Featured TV on DVD Review: Greek: Chapter Four

March 7, 2010

Greek: Chapter Four - Buy from Amazon

Greek is an ABC Family show that takes a look at the lives of several students at Cyprus-Rhodes University, almost all of whom take part in the Greek system there. So far each season has been split into two parts when it aired on TV. These parts have been released as chapters on DVD. Chapter Four is the latest of such release, but how well does it continue the many storylines that were floating around in Chapter Three? And how well does it maintain the high quality of the previous releases?

Chapter Three ended with (yes there will be spoilers here) Casey and Max (Rusty's R.A.) entering a long-distance relationship, with Casey going off to Washington to be an intern and Max going to CalTech for his graduate work. Ashleigh was elected the president of the local chapter of Zeta Beta Zeta, despite the fact that it was Casey and Frannie that were on the ballot. This caused Frannie to leave Zeta Beta Zeta and start her own sorority, Iota Kappa Iota (or Ickies as Casey and Ashleigh call them), taking half the Zeta Beta Zeta sisters, including Rebecca Logan. Rebecca Logan had a particularly rough year with her father, a politician, getting caught in a prostitution bust, as well as having problems on the relationship front after dumping Cappie and then seeing Cappie kiss Casey. Meanwhile, Rusty is having troubles keeping up with his strict academic regime while maintaining an active fraternity life.

That's gotten us caught up. Now on to Chapter Four, which is year three, semester one. And yes, there are more spoilers here. Beware of white text.

At the beginning of the season we learn Casey's internship was a bust and everyone thought she was a clueless sorority girl, which caused a major crisis in confidence. At least she was going back to Max, whose grant was rescinded, meaning he was staying at CRU. At least that's what he said was the reason he was staying at CRU. Rusty has decided to live at the Kappa Tau house for a more full fraternity experience, which means Dale has a new roommate, and he's Canadian! That's obviously not acceptable for a patriotic man like Dale, so you know that situation won't last.. Early on, Kappa Tau and Omega Chi do battle for Andy, a potential pledge. Speaking of pledges, the Zeta Beta Zeta are desperate for pledges after losing so many sisters to the Ickies. They even decide to recruit Jordan, Rusty's girlfriend. Or to be more precise, the girl Rusty as a crush on.

Oh, and there's even a lesbian kiss later on in the season, but I won't give the details. That would be a spoiler. Right now, it's just a teaser.

Extras on the DVD include audio commentary tracks on two episodes with a mix of participants from both sides of the camera. On disc three there is a five-minute blooper reel and music video final. Finally, there is also an 8-minute featurette on At World's End, which is the theme of the season finale. Most of the cast and crew are asked what they would do if the world was going to end in 24 hours. Personally, I would do my job right up to the end. I would post a column with my prediction on the upcoming weekend. And then when the world didn't end, I would spend the rest of my life mocking all those that thought it would end. Seriously.

Think about it this way. It's only 24 hours, which is an insignificant amount of time compared to the rest of your life. So even if you were having 100 times more fun than average during those 24 hours, it would only be the equivalent to 150 days (assuming you sleep 8 hours a day normally and you didn't sleep at all for the "final" 24 hours). That's five months. What difference could five months of fun make when compared to the decades that came before? But a lifetime of mocking people? That's priceless.

The Verdict

I consider Greek to be the best original show currently on ABC Family. (Or perhaps the second best. It depends on how well 10 Things I Hate About You holds up during its second season.) Apparently the ratings for Chapter Four were not as strong as for some seasons past. This is a shame, as the quality of the show was just as good as seasons past. Hopefully, the ratings will hold up long enough for the show to have an organic conclusion and not end prematurely. In the meantime, the extras on this three-disc set are enough to make it a solid purchase.


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