The Originals: The Complete Fourth Season - DVD Review

[Michael Scott]

The Originals: The Complete Fourth Season

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
This part of the year is what I like to call “TV season”. If you’ve noticed pretty much every broadcast TV show from the CW and NBC and a few others are released in the span of about 6 weeks. During the year I like to watch many shows as they air, and it makes the reviews a bit easier (and hard in some ways), but there are shows that I like to just sit down and binge watch over the course of a few days with a glass of wine and a sloppy smile on my face. The Originals is one of those shows, and I looke forward to sitting down each year and binging each and every ooey gooey cheesy, guilty, episode. The show is one I never really expected to take off, but someone it has lasted 4 seasons and doing strong. I HATED, and I mean LOATHED The Vampire Diaries, so when I started the first season of it’s spin off, I was fully expecting to loathe the series worse than it’s predecessor. Interestingly enough, I actually had a lot of fun with it, as much of the melodrama of The Vampire Diaries is toned down and tweaked to have less romance, more blood guts and gore feel to it. Sure, there’s the CW angst, and some of the melodrama, but it has enough guts, blood, witches, werewolves, and fanged night creatures to make for an enjoyably good time.

Season three threw us a few curve balls. The show had started to become a bit bloated in regards to the characters, with each year giving us more family members to the Originals, and more villains and witches than you could shake a stick at. Last time we left off Elijah Mikaelson (Daniel Gillies), Kol (Nathaniel Buzolic) and Freya Riley Voelkil) had been put under a spell, while halfbreed brother Klause (Joseph Morgan) being stuck as a prisoner/slave to his prodigy, Marcel (Charles Michael Davis), who now runs New Orleans once more. 5 years have passed since this incident, and the city of New Orleans is having a small amount of peace now that the Mikaelson family is out of the picture, and none of their wars are disrupting the rest of the place. However, Klause’s ex-girlfriend (and mother of his daughter), Hayley (Phoebe Tonkin) is going to upset all of this balance. She has been searching for a way to bring Freya out of the magical slumber that she, Kol and Elijah are in, and with the witch revived, can bring ALL of the Mikaelson clan back together, unleashing their wrath on the people who put them in there.

Like usual, it’s not as easy at it seems. The Mikaelson’s get back to New Orleans, only to find out that they are facing a threat far greater than they have ever face. Hollow, an evil and malevolent force that has ties to one of their own family members. A force so strong that it forces the original family of immortals to team up with Marcel and the rest of the witches to make it through the coming apocalypse that is to come.

Season 4’s final 13 episodes are a bit of a change of pace from the standard 22 episode format. They finally decided to trim the fat, so to speak, and the results are actually quite nice. The shorter episode number allows for the filler to be trimmed down, and while there are some superfluous episodes, most of the time is spent wrapping up plot points, and dealing with Hollow instead of going through hours of interpersonal drama. Elijah and Hayley finally get some closure, as does Klause and his eternal torment, but still, there are many things that stay the same. The series ends with the option for season 5 and a HEAVY cliffhanger that actually had me raising an eyebrow or two. The endpoint of the show has a HUGE change that really rocks the format of the series, and allows two of the characters to end on a rather bittersweet exit from the series. The Mikaelson clan has always been slightly “out of normalcy” compared to other families, but this one really brings more chaos than you could possibly imagine, and has me eagerly awaiting the next year.




Rating:

Rated TV-14 by the MPAA




Video:

Once again, The Originals comes to DVD with an image that appears to be very faithful to the source material. The show has always been overly dark and gloomy, but this season seems to be even more so. There is less and less daylight shots above ground, and more times with Klause and his family in underground grotto's, where crush and gloomy shadows awake. The colors in the above ground (and day lit) shots are warm and clean, with only some mild softness keeping the image from being truly exemplary. Down underground is another story. The shadows have some decent amounts of crush applied to them, and the softness that was noticeable in the daylight sequences, is amplified down in the dark as shadow detail can sometimes blur together. Facial detail is generally very pleasing though, and skin tones look surprisingly accurate. there's a mild blue tone to the picture with some hints red and gold, but overall the colors are fairly limited, with lots and lots of blacks and grays to dominate the imagery.







