Trial & Retribution – Set 2 (Acorn Media DVD)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: C     Episodes: C

 

 

I was disappointed enough with the first season of Trial & Retribution, but I did not think the series could get worse and despite taking itself seriously, it does.  With more bad split screen work than ever, it has become obnoxiously fragmented for this second DVD set issued by Acorn Media.  So as I watched this time, I wondered what else I did not like about the show.

 

It is not afraid to be graphic within its limits, so that is not the issue.  The co-stars Colin Salmon, Victoria Smurfit and David Hayman even have some chemistry, but it is the way it is shot and the very formulaic way the scripts are that makes each show almost blend into each other for the worst.  The four DVDs have four separate telefilm-length shows and it has become some kind of hit, but for how long will be interesting.  Maybe it is a police show for people who don’t watch them or watch too many of them, but you can see for yourself, though even as much as I dislike it, would start with the first set.

 

Though the 1.33 X 1 image of the first set has been taken over by anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 framing, it is still is a little soft and video split screens show their age as each episode tries to show the events of the crime in different ways that look as bad as they fail.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is again just fine for what it is, but again nothing special, even with the music and there are no surrounds.  Extras include text description of the CID (Criminal Investigation Department), text on La Plante and on-camera interviews with co-stars Hayman, Smurfit and Salmon.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo