 | |
List Price: $29.99 | | Label: Miramax Home Entertainment
Salesrank: 16293
Released: July 22, 2003 |
| Our Price: $25.99 |
| Used Price: $11.76 |
|
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Media: DVD |
|
Editorial Review:
Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 12/26/2008
Description of Felicity - Sophomore Year Collection (The Complete Second Season):
Season 2 of Felicity not only sees the massacre of star Keri Russell's golden locks (at one point, a minor character refers to the new, short-cropped Felicity as "Chia-Head") but endless turmoil--most of it quite addictive to watch--in perhaps seven or eight overlapping romances.
First there's the issue of season 1's cliffhanger. Did Felicity spend her summer with former high-school crush Ben (Scott Speedman) or her dormitory's resident advisor, Noel (Scott Foley), who harbors strong feelings for her? Episode 1 teases us with the answer while laying the bumpy groundwork for our heroine's sophomore year: Felicity has come back to college in New York City as an R.A. in her old dorm, once again sharing a room--much to her discontent--with acerbic Wiccan-punk Meghan (Amanda Foreman). Ben has a part-time job working in a coffee shop owned by Felicity's confidante Javier (Ian Gomez). Noel is sharing an apartment with another Felicity ally, Elena (Tangi Miller), as well as filmmaker Sean (Greg Grunberg), who previously made a documentary focusing on Ben and Felicity's relationship.
Tangled connections and shifting loyalties make for a long, involving second year in this drama-comedy from Disney and Imagine Entertainment. Characters fall in and out of love, earn and betray trust, leap before they look, and redeem themselves with powerful acts of forgiveness or faith. Felicity creators J.J. Abrams (writer, Forever Young) and Matt Reeves (director, Relativity) set out to capture the unique contradictions of young adulthood in this show--in particular, clinging to a precise college track while trying to make sense of post-adolescent love and responsibility--and for the most part succeed very well. Sometimes too well: The storylines may become a little redundant, the drama a tad flat with such singular interest in the muddled passions of 19-year-olds. But each episode is sharply written, comically incisive, and never less than watchable.
Great special features: Keri Russell's audition, audio commentaries, a never-before-seen pilot, and the Felicity Emmy Parody, i.e., a spoof of the TV show produced for an Emmy Award telecast. --Tom Keogh
Felicity - Sophomore Year Collection (The Complete Second Season) Reviews:
Felicity: Sophomore Year 
2009-07-02 - It was great watching the second season again. It was like watching it for the first time.
Just wanted to bring back the memories
2009-04-26 - I have loved this series since it debuted back in 1998. It was a time in my life that was comparitive to what the characters were going through. I have all the years and I am very very very happy that I finally have them all!!!!!
Felicity Season 2
2009-04-09 - Product received quickly and in great condition. We have already watched the entire season and enjoyed it very much-thank you!
Brings Back Memories 
2008-12-16 - This season started off good, then kind of went another way, but overall it was good. I loved Felicity when I was a teenager and it brings back so many great memories for me. How could you ever forget Felicity Porter, Ben Covington, Elena Tyler, Noel(whatever his last name is), and Julie Emerick? When I started to watch it over again online, I thought, " I definitely have to buy these DVDs!" They're so expensive in the stores but I paid $133 with tax here and saved myself about $100.
Anyway, there's this one song on this season that I can't seem to find. Its on Episode 12 "The Slump". Its not on any of the Felicity soundtracks and people have some fans have spent years trying to find it. Hell, I searched all over the internet and still can't find it. At the beginning of Episode 12, the lyrics go like this:
'We walked alone beside the park
and talked about your shoes,
you don't even know me
I don't even know you....'
Anyway, if anyone has a head's up to this song please contact me immediately at
[...]
It has a really nice tune and would like to hear the whole song for a change. LOL!
A strong second season for an excellent show
2008-07-26 - Many here have stated that they believe that FELICITY Season Two is the show's best season. I personally am not quite in synch with that opinion. I think the first half of Season Two is a bit flat, and some of the episodes just drift, but it rebounds in a big way in the second half of the season. Primarily this is because it is only in the second half of the season that the bombs start dropping, from the marital problems facing Felicity's parents, to Ruby's unexpected pregnancy (and the even more unexpected revelation about who the father is), to the increasing complexity of Felicity and Ben's relationship. The first half of the season is just slow to get off the ground and even then is marred by Felicity's unconvincing relationship with the grad student David.
Season Two is also when tragedy struck. Keri Russell cut her hair. Many actually blame the steep Season Two decline in ratings to The Haircut, though this was more likely due to a change in scheduling (history has shown repeatedly that if you want to kill a show, just keep moving it around, unless it is a megahit with a huge cadre of dedicated fans like LOST). Nonetheless, Felicity's hair cut often makes various web lists of "Biggest Mistakes in TV HIstory." Fan response to her shorn locks was so negative that the show itself makes numerous jokes about it. The hair would grow out in subsequent seasons.
One of the reasons for FELICITY's success as a long series was the willingness of the producers to bring in new characters. Some are less successful than others, but some are wonderful additions and are missed when they depart the show. Amy Smart, an actress I've enjoyed in everything I've seen her in, was especially likable in Season Two as Noel's love interest. Donald Faison -- well before he was on the staff of Sacred Heart on SCRUBS -- joins the show in the second half of the season as Elena's love interest. And Amanda Foreman's role as Felicity's bizarre roommate Meghan was expanded (there was also an episode in which Kevin Weisman played a friend of hers -- in ALIAS they would be married and have a child)
Speaking of SCRUB's, it is fascinating how many actors who appeared on FELICITY later appeared on that comedy. Keri Russell herself appeared as a guest star, while Donald Faison, of course, is one of the two male leads. Scott Foley had a major recurring role as Elliott's love interest. Amy Smart had a brief but memorable run as a love interest for JD (her character is best captured in the title of one of her episodes, "My Drama Queen").
The one thing that hurts FELICITY -- as well as nearly every show made in the past 20 years -- has been the widespread and nearly universal conviction in the television industry that while fans love to watch the unfolding of potential romance, they are not interested in fulfilled, ongoing romance, As a result, the challenge is always to invent ways of keeping couples apart rather than their staying together. So on LOST Sawyer is used to keep Jack and Kate apart (and then later baby Aaron). Endless difficulties were introduced to keep Clark and Lana from being a happy couple on SMALLVILLE. The best ever device for keeping a romantic couple apart is surely Angel's curse on BUFFY (though that is rivaled by the tragedy on PUSHING DAISIES that if Ned ever touches Chuck, she'll die, again, forever). In Season One of FELICITY Noel was introduced as a way of keeping Felicity and Ben apart, only to have Ben brought back into the picture late to keep Felicity and Noel apart. By the end of Season Two you pretty much have it figured out that if two people finally manage to get together, bad times are definitely ahead. Only a couple of shows have tried to show major couples together. Seth and Summer were a couple for an unusual amount of time on THE O.C., perhaps because their dynamics made them unsuitable for one another on paper. And in Season Three of THE OFFICE, Pam and Jim managed to have an adorable relationship. Personally, I would like to see more shows take up the challenge of making a successful relationship interesting. I'll close by acknowledging that the reason why producers and writers are terrified of getting romantic couples together is the MOONLIGHTING problem. That show was remarkably successful as long as Dave and Maddie were a potential couple. As soon as they slept together, however, ratings plummetted (though I personally wonder if the decline in writing and the persistent problem in producing new episodes wasn't more to blame).
