DVD REVIEW

Felicity - Sophomore Year Collection (The Complete Second Season)  (1999)

Starring: Keri Russell, Scott Speedman, Scott Foley

Creators: J.J. Abrams, Matt Reeves

Rating: NR

Studio: Buena Vista

Release Date: 7.22.03

Review Posted: 7.20.03

Spoilers: None

Reviewed by Dennis Landmann

Nobody ever said following your heart would be east. Golden Globe Award winner Keri Russell returns as Felicity, America's favorite coed, in Felicity Sophomore Year. As Felicity bounces back from her beginning-of-the-year breakup with high school love Ben (Scott Speedman, Duets), she adopts a new hairdo and a new perspective on life. Changing her major from pre-med to art, Felicity steps out to find herself and kindle new relationships. From mudslinging campus politics to Ben's end-of-the-season profession of true love, Felicity Sophomore Year is a whirlwind of passion, heartache and those small decisions that can change your life forever.

I knew about Felicity when it premiered on the WB network in 1998, but I never watched it. This week I had the opportunity and pleasure to watch the entire second season on DVD. Now I realize what I missed. Felicity is not just another teen drama type TV show. It is smart, funny, realistic, and dramatic. The second season of Felicity takes place during the sophomore year at New York University (NYU) and continues the lives of the main characters.

In addition, the show surpasses Dawson’s Creek in more than a few ways. First of all, creators J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves set up the characters with a lot of care and ingenuity. The writing of the show allows the viewer to connect and become emotionally invested with the characters. The story lines are sometimes predictable, but the variety and likeness of subplots make up for that. Felicity is an all around well-written and produced show. Also, the chemistry between the characters, especially the dialogue in their interactions, gives the show a certain edge.

Moreover, the acting is right on the money. Keri Russell stars as Felicity Porter, the main character—hence the name of the show. Russell’s performance is both sweet and vulnerable. Her character goes through several, dare I say it, love/dating relationships in the second season. Her first true love is Ben Covington, played charismatically by Scott Speedman (Dark Blue). Felicity’s second love is Noel Crane, played compassionately by Scott Foley. However, their romance dissolves at the start of the sophomore year. Then there is Julie Emrick (Amy Jo Johnson), Felicity’s best friend from last year, and Noel’s roommate Elena Tyler (Tangi Miller), also friends with Felicity. Also starring are Greg Grunberg, Ben’s friend and roommate, Amanda Foreman as Felicity’s gothic-friendly roommate, Ian Gomez as Felicity’s gay boss from work, and Amy Smart as Noel’s girlfriend.

Felicity is as good as it is because of its characters. The actors portray them very realistically which makes the show stand out among similar-themed shows. New York looks fabulous here, as does Felicity. Come on, you know I had to say it. Again, the writing is strong and propels the characters. Direction is also strong, and theme music by W.G. Snuff Walden is fitting and sounds great. On a different note, I realize that some parts of the show are a little too dramatic, but in no way are they clichés. For example, Felicity goes to Elena on a regular basis to pour out the feelings and troubles of her love life. Elena remains calm and offers advice every time. My question is, and this reflects reality, "how much of Felicity can Elena take?" At some point or another Elena must become bored or completely tired of her stories. However, since this is a TV show and characters need ready support, this nitpick gets away with a warning.

Overall, the second season is well worth watching and I can’t wait for the third to come out on DVD. Some of my favorite episodes are Sophomoric, The Love Bug, Family Affairs, The Slump, Truth and Consequences, Things Change, Docuventary II (my favorite of all; one of the characters is shooting a documentary for the Independent Film Channel and this subplot allows for some real good moments, no to mention funny ones), and episodes 19-23. Basically, I liked about every other episode, which is a refreshing thing since some TV shows tend to slack off between episodes (I will not name names to protect the guilty).

All 23 second-season episodes are nicely spread out over 6 dual-layer discs. The discs are packaged in 3 DVD cases (volumes 1-3), and 2 discs are inside each case. [* designates optional audio commentary.]