Audio:

Just like the previous seasons that have been released on DVD, The Originals: The Complete Fourth Season sports a nicely done Dolby Digital 5.1 track that is vibrant and full of power. There's some nice use of LFE with the ominous CW style score, and the surround usage is quite exemplary with the "wooshing" sounds of vampires and werewolves super speeding. Impacts and blows carry some serious weight, and the hubbub of the busy New Orleans background makes for a very immersive backdrop. Dialogue is clean and clear, and very well dispersed amount the three mains, something not a lot of TV shows can do well. Dynamic range is fluid, fluxing from one end of the spectrum to another, which gives the show a very cinematic feel. Sadly I noticed that the DVD track seems to be a bit "thinner" than I'm used to, but that is to be expected with a lossy Dolby Digital track compared to the lossless DTS-HD MA that the Blu-rays enjoy (Seasons 1 and 2 were released to the general public as Blu-ray and DVD, while seasons three and this one were DVD only with Warner Archive handling the Blu-ray presentations, which I was sadly not able to review).






Extras:

• 2016 Comic-Con Panel - Julie Plec, Michael Narducci and the Cast discuss past and future seasons
• Come Visit Georgia
• Unaired Scenes
• Gag Reel

Final Score: ​

I've said this for the last couple of seasons, but if you like the first couple of seasons of The Originals, then you're certain to like what comes next. As much as things twist and turn amidst the bloody CW drama, the more things stay generally the same. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, that all depends on how much you like the show. It has that CW angst that is so prevalent in most of their shows, with small dollops of that melodrama that comes from being a spinoff of The Vampire Diaries. The series keeps expanding, adding new characters, new family members, and sometimes it feels like it's going to burst. But I still have a solidly good time watching the show, despite it's slightly annoying flaws. Audio is still on par with the other DVD releases, and the video is decent, if not a bit weaker than previous years. the drop down to 13 episodes was a VERY nice feature, as it cut out a lot of the filler that made the middle section of each season every so slightly tedious. The show has maintained the same star rating over various seasons, and I continue to give it a solid out of



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Joseph Morgan, Daniel Gillies, Phoebe Tonkin
Created by: Julie Plec
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 MPEG 2
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Portuguese DD 5.1
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: TV-14
Runtime: 547 Minutes
DVD Release Date: June 29th, 2017

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Fun Watch

 

[Sonnie Parker]

I got somewhat tired of The Vampire Diaries after a few seasons, and ended up liking this one better... seems to be a bit more mature acting and less chick flick type drama than Diaries. It did get kinda of boring there for a little while.

 

[Michael Scott]

yeah The Vampire Diaries got old real fast (for me at least). I still enjoy The Originals even if it's not the greatest TV on earth. it's fun. I have a good time and look forward to the next season.

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I never heard of this.. Will see if season 1 is available anywhere..

 

[Todd Anderson]

I've never heard of this show either... looks kind of interesting

 

[Michael Scott]

well, I have reviewed all 4 seasons if you want to start from the beginning lol

 

[tripplej]

I guess we have short term memories.. lol..

 

[Sonnie Parker]

I really liked Diaries early on, but lost interest after the first 3-4 seasons. Then The Originals came along... it's been pretty good, and I like it better.

Hey... it ain't Dark Shadows, but it's vampires, werewolves and witches... with some mixed breed too.

 

[Michael Scott]

I couldn't make it through the first 2 seasons of VD before wanting to throw something at the screen. You're a hardier man than I lol

and you're right. The Originals is definitely better. not GREAAAAAAAAAT, but still a guilty pleasure for me.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

It may have been that 3rd season that got me falling asleep during the shows.