Manhattan: Season Two Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Manhattan: Season Two Blu-ray Movie Review

A-bomb or a bomb?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 15, 2016

The original Manhattan Project is typically consigned to a relatively brief but epochal span of time in the 1940s, though historians can easily trace precursors to the Project which go back at least to the mid- to late 1930s. It appears that Manhattan isn’t going to last even as long as the original Manhattan Project's span, as the series has shuffled off the television coil after a mere two years and some 23 episodes. Though there is something akin to a “big bang” to make the second season wrap up a very, very special episode (so to speak), there are still a rather large number of dangling plot threads left hanging by the time the second season comes to close, which may mean that the series’ evidently already rather small audience may not be willing to devote much more time to it, since no real resolution is offered for fans. With that understanding built into a viewing experience of the second season, however, there are at least some passing pleasures to be found, especially in the show’s rather evocative recreation of a place and time, as well as at least a few subplots involving the series’ rather large cast of characters.

For those new to Manhattan, or for those wanting to reacquaint themselves with the story thus far, a quick brush up is available in our Manhattan: Season One Blu-ray review.

A somewhat disorienting “leap forward” as Manhattan’s second season starts up seems to suggest that months of development have been left in the Los Alamos dust, with the story somehow magically shifting to the actual first test of the bomb. That turns out to be at least something of a cheat, or at least a bait and switch, as the season repeatedly ping pongs through a series of timelines that supposedly inform each other but which perhaps serve to do little more than keep the tension level high, since the audience is never quite sure of what exactly is transpiring in a general sense. What’s intriguing about at least the first episode (and part of the second) is the nagging feeling that something (or more relevantly, someone) is missing: namely Frank Winter (John Benjamin Hickey).

Instead early story mechanics revolve around Charlie Isaacs (Ashley Zukerman), the once bright eyed and bushy tailed scientist whose arrival at the Los Alamos research camp provided the audience’s own entré into the location and general storyline during the series’ first season. A number of roiling (and, frankly, soap operatic) plot points are still percolating in the background, the most pressing of which is the presence of a mole in the ranks of the researchers, one who is potentially compromising not just the ongoing movement toward the development of “the bomb”, but perhaps the outcome of World War II itself. That provides a nearly season long arc for Jim Meeks (Christopher Denham), a seemingly mild mannered geek whom the audience has already been tipped off is passing secrets to some unspecified outside party (or parties).

Manhattan’s writing team seems to want to link developments at Los Alamos to some more contemporary political reactions to modern day issues like terrorism, specifically with regard to “Black Ops” strategies like rendition. That in turn finally folds into the revelation that Frank is being held captive at some undisclosed location, where Mr. Fisher (Richard Schiff) calmly interviews him before (in Fisher’s words) Frank is no longer of sound mind and/or body. And in fact much of Frank’s imprisonment offers a near hallucinatory ambience where the audience is intentionally left to wonder whether what’s happening is “really” happening or simply the product of Frank’s increasingly fevered imagination. This whole plot arc is absolutely silly (maybe even ridiculous), with a denouement that is neither clear nor frankly very coherent (meaning that it at least fits in with Frank’s general emotional state).

This particular and weirdly short lived detour is probably one of the more salient examples of what tends to repeatedly ail Manhattan, namely its tendency to shoot off on some overamped tangent when the whole bomb making subtext becomes almost an afterthought. The series has so many characters (including a number of new arrivals for the second season) working at cross purposes that the actual foundation of the show almost becomes irrelevant after awhile. That said, there are some interesting new (or newish) characters running amok this season, including William Petersen as an officious Colonel who is fond of making folks drop to their knees and confess their sins in his presence. Mamie Gummer (Meryl Streep’s daughter) is also on hand as a perhaps duplicitous figure who is part of a larger conspiracy.

And in fact it’s the whole conspiratorial environment that ultimately makes Manhattan a bit too roiling for its own good. It’s obviously hard to take a known, quantifiable historical epoch and situation like that detailed in Manhattan and build an organic and (largely) fictional universe out of it. The real story of the Manhattan Project is filled to the brim with outsized characters and fascinating tidbits, but Manhattan seems content to invent its own drama which is largely divorced from the actual history. Truth is not only stranger than fiction, but some might argue more satisfying as well.

Manhattan: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Manhattan: Season Two is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. While this second "at bat" continues in the generally excellent footsteps of Manhattan: Season One's video presentation, there is a small but noticeable downturn in detail levels due to this season's tendency to stage scenes (and in a couple of instances, rather large swaths of individual episodes) in very dark environments. With almost no lighting in at least some relatively brief moments, detail levels fall to negligible territory, despite the fact that quite often these moments feature close-ups. In more naturally lit environments, the palette, while still often skewed toward the brown side of things, pops with considerably more gusto and fine detail can be quite inviting. As with the first season, there's quite a bit of color grading going on, including some bluish tints to Frank's captivity scenes (see screenshot 1). The outdoor elements are the most visually impressive here, much as they were in the first season, with some appealingly wide vistas which offer nice depth of field and a natural looking palette.

Manhattan: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Manhattan: Season Two features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix which has at least one literally explosive moment which temporarily provides some forceful LFE and immersive qualities, but as with the first season, this is a generally tamped down, intimate soundtrack that deals more in hushed dialogue scenes than in any overwhelming surround activity. Still, when the series ventures out into camp life, as it does quite often, there's some appealingly lifelike ambient environmental sounds dotting the surround channels. There are no issues with regard to prioritization or fidelity, and while not an overly ambitious series from a sound design perspective, there's nothing here that will disappoint audiophiles in any meaningful way.

Manhattan: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Lionsgate may have been contractually obligated to release both seasons of the series on Blu-ray, even when that meant bringing this volume to market after the announced cancellation. That may help to explain why the so-called "Special Features" advertised on both discs on this set turn out to be bookmarks and trailers for other Lionsgate releases. Not so special, Lionsgate.

Manhattan: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Manhattan: Season Two has a really redolent feeling of time and place (despite some too contemporary touches along the way), and it certainly has an accomplished (and very large) cast. But the show simply strays too far from established history in its attempt to deliver a wending, multifaceted story. Fans of the series will probably want to see what happens in the second season (at least if they didn't catch in in its broadcast iteration), but even those folks may feel like a number of story elements simply go up in smoke (and/or a mushroom cloud) due to the series' cancellation. Technical merits continue to be strong for those considering a purchase.