD!

The second season stars Emily VanCamp as Emily Thorne/Amanda Clarke, Madeleine Stowe as Victoria Grayson, Josh Bowman as Daniel Grayson, Henry Czerny as Conrad Grayson, Gabriel Mann as Nolan Ross, Ashley Madekwe as Ashley Davenport, Nick Wechsler as Jack Porter, Connor Paolo as Declan Porter, Barry Sloane as Aiden Mathis and Christa B. Allen as Charlotte Grayson. However, there are many recurring stars such as James Tupper as David H. Clarke, Margarita Levieva as Amanda Clarke/Emily Thorne, Roger Bart as Leo "Mason" Treadwell, Dilshad Vadsaria as Padma Lahari, J.R. Bourne as Kenny Ryan, Michael Trucco as Nate Ryan, Wendy Crewson as Helen Crowley, Jennifer Jason Leigh as Kara Wallace Clarke, Emily Alyn Lind as young Amanda Clarke, and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Satoshi Takeda. Special guests include Collins Pennie as Eli James, Adrienne Barbeau as Marion Harper, Jessica Tuck as Allison Stoddard, Todd Grinnell as Dr. Thomas, E.J. Bonilla as Marco Romero, Juju Chang, and James Morrison as Gordon Murphy.

Season 2 might have had a sophomore slump in between but it started and ended with a bang. If you gave up on it because of the slump, shame on you. But now you can catch-up and see the dramatic season finale, which will hook you back in for sure. The series moved from Wednesdays at 10pm to a new night and time of Sundays at 9pm. The move started off very well and the show was doing better than season one, but then airing against major events in the winter hurt the series for its second half of the season. Once again, now is the time to catch-up before it returns on Sept. 29! Emily VanCamp is great and easy on the eyes while Madeline Stowe should have been nominated for an Emmy. Every episode has to be seen in order, but I will try to pick the most memorable episodes. WARNING: Don't read the descriptions if you have yet to finish this season! In the season premiere "Destiny," in the wake of last summer's events in the Hamptons and with the ante even higher, what will Emily's next move be...will she be able to manage her heart and keep her emotions from getting in the way of her resolve to avenge her father? In "Confidence," the Graysons are back in the spotlight and at the center of a media storm once again, while Emily's past continues to haunt her. In "Illusion," the ties that bind Victoria and Conrad are tested as they reaffirm their loyalties and commitment to each other, while the all-too-knowing Mason Treadwell digs deeper as Emily and Amanda struggle to keep their pasts a secret.

Skipping to "Union," emotions run deep when Jack and Amanda's wedding reminds Emily of what could have been, while hings for Daniel get complicated at Grayson Global, and Conrad begins a new chapter. In the very next episode "Sacrifice," even with threats on their family closing in, the Graysons are in rare form as they put on a bold showing at their annual Labor Day bash, while Jack and Amanda sail off on their honeymoon but the seas prove to be deadly, and this time Emily can't control the outcome. In "Masquerade," Hamptonites celebrate Halloween with a glamorous masquerade ball hosted by the Graysons, which is a perfect setting for Emily to drag out Victoria's skeletons, while Jack steps up his revenge plan and finds an unexpected ally, and Aiden makes a bold move with a gruesome conclusion. In "Engagement," Emily plots her next move in her new role as Daniel's fiancee, while Aiden struggles with the re-engagement, while Jack learns more than he bargained for, and desperate times call for desperate measures as Conrad's gubernatorial numbers slip after Victoria's big reveal on Nightline. In part one of the season finale, "Truth," a series of dangerous events has been set in motion and it all comes to a head in one catastrophic moment that will change everyone's lives forever. And in the conclusion, which is probably the best episode of the season, the devastation leads to a heartbreaking death that will send shockwaves down the shoreline and force Emily to take a hard look at the truth and the path of revenge she has embarked on.

Episodes are usually around 43 minutes and unedited, as they should be. There are a few that are shorter but that's how they were originally. Runtimes are below:

Disc 1
1. "Destiny" - 43:05
2. "Resurrection" - 42:50
3. "Confidence" - 42:57
4. "Intuition" - 43:03
5. "Forgiveness" - 43:00

Disc 2
6. "Illusion" - 43:07
7. "Penance" - 43:02
8. "Lineage" - 43:01
9. "Revelations" - 43:04
10. "Power" - 43:04

Disc 3
11. "Sabotage" - 43:00
12. "Collusion" - 43:01
13. "Union" - 42:59
14. "Sacrifice" - 42:58

Disc 4
15. "Retribution" - 43:02
16. "Illumination" - 42:24
17. "Victory" - 42:16
18. "Masquerade" - 42:55

