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Greek: Chapter Five - The Complete Third Season
Shout Factory // G // January 11, 2011
List Price: $44.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
"Greek" is a series on ABC Family that follows sororities and fraternities as they accept new pledges, battle each other for rank, and do their best to survive not only college but relationships old and new. At the center of the series is Casey (Spencer Grammer), a Zeta Beta Zeta whose life revolves around two things: the sorority and her relationships. In the first season, things changed when her brother, Rusty (Jacob Zachar) who she calls "not fraternity material" arrives, ready to begin school and change his life by pledging. The series focuses on several aspects of Greek life, including the relationships that suffer at the cost of pledging, the bonds made with fellow brothers and sisters, and the pressure it takes to maintain not only the status of each chapter, but also the sanity of each pledge.
In the first chapter of "Greek" there was a lot of character development that laid the ground for the second half of the first season as well as future seasons to come. Casey's relationship with Evan (Jake McDorman) is put to the test when she finds out that the senator's daughter and sorority sister, Rebecca (Dilshad Vadsaria) slept with him. Not to mention the fact that Casey's ex-boyfriend Cappie (Scott Michael Foster) is always around and in the same fraternity as her brother. It's not just Casey who has her good days and her bad; Rusty has his first real romance and Casey's sorority sister, Ashleigh (Amber Stevens) thinks she has feelings for Omega-Chi pledge, Calvin (Paul James), who's keeping a big secret. While a lot takes place in the first half of the first season, it's easy to see why "Greek" gained a following with good acting, a variety of characters, and enough drama to keep the series moving forward without feeling like a melodrama.
"Greek"'s fourth chapter managed a number of enjoyable episodes, although it was inconsistent in comparison to some of the prior chapters. Casey opens the season with plans to move out of her sorority and struggles in her relationship with Max (Michael Rady), while Frannie (Tiffany Dupon) leaves to start a new sorority and uses her boyfriend's newfound wealth in order to help her pay the bills for the new sorority. Enemies Casey and Frannie even find themselves forced to join together for the wedding of a former friend and ZBZ pledge who's coming back to town to get married ("Dearly Beloved"). Beyond all the personal drama and partying and whatnot, the characters do actually make some time to study ("Social Studies").
The fourth chapter left off with Frannie leaving and Casey questioning her feelings for Cappie, and breaking up with her boyfriend Max. And Cappie is left to decide what he wants to do about Casey's interest in him. As for Rusty, his relationship with Jordan (Johanna Braddy) became a distraction and his grades began to drop. Also, Calvin and Dale decided to take purity pledges. By the time the season two finale, "At World's End" wrapped up, a large party is thrown and the characters are left to make choices about what to do with themselves next.
"Greek" Chapter Five (the complete third season) opens with the episode "The Day After" that picks up where chapter four left off. It's the day after the big party and Rusty realizes he might be out of the honors program, and Casey is trying not to obsess over being rejected by Cappie. When Casey gets a chance to see Cappie, she ends up helping Rusty finish his project instead. Elsewhere, Dale confesses to Calvin that he broke the purity pledge and Calvin thinks he may have with Grant, because he can't remember the night before. Grant lets Calvin know nothing happened beyond a kiss, and they decide to continue seeing each other at a slow pace. Finally, Evan tells Rebecca that he gave up his trust fund and has no money left in his account.
Furthermore,a new character named Katherine (Nora Kirkpatrick) is introduced in "The Half-Naked Gun." In "Wish-Pretzel," Casey and Rusty stay at school for Thanksgiving when their parents decided to go on vacation instead. This episode had some lighter moments, which are some of the better things about "Greek," as well as a long awaited moment between Casey and Cappie. By the twelfth episode, "Pride & Punishment" a lot has happened including the Gamma Psi house catching on fire, Calvin starts to question if Grant is the right guy for him, Evan and Rebecca start dating, and Rusty and Dale are at odds when both want to win the same engineering award. Things don't slow down too much from there as Casey and Cappie start to really talk about their future goals as a couple and with school. In "Camp By Me Love" some homage is paid to romantic comedies from the 80's when Rusty uses some moves from "Say Anything." The season finale leaves room for the fourth season which is also the last.
