DVD Review: Witches of East End: The Complete Season 2

Witches of East EndThe television series Witches of East End is loosely based on the book of the same name by Melissa de la Cruz. The series follows a family of witches, the Beauchamps. The family is led by the powerful witch Joanna (Julia Ormond) who is mother of adult children, two girls, Freya (Jenna Dewan Tatum) and Ingrid (Rachel Boston), and a boy, Frederick (Christian Cooke). They also live with Joanna's sister, Wendy (Madchen Amick).

The family was originally royalty from Asgard, but after a war, the women were banished by Joanna's father, King Nikolaus (Steven Berkoff). They escaped through a portal that led them to earth.

The second season picks up from the cliffhanger from season one. The portal has been opened and someone came through. Joanna is still dying from Argentium poison given to her by Penelope (Virginia Madsen). Freya had broken off her engagement with Dash (Eric Winter) (Penelope's son), realizing she was truly in love with his brother, Killian (Daniel DiTomasso), who she thinks left town before she could tell him. In reality, Dash was angry and hit him with his newly acquired powers, and thought he killed him.

Witches of East EndSeason two changes things up as Frederick, Freya's twin, comes through the portal. He heals Joanna of the poison, but not everyone is quick to trust him as he had stayed with his grandfather over the years and appeared to be on his side.

Frederick also uses his magic with Freya's to help her find Killian, who is not only still alive elsewhere, but took a wife (Bianca Lawson) after losing his memory, and is now under a witch's spell.

Meanwhile, Dash, still thinking he killed his brother, is blackmailed by someone who was nearby at the time, and his magic continues to spiral out of control. He moves closer to Ingrid who may be the only one who can help.

Ingrid has problems of her own and is sleepwalking and mating with an evil beast the Mandragora, supplying him with power, which unfortunately, connects her life force with his.

There are even more problems as an old family friend (James Marsten) returns and uses someone in the family to try to attempt to bring the return of the King.

I very much enjoyed season two of Witches of East End. The season hit the ground running and never stopped. This is a show that has a lot going on at once, from relationships to all the chaos surrounding the witches. The stories are rich and the scripts well written. It's sad to see that such a series will not make a third season.

The actors were well cast and do a brilliant job. You really get invested in all the characters' lives and all their drama.

The sets and special effects also support the show very nicely and add to the overall environment.

I highly recommend Witches of East End: The Complete Season Two, though you really should watch season one first to get the backstories and to understand a lot of the story threads. You could probably jump in without it, but the first season is fantastic as well and worth the watch.

Packaging:
The series is not available on Blu-ray, only DVD, which is a letdown. I can never understand why shows that were obviously shot in high definition and aired as such aren't released in high definition.

The set contains three discs, the first two containing four episodes and the last containing five. There are no special features whatsoever, which is once again, very disappointing.

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