I never thought I would ever be in love with another Canadian television show. Kids in the Hall was my first and really the only thing that came from Canada that remotely entertained me. Having seen everything those ‘kids’ have done I’m glad to report that I have another television show I can proudly say I enjoy from Canada. Welcome to Slings & Arrows.
The show surrounds a young man named Geoffrey Tennant (Paul Gross), who has taken over director duties for the New Burbage Theatre Festival. Struggling with his own demons (mainly his undying passion to get the most out of his creativity), his generally uncooperative actors, constant budget up and downs, and a ghost who happens to be his predecessor, Geoffrey does his best to bring his audience the highest quality of stage plays. This show is very charming and intelligent. The three seasons that are packed in with this Blu-ray release work so darn well together. The first season completely revolves around the re-emergence of Geoffrey and his career. In a sense, it’s like an origin movie of a trilogy. The first season really does focus on developing all of the characters in the show. You learn that Geoffrey is a half-crazed creative genius that needs to be brought back to the light before he can bloom his character into something beautiful. To bring Geoffrey back into the light it requires the death of the man he hates (which you find out the story later), his mentor Oliver Welles (Stephen Ouimette). In the process of using Welles’ death to propel Geoffrey’s character into the spotlight, and add depth to him, they keep Welles’ character in the show to lead Geoffrey into a satisfactory conclusion to the first season. Now, aside from the two main characters in the first season, you also get to learn about other minor characters. You get to know an aging, ego driven actress named Ellen Fanshaw (Martha Burns) that has a past with Geoffrey, and is a potential reason why he has a hard time coming back. There is another character named Kate McNab (Rachel McAdams) who is the understudy to an obnoxious actress, who is innocent and in the right place at the right time (she doesn’t stay an understudy for long). Finally, you get some great evil comedy from two corporate yahoos named Richard Smith-Jones (he isn’t evil; he’s just manipulated) and the true devil of the duo Holly Day (Jennifer Irwin) that are trying to re-invent the New Burbage Theatre Festival by destroying the old one in the process.
The first season works beautifully in the show, as you get to see all the characters gain their own personalities and depth. On the side, the short storyline of someone (Holly) trying to destroy the New Burbage Theatre Festival is small, but it’s enough motivation to establish everyone correctly. The only problem I had with season one is just how it ends so darn suddenly. Don’t get me wrong, by the end of it you fully understand what’s going on and how plot point A connects with plot point D, but the ending is just so anti-climatic that you don’t have much time to celebrate it. The ride towards the end is quite entertaining, again the character development makes for a great ride. Much like every good first movie in a trilogy the origins of each character must be fully established for the rest of the stories in the set to shine. The first season of Slings & Arrows is damn entertaining and it serves this ‘origin’ purpose more than anything else.
Once the first season is over you’ll fly into the next without having to re-establish any other major players’ backgrounds. You’ll know what’s going on with everyone and what to expect from their personalities. What this allowed the writers to do is completely concentrate on the rest the story, with little need to explain the characters. The second season of the show surrounds one of the hardest plays to pull off, Macbeth. New problems occur with the New Burbage Theatre Festival starting with money. Richard must go find new donors for the troupe and must contend with major budget cuts. On top of this, Geoffrey contemplates not directing Macbeth in fear of ending his career, as other careers have been ended due to poor performances. On top of that he must also contend with a lackluster cast of people and other things like seeing his dead mentor again.
As you can pretty much tell the second season of the show really does turn on the plot points and strong storyline. I felt like the second season really did a better job of balancing out things and ended with a more definitive, smoother conclusion. Also, all the actors who returned for the second season really seem more comfortable with their roles. This sort of thing is expected, as shows like Friends and Seinfeld really were much better the second go around. The success of any television show is split into two distinct moments:
1. Surviving for another season (which it did).
2. Building upon what you’ve already done with better acting and better story (which it does).
Again, season two has so many great moments and less explanation that you will feel very comfortable the entire time. It’s a step up from the first season, which is always a plus. The third season is more of the same, except you get more problems with the production of King Lear.
Overall, I think the show really did grow from something mildly exciting (season one) to full out bloom in the last two seasons. McKinney and crew wrote very intriguing characters and some great subtle comedy that when put together equals out to a fun and fantastic show.
So why buy this on Blu-ray? Well, Outside of the show looking very pretty in 1080p, even after the upscaling, there’s a lot of visual elements of the show that lend to the high definition format. Not only is the location of the show shot in a beautiful area (one could only assume in Canada), but also the stage backdrop and the theater are really very colorfully vivid areas. Now, you won’t benefit from the fact that’s a comedy, but you will benefit visually from the fact that it’s very well lit and creatively put together. Again, it’s not an action or a drama where you can appreciate fast moving camera angles or dramatic backdrops, but it does what it does in terms of visuals quite nice. As for the audio, where there is singing you’ll enjoy the DTS-HD mastering that was done, with season three being the only 5.1 out of the bunch. Seriously, it’s a comedy and you won’t benefit too much from the 5.1 experience, but it still sounds sweet in season three.
Now, here’s where you’ll be happy with the purchase. You get a ton of special features, which is unusual for television shows. You get some really great commentary from cast and crew (though only on three episodes), a great behind-the-scenes featurette that provides a bit more insight on how everything was done. You get interviews, extra and deleted scenes, plus you get a fantastic bloopers reel. There is nothing quite like a solid bloopers reel on a comedy show.
Anyway, there will be enough extra entertainment ready for you after the initial entertainment from the series itself.