Reign: The Complete Fourth/Final Season - DVD Review

[Michael Scott]

Reign: The Complete Fourth/Final Season

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
The CW is one of those stations that has been hit or miss over the years. For every Arrow, The Flash, and The Originals (one of my favorite guilty pleasures), there are just as many The Vampire Diaries and Reign. Reign originally aired right as The Originals was starting up, so I was hoping for a good double feature to enjoy as a “non superhero” show. While The Originals turned out to be a slightly more mature version of The Vampire Diaries, and was a load of fun, Reign ended up being a VERY angsty teen medieval drama dealing with queens Mary and Elizabeth. The inclusion of Megan Follows was an immediate pull (like most other teenage boys in the 90s, I had a massive crush on the red head who played Anne in Anne of Green Gables), but the show very quickly become your average teenage angst ridden show. Unlike The 100, Reign never rose above its mediocre roots and continued on the same beaten path for the 4 year run.

The best way of describing season 4 is that it ended exactly the way it started, a ridiculously syrupy gonzo mess of angst and over acted drama. The show has always been a series at conflict with itself. On one hand it wanted to be a show about Mary Queen of Scots, giving us a glimpse into the life of women in power and how easy it is for that power to slip through your fingers. On the other hand, it was a ridiculously glorious 7 layer nacho dip of cheese, angst, and gonzo schlock to the nth degree. When both of those styles come together it makes for a weird watch that was almost spastic and ADHD to experience.

The French court has been collapsing over Henry and Charles tug of war, and of course there’s Nicole being murdered by a witch…..using a NUT allergy (one of the more hilarious points of the season). Claude and his romances have plagued the show since day one, and this season doesn’t get any better in that respect. Mary and Elizabeth are at each others throats again, and this time the series ends with a hankie in one hand and your hand over your mouth with the other.

Honestly, the show is ridiculously, gloriously, over dramatic to the nth degree, but there’s some fun in the show. Mostly its watching all of the back stabbing and angst play out on screen. If you’re looking for a show that meets higher standards ala The Tudors or The Borgias (even as badly as the latter ended) you’re going to be sorely disappointed. HOWEVER the show is so much its own entity that it does have some mild charm. I really would have preferred the angsty moments were played a bit campier, as that would have functioned in a manner to give more humor to those elements rather than try to play them off as deadly serious. A move that sucks most of the believability out of a show that spends 95% of its time feeling like everyone involved is about 14.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

Reign has maintained a good looking encode throughout it's four years, and this fourth and final season is no different. There's lots of dark and gloomy castles for the show to revel in, but the outside world is bright and shiny, with brilliant gold overtones that pop off the screen. Colors are nicely satruated and have lots of visceral pop, while the shadowy castle interiors show off plenty of detail (although there is some slight crush going on). The black leather and silken brocade of royal clothing shows up nicely in the period show, and the overall clarity is spot on. Skin tones show a nice healthy balance and don't appear too ruddy or too pale. Banding happens now and again, along with the afore mentioned crush, but nothing too egregious and fits in nicely with the array of TV shows from the WB on 480p DVD.






Audio:

The 4 Disc set's 5.1 Dolby Digital track fares about as well as the audio track does. The show isn't a wild tour de force action track like many of the other CW shows, but it holds its own in the audio world, giving us a very encompassing dramatic track that plays off of the period piece surroundings as much as possible. Swords crossing show plenty of oomph and impressive clashing of steel, crowds roar in the background, and the more intimate encounters are well versed in the dialog aspects of the show. Voices are front and center, while the surrounds make use of the limited mumble of the crowd, or the whispering of the courtiers in the castle. LFE is mild, but more than serviceable for the show, and adds some nice low end to a few of the fight scenes as well as the score.






Extras:

• NADA

Final Score: ​

Reign initially started about the same time as another “new” show, The Originals, and while I love the latter as a guilty pleasure, Reign is a bit too “teen trashy” for my tastes. The channel has ALWAYS catered to teens, but had it not been for my wife’s keeping up with the show I probably would have dropped the medieval themed show after the second season proved it wasn’t really going up hill. To its credit, I will say that Reign has not DROPPED any over the years, but its mix of teen angst and medieval drama never really fully clicked with me. The viewership was always rocky, but it garnered enough of an audience to keep up a solid 4 years, which gave the fans exactly what they wanted. A solid story line that was given enough time to wrap itself up before finishing. The audio and video are very stable and impressive for a 480p DVD, but I was a bit surprised to see that the show came with ZERO extras this time around. If you’re a fan of the show and haven’t purchased ANY of the seasons yet, then Warner also has a complete series boxset for us as well, but if you’ve been keeping up then this final season set will complete the collection. Low Rental



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Megan Follows, Adelaide Kane, Torrance Koom
Created by: Laurie McCarthy, Stephanie Sengupta
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 MPEG 2
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: NR
Runtime: 675 Minutes
DVD Release Date: October 10th, 2017

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Low Rental

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Will skip this one.