| Video Roundup May 2008
Rad in TV Land, Part 5
 Da Vinci’s
Inquest (Acorn Media) ****
This gritty show stars Nicholas Campbell as Dominic Da
Vinci, an ex-cop who is now the City Coroner of Vancouver, British Columbia. Using
forensics and his own hunches, Da Vinci helps solve seemingly impossible cases. However,
Da Vinci is an alcoholic who constantly battles his disease, and his ex-wife (Gwynyth
Walsh), a pathologist, is now dating his boss (Gerard Plunkett). Then there’s their
teenage daughter, Gabriella (Jewel Staite). The show is unusual in being not entirely
linear in structure. Some crimes are difficult to discern or understand, and some are
never solved, which makes the series seem more like real life than slicker productions. Da
Vinci’s Inquest might remind you of the early days of NYPD Blue, with
which it shares a gritty look. At the same time, its being filmed in a city we’re
unaccustomed to seeing on TV keeps it fresh. The sound serves up dialogue and jazz with
clarity and not too much finesse. The show ran for seven seasons of 13 episodes each.
There’s some controversy over the episode length; some people claim that the Canadian
DVD edition includes more footage. But I can find no difference between that and this
Acorn Media edition, other than that the latter’s picture is much clearer and more
detailed.
Jericho (CBS/Paramount) ***1/2
Jericho’s setup is gripping. Terrorists have
simultaneously set off nuclear bombs in major US cities, of which Denver, Colorado, is
one. The small town of Jericho is just outside Denver’s danger zone, and most of its
citizens survive. They then struggle to stay alive. As in most disaster movies and TV
shows, the remaining episodes focus on the primary characters introduced in the pilot, of
which the most powerful are members of the Green family. The father is the mayor of
Jericho, and one son is his second in command. The other son, Jake (Skeet Ulrich), who
returns to town on the day the bombs go off, becomes the main hero of the story. The rest
is conspiracy, skirmishes with surrounding towns, creating electricity with wind turbines,
rationing food and water, and some romance along the way. All in all, Jericho is
entertaining and highly addictive, but many of the situations seem pat and glossy compared
to what might actually happen in such a situation. CBS canceled Jericho after the
first season’s 22 episodes, but, unlike NBC in a similar situation, caved in to the
fervent pleas of thousands of fans and produced a second "season" of seven
episodes -- which came in handy during the writers’ strike. As I write this, it
remains unclear if there will be a third season. Season 1 is now available in SD DVD
transfers that look smoother than the HD broadcasts.
MI-5 (BBC Video) ****1/2
MI-5 is the best action-adventure show on TV. The
MI-5 team (MI-5 is the British equivalent of our FBI) is headed by Harry Pearce (Peter
Firth), who runs a tight ship. Hunk Adam Carter (Rupert Penry-Jones) is the head field
investigator from Season 3 forward; his wife, Fiona, also works for the agency. Other
memorable characters come and go; the series never promises longevity, which is one reason
it’s so exciting -- because the writers are unafraid to dispatch any character,
audiences live in fear for their welfare. To further engage audience belief, there are no
actor credits at the beginning or end of the show. You’ll have to go to www.IMDb.com or the show’s own
website (www.bbc.co.uk/drama/spooks/;
remember, MI-5’s UK title is Spooks). The style is jumpy and tense,
with a lot of split screen and pounding, rhythmic music to propel the action at an often
breathless pace. The picture is deliberately grainy at many points, again to heighten the
sense that what we’re seeing is actually happening. Five seasons have been released
on DVD. Season 6 finished being broadcast last December and will presumably be along on
DVD any time now.
Rome (HBO) ****
Murder, bed hopping, political intrigue -- no, it’s
not one of the current crop of shows set in the present. This one is set in the waning
days of the Roman Republic, not long before the birth of Jesus. It begins with Julius
Caesar (Ciarán Hinds), continues through his assassination, takes up the business of Marc
Antony (James Purefoy) and Octavian (Kerry Condon), and ends with the deaths in Egypt of
Antony and Cleopatra (Lyndsey Marshal). The show is articulate and breezy, making the
Romans seem like real people. The dialogue is contemporary by our terms, making the show
play like Roman soap opera. Rome is fascinating, addictive, superbly cast, and shot
on a budget of the size usually given to theatrical features. The DVD set contains enough
informative extras to keep you busy for several nights. Rome ran for only two
seasons, both now available on DVD. Perhaps it just cost too much to continue. Too bad --
we’d have gotten to Nero soon.
