Review of Tru Calling: The Complete Series (Eight Discs)

Introduction

Eliza Dusku first came to my notice in True Lies as the spoilt teenage daughter of Schwartzenegger`s John Tasker. She also cropped up as a recurring role in both Buffy and Angel as Faith, not a role I`m overly familiar with due to schedule issues on terrestrial TV for both these series. The latter role is probably the one she was most well-known for and the word on the street is that she turned down the chance of a series based on the character Faith for this short-lived show.

Dusku stars as Tru Davies, a med student who ends up working in the city morgue of an unspecified city and discovers a secret `power` she possesses. The dead who come through the morgue are generally people who die before their time and each episode one will ask for her help. When this happens, Tru is sent back in time and relives the day, hoping to help the person who died the previous day - which is actually today. Confusing? Not for long.

As with any series there are recurring characters and this is no exception. Davis (Zach Galifianakis) is her boss at the morgue and someone who understands her more than she thinks. Harrison (Shawn Reaves) and Meredith (Jessica Collins) are her siblings who don`t really want to believe what is happening with Tru, but both seek to gain some kind of advantage from Tru`s calling and warnings. Harrison is always looking for a scam or a good bet and tries to hassle his sister for good tips. Meredith works for a major corporation and has a drug habit, which is really all there is to this plastic character.

Tru`s best friend is Lindsay (A.J. Cook) and her on/off boyfriend is Luc (Matthew Bomer). Popping up later in the season is Jack Harper (Jason Priestley) as the mysterious new Morgue Assistant with a secret agenda.

Video

The picture is of broadcast quality and in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. It`s not as sharp as some TV series I`ve seen, maybe to do with the NTSC originals, and there are a couple of occasions where the picture does get a little grainy. Not a massive problem and I think I only noticed this during the few episodes that didn`t quite pull it off.

Audio

Comes with a Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo soundtrack that is more than adequate for a TV series. Despite what you may see else-where, there is only an English soundtrack available and bizarrely just Swedish subtitles as an alternate to the English ones.

Features

Commentaries on various episodes - they didn`t impress me much as there wasn`t too much detail in there of the thoughts behind various arcs or developments. Did learn, however, that Zach Galifianakis was the set joker and his humour does come through on the commentaries he sits in on.

Deleted scenes - for most but not all episodes and then only 1 or 2. They`re all pretty short and are mostly either redundant or repeat exposition. Very few were trimmed for pace.

Finding The Calling: The Pilot - 11 minute featurette

The Tru Path: Season One - 8 minute featurette

Evil Comes Calling: A Late Season Twist - 7.5 minute featurette

It would have been better if all the featurettes had been combined into one half hour piece, and I suspect they were originally. One of the obvious faults is that the first piece doesn`t really stick to the pilot and shows footage from across the first season.

Somebody Help Me: Full Blown Rose - music video that features the full-length version of the title song. Not a bad track, rather like an alternate Evanescence. Full Blown Rose also do a pretty good cover of Phil Collins` In The Air Tonight at the end of the season one finale.

Promo for Arrested Development - subtitled `Blind` this is clearly a Fox TV spot. Too short to really showcase the TV show unless you`re already familiar with it, in which case why would you want to see the TV spot?

Weblinks - links for both Fox International and Fox.co.uk

Conclusion

I have to admit, I was initially intrigued by this after reading up on it on IMDb but was wondering what the fuss was after the first few episodes. It seemed to me that the initial premise was promising but that it got just a bit too formulaic. Things that happened badly the previous day in the lives of people she knew would then be put right with the help of some subtle advice when Tru relived the day. Although there was a clear arc that the series followed, effectively everything ended up ok in the end.

Then something a little promising happened. They started experimenting a little with the formula so that while the viewer knew that Tru would be called upon to help before the end of the first act, the story to that point and the location of the calling would be different. Also, although Tru still gave advice to the likes of Harrison, the outcome of his day may not differ that much in terms of the end result of any action.

On top of that we also had the episode called The Longest Day where Tru relives the same day four times in order to set destiny on the right track. Next we had revelations that added to the overall character arc and set up a back history involving Tru`s mother, who also had the same ability. At the same time, Davis also becomes in effect Tru`s mentor and helper so that she no longer has to attempt to trick information out of her boss. The episode Daddy`s Girl lets us see Tru`s father in a different light and shortly after that we get the series masterstroke. Jason Priestley is introduced as the polar opposite of Tru, although his presence is revealed very slowly so you only see his real mission in the penultimate episode of the season with minute clues as to his involvement prior to this.

One of the good things about this series is the way that most episodes run into each other. The characters relationships change throughout the series and events from previous episodes are referred to in a way that transcends normal formulaic genre TV.

I left this series hungry for more and to see where season 2 would go with everything out in the open. The series was clearly heading for a clash of two opposing forces and the premise was slightly more promising, with the hint of hidden forces in the background. Apparently the six episodes from the short-lived second series are included in this set, but I didn`t get them with my review discs so can`t judge whether it lived up to expectations.