Saturday, July 6, 2019

Blu-ray Review: The Big C: The Complete Series


*This is a sponsored review. All opinions are 100% mine.

Mill Creek Entertainment; Amazon
I'm mostly clueless when it comes to SHOWTIME as I don't have a subscription to the cable service. Besides from Shameless, Masters of Sex, and Penny Dreadful, I have no idea what programs on air on it. So, it shouldn't be a surprise that I'd never heard of the series The Big C until it was released on Blu-ray ($54.98; 20 hrs 36 mins) way back in April by Mill Creek Entertainment, featuring all 40 episodes.

Created by Darlene Hunt, The Big C stars Laura Linney as Cathy Jamison, a 42-year-old high school teacher who learns she has terminal (stage IV) melanoma. She's doesn't want to burden her childlike husband, Paul (played by Oliver Pratt), their teenage son, Adam (played by Gabriel Basso), or he unemployed and homeless brother, Sean (played by John Benjamin Hickey).

With little time to live, Cathy or more or less has a midlife crises and temporarily kicks Paul out their home because she's tired of taking care of him. She befriends her elderly widowed neighbor, Marlene (played by Phyllis Somerville), as well as her oncologist, Dr. Todd Mauer (played by Reid Scott) and an overweight student, Andrea (played by Gabourey Sidibe). Besides her doctor, Marlene is the only person who knows about her illness for most of the first season.

Despite knowing she's going to die soon, Cathy decides to live each day to fullest!


 Final Thoughts

After reading the "blurb" on the back of the Blu-ray slipcover and I had pretty much convinced myself that I wasn't going to like this series. The plot of someone having cancer sounded too depressing for me. However, the series is anything but depressing. It's actually really funny. Well, sure there are many heartfelt moments, but mostly it's just funny; many thanks to the scene-stealing John Benjamin Hickey who plays the oddest brother ever. The rest of the cast (especially Laura Linney) all give excellent performances.

The picture and sound quality for each is episode are really good. The entire set has six discs with an English subtitles option. The episode length for seasons 1 - 3 are around 28 minutes. Season 4 only has 4 episodes, but each the episode is around 56 minutes. There are no special features or bonus extras.

The Big C: The Complete Series is a well-made dramedy with plenty of heart and laughs. If you haven't seen the series before, I recommend checking it on Blu-ray.

FYI: I would give this release a 5 out 5 rating but I had to lower to it due to the fact it doesn't have any special features.




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