Felicity: Sophomore Year Collection
Buena Vista Home Entertainment   -   1999   -   1035 minutes

Reviewed by Kyle Crawford

Review Date: July 20, 2003

FOR STARTERS

PHOTO GALLERY Keri Russell stars as Felicity

Ah, where would we be without the mini-networks. Shows like 21 Jump Street, Beverly Hills 90210 and Dawson's Creek paved the way for young, beautiful people to be the focal point of a television series. Five years ago, stuffy networks like NBC, CBS and ABC would never embrace and air a show like Felicity. A ratings dynamo from the get-go, maybe they should have. Fresh-faced Keri Russell stars as the main character who has run off to the same college as the boy she has a crush on, Ben (Scott Speedman). Hitting the books and picking up boys have never been so hard, but Felicity, as a character and as a show, really started to come into it's own toward the end of season one. And season two starts off with a bang as we find out who she chose at the end of last season, Ben or Noel (Scott Foley). The is also the year where Russell cuts off her famed locks, and Javier and his life partner have a wedding. It's not going to win any awards, but like any sort of sugary snack, it can get addicting.

#1 - Sophomoric
Felicity returns from summer break excited to serve as RA in her sophomore year - even if Meghan must be her roomie again. Ben secretly listens to Felicity's latest tape to Sally, confirming his worst fears - Felicity is in love with him.
#2 - The List
When Felicity realizes her tape has been listened to, she suspects Meghan, but it is Ben who confesses. He breaks up with Felicity, giving in to his fears. She reacts by chopping off her hair to begin a new chapter in her life.
#3 - Ancient History
Still bitter over Felicity's year-end snub, Noel and Felicity can't come to terms. Felicity gives in to artistic desires, drops pre-med and leaves Elena feeling abandoned. Meanwhile, things get better between Ben and Julie, and she decides to move in with Ben and Sean permanently.
#4 - The Depths
Felicity and Julie are forced to deal with their strained relationship while stuck on a subway car together. Ben hits it off with Maggie, an older women he meets at Dean and Deluca, while Noel has a great first date with Ruby - an advisee of Felicity's.
#5 - Crash
Professor Sherman convinces Felicity to date her son, David. Date one is a fiasco and Felicity walks out, but David asks for and gets a second chance. She may have a new crush now - along with a lesson about first impressions.
#6 - The Love Bug
Noel and Ruby's relationship rises and falls as she learns of his past with Felicity and becomes furious. David dumps Felicity on suspicions that Noel and she still have feelings for each other, and as she wins him back, Ben learns Maggie, his new love, has a husband.
#7 - Getting Lucky
Felicity adopts "Lucky," a stray dog, but he becomes a distraction and an excuse to avoid passion with David. Meanwhile, Julie is politely not interested in Sean's advances, and Maggie tries to seduce Ben one more time.
#8 - Family Affairs
Noel and Elena host Thanksgiving, including Felicity's parents on a surprise visit, and David and his mom, Professor Sherman. It turns disastrous when an intoxicated Noel kisses Felicity. Meanwhile, Ben gets a rare introduction at a Maggie-hosted fundraiser.

#9 - Portraits
After some disturbing, erotic dreams about Noel, Felicity tries to rekindle their relationship, only to agree he should really be with Ruby. Julie meets an interested record label executive, Erik, while Sean courts investors for his "Smoothaise," and Ben panics after writing a final paper on the wrong novel.
#10 - Great Expectations
During a three-week business trip, Felicity's father reveals he and her mom are separating. When Ben learns the swimming program is sinking, he and Felicity indulge in a steamy beer-drinking swim in the University pool, but get caught by security. Erik may be interested in more than Julie's music.
#11 - Help for the Lovelorn
Nursing her broken heart, Felicity accepts a strange woman's suggestion to visit "The Clinic" and undergo "the procedure" to have her heart removed. This freaks her out until she realizes Noel and Julie have already done it.
#12 - The Slump
The pool break-in leads Felicity and Ben into counseling and community service. While Ben considers dropping out of school and heading to Europe, Felicity learns more about her parents' relationship when her mom flies in.
#13 - Truth or Consequences
Noel and Ruby freak out when they learn she is pregnant, Felicity and Ben choose to work off their community service in the health clinic, and Julie's dreams of a recording career get physical when Erik hits on her.
#14 - True Colors
Noel is devastated when he learns he couldn't be the father of Ruby's baby, and Ben and Noel bond when Ben shares his experience getting a girl pregnant. Felicity starts to get friendly with Greg, a student volunteer in the health clinic.
#15 - Things Change
Felicity has cause to worry about her father, who is depressed over the separation, and, while attempting to date someone new, Ben can't stop thinking about Felicity. When he goes to tell her, he sees her with Greg and leaves unseen.
#16 - Revolutions
All hell breaks loose when a student, Leila, needs the morning-after pill from the health center and Greg won't break policy to administer it. Felicity becomes the ringleader of a sit-in and Julie becomes an eloquent spokesperson in the cause.

