The
Mentalist: The Complete Sixth Season
(2013 - 2014/Warner DVD Set)/Penny
Dreadful: The Complete First Season
(2013 - 2014/Showtime/CBS Blu-ray Set)
Picture:
C+/B Sound: C+/B Extras: C/B- Episodes: C/B-
Here
are two TV series that deal with death and murder in the
thriller/mystery genre in two different eras that people are talking
about...
The
Mentalist: The Complete Sixth Season
(2013 - 2014) has remained just popular enough to continue and have
enough of a core audience that CBS did not cancel it this far in.
The cast holds, but this time, the show got a rare fans-only second
wind as the serial killer known as Red John starts to surprise the
team. That makes it better than the previous season by default, but
after seeing these 22 episodes (over 5 DVDs), it is only mildly
better. Good for the fans who stuck with the show, but this also
shows the appeal of the leads Simon Baker and Robin Tunney.
For
more on the previous season, try these links...
Season
One
Blu-ray
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/12394/Bones:+The+Complete+Eighth+Season+(2012+-+
Season
Two
DVD
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10454/Jonah+Hex+(2010)+++The+Mentalist
Season
Five
DVD
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/12362/China+Beach:+Season+One+(1988/Time+Life/Star
Penny
Dreadful: The Complete First Season
(2013 - 2014) is another gothic-set horror show that wants to be hip
and cash in on horror literature of the time, but this time, the
attempt is far more successful than many of its ilk or the ill-fated
Sean Connery League
Of Extraordinary Men.
Bond veteran Eva Green, former Bond Timothy Dalton and a Josh
Hartnett on the comeback play a group trying to figure out who is
responsible for a series of horrible murders in 1891 London.
They
look for a murderer and land up encountering Dr. Victor Frankenstein,
his Monster, Dorian Gray, Dr. Abraham Van Helsing and some other
unexpectedly creepy and even deadly figures in a show that co-exist
in this world. To the show's credit, this never becomes stupid,
condescending, a joke or formulaic. Whether the show can keep this
up is another story, but that it succeeded this well is impressive,
especially these days of bad YA soap operas that trash genres left
and right.
The
leads have great energy and the supporting cast (including Rory
Kinnear and Billie Piper) keep things going. The title refers to
cheap exploitation fiction that came out of the Jack The Ripper
murders. A show you should definitely catch, the talent is giving it
their best and it works.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on The
Mentalist
episodes are consistent HD shoots with some style, but are still as
soft as the previous DVD sets and not as good as the Season
One
Blu-ray set for which we expect all the seasons will eventually be
issued in. On the other hand, the
1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers on the Penny
episodes are not as dreadful
by any means, sporting exceptionally styled and warm images
throughout with the proper darkness for the genre. The makes got
this one tight where so many like it have blown it, film, HD shoots
or a combination thereof. Nice and fans of the show and genre will
be impressed.
The
lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on The
Mentalist
episodes are consistent for the format and previous Blu-ray sets, but
after how good the lossy Dolby actually sounded on its Season
One
Blu-ray set, I know there is much more dynamic sound in those
soundmasters. That is why I can say the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 on Penny
is impressive throughout, with even its silences having light nuance
and is some of the best TrueHD for TV I have heard to date.
Extras
for both releases include a Behind The Scenes/Making Of featurette
(Penny
has nine of them, including the two-part The
Artisans,
What
Is A Penny Dreadful?,
Literary
Roots,
The
Grand Guignol,
Sex
and Prostitution in the Victorian Age,
Coming
Together,
The
Science Of Medicine
and British
Exploration & The Search For The Nile)
with Mentalist
offering Patrick
Jane: Redeemed, Recovered, Restored,
plus Unaired Scenes. Penny
also has the first two episodes of Ray
Donovan
and both have printed episodes guides. A paper foldout has the one
for Mentalist,
while Penny
has its inside the paper cover sleeve.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
