Looking For Alaska

“Based on John Green’s award-winning first novel, Looking for Alaska is a limited series about friendship, love and loss. Miles “Pudge” Halter (Charlie Plummer) is searching for a deeper perspective on life and decides to enroll at the boarding school Culver Creek Academy. He finds a loyal group of friends and falls in love with Alaska Young (Kristine Froseth). After an unexpected tragedy, the close group of friends tries to cope with everything they’ve been through and find some answers along the way. Written for TV by Josh Schwartz (“The O.C. and “Gossip Girl”).”

I never considered myself a particular fan of coming of age, teenage love stories. I mean, I have always seemed to enjoy the ones I’ve discovered, but never actively sought them out. Because of that, I’ve never read any of John Green’s work nor seen any of the film adaptations. Going into Looking for Alaska I was entirely blind, with no context what to expect, only reading the synopsis on the back of the case for guidance minutes before inserting the disc. What I didn’t expect was the emotional journey that I was about to embark on, one that took me completely by surprise and at times overwhelmed me. Looking for Alaska is so much more than the genre it’s grouped in. It’s more than the sum of its parts.

The series is told throughout eight episodes, each just shy of an hour long. This gives plenty of time for character development, one of the things much harder to emulate when adapting a book to screen. Even from the beginning, you feel drawn to these characters, seeing something in yourself at that age perhaps, feeling like you’re a part of the story as it unfolds. Charlie Plummer does a terrific job as Pudge, the awkward, inexperienced teen with no friends who comes to a boarding school to find his ‘great perhaps’, an answer to what direction his life will unfold. He finds that at Culver Creek in his new group of friends. His roommate Chip “The Colonel” (Denny Love) who is brash, hot tempered but brilliant and loyal, takes him under his wing to teach him the intricacies of life at Culver Creek. Denny Love’s performance in the series is probably my favorite, as his performance as The Colonel was phenomenal. Just like the character, his performance is bold, often times in your face, but most of all has incredible range with some emotional moments that made me cry like a baby. I sincerely hope we see more of him in the future. Before the series was adapted, the fan favorite to portray Alaska Young was Kristine Froseth. Her character is beautiful, smart, mysterious, with an allure to her that will draw you in just as it does everyone around her. Watching her story unfold is one of the most emotional journeys I’ve taken in a show in recent memory.

The story doesn’t only focus on the younger characters, but also tells some emotional stories about some of the teachers of the school. Despite being in charge and kind of a joke to all the students, The Eagle (Timothy Simons) has a nice story arc that becomes very emotional as well. One of the more interesting teacher characters is expanded from the book from what I read: Dr. Hyde (Ron Cephus Jones), who offers wisdom, guidance and compassion while telling a tragic story himself.

Looking for Alaska is definitely along the same lines as 13 Reasons Why, but much better, in my opinion. The downfall of that show was going beyond the source material and creating additional seasons when the story seemed to be concluded so nicely. As much as I would love more time with these characters, I truly hope a second season doesn’t happen, as there is no reason for it. The story is told, the characters have found their meaning, and nothing would be the same.

Here’s a breakdown of the DVD set.

Disc One

Famous Last Words – Miles moves to Culver Creek School and meets The Colonel, Takumi, and Alaska. The “Weekday Warriors” group take revenge on him for an incident that got one of their members expelled.

Tell Them I Said Something… – Alaska, Miles and Takumi prank Weekday Warriors on foreign soil. Miles faces the college jury for a previous prank and gets out easy.

I’ve Never Felt Better… – Alaska pushes Miles to ask Lara on a date which she and The Colonel join with their significant others and Takumi. They go to a basketball home game as a date, where Harsden visits. Drama ensues.

Disc Two

The Nourishment Is Palatable – Alaska woos Miles to stay back for Thanksgiving. They visit The Colonel’s home for Thanksgiving dinner.

I’ll Show You That It Won’t Shoot – After the Weekday Warriors go too far on getting revenge, Miles, The Colonel, Takumi, and Alaska reunite to get them back. After drinking cheap wine and playing a new game called best day/worst day, new secrets come out and a new relationship blossoms.

We Are All Going – Miles gets closer to Lara, but they end up having problems. The Colonel gets in a bad situation for the prank and the gang tries to help him.

Disc Three

Now Comes The Mystery – Culver Creek tries to grapple with a tremendous tragedy. New clues are found to figure out what happened, but only leads to more confusion and questions.

It’s Very Beautiful Over There – The search for answers pulls the group apart, until one final prank brings them back together.

Video

Unfortunately, this set is only available on DVD, so no High Definition transfer here, only 16:9 480i resolution. However, this is a Hulu Original, with the entire series available to stream in High Definition. If you have a subscription, I do recommend watching it that way, as I personally much more enjoy the high definition. That being said, even though I have Hulu, I will be keeping this set, as I know I will want to revisit this series in the future.

Audio

The audio is presented in an English 5.1 track. The best thing about the audio in this series is the perfect selection of songs for the soundtrack. Taking place in and around 2006, there are some perfect songs that embody the time and emotional moments that make up the series.

Special Features

The set boasts up to 40 minutes of extras, something that you can’t get simply streaming the show. These include:

• Exclusive Deleted Scenes
• Finding Your Tribe Featurette
• In Search Of A Great Perhaps: Taking Alaska From Page To Screen Featurette

Looking For Alaska might have surprised me more than anything I’ve watched this year. From what I’ve read from fans, most seem to enjoy the adaptation more so than the book, which is an impressive feat in itself. To be so drawn in to a story so quickly is one of the powers of this series, an emotional journey that will stay with you long after you finish.