The premise of a television show can tell you a lot about what they show will be about. But it can’t tell you everything. In fact, the most successful television shows reveal to viewers that there is more depth to the series than what the premise might suggest. Of course, over time the writing of the same show can deteriorate and rely too heavily on the premise. When you look at the premise of ABC Family’s Greek, you would think it would just be your standard teen drama about fraternity and sorority life at a fictional college. For the first year, though, Greek proved otherwise. But now Chapter 3 (actually part 1 of season 2) of the series has been released on DVD.
In the beginning, the series centered on Rusty Cartwright (Jacob Zachar), a freshman in college, attending Cyprus-Rhodes University alongside big sister Casey (Spencer Grammer). At first, Casey insisted that Rusty remain low-profile, in hopes that he would not ruin her chances to be elected president of the Zeta Beta Zeta sorority. In an effort to make nice with the family, Casey’s boyfriend, Evan (Jake McDorman), offers Rusty a spot in the Omega Chi Delta fraternity, which he declines after finding Evan cheating on Casey with Rebecca Logan (Dilshad Vadsaria), the Senator’s daughter who was the sorority’s main target during rush. In turn, Rusty accepts an offer from Cappie (Scott Foster), Casey’s ex-boyfriend and the current president of Kappa Tau Gamma, the black sheep of the Greek system.
Greek: Chapter 3 picks up where the second part of season one left off. All of the main characters are dealing with the fall-out from spring break, which includes all of the hook-ups and fights. Casey is adjusting to her ZBZ presidency and has to adjust more when she finds out Frannie (Tiffany DuPont) and Evan are now a couple. Frannie is friendly to Casey at first, but then does everything in her power to undermine her. But Casey might be falling for a shy RA named Max (Michael Rady, Swingtown). Rebecca is not doing so well after her father’s sex scandal and her own “Girls Gone Wild” activities. She also continues to try and have a relationship with Cappie. Rusty continues life as a pledge in the hard-partying Kappa House, and frequently finds himself torn between his social life and his studies. This frequently threatens to bring a rift between himself and Calvin (Paul James), a member of another fraternity. Calvin has social problems of his own, as he just isn’t sure whether his kind boyfriend Michael (Max Greenfield) is the right guy for him. Finally Casey’s best friend, Ashley (Amber Stevens), runs into money problems.
Unfortunately, this half of the second season starts to stall out a bit in the writing department. There is definitely too much focus on Casey’s campaign for a second term at being the president of her sorority. There is also a little too much focus on the wild-and-crazy partying antics of Kappa. Fortunately, the final episode of this chapter looks to right all of those wrongs, and potentially lead to a better end to season two.
Once again, though, the strong acting on this series saves poorly written episodes from being unwatchable. Jacob Zachar, Spencer Grammer, and Scott Foster still shine the brightest. But for the most part you care about these characters one way or another. So you want to see how they grow as characters as those characters become “adults” and not just “college kids”.
Chapter Three of Greek is not as strong as the first two chapters. There are a couple of storylines that make you believe the writers were more lazy for these 10 episodes than the previous 22 episodes. They used the premise of the series to fall back on more times than you would have liked. That being said, the acting saved all of the poor writing and the final episode of this chapter appears to be pointing Greek in the right direction. There was still plenty of comedic and dramatic moments to be entertained by this chapter as well. It will be interesting to see if the writers can turn things around, and make the second half of season 2 just as strong as the first season.
Disc One:
Episode 1 – Brothers and Sisters
Season 2 begins with the annual Greek Week competition. Despite their opposing houses, Calvin and Rusty strive to remain friends. Meanwhile, Casey has to decide what to do about Rebecca’s actions over spring break, and Rebecca’s continuous bad behavior doesn’t do the situation any good.
Episode 2 – Crush Landing
Casey and Ashleigh discover that they have the same crush for the ZBZ Crush Party. Meanwhile, Rusty meets his new RA and turns to him for help.
Episode 3 – Let’s Make a Deal
Casey and Rusty organize a casino night in order to help a debt-plagued Ashleigh. Elsewhere, Evan struggles with accepting the fine print on his trust fund. Cappie’s in need of new car. And, Rebecca wants more from a relationship but she’s not sure if she’ll get it from Cappie.
Episode 4 – Gays, Ghosts and Gamma Rays
Rusty is looking into the list of Kappa Tau actives and this makes him very nervous about one member’s true identity being uncovered. Also, Casey seems to like Max, Rusty’s R.A. And Ashleigh accepts to accompany Calvin and Michael to a gay bar as Michael says Calvin doesn’t have enough gay friends.
