- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24
- Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French DTS 5.1, Spanish DTS Surround 2.0
- Subtitles: English SDH, Danish, Finnish, French, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish
- Rating: TV-MA
- Region: A (Region-Locked)
- Discs: 2
- Studio: HBO Home Entertainment
- Blu-ray Release Date: August 2, 2011
- List Price: $39.98
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Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Series
[Rating:4/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3.5/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
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The Series
[Rating:4/5]
The second season of this Will Ferrell-produced HBO comedy series takes the show in a completely new direction. The washed up Major League ballplayer Kenny Powers (Danny McBride) who returned to his hometown to become a phys ed teacher in season one only to take off at the end of the season now turns up in Mexico as a cockfighter going by the name “Steve.” He’s just as delusional about his prospects for success as ever and there’s a whole new cast, including a sultry love interest played by the luscious Ana de la Reguera. His friend Stevie (Steve Little) is still around as the hanger-on he gets to boss around, but that’s where most of the similarities to the first season end. Kenny attempts to launch a comeback in baseball with a local team that’s so bad, they could probably lose to the Bad News Bears. Of course, he’s so delusional about his local fame and abilities, that when the crowds don’t cheer for him and his on-field antics get him benched, he goes off the deep end – booze, drugs, and violence.
The comedy is crude, hip, and edgy and now heading into its third and supposedly final season. That’s probably a good thing, given the premise of this show. I couldn’t see this being stretched out much longer than three seasons.
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
While Eastbound & Down can sometimes tend to look just a little rough with a coarse grain structure that is particularly evident in the whites of clouds, it is a fundamentally strong transfer to Blu-ray. Showing up in an AVC/MPEG-4 1080p/24 encodement, it looks organic and film-like with strong foreground detail and bright and vivid color reproduction. Greens, yellows, and reds really pop while flesh tones maintain a natural look.
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack has good atmospheric presence in the surround channels, spacious stereo imaging, great dynamic range and big, extended lows that come alive during the club scenes. Dialogue is clean with no hint of clipping.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
There are a few good audio commentaries, some nice deleted scenes and mildly humorous outtakes all in high definition to help fill out what is a very brief season of half-hour shows.
The supplements provided with this release:
Disc 1:
- Audio Commentary on Chapter 7 with writer Danny R. McBride and writer/director Jody Hill.
- Audio Commentary on Chapter 10 with writer Danny R. McBride and writer/director Jody Hill, and Steve Little.
Disc 2:
- Invitation to the Set (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:08:30) – The actors and creators discuss the changes for the second season of Eastbound & Down.
- Big Red Cockfighting (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:04:18) – A look at the decision to bring cockfighting to the series.
- Deleted Scenes (Shit We Had to Cut Out) (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:16:00)
- Outtakes (Every Time Someone Fucked Up Our Show) (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:11:39)
- Audio Commentary on Chapter 11 with director David Gordon Green and Chris Gebert
- Audio Commentary on Chapter 12 with director with writer Danny R. McBride, writer/director Jody Hill, and Steve Little.
- Audio Commentary on Chapter 13 with writer Danny R. McBride, writer/director Jody Hill, and Steve Little.
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:4/5]
An over-the-top comedy of crudeness that is right out of the Will Ferrell playbook, Eastbound & Down: The Complete Second Season may not be quite as good as the first season, but it is still filled with enough laughs and often un- “PC” humor that it is a worthy follow up.
Additional Screen Captures
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[amazon-product align=”right”]B003L77GNI[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Series
[Rating:4/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3.5/5]
