Review: NCIS: New Orleans – The Second Season DVD

THE SEASON — 3.0/5

Season Synopsis: America comes to the Big Easy to party, but the crimes can turn deadly serious. That’s where the elite unit of NCIS: New Orleans comes into play. As special agent-in-charge, Dwayne Cassius “King” Pride (SCOTT BAKULA) is responsible for cracking cases threatening American security or involving military personnel. His hand-picked unit includes streetwise former NOPD detective Christopher Lasalle (LUCAS BLACK(, ultra-dedicated agent Meredith Brody (ZOE MCLELLAN), and their newest recruit, former undercover ATF agent Sonja Percy (SHALITA GRANT). While the investigators are on the scene, the evidence gets handled by the technical experts back at headquarters, including offbeat forensic scientist Sebastian Lund (ROB KERKOVICH), unstoppable hacker Patton Plame (DARYL “CHILL” MITCHELL) and seasoned Medical Examiner Dr. Loretta Wade (CCH POUNDER). From black market drones, to deadly new drugs, to a lethal home invasion, andseparatists groups planning attacks, no situation is too extreme for this unit.

Quick Hit Review: This second season of the second spin-off from the popular mothership series, is more or less the same as its first year. The stories aren’t anything special but like CSI: Miami before it, the show mainly feeds off of its unique locale though unlike Miami, its shot on location thus taking full advantage of the different locations. The ensemble cast continues to gel some more with Scott Bakula being one of reasons the show even works but for their parts, Lucas Black and Zoe McLellan work well opposite and in keeping with NCIS tradition, we get a “probie”, though they use the term “” instead.

The writing might not be the best and they do beat you over the head reminding you that the show takes place in New Orleans with a variety of local guest appearances, not to mention the unique cuisine. I’m also not entirely sold on Bakula mainly because he seems to be just a good ‘ole local boy whereas you’ve got Gibbs on NCIS with a somewhat dark streak and a very dark past and G on NCIS: Los Angeles with an entire mysterious past altogether. Bakula’s Pride, although takes chances and his life is seemingly always at risk, doesn’t have an edge; my fear the character will become a tad boring and unlike the other two series, there’s no one to really take up the slack.

SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.5/5

The 6-disc set is housed in a standard DVD case and slides into a matted slip cover.

Episode Commentaries – Writer/Co-Executive Producer Christopher Silber and Writer Christopher Waild provide commentaries on ‘Sister City’ Parts 1 & 2.

Who Wore It Best? (4:45) is a featurette on the red dresses wore by the men in the episode, ‘Insane in the Membrane’

Dressed to Thrill (8:35) looks at the costume design on the series.

Crossing Over: A Look at Sister City (15:37) looks at the making of the crossover episodes and features interviews with the cast and crew.

Bullets and Beignets: Exploring Season Two (21:06) is an overview of the series’ second year with topics discussed about the plots.

Percy and Plame (12:13) is a featurette on the new character, Sonja Percy as portrayed by Shalita Grant, and Patton Plame played by Daryl “Chill” Mitchell whose character was introduced last season and is now a regular.

Now You See It (7:18) looks at the locations used in and around New Orleans.

All the World’s a Stage (3:52) finds the actors talking about how they came to their profession.

Deleted Scenes are available on ‘Sic Semper Tyrannis’, ‘Blue Christmas’ and ‘Sister City Part II’

VIDEO – 4.0/5, AUDIO – 4.0/5

Paramount releases NCIS: New Orleans in its original televised anamorphic 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio and the show looks pretty darn good taking advantage of the bright colors of the Crescent City. There’s some minor aliasing but nothing terrible and detail for standard def is decent.

Each episode is accompanied by a Dolby Digital 5.1 track which more than gets the job done offering clear dialogue while the more action-centric scenes as well as the occasional explosion provides some depth, though it’s not entirely robust but for a lossy track, it’s above average.

OVERALL – 3.0/5

Overall, NCIS: New Orleans is hardly a great show and a shell of a series compared with NCIS or even NCIS: Los Angeles, however it is at least fluff entertainment and with Scott Bakula at the helm, enjoyable enough even if the stories aren’t entirely memorable. The DVD released through Paramount offers good video and audio transfers while the features aren’t anything special.