The First Season, Volume 2

The concept of television drama Commander in Chief is revolutionary. First of all, the main character is the first woman to be elected into the position as Vice President of the United States of America. After two years in office, she is the first woman in history to become the President of the United States of America. The television series details the drama that surrounds the first female president in office as she manages her presidential duties and repeated political attacks by the Speaker of the House. The series also includes substantial focus on the president's home life and the family as they adjust to their new stations in life.

Commander in Chief first aired in fall of 2005 and it ended in 2006 with only eighteen episodes. The headlining actress Geena Davis won a Golden Globe award for a best actress in a television drama. However, despite her award, the series did not succeed. In its initial stages, the series had a promising outlook. Early into the season creator Rod Lurie was taken off the show and replaced by Steve Bochco. Apparently, ABC did not agree with the direction Lurie wanted for the series. In the end, Commander in Chief found its viewer-base slowly disappearing and eventually ABC pulled the plug.

For more details about the series, including the details about the series' cast and season one's first ten episodes, please refer to DVD Talk's review of Commander In Chief - The Inaugural Edition, Part 1. This review covers the second volume, which contains the show's final eight episodes and as odd as it sounds, the series pilot (which is in volume one) is included. The pilot episode can be accessed via the special features. An audio commentary with creator Rod Lurie is included on disc 4. Why they didn't put the commentary in the volume one set is beyond me.

The first episode in this set is "No Nukes Is Good Nukes". It is the second part of the two-part episode, where part one was the episode "Sub Enchanted Evening". In part one an American submarine had to been conducting covert surveillance just off of North Korean territory. Unfortunately, the submarine lost maneuvering capabilities after hitting a seamount and drifted into hostile waters. Of course, with the United States and North Korea not on the friendliest of terms makes for a difficult situation. North Korea finding out the U.S. had a submarine monitoring their communication is not an act they would take kindly to, as well as the ramifications if they got control of the submarine and its crew. A plan is put into action with the Chinese government to extract the sailors aboard the submarine without North Korea's knowledge.

In part two, where volume two begins, the situation with North Korea rises to a boil. Mac continues to run into problems as she tries to manage the rescue operation from the White House. Unfortunately, someone in the Chinese government is not as forthcoming to the United States as one would hope. Someone in the Chinese government leaked information about the submarine to the North Korean government. This act turns the situation into a possible nuclear catastrophe, which is clearly not something this president (or any president for that matter) wants to face. In addition, Mac continues to deal with advisors and Templeton who do not feel she is fully capable of handling such a deadly situation.

Of volume two's remaining episodes, not many stand out. The storylines includes storylines with a hijacker taking control of Air Force One while Dickie and some other non-regulars are onboard, Mac preparing for her first state of the union while she is publicly embarrassed when the media takes pictures of a drunk Rod falling onto an intern, Mac takes it upon herself to resolve the out-of-hand crime situation in the neighborhood Jim grew up in, Mac searches for a new vice president, Americans are taken hostage in Turkey, and Mac and Templeton square off in a presidential debate after he announces his candidacy for president in the coming election. And of course, there are plenty of stories involving the family and other staffers, which includes an out of hand party held by Horace and Rebecca in the white house, Vince's commitment ceremony with his same sex life partner, and Dickie and Kelly's relationship.

However, one episode that does stand out among the rest is "The Elephant In The Room". Mac's appendix bursts while on Air Force One and she is forced to invoke the twenty-fifth amendment. However in the previous episode "Ties That Bind", vice president Keaton resigned his position because his wife was recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Without a vice president, Templeton, as speaker of the house, is next in line for presidency. Mac resigns and Templeton surprises her by taking oath and consequently, resigns from congress. While acting as president, Templeton sets a lot of Mac's presidential efforts back by using his newfound power to cater to his own agenda. It makes for an intriguing episode with Mac's nemesis spicing things up.

Overall, the volume two episodes are not terribly exciting. My impression was similar to the opinion I formulated when I reviewed volume one. The direction the series took without Rod Lurie and Steve Bochco running things did not improve the overall tone of the series. In fact, not much has changed. Fans of the series should be most interested in this set, but if you did not enjoy the earlier episodes, volume two does not offer anything beyond volume one in terms of content. In the end, Commander in Chief: The Inaugural Edition, Part 2 is best reserved for the fans.

Episode Guide
1. Pilot 11. No Nukes Is Good Nukes
12. Wind Beneath My Wing
13. State Of The Unions
14. The Price You Pay
15. Ties That Bind
16. The Elephant In The Room
17. Happy Birthday, Madam President
18. Unfinished Business

The DVD

Video:
The video in this release is given in an anamorphic 1.78:1 ratio widescreen color format. The picture quality is quite good. It suffers from a slight grain, but detail remains to be sharp and clear. However, there are moments when the picture suffers compression artifacts and hints of edge enhancement. This is most noticeable during the darker scenes. Overall it is a great looking picture.

Audio:
The audio track in this release is in English 5.1 Dolby digital surround sound. The 5.1 track is dynamic and makes decent use of the surround sound capability. In general, the sound quality is very good and it provides an audible and clean track. The dialogue is usually a little flat while music and sound effects come off rich and vibrant.

Extras:
Commander in Chief: The Inaugural Edition, Part 1 came with no extras of any kind. I guess Buena Vista saved them for this second release. For extras there is an interview with Geena Davis, several deleted scenes, bloopers and outtakes, and two commentary tracks.

The featurette "A Conversation With Madam President" is an interview with actress Geena Davis. During the interview, Davis provides insight about the show, what it was like, her character, and other related items. It runs for approximately six minutes.

There are twenty deleted scenes, which can be viewed in sequence with a play all option or individually. The deleted scenes are entitled "First Woman President", "Jim's Loss", "Missing Agents", "Big Jump", "Lock And Key", "Keeping Busy", "Snooping Templeton", "Misguided Q & A", "First Move", "Candy Corn", "An Incident", "The Bottom Line", "Agenda", "Family Matters", "Strong Men", "Dinner Bet", "Spiked Drink", "Chinese Finger Trap", "A Present For Templeton", and "Why Presidents Age". The total runtime is under twenty-two minutes.

"White House Humor: Bloopers & Outtakes" is a three minute clip with goofs during filming. It has a few light hearted laughs, but nothing you are going to kick yourself for missing.

Lastly, the commentaries cover the episodes "Pilot" with Rod Lurie and "The Elephant In The Room" with Dee Johnson. In case you are wondering, yes the entire "Pilot" episode is included in this set. It can be accessed via the special features and watched with or without commentary. As for the commentary, Lurie, the creator and original executive producer provides some details about the series being put together, inspirations, casting, etc. In the second commentary, producer/writer Dee Johnson offers comments about the series, the cast's relationships, and specific details to the episode "The Elephant In The Room". I found both commentaries to be on the dry side. Unless you are really into the series, you probably won't get very excited hearing Lurie and Johnson talk about the show and its characters.

Final Thoughts:
Commander in Chief presents a revolutionary idea in the form of a television drama, a female president. The series details what life is like in the White House for the first female president, her family, and her staff, as well as the internal politics. The concept is intriguing, but the television series fails to obtain greatness. The problem is how the series is approached. The tone is very family-oriented and in many cases it minimizes the characters and plotlines to turn Commander in Chief into a feel good show about the right moral values (which aren't always right). In the end, I felt the series had promise, but did not quite deliver a compelling level of drama. The series should make for an intriguing first watch, but I doubt it will pull you in and leave you wanting more.