The series does continue to generally work well due to the fact that this remains a terrific ensemble cast who click together and who seem to have grown more comfortable with their characters over time. The writing is still generally entertaining, although the issues between the characters - the personal and romantic dramas - does start to feel a little repetitive at times. However, for fans of the series and characters, there's a lot of growth here that opens up new storylines.
Grammer and Foster have particularly good chemistry together and Stevens offers a fantastic performance as Ashleigh, who is easily one of the most likable characters in the series. Some of the more enjoyable scenes are between Casey and Rusty, especially given how well Grammer and Zachar work off one another as brother and sister. "Greek" does go over the same ground at times throughout these episodes, but some positives still shine through.
3-01 31/Aug/09 The Day After
3-02 07/Sep/09 Our Fathers
3-03 14/Sep/09 The Half-Naked Gun
3-04 21/Sep/09 High and Dry
3-05 28/Sep/09 Down On Your Luck
3-06 05/Oct/09 Lost and Founders
3-07 12/Oct/09 The Dork Knight
3-08 19/Oct/09 Fight The Power
3-09 26/Oct/09 The Wish-Pretzel
3-10 02/Nov/09 Friend or Foe
3-11 25/Jan/10 I Know What You Did Last Semester
3-12 01/Feb/10 Pride & Punishment
3-13 08/Feb/10 Take Me Out
3-14 15/Feb/10 The Tortoise and the Hair
3-15 22/Feb/10 Love, Actually, Possibly, Maybe... Or Not
3-16 01/Mar/10 Your Friends and Neighbors
3-17 08/Mar/10 The Big Easy Does It
3-18 15/Mar/10 Camp Buy Me Love
3-19 22/Mar/10 The First Last
3-20 29/Mar/10 All Children... Grow Up
The DVD
VIDEO: "Greek" episodes are presented by Shout Factory in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. Sharpness and detail are excellent, as the picture remains crisp and detailed throughout the show. No edge enhancement or flaws on the elements were seen, but a couple of tiny instances of artifacting were seen. Colors remained bright and natural throughout, with no smearing or other concerns. Overall, this was a solid presentation with no major issues.
SOUND: Not a whole lot is required of the show's Dolby 2.0 presentation. Surrounds occasionally offer sound effects and ambience, but the majority of the audio comes from the front speakers. Audio quality remained first rate, with crisp dialogue, effects and score.
EXTRAS:
Commentary on Disc 1 for "The Day After" with Executive Producers Lloyd Segan and Shawn Piller. The Commentary doesn't have any real lags, with a discussion about the actors, their college experience, as well as filming and storylines. "The Half-Naked Gun" commentary with Patrick Sean Smith, and actors Scott Michael Foster, Dilshad Vadsaria and Johanna Braddy offers some insight into the characters and their development. This commentary is a bit lighter with only a few gaps in conversation.
Disc 3 Bonus Features include: "Gotcha! Featurette" and "Ep. 1-10 Gag Reel." The "Gotcha! Featurette" runs nearly twenty minutes and features the cast members who were given cameras and game guns. The feature follows them via their own camera footage and cameras set up on the various sets as they play rounds of "Gotcha!". It's actually pretty entertaining to watch the cast as they make strategies, goof off, and try to win.
Commentary on Disc 6 for "All Children...Grow Up" with Patrick Sean Smith and actors Scott Michael Foster, Amber Stevens and Aynsley Bubbico. They discuss how the episode was filmed as a possible series finale, which ended up only being a season finale. The discussion is light as they seem to be having a fun time chatting about the episodes, series and memories. There are some gaps in conversation. Other Bonus Features include: "A Conversation with Nora Kirkpatrick" which is an interview with Nora Kirkpatrick about her character, Katherine. The feature also includes footage from the series. Also included are "Ep. 11-20 Gag Reel" and "Hip-Hop Video."
Final Thoughts: Chapter Five includes all episodes from the third season. "Greek" fans may enjoy the season as it offers memorable episodes and continued fine performances. Recommended for fans.
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