This week, Warner Home Video released Pretty Little Liars: The Complete Second Season on DVD. There’s no secrets here: I’ve got a look at what’s inside the set for you.
The first thing that stands out about PLL Season 2 is the packaging. As a DVD collector, there’s nothing more frustrating than a set that comes in a clumsy container. This set arrives in a hard case with each of the six discs secured in a flipbook style – no loose discs bouncing around in the package to get scratched. The other appreciated thing is that the set has an episode guide, which tells you which episodes are on what disc, which ones have deleted scenes, and where the special features are.
I’m not a regular viewer of the show, so I’ll refrain from commenting too much on the program itself. Having said that, the few episodes I caught from this set weren’t too hard to follow despite the fact that I’d never seen the series before, and I can understand why it has such a devoted fanbase. I appreciated the mix of young adult drama with mystery that separates it from what you’d expect in this particular genre.
What I was really impressed with here was the audio and video quality, particularly the picture. The colors are bright, crisp and clear throughout – certain shots look incredible on a high-definition television. I never had any problems understanding what was being said, either. For fans of the show, this is a great transfer; even if you may have recorded the episodes when they aired, I would recommend you invest in this set just because you’re getting a very good copy of the show.
If I have any disappointment with this release, it’s in the special features. Aside from the deleted scenes, there are only two, both of them featurettes. One is “Fashion’s Guilty Pleasure,” which as you can derive from the title is about the fashion of the series. Not being interested in that, it didn’t appeal to me, but it should appeal to the young women in the show’s demographic.
Then there’s “Men of Mystery,” which puts the spotlight on the guys of Rosewood. It’s another nice piece, but it’s not the kind of thing I would see myself watching over and over again. It would have been more interesting to have some episode commentaries from the cast, who all seem like they’d have plenty to say on a commentary track.
Accessibility-wise, there’s only English audio, but there are a ton of subtitle options, including English, Spanish, and French…unfortunately for the episodes only. This, however, is a common practice in the TV on DVD world and not simply a flaw with this set.
While the special features could use some work, it’s up to PLL fans to decide if this set is worth your money. If you want a great transfer of the episodes to watch over and over again, it’s a good investment (at $38 for 25 episodes, that’s $1.52 an episode). But if you’re one of those people who buys DVD sets simply for the bonuses, you should probably save your cash.
Pretty Little Liars: The Complete Second Season is available on DVD now and you can order a copy by using this link. There is no Blu-Ray release for this season.
For more from Brittany Frederick, visit my BuddyTV writer page, and follow me on Twitter at @tvbrittanyf.
(Image courtesy of Warner Home Video)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
