Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: Criss Angel's stage show, magic, Long Island
Likes: Stunts
Dislikes: The fake drama after his stunts
Hates: That he's gone Hollywood

The Story So Far...
Criss Angel combined traditional stage magic with dark and dramatic imagery to create a unique and highly entertaining show that earned him a cult following and the respect of the magic community. He then parlayed that success into a series on A&E, a gig at the Aladdin in Las Vegas, and a spot as one of America's top magicians. The show, "Mindfreak" followed Angel as he performed his magic and travelled the country. Two DVD releases were culled from the show's first season, including a season set and the Halloween special. DVDTalk has reviews of both: Season One | Halloween Special

The Show
After delivering a solid, if melodramatic first season for A&E, Criss Angel returned to his series with a bit more fame and a few changes. Among the changes made are a simplification of the opening sequence (reducing the cheese level greatly), the almost-total elimination of the unnecessary "Surreal Family" bumpers that preceded and followed commercial breaks, and the addition of a spectator's point-of-view camera, that's handed to an audience member to tape from their perspective. Though the subtraction are certainly welcome, the new P.O.V. perspective only adds to the show if you care about the believability of Angel's tricks, as it attempts to show the on-the-scene perspective. Considering that most of the segments that include the spectator's P.O.V. camera are done in the middle of groups of people, and the camera never goes behind "the curtain," it's less of an addition and more of a gimmick.

The magic in this season is as interesting as it was in Season One, with tricks like the vanishing acts in "Vanish," his motorcycle trick in "Bike Jump Vanish," and the excellent quick change from "Metamorphosis." In addition to his vanishing tricks, Angel shows a propensity toward escape acts, with four episodes featuring various versions. But it's his "street magic," done up close and personal, as seen in "Party" and throughout the season, that really blows people away. Thanks to the immediacy and proximity of the tricks they are hard to attempt to explain, and the lack of stage theatrics leaves no camouflage to blame for hiding the mechanics of magic.

There are a few episodes that are a bit weaker than the rest, like the somewhat hokey "Building Float," Angel's "Walk on Water," and the main event of the outtakes episode "My SecretCabaret ," where the performer stops his pulse at five points on his body at the same time. These are impressive tricks, but they lack the visual punch of his best work. The same goes for the episodes with his celerity friends, like "Celebrity Minds," "Celebrity Seance" and "Prophecy." Mentalism just doesn't translate well to TV, though they managed to make it work in "Motorcyle Roulette," as they placed Carrot Top's life on the line.

Angel's background in traditional magic is a boon to the series, as it leads to guest appearances by magicians including Lance Burton, Penn and Teller and Jeff McBride, the cooperation of the famed Magic Castle in Los Angeles, and an episode where Angel is named "Magician of the Year" for an unprecedented third time. Even better, is "Suckers," which exposes the less ethical applications of magic skills. These touches help ground Angel's more out-there concepts, as do a pair of sentimental episodes. "Military Salute" takes Angel to an Air Force base, in a tribute to the Armed Forces that features soldiers saying high to deployed relatives and friends, while "Chad's Story" shows Angel helping a boy recovering from cancer achieve his magic dreams. They are a bit out of line with the rest of the series' tone, but they're still entertaining.

On a purely personal note, this season was fun thanks to plenty of tricks shot on Long Island, where I live. I drive by several of the locations on a daily basis, and one is less than a mile from my house, which is interesting to me at least. So, if you live near me, which I'm sure means a large percentage of you readers, there's another reason to check this set out and play, "Hey, I know that place!"

The DVDs
Consistency be damned! Admittedly, it wouldn't have made sense to stick with the keepcase used for season one, with the change from two to three discs (holding 21 episodes), but it's still unfortunate that the cases don't match from season to season. This time, the discs are packaged in three clear slipcased ThinPaks, which have one-sided covers (another negative mark.) The discs feature a slightly-animated full-frame menu, with options to watch all the episodes, select individual shows and check out bonus features (where applicable.) There are no subtitles, closed captioning or audio options available.

The Quality
The video quality of the full-frame transfers is what you would expect from a recent non-HD TV show, as there's a very clean image with solid color and no obvious dirt or damage. Some minor pixelation can be seen along straight edges, but it's mostly clear of digital artifacts.

The Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack is a tight presentation of the show's strong music mix, delivering the sound pretty evenly. The dialogue is clear and well-mixed, avoiding any distortion.

The Extras
Though at first glance the set seems to have a good amount of extras, most of them aren't very substantial. The first disc starts things off with a pair of commentaries by the magician on, for "Building Float" and "In Two." Once again, he talks about the prep work that goes into his tricks and his inspirations, but again, he doesn't tell how his magic works. Occasionally, he'll start describing what's happening on-screen, and at one point he invites listeners to an event that happened two months ago, but for the most part its a friendly track that covers similar ground to the first set's commentaries.

The second disc offers nothing up in terms of bonus material, but the final DVD has five featurettes, beginning with "Teach A Trick." This is just a compilation of the magic lessons offered during the season though. "Interviews" starts off well, with a very informal interview between Angel and Penn and Teller, as well as a special guest. It also has short chats with magicians Todd Robbins and Jeff McBride. Five minutes of "Practical Jokes" is silly, but not really funny, nor are they really practical jokes. It's just the crew messing around mainly. "Criss Angel Special Gifts" might be the weakest extra, as it's 3:30 of Angel being given two special gifts. It's followed by "Criss Uncensored," which is actually just more outtakes stitched together.

The Bottom Line
Criss Angel's always walked a line between cool and goofy, but he's leaning a bit too much toward his gangsta-goth persona these days, as this collection of stunts and street magic somewhat shows. His magic is continuously above reproach though, as he pushes every trick to the limit. This set presents the show in nice shape, with a few decent supplements, which should makes Angel's fans happy. If you want to see a quality magician at work, with a touch of theatrics, this is as good a DVD as any.

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*The Reviewer's Bias section is an attempt to help readers use the review to its best effect. By knowing where the reviewer's biases lie on the film's subject matter, one can read the review with the right mindset.