Buena Vista presents Felicity in show's original 1.33:1 fullscreen format. Colors look rich and sharp. Color detail looks pretty nice. I didn’t notice any compression problems or pixelation. Again, all 23 episodes are nicely spread out over 6 dual-layer discs, allowing each episode to maintain a well-balanced quality. The print image looks fine—there is no continuous softness or dirt to speak of. Dark tones and black levels are inconsistent, while grain appears during dark scenes. The overall video transfer looks pretty good.

Buena Vista presents Felicity in English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound. Unlike La Femme Nikita (The Complete First Season), which I reviewed right here, Felicity does not use sound effects very often. However, Felicity sounds richer and clearer than Nikita. Dialog scenes are very clear and easy to understand. The soundtrack is also rich, each musical number or song comes together nicely through the front speakers. Surround usage is not really evident in most of the episodes. Overall, Felicity’s audio presentation is clear and sounds perfectly fine considering the material.

Audio Commentaries – There are five commentary tracks available with the cast and filmmakers. The first one is for Sophomoric by cast members Amanda Forman, Greg Grunberg, Amy Jo Johnson, and Tangi Miller. The List features commentary by Keri Russell and Scott Speedman, and Ancient History by Keri Russell and Scott Foley. Russell and Speedman are especially fun to listen to. Co-creators J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves provide commentary for two episodes on disc 3, Help for the Lovelorn (joining this track is episode director Lamont Johnson) and The Slump. These tracks are mostly fun to listen to. There’s some generous talk, various reminiscent chatter, a lot of laughter, a little quiet time, etc. The cast commentaries are more fun than the crew commentaries; just for reference. These people obviously had a good time with the show. For some reason the audio quality on these tracks tends to fade in and out.

Never-Before-Seen Pilot Presentation – Co-creators J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves introduce this original pilot as created for the WB network presentation. I watched this episode after completing all 23 second-season episodes and the show makes more sense, especially because I now know why Felicity moved to New York and how the characters met [in the pilot]. This pilot presentation is not the finished product as Abrams and Reeves mention in the introduction as it runs shorter than the final pilot. However, this episode is really good and I can see why the WB network ordered a full season, not to mention a few more down the road.

"Finding Felicity" (3 mins) – Here you will find Keri Russell’s original audition for the title role. The audition presented here encompasses two pivotal scenes from the pilot episode. For comparison, footage of the actual pilot follows Russell’s audition. This is a nice featurette, but ultimately too short and thin. There are no cast and crew interviews, not even a regular making-of segment. Weak stuff.

Felicity Emmy Parody (3 mins) – The cast takes on shows like NYPD Blue, The X-Files, and ER in a spoof produced for the Emmy Awards telecast. The ER spoof is easily the best, especially when Felicity simultaneously performs surgery and records her thoughts onto the tape recorder. Good stuff.

There are three little annoying aspects about this release. First, Buena Vista fails to break down the episodes in four or five chapters, a tremendously important feature. It’s too bad. Secondly, the studio could have easily put together a Season 1 recap for anyone who is not familiar with the beginning of the show, and include it in this set. On a positive note, there is a "previously on Felicity" clip in front of each episode. Again, it’s too bad. Third in line are two photos on the back cover of each DVD case. Without thinking much of them at first, they actually give away a crucial event of the season; like who kisses who, and all that stuff. This is an unwelcome spoiler for anyone not already familiar with the characters. Okay, I just wanted to make these three things clear.

You can select to view the episodes with optional English subtitles. The DVD’s menus are not animated. Each episode runs approximately 43 minutes. The entire running time of the second season clocks in at 995 minutes.

 

Overall

Felicity: The Complete Second Season is a really fine show. The characters come alive in the writing, but the actors give them heart and personality. Buena Vista presents the show in decent, average video and audio quality. The extras are a little scant, even though five commentaries are included. A making-of featurette would have been great. All in all, the second season of Felicity is well worth watching. Fans of the show will want to own it. Newcomers like me should definitely rent it or perhaps consider owning it. It’s worth it at $59.95.

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