After last week’s stacked field, this doesn’t seem to be a great week for new releases, although if you are a fan of a few cable programs, you should be able to get your hands on some decent stuff this week, including Season 2 of USA’s Suits and Season 1 of A&E’s drama, Longmire. Read on to learn about some of May 28th’s best releases, and maybe even a few that may have slipped under your radar.
Suits: Season 2 DVD
USA’s Suits is a snappy and modern lawyer drama about a New York firm named Pearson Hardman that only accepts first-year associates from Harvard. That prestigious little fact doesn’t stop Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams), a college dropout with an eidetic memory, from faking his way into a position at the firm. By the start of Season 2, certain high-end people at the firm are beginning to figure out Ross’ secret, but luckily for the brilliant young man, the firm has bigger fish to fry.
Season 2 follows the return of former firm head Daniel Hardman (David Costabile), a man best described as a snake in sheep’s clothing. Thus begins a season-long fight for control of the firm between Hardman and Jessica Pearson (Gina Torres) that heats up the plot along with the regular cases Mike and his mentor, Harvey (Gabriel Macht), take on each week. The first half of Season 2 is tightly written and while the threads begin to fray later in the season, there are still plenty of reasons to watch, from the well-drawn characters to the fast-paced dialogue.
The biggest flaw with Suits (other than the fact the women always have on super revealing clothing) is that the firm is constantly giving its game away in order to explain to audiences what is going on. Instead of using a courtroom or a private investigator, like The Good Wife’s Kalinda, to get to the bottom of the legal mumbo jumbo and try to put the moves on the opponent, Harvey, Jessica and the gang often just point blank explain to their opponents what information they have and why their opponents are going to settle in court or sign certain documents, etc. This frequently keeps the teams out of the courtroom, but when the lawyers show their hands ahead of time, they are making themselves vulnerable. Despite this, the series is extremely watchable.
A lot of USA’s original programming skews toward an older audience, but Suits has enough wit and pop culture references to appeal to a younger audience, while still maintaining enough older and wiser characters to span the gap. I’ve watched this show with my recent college graduate sister, as well as my mother-in-law, and they’ve both enjoyed Suits, albeit for different reasons. If you’re looking for a recommendation for a plane ride or a new show to get into, Suits may be it.
You can order Suits: Season 2 over at Amazon.
Best Special Feature: Surprisingly, the Suits set comes with several bonus features, which is not often the case for DVD sets for TV shows. Additionally, the back display in the DVD case is an episode guide that also explains which extras are on which disc. It doesn’t take up any space and it makes the back display with the set look really great.
Four webisodes are available with the set. If you’ve already caught these online, they won’t be anything new, but if you haven’t, the short segments help to flesh out the characters and some subplots a little bit. The funniest of these is an episode called “The Can Opener,” which follows Harold stealing Donna and Harvey’s famous can opener. Speaking of, this is another reason Suits is great. There are a lot of oft-alluded to rituals and callback jokes that keep fans invested throughout the series. Other webisodes include “Busted,” “Quote for Quote,” and “The Match.”
Other Special Features:
Deleted Scenes
Gag Reel
“Suits Recruits” Webisodes
Other May 28 Releases
Longmire premiered its second season last night, and if you would like to catch up on the first season of the series, you’ll be able to do so beginning today, thanks to Warner Home Video’s Longmire: The Complete First Season release. Unlike a lot of procedurals, Longmire inserts a lot personal issues and personality into its drama, and if you haven’t caught Season 1, there are some plot gaps that need to be filled. Other big TV releases this week include the first (and only) season of ABC’s Red Widow, BBC’s Doctor Who: The Snowmen holiday special, and more from Cartoon Network’s Annoying Orange. Check out some more of this week’s releases, below.
Unless otherwise noted, releases are available on both DVD and Blu-ray.
Longmire: The Complete First Season DVD
Doctor Who: The Snowmen
Cleopatra 50th Anniversary Limited Edition Blu-ray
Red Widow: The Complete First Season DVD
Life is Sweet: Criterion Collection
Nailbiter
The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange: Season 1
The Birds Blu-ray
