STACK #122 Dec 2015

DVD&BD

REVIEWS

visit www.stack.net.au

Deathstroke of genius. ARROW: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON

Dome alone. UNDER THE DOME: SEASON TWO

Format:

Release Date: 03/12/14

Format:

Release Date: 03/12/14

TV

The first season set things up, now we get to the good stuff. Arrow 's second season is much more comic book in style and tone, and this show is easily the best of the rapidly growing legion of superhero series ( The Flash , Gotham , Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ). Billionaire playboy turned avenging archer Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) has revised his crime-fighting MO following the death of best buddy Tommy: "To honour my friend's memory, I can't be the killer I once was." But he might have to be, when arch nemesis Slade Wilson (Manu Bennett), aka Deathstroke,

This series has moved so far beyond the events detailed in Stephen King's source novel that the "based on" credit no longer applies. The folk of Chester's Mill, who are still trapped beneath that mysterious, all-encompassing dome, are now content to do their own thing, and as situations become increasingly more insane with each episode, you get the impression that the writing team doesn't even know what's happening and are making it up as they go. This freewheeling approach does have a certain guilty pleasure appeal, though. Will Big Jim

threatens his family and Starling City. Season two packs in lots of guest appearances from the DC universe, and the Arrow's moody new look raises the old Clark Kent/Superman conundrum – why can nobody guess this superhero's true identity when it's so bleeding obvious!

and Junior be the villains or the good guys this episode? Why is there an underground cavern hidden inside a high school locker? What's the significance of the butterflies? Why are people suddenly returning from the dead? Who knows, just don't look to the book for answers.

American psycho. BATES MOTEL: SEASON ONE

Call the Firehouse. CHICAGO FIRE: SEASON TWO

Release Date: 27/11/14

Release Date: 04/12/14

Format:

Format:

1990 telemovie Psycho IV: The Beginning touched on the formative years of Norman Bates, but this new prequel series delves deeper into the unhealthy relationship between the adolescent pyscho-to-be and his mother. The always terrific Vera Farmiga delivers an Emmy-nominated performance as Norma Bates, and Freddie Highmore ( Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ) is nicely brooding as Norman. While there's the obvious connection to Hitchcock's classic Psycho , the criminal activity

Season Two turns up the heat on the Firehouse 51 crew, with the station facing budget cuts. This just adds to the everyday stress for the dedicated firefighters, paramedics and rescue squads, who also have to contend with a serial arsonist on the loose, house fires and apartment fires (it ain't called Chicago Fire for nothing!), a train derailment, a drive by shooting, a blackout, and idiots stuck in woodchippers and clothing donation bins. There's also a marriage proposal, Dawson and Severide

that's rife in the small town of White Pine Bay, Oregon, where Norma has opened the eponymous roadside motel, feels like it's strayed in from another series. But this is a contemporary reimagination, so anything goes. But stay out of the shower!

join the Fire Academy (as student and teacher, respectively), and Molly's bar is struggling. So, an event-packed season then. There's also a crossover episode with new spin-off series Chicago PD , the pilot of which can be found amongst the DVD and Blu-ray extras.

DECEMBER 2014 JB Hi-Fi www.jbhifi.com.au

084