Saturday, October 10, 2015

DVD Review - Witches Of East End: The Complete Season 2




I'm sure many horror fans (me included) will be watching the season premiere of The Walking Dead this Sunday. And a few others will be patently waiting for Halloween Night for the first episode of Ash vs Evil Dead (which also includes me). I guess you can say that I like any television series that has a horror theme. Yes, that even means that I watched the short-lived Witches of East End!

I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't heard of the series before since in it aired on Lifetime. It loosely based on the books by by Melissa de la Cruz. The series debuted in the fall in 2013 and centered on Joanna Beauchamp (played by Julia Ormond) & her two daughters, Ingrid (played by Rachel Boston) and Freya (played by Jenna Dewan Tatum). Their lives are turned upside down when Joanna's sister Wendy (played by Mädchen Amick) arrives and forces Joanna to tell the girls the truth that they're immortal witches from Asgard.

Plus, a curse was played on Joanna and Wendy years ago. Wendy was cursed with nine lives, the ability to turn into a black cat and every time that she dies, she comes back to life within hours. Joanna was cursed with seeing her daughters die in their twenties and immediately becomes pregnant with them again. This cycle is repeated over and over, to the point where she had hid the girls' heritage from them.
 
The first season was basically a cheesy soap opera with love triangles, silly plots and so-so acting, but for some strange reason I still watched it. Oh, wait, it probably has to do with the fact that the all the actresses gorgeous.

Anyway, Season two debuted in the summer of 2014 with little advertisement from Lifetime. The first episode picks up shortly after the season one's finale, which showed what happens to Killian Gardiner (played by Daniel Di Tomasso). Meanwhile, his brother Dash (played Eric Winter) is experimenting with his new-found powers. Who are these guys? Well, Dash is Freya's ex-fiance and Killan is her soul mate. Remember, I said this was like a soap opera!

A new addition to the series is Frederick, Freya's twin brother who had escaped when the portal to Asgard was briefly opened. Sadly, a demonic beast has also entered our world and is attacking innocent people. To make matters worse, the beast takes a liking to Ingrid.

Unlike the first season DVD that received a traditional release, the Witches Of East End: The Complete Season 2 DVD got the made-on-demand method back in July with no special features or extras of any kind.

The 13 episdoes on the 3-disc set are:

A Moveable Beast
The Son Also Rises
The Old Man and the Key
The Brothers Grimoire
Boogie Knight
When a Mandragora Loves a Woman
Art of Darkness
Sex, Lies, and Brithday Cake
Smells Like King Spirit
The Fall of the House of Beauchamp
Poe Way Out
Box to the Future
For Whom The Spell Tolls

Season two was a drastic improvement with a more darker tone. While it wasn't exactly a masterpiece, the plots were better planned out. The latter half featured the villain Mason Tarkoff, which was played by the former Buffy the Vampire Slayer alumni James Marsters, whom gave a clever, creepy performance. Of course the season ended in cliffhanger that was never resolved due to it's cancellation. Overall, despite that fact that there are no extras, I enjoyed watching the Witches Of East End: The Complete Season 2.



*Disclaimer - I received a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

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