Disc 5
19. "Identity" - 42:40
20. "Engagement" - 43:00
21. "Truth, Part One" - 40:36
22. "Truth, Part Two" - 42:59

The DVD comes in a case held by an outer thin box, similar to the first season set and other ABC Studios sets. The thin outer box is in a maroon red color with some black coloring and has a very cool shot Emily in her "thorn" black dress overlooking the ocean in grey and we have headshots of Jack, Charlotte, Conrad, Victoria, Daniel, Ashley, and Nolan. The series logo is on the top and the complete second season mention is above it. The back of the thin outer box has info on the set and series, with a nice quote from TVLine.com. We have four very cool episodic photos along with a nice shot of Emily in a nice dress with Nolan and Daniel surrounding her. There is also a box showcasing the bonus features as well. When we remove the outer box, we get to the case. The case has the same artwork as the thin box, both cover and back, so everything is the exact same. Inside the case we have a nice cast photo on the panels itself. There is also a disc-by-disc breakdown below the cast photo on the panels listing episode titles per disc. We have an insert placed on the left side, with ads for the upcoming book Schooled in Revenge, The Infinity Infinity Collection from Helzberg Diamonds, the Double Infinity perfume available only at Kohl's and an ad for Scandal. As for the discs themselves, disc one is on a little plastic holder that you can flip like a page in a book. Disc two is on the back of that little plastic holder. Discs three and four are the same way in a second little plastic holder, while disc five is on the right panel itself. All five discs are in the grey ocean style background with the series logo and a character. Disc one holds episodes 1-5 with an image of Emily, disc two holds episodes 6-10 with a shot of Victoria & Conrad, disc three holds episodes 11-14 with a shot of Daniel & Ashley, disc four holds episodes 15-18 with a shot of Nolan & Jack and disc five holds episodes 19-22 with a shot of Declan & Charlotte. Each disc has bonus features, but more on that soon!

The menu design is very Hamptons-y once again! We start off with the double infinity logo then we see a wide shot of Emily's house on the Hampton's beach, just like season one. We also have background music from the show playing and background sounds from the beach once again--very cool. Before the main menu, we have auto trailers. On disc one we have trailers for ABC TV DVDs coming this summer, Castle Season 5 and Once Upon a Time Season 2. Back to the main menu, the options are: Play All, Episode Selection, Bonus Features (or Deleted Scenes), Set Up and Sneak Peeks. Sneak Peeks is only on disc five and has an ABC Image promo and Mary Poppins. Set Up gives us the option for subtitles in English, French, Thai, Chinese, Espanol, and Portuguese. You can also register your DVD here. Bonus Features lists what is available on that particular disc (and sometimes the disc only has deleted scenes, so the label is Deleted Scenes), while Episode Selection gives us an episode number and title. There is different artwork on each submenu along with different background music from the series. All this is sort of similar to the first season DVD and other ABC Studio DVDs.

Video and audio quality are both outstanding, similar to other recent ABC TV DVDs and the first season DVD of this series. We have Digital Dolby 5.1 surround sound and it is perfect. For the video, we are in widescreen (1.78:1), enhanced for 16x9 televisions. It is excellent quality but that is expected for newer/current series. As I keep saying, if anything goes wrong with audio/video for current series, then there is a major problem. Each episode has 7 chapter stops, so it is easy to jump through an episode if you are looking for something in particular. Jump your way through to see all of Emily's nice outfits! We also hear the closing theme once again, as on ABC there are next week's promos playing over the credits. Unless you watch on ABC.com, you never hear it. In general, nothing out of the ordinary here but it is all perfectly done.

There are special features on this set as well and they are once again addicting, too! We have bonus features on every disc, so I always like that. Each disc has deleted scenes from the episodes on the particular disc. I like that layout as we don't have to go to one disc to see them all. Disc one has nine deleted scenes (episode 202: 0:30; episode 203: 1:50, 0:55, and 2:18; episode 204: 0:44 and episode 205: 1:44, 2:23, 1:00 and 1:05). Moving on to disc two, we have three more deleted scenes (episode 207: 1:04 and 0:40; and episode 210: 1:07). Disc two also has audio commentary on the episode "Illusions" (#206) from executive producers Sunil Nayar & Melissa Loy along with writer/co-executive producer Michael Foley. On the first season DVD we only had one audio commentary, but we have more on this set! Disc three has deleted scenes as well with nine more deleted scenes (episode 211: 0:23; episode 212 0:47; episode 213: 0:40, 1:22 and 0:20; and episode 214: 1:33, 1:00, 1:17, and 0:15). This disc also has audio commentary from the episode "Sacrifice" (#214) from executive producer/writer Mark B. Perry, writer/executive story editor Joe Fazzio, and stars Nick Wechsler & Margarita Levieva. This was so fun and interesting to listen to on such a great episode! Disc four has five more deleted scenes (episode 215: 1:16; episode 216: 2:04; episode 217: 0:35 and 0:44; and episode 218: 1:21). And finally we have ten more deleted scenes on disc five (episode 219: 0:40; episode 220: 1:41, 1:28, 1:09, and 2:14; episode 221: 0:47; and episode 222: 0:23, 1:25, 0:49 and 0:41). If you're counting at home, we have a total of 36 deleted scenes! WOW! That's down from the 38 we had on season one, but still it's a VERY good amount!

Moving on to more from disc five, that is where the bulk of the special features are. We have one final audio commentary on the season finale episode "Truth, Part Two" (#222). Commenting are creator/executive producer and writer of the episode Mike Kelley and series star Emily VanCamp. These two did the commentary on the pilot episode and were great to listen to then and they are on this pivotal episode as well. We covered the deleted scenes above, so we will cover the rest of the special features. First up, we have "Schooled in Revenge" (3:12). This is a sneak peek at the pages of the upcoming book, where a new class of revenge seekers are schooled by Takeda! The next featurette is "The Sound of Revenge" (14:51), where fans will get an intimate feel for composer iZLER's entire process, from inspiration to culmination, of creating the score for Revenge with a special look at how the epochal episode "Sacrifice" was scored. We see Emily VanCamp, Joe Fazzio, Stefan Schwartz (director), Mike Kelley, Joshua Winget and Philip Klein all on the way! It's like a documentary! Next we have "Haute Hamptons: Dression Miss Davenport" (8:21). The first season DVD showcased Emily VanCamp and Madeleine Stowe, now on season two it is all about Ashley Madekwe. Step into Ashley Davenport's shoes as costume designer Jill Ohanneson shows off the character's trendy chic style with a few key pieces from her wardrobe. And finally we have "Bloopers" (2:52). Join in on laughs with these unseen moments from the sophomore season. It's almost exactly the same length as the first season's blooper reel!

This is another nicely done set for one of most addicting series on television. All the episodes are great (of course every episode isn't perfect, what show has that anyway?) and I think season three will be even better because the second season ended with a bang! As for the DVD, it is well done and similar to the first season DVD. We don't get as many special features as the first season, but we did get more audio commentary this time. We have great audio/video, menus, packaging and special features. We essentially have everything...featurettes (though this wasn't as great this time), deleted scenes, audio commentary and bloopers! 36 deleted scenes is amazing and almost on par with the first season. ABC Studios knows how to make good DVDs, especially for their current series. This show is just good fun and has an attractive cast for both men and women, so everyone has a reason to watch. If you gave up or stopped due to the little slump or even the sporadic scheduling, you can now catch-up in time for the third season premiere. The third season will have better scheduling, too. With the first half airing from September to December and then the series returns after the Oscars for its second half from March-May. Watch it LIVE! Stowe should have been nominated for an Emmy I think and Emily VanCamp is so good and will get even better. I really recommend you order this DVD, if you watched every episode or not. Catch up, start up or recap yourself before the third season premiere on ABC beginning Sept. 29! Order the second season DVD fellow revengers, because Nolan Ross' one-liners are worth it alone!

(4.5/5 stars)

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Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com DVD Reviews Page
Revenge on TV.com


FOLLOW ME

Who to Follow: Josh Saviano (Twitter), "Yesterday, I was a child actor. Today I am a father, husband and corporate attorney. Tomorrow...???"
Claim to Fame: Josh Saviano was best known for playing Paul Pfieffer in the ABC series The Wonder Years. That was essentially the highlight of his acting career, and once that series ended, he was never seen on TV ever again (which didn't help stop rumors that people still believe today about him being Marilyn Manson).
Why You Should Follow Him: First, we should clarify: he is not Marilyn Manson. After The Wonder Years ended, he went on to Yale, then went on to law school, and now he is a corporate attorney in New York City. Ultimately, that is one of those child actor success stories, and with him being a corporate attorney, I highly doubt that we'll see him even want to return to acting anytime soon. Nonetheless, he doesn't necessarily want to leave those days behind him, and still loves talking about his days playing Kevin Arnold's geeky friend on the classic series. He even interacts with a lot of his former "friends" on that show on Twitter. We like seeing success stories about former child stars, and this is one of those.
Pick of the Tweets: "How about Paul is the lawyer who watches everything collapse when Kevin insists on a pre-nup?" (March 20, 2013), in response to a fan suggesting a reunion of The Wonder Years in which Kevin and Winnie get married.

That's all for this week. Until next time, keep it digital!