The 4400: The Complete Second Season Review Score: 9/10 | Date Posted: May 24th 2006 In: DVD Reviews Starring: Joel Gretsch, Jacqueline McKenzie, Chad Faust, Patrick Flueger, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, Laura Allen, Conchita Campbell Directed by: Various Released by: CBS Home Video The 4400: The Complete Second Season Review by Mark McLeod | HNR Contributing Writer The Show Ok, I admit it I watch a lot of TV. On any given night during the television season there is anywhere between 4 and 8 shows that I follow on a consistent basis. My interests run the gamut from situation comedy, to animated parody to procedural drama and everything in between. I tend to give just about every new show a chance but for whatever reason, sometimes things slip through the cracks. It took me awhile to get into 24 and while I started off watching Invasion and Surface this past fall season, by the end of the television season, Threshold was the only Sci-Fi show left that I followed. A couple summers’ back the USA Network introduced a limited run series called The 4400, which was shot in Vancouver and featured an interesting premise. However despite trying to get into the first episode, I never quite could make it to the end of the episode. Discouraged I gave up on the series without ever giving it a fair share despite everyone telling me it was a must-see. I guess they were right because over the past three days, I've devoured the first season and am now well into the second. At the end of the first season of The 4400 we were shocked to learn the reason behind the disappearance and subsequent reappearance of 4400 seemingly random people. Lead NTAC agent Tom (Joel Gretsch) learned that his son Kyle was a vessel in which the future had chosen to communicate with him to help protect the future of the human race. We also were left with the birth of Lily's child and Sean, tom's nephew running into the arms of Collier, a member of the 4400 with plans to exploit and capture Lilly's young child. A year has passed and Tom is no longer a field agent, Sean is a healer in Jordan Collier’s 4400 Centers, where for a large fee you can be healed and find the 4400 within yourself. Richard, Lily and their baby have settled down in a small countryside house away from most of the spotlight. However Jordan continues to experience debilitating bouts of pain and the backlash against the 4400 begins leaving Lily and Richard constantly on the run. Why I didn't get into this series during it's initial run is beyond me. I guess it was just a matter of bad timing because over the past few days since starting the season I've spent many a late night watching episode after episode only going to bed because the sun was rising. The 4400 is a bit like the X-Files but has a consistent tone, well paced and is at times much better acted. The series has a number of stories that work well enough on their own but also contribute to an overall anthology storyline that just keeps getting stranger and stranger as it goes. I can't wait to see where things go next in the third season. The DVD CBS Home Video (distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment) brings home The 4400: The Complete Second Season in it's original broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1 with enhancement for anamorphic displays. The show which airs on the USA Network has never looked better partially because of it's high definition video origins and the fact that the USA Network does not yet broadcast in HDTV. The 1.78:1 framing gives the episodes a very sleek and professional look and the high definition sourced material provides a grain and dust free appearance. Colors are always well rendered although due to the subject matter they are never overly bright or eye popping. Skin tones are accurately captured and the black/white levels are spot-on. Audio wise the release gives viewers the choice between Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Surround 2.0. Once again this is a no-brainer for most home theatre owners. The 5.1 mix does an adequate job of presenting the series sound. Music and sound effects are cleanly and clearly mixed and dialogue is always anchored firmly in the center channel at a nice easy to hear level. Surround usage is limited to more action packed sequences and some minor ambience and the subwoofer although relatively quiet for the most part does get a chance to create an impact in some of the more intense moments. Fans of the show were disappointed with Paramount Home Entertainment's barebones release of the first season that contained nothing more then the 5 episodes spread out across two discs. Now under the production banner of CBS Home Video they are given a bit more in the way of bonus materials. Audio commentaries are present on three episodes "As Fate Would Have It", "The Fifth Page" and "Mommy's Bosses" (The Season Finale). All three commentaries feature stars Joel Gretsch, Jacqueline McKenzie as well as Craig Sweeny and Ira Steven Behr. Rounding out the bonus material on the fourth disc are a series of three featurettes dealing entitled "Creating the Ball of Light", "Return of the 4400" and "A Stitch in Time". The first talks about the origin of the series while the second focuses on cast and crew interviews with various 4400 members and the third and final talks about the shows time travel elements with various experts. Nothing super in depth but still better then the absolute barebones discs we got last time around. Final Thoughts I went into watching The 4400 based on the recommendation of a couple Internet friends who had been telling me to watch the series since the first season originally aired. Although I had taped the first episode, I never managed to get into it and lost interest pretty quickly. So when the second season arrived on DVD, I had to hunt down the first and despite the daunting task of blowing through five episodes before I could even begin working on this review, I managed to do in a matter of a couple days and have since spent the better part of the weekend blowing through this second season. CBS Home Video and Paramount Home Entertainment have done a banner job bringing home these 13 episodes that are spread out over 4 DVDs. The only thing lacking is a Play-All option, viewers are even given the option of skipping straight to the DVD menu on the first disc or watching a series of Previews for other CBS titles. Purchasing this set is a no-brainer for Science Fiction fans that liked the X-Files. The only downside is that Season 3 isn't due to start for a few more weeks yet and I'll be done this season by the end of the week.

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