#17 - Docuventary II
Sean is encouraged to "add scope and context" to his Docuventary, and features Felicity's love life. A kiss with Greg is captured on film, but affairs get exciting when Ben confronts Greg with information he "sneaks" from a school file.
#18 - Party Lines
In a political twist of events, Greg asks Felicity to be his campaign manager for Student Council President. She later learns her ideas differ greatly and ends up running against him by convincingly taking Leila's place as a candidate.
#19 - Running Mates
Campaigning gets dirty when Greg's new manager defaces Felicity's posters and steals her campaign materials. Ben is on to him, but Felicity doesn't believe it, so Ben leaks Greg's drug problem to Richard, who is also in the race.
#20 - Ben was here
Ben follows Greg and Felicity to a romantic cabin outside of town, and later on a date, to try to win her back, which leads to a big fight. Meanwhile, the father of Ruby's child shows up, and Sean's "Docuventary" is sold.
#21 - The Aretha Theory
Greg breaks off with Felicity over the unresolved Ben issues, and after an empowering woman's night of clubbing and girl talk, Felicity leaves Ben the message that she doesn't need him anymore. She realizes her mistake too late.
#22 - Final Answer
Ben and Felicity spend a sexless night together, which causes great speculation among the gang. Their bigger dilemma involves conflicting summer plans. Sean gets the nerve to ask Julie out, but later catches her sharing a kiss with Noel.
#23 - The Biggest Deal There Is
Unexpected sparks fly with Meghan and Sean, and not without regrets. Ben ends up encouraging Felicity to take the internship, and they end up in bed for the first time. Meanwhile, Julie's birth mother calls out of the blue, Javier's cousin makes a play for Noel at Javier's wedding, and Ben leaves for California after telling Felicity he loves her.

VIDEO

Presented in the television aspect ratio of 1.33:1, the non-anamorphic video is surprisingly good. Compression artifacts are evident in many scenes, but the overall color palette is nicely presented. Comparable to season one's video, this is the best that this show has ever looked.

AUDIO

Despite what the packaging says, I was somewhat disappointed to find out that Felicity is not presented in Dolby 5.1 surround. As a mostly character and dialogue driven though, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. The action is generally focused up front with some city noise and classroom chatter occasionally peppering the rears. As far as television shows go, this audio track rates as okay. A Spanish 2.0 track is included as well.

SUPPLEMENTS

There are a few supplements included on the last disc starting with the never-before-seen half-hour pilot presentation that creators' J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves filmed for the studio heads at the WB network. This is shown with an introduction by Abrams and Reeves, who detail the pilot and why they had to cram a lot of the show's thematic elements into one half-episode. The production value is surprising high and it's no wonder the WB picked up the show. Next up we have the 2:50 featurette "Finding Felicity," which basically compares two different scenes with Keri Russell from both the casting try-outs to the final filmed version. Then there is the 2:20 "Felicity Emmy Parody," which is moderately amusing and spoofs the hot shows from that year; NYPD Blue, The X-Files and E.R. Finally, there are audio commentaries attached to five of the episodes with different cast and crew involved. Episode #1 has Amanda Foreman (Meghan), Greg Grunberg (Sean), Amy Jo Johnson (Julie) and Tangi Miller (Elena), Episode #2 has Keri Russell (Felicity) and Scott Speedman (Ben), Episode #3 has Russell and Scott Foley (Noel), Episode #11 has J.J. Abrams, Lamont Johnson (who directed the episode) and Matt Reeves, and Episode #12 has Abrams and Reeves. All are okay listens, but probably only for the die hard fans of the show.

THE BOTTOM LINE

For true fans of television shows, DVD has been a blessing. Except for those presented in high definition, this is the very best way to view any show and Felicity is no exception. A smart, above-average program about the trials of love and life in young adults, it really hit it's stride in the second season. Decent video and audio matched with a fair amount of special features make this an easy recommendation.