Featured TV on DVD Review: Lexx: Season Two

May 25, 2012

Lexx: Season Two - Buy from Amazon

I previously reviewed Season Three and Four of Lexx and this week I get to Season Two. It was released after Three and Four, while the screener arrived a little late. I mentioned that season three was my favorite of the three episodic seasons (although I do like the two two-part mini-series that make up season one the best overall). So while Season Two isn't the best, is it still worth picking up for fans? Or did it take too long for the show to find its legs?

The Show

For those who haven't seen either mini-series, Lexx is a Canadian / German co-production original made in 1997. The science fiction TV show that focuses on four main characters. Stanley H. Tweedle is a loser who just wants the very basics to get by (food and women) but despite his best efforts, he's actually become very important to the two universes. Zev (Eva Habermann) is a half-human / half-cluster lizard, who was supposed to be converted into a sex-slave, but escaped before her transformation could be completed. Her sex slave programming was instead imputed into 790, a disembodied robot head, which is now madly in love with her. Zev, on the other hand, has feelings for Kai (Michael McManus), the last of the Brunnen-G, undead assassins. Because he's dead, he can't be hurt and he feels no emotions. This a great for an assassin, but makes their relationship one-sided. They travel aboard a sentient ship called The Lexx, which describes itself as, "the most powerful weapon of destruction in the two universes." It can destroy, and then eat, whole planets. And it's under the control of Stanley H. Tweedle.

Season two begins with a recap of the events of the mini-serieses, where we learn the last of the insects lives on... through Kai, although Kai doesn't know this right away. He certainly acts really strange at the beginning of the episode, something even Stanley notices. Kai decides they need to get to the Mantrid (Dieter Laser from The Human Centipede), a man so evil that even the Great Shadow had him locked away in exile. At this point, Zev should have known something was up, but she was blinded by her love for Kai and it nearly costs the crew, and the universe, everything. He becomes an important figure this season, but that's all I can say without getting into spoilers.

There are major spoilers happening in episode two and three. At the beginning of episode two, Zev wants Stanley to revive Kai, because she's lonely. However, Stan messes up the defrost procedure and when Kai is awaken, he pierces Stanley's heart. They freeze him to get him to a hospital. However, it's not like being a renegade comes with insurance and they don't have any money to pay the bill. They do have the Lexx, and one destroyed moon later, and suddenly the doctors are willing to work for free. Unfortunately, as we'll see time and time again this season, they are not going to help Stanley out of kindness or fear, but as a way to try and steal the Lexx. Obviously, what happens next is spoilers, but if you've read the previous review, it won't come as too much of a surprise that not everyone makes it out alive. Again, if you've read the previous review, you know the end result is Zev becoming Xev (played by Xenia Seeberg) but I didn't tell you how. Without going into spoiler level detail, it's thanks to a new recurring character, Lyekka (Louise Wischermann) a plant-based alien who takes the form of a girl Stanley had a crush on in high school.

From there on, the season is generally split between the freak of the week type episodes and those that advance some of the continuing storylines. The former are weaker than the later and there are a few episodes that fail to hit their mark, Luvliner and White Trash for instance. Love Grows is well done, but deals with some uncomfortable subjects, to put it mildly. (The gender reversal results in arguably the most difficult scene in the series to watch.) Another early episode that is good is Wake the Dead, which is your basic teenage slasher, but set on the Lexx. The later episodes tend to be better than the earlier ones for a couple reasons. Firstly, we get more reoccurring characters and more continuing storylines. And secondly, it takes a bit for Xenia Seeberg to get into her character. Or maybe the writers had a hard time figuring out what to do with her. Either way, she got better as the season went on.

The show still has the same strengths and weaknesses I mentioned in the earlier review. It is a low budget show and this is reflected in the special effects and the video quality. (It doesn't help that there are far too many episodes crammed onto each disc.) It is a rather bizarre mix of sci-fi elements, which is part of the reason it developed a cult following, but it is also part of the reason why it never went mainstream.

The Extras

Like before, there are no extras on the DVD. There are also no labels on the DVDs and the cast uses a spindle, which I hate. It's a bargain release in every definition of the word.

The Verdict

Lexx: Season Two is not the best in the show's four-year run and this is a bargain basement release. However, this is a cult show and I doubt it will ever get a big release. Even the previous release had weak video quality and censored some of the episodes. Plus, you can get all four seasons on Amazon.com for just over $40 and it is hard to argue with that price.


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