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A relatively good show gets hit by a Mack truck; even for die-hard aficionados of J.J. Abrams' Felicity, this fourth season ("Senior Year") was a tough pill to pop.
The long and the short of it is that the WB only ordered a half-season of material from Keri Russell and company for 2001-2002, and considering that the title character could only be at college for four years - an American norm - regardless of whether it was a part or full season, this fourth time was to be it.
But Felicity was renewed for more episodes some time into the season and the makers were left with a conundrum. Do you start new storylines and arcs knowing full well that your character will be done with college and will have left most of that social drama behind, or do you concoct a story device that allows you to narratively tread water for a while?
Let's put it this way: In Season Four, Keri Russell's Felicity travels through time. Seriously.
It's not a completely odious story choice - the show has always been proactive in its plot devices - but even though this is only the show's fourth go-around, Felicity seems limp and uneven here. It's nowhere near as fresh as it should be.
Russell and Scott Foley still make for intriguing bedfellows, but for the first time in the series, these characters feel dragged around by their outrageous and overly histrionic storyline. Instead of being just another couple of kids you can't help but love, they seem like token caricatures having to jump through the hoops of Felicity's uninspired final season.
But many young people - especially college-aged girls - felt an intrinsic affinity with Felicity, and for that reason alone, this DVD box set provides a somewhat endearing sense of closure. The time-travel episodes are narratively ridiculous, but the episodes that have nothing to do with that off-kilter plot device have the same kind of breezy irreverence that made Felicity such an enjoyable series to begin with.
For Felicity fans, this fourth-season box set is a necessary addition to the DVD shelf, even if it's almost completely impossible to take it seriously. It's a nice send-off for our beloved characters, but they - and their viewers - deserved more.
The Video: How Does The Disc Look?
Similar to earlier seasons of Felicity. From my review of Season Two:
"Each episode is presented in its original 4:3 broadcast aspect ratio, and the results are pretty good. Aside from the pilot, which was a mishmash of reshoots, the show boasted a very film-like look that remains a cut above most WB teen dramas. All of these transfers are taken from 4:3 video masters and have a rather hazy, TV-like look, and are about on par with the first season. The quality of the source material is still pretty good with no blemishes or other distractions, and blacks and contrast are very good. For a medium-budget TV show, this looks on par with broadcasts of the series I've seen and is certainly most watchable."
The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?
Ditto with the 2.0 stereo mix:
"Each episode features an English 2.0 Dolby Digital surround track just like season one, and the quality is again perfectly fine. Felicity is a "sensitive drama" and thus primarily dialogue-driven, so there is little of a real sense of envelopment to the show. Surround use is meager and reserved only for minor ambient effects. It works perfectly fine for the material and all of these episodes boast nicely recorded dialogue and fairly expansive frequency response. Low end is adequate for a TV show of this type. Not bad."
Also included are English subtitles and English closed captions.
Supplements: What Goodies Are There?
Disc One offers two screen-specific audio commentaries - one on "The Declaration" with J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves and another on "Your Money Or Your Wife" with Ian Gomez and Greg Grumberg - and they're fair. Much of the discussion is oriented toward the melancholy of the show's final season, so it gets a little repetitive after a while, but for Felicity fanatics, there are some good tidbits here. Also on this disc are some sneak peeks for Popular: Season Two, Sweet Valley High: First Season, The Golden Girls, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Home Improvement, Boy Meets World, Alias: Season Three and Hope & Faith.
Disc Five's screen-specific audio commentary with Keri Russell and Scott Foley on "The Graduate" fares a bit better than the other commentaries on this edition, simply because the two seem to be having an honestly good time. Yes, they wax eloquent about how wonderful the show was and the impact of it's ending, but because we've been with these actors and their characters for so long, it is a bit more endearing and enjoyable.
Then on Disc Six, we get three featurettes: First up is Fade Out, a 10-minute look at the show and cast & crew members' thoughts on what it all meant, and then there's something called Lost Elena, a 5-minute investigation on what happened with one of Felicity's most bizarrely is-she-dead-or-isn't-she characters and what her eventual fate was (the deleted scenes from the show also appear in this feature). Interesting. Then there's an interview with J.J. Abrams, Jennifer Garner, Matt Reeves, and Keri Russell from the Museum of Television and Radio that offers some Q&A perspective on what kind of ideas were brought to the series.
Exclusive DVD-ROM Features: What happens when you pop the disc into your PC?
There is an option to register your DVD.
Final Thoughts
As with all TV-on-DVD titles, if you already have the first three seasons of Felicity, there's no reason to stop there. Sure, the show gets freaky-weird this time around, but admit it - it's kind of fun! Transfers and mixes are similar in quality to other seasons, and there is a nice wealth of extra features, as well. For $60 bucks, it's worth picking up.
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