Six Feet Under (HBO) ****
This unique show, by turns serious and hilarious, ran for
five seasons on HBO. It focuses on the Fisher family, which runs the funeral home of
Fisher and Sons. The patriarch, Nathaniel, Sr., is killed in a car accident in the very
first episode. The running of the business then falls to his two sons, each of whom is
trying to find himself. David (Michael C. Hall, now delighting audiences as Dexter), the
younger, is gay and closeted, and Nate (Peter Krause) is trying to find some meaning and
stability in his life. The mother, Ruth (Frances Conroy), starts dating different men, and
always teeters on the edge of change, only to be drawn back into her predetermined
personality. The daughter, Claire (Lauren Ambrose), matures throughout the series, from an
irresponsible high school student to a photographic artist bent on having a career.
While that all might sound dry, the show is anything but.
The characters are placed in different dramatic juxtapositions, some of them quite funny.
And above all, there’s the family business. Each episode begins with the death --
often in comic circumstances -- of some poor soul; that death then provides the
episode’s funeral. You must watch this show from the beginning -- it won’t make
sense otherwise. After Season 1, you’ll probably be as hooked as I was to see the
rest. HBO has made the seasons available on DVD individually or all together in a
"tombstone" box that includes a beautifully produced memorial book that relates
what happens to each character after the final episode, as well as two CDs of the
music used in the show. The picture is sharp and colorful -- it switches to widescreen in
Season 3 -- and the rich, full sound lets each actor’s every word be clearly heard.
Supernatural (Warner Home Video) ***1/2
Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles play the Winchester
brothers, Sam and Dean, who are on a mission to track down demons and eliminate them from
the face of the earth. In particular they hunt one nasty, yellow-eyed demon that killed
the boys’ mother. Each episode is a new adventure, but there’s enough overlap
that you’re liable to be puzzled if you don’t start at the beginning. Whether or
not you enjoy Supernatural will depend on how tolerant you are of obsessive
behavior and sibling rivalry. Though they love one another, the Winchester boys, ever
obsessed with finding something, argue incessantly. The special effects are very good for
this type of show, and the sound and image are superb. The show was shot in high
definition, but the SD DVD images look so sharp when upconverted that you might not be
able to tell the difference, depending on how far away from the screen you sit. The rear
channels are used mostly for action effects. The various pop songs used in the series come
across with sterling fidelity. Two seasons of Supernatural have so far been
released on DVD; the third season, following a hiatus for the writers’ strike, has
resumed and wraps up on May 1.
Wire in the Blood (Koch Vision) ***1/2
This intelligent British series stars Robson Green as Dr.
Tony Hill, a handsome, eccentric clinical psychologist with an extraordinary grasp of the
criminal mind. He teams up on cases with Detective Inspector Carol Jordan (Hermione
Norris) to tackle some of the most grim and baffling cases imaginable. In spite of the
fact that Hill solves difficult cases for them, the police tend to regard him with
caution, and often derision, but in case after case Hill proves his worth. The scripts are
based on the popular books by prize-winning author Val McDermid, and each episode runs as
long as a feature film (about 100 minutes). They’ve been shown in the US on BBC
America and range from very good to superior in quality. The visual style is somewhat like
A Touch of Frost, another popular British detective show: gritty, even coarse, and
drained of "beautiful" colors. The clean, clear sound is mostly in the front
channels. The chemistry of Norris and Green is tangible: Dialogue crackles, and action
sequences have lots of zing. Norris left after the third season, and though her
replacement, Simone Lahbib, is fine on her own, she has yet to establish a good rapport
with Green. Seasons 1 through 4 have been released on DVD by Koch Vision in transfers that
seem true to the originals. In Season 5, airing now but not yet announced for DVD, Dr.
Hill comes to America to help solve a case. Unlike many other series, you don’t have
to watch Wire in the Blood from the beginning; each episode makes a satisfying
whole on its own.
...Rad Bennett
radb@hometheatersound.com |