Disc Two:
Episode 5 – Pledge Allegiance
Tired of the poor treatment they’ve received the pledges at Kappa Tau fight back. Elsewhere, Evan conspires to use Calvin and Michael’s relationship to help a brother who’s failing.
Episode 6 – See You Next Time, Sisters
Casey, Ashleigh, Frannie and Lizzie attend the ZBZ National Convention in Orlando. At the event, ZBZ sisters can propose changes to the ZBZ National By-Laws. Frannie suggests to overturn a rule which states that removal from office precludes the removed party from ever again seeking that office. Casey tries to get voting members to vote against Frannie’s proposal. When both Casey and Frannie each secure three votes, it’s Tegan who will make the final decision. Paula, a 60-year-old ZBZ sister from North Carolina, gives some tough-love advice to Casey. While Frannie is away, Evan flirts with another girl. He even wants Calvin to be his wingman because the girl has a lady friend with her. Rusty seeks Cappie’s advice to understand why a fellow female classmate acts differently day and night. Max throws an engineering party at the KT house. A fire marshal gives two safety code violations to the KT house.
Episode 7 – Formally Yours
It’s the ZBZ Formal and Casey and Max decide to go together. At the event, Ashleigh and Rusty bond. Also, Rebecca decides to skip the event claiming she needs a break from sorority events.
Episode 8 – The Popular Vote
Rusty and Cappie sign up for a speed dating event sponsored by the women’s volleyball team. As expected, Cappie does well with the ladies. Rusty? Not so much until a sweet girl named Lauren comes along. They bond until a waitress takes their order. The catch? The waitress is someone Rusty used to date! Casey and Ashleigh snoop around in Frannie’s room. They find a cassette tape marked “June 23 – Unedited” as well as a leather-bound scrapbook that seems to hold key information.
Disc Three:
Episode 9 – Three’s A Crowd
Rusty finds out a secret about Dale’s high school friend and fellow Purity Pledge member, but is uncertain to tell Dale what he knows. Meanwhile, Ashleigh, as the new ZBZ president, finds herself in the middle of a battle between Casey and Frannie as they pursue the Omega Chi’s for partnership for the coming school year.
Episode 10 – Hell Week
Casey faces a hard decision when she learns that Max is planning to go to Cal Tech for grad school and she is offered an internship. She turns to Lauren Conrad (who appears in a dream sequence) for advice. Also, the pledges are put through Hell Week and Rusty is driven to face the challenge no matter what he is forced to do.
The video is given in widescreen color with an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The transfer is great with colors generally looking bright and vivid details everywhere. On par with previous chapters.
The audio included is in English 5.1 Surround sound. There are subtitles available in English, Spanish, and French as well. The dialogue and music come out loud and clear. No major problems here either, and the same good quality as previous seasons.
Audio Commentaries –
There are 3 full-length commentaries for three different episodes this season. Executive producers, Shawn Piller and Anne Kenney, executive story editors Jessica O’Toole and Amy Rardin, and actors Dilshad Vadsaria and Jake McDorman all comment on the “Brothers and Sisters” episode. Executive producer Lloyd Segan, writer Matt Whitney, and actors Amber Stevens and Paul James comment on “The Popular Vote” episode. Finally, creator/executive producer Patrick Sean Smith, writer Roger Grant, and actors Spencer Grammer, Scott Michael Foster, Jacob Zachar, and Michael Rady all comment on the “Hell Week” episode. There is a nice mix of entertainment and insight, but as expected with more cast members involved, the more entertaining these tracks get.
“20 Questions with the Cast of Greek” Featurette –
This runs 16 minutes and it features all 10 of the main actors from the series, broken up into four groups. They answer a series of questions about both themselves and the show. Not that enlightening, but somewhat interesting to listen to.
Blooper Reel –
This is 3 minutes worth of the usual gags and mistakes from filming this season. Some of it is funny, but most of it is not.
This semester of episodes from Greek is not a strong one, as the first season was one of the best series to debuted on ABC Family. Fans of the series will probably be disappointed by the lack of extras, but at least you get a few commentaries and a featurette. That is better than nothing.
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment presents Greek: Chapter Three. Created by Patrick Sean Smith. Starring Jacob Zachar, Spencer Grammer, Jake McDorman, Scott Foster, Paul James, Clark Duke, Amber Stevens, Dilshad Vadsaria, Tiffany Dupont, Jessica Rose, and Aaron Hill. Running time: 440 minutes. NOT RATED. Released on DVD: August 18, 2009. Available at Amazon.com
