Nancy Drew: Season Two Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

Nancy Drew: Season Two Blu-ray Movie Review

Sliding towards Riverdale...

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown April 1, 2024

What in the unholy name of teenie bop Riverdale nonsense just happened? Nancy Drew, which showed a fair bit of promise and potential in its first season, careens down a dreary, twisted forest lane those of you who (for some reason) enjoy Riverdale will be more than familiar with. Gone are any salient comparisons to Veronica Mars, gone is anything other than the macro-mystery that drives the second season forward, gone is much of the heart and humor that kept Nancy Drew out of the muck and bog. Instead we get possessions aplenty, a series of Supernatural-lite encounters with the other side, and enough clues and semi-wild goose chases to mire a court of law in proceedings for years. Over-plotted and overwrought, it's a downhill slide I fear the show won't recover from. And I have a third Blu-ray season to go, and presumably an eventual fourth. *Shiver*

Aglaeca's curse is in full force as the Drew Crew races -- although, as the story plods along, it might be better to call it meandering -- to figure out what to do about it. Nancy (Kennedy McMann) has little option but to become Horseshoe Bay, Maine's last line of supernatural defense, and not just from tricky sea spirits like the Aglaeca. But in the process, they wreak more havoc, this time focused on poor Georgia "George" Li-Yun Fan (Leah Lewis), who gets saddled with the ghost of Odette Lamar (Anja Savcic). Odette apparently wants full control of George's body, which is doomed to die if Nancy and company can't find a better solution than the one that got George possessed in the first place. What follows is a string of mysteries, mystical totems and evil creepy crawlies (including an entity who murders anyone who uncovers its name and, of all things, a haunted In Fabric-esque dress that wants to increase zee sexy time of anyone who wears it), all of which threatens the Drew Crew's safety, security and, um, mortality. What could possibly go wrong? And how easily will the writers pen their way out of it by season's end without any major deaths?

Developed, helmed and showrun by Noga Landau, Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, the second season of Nancy Drew also stars Scott Wolf as Nancy's father Carson, Ariah Lee as George's younger sister Ted Fan, Katie Findlay as Hudson family assistant Lisbeth, Judith Maxie as Bess's aunt Diana, Anthony Natale as Ace's father Thom, Teryl Rothery as Ryan's mother Celia, Andrew Airlie as Ryan's father Everett, Zoriah Wong as the youngest Fan daughter Charlie, Geraldine Chiu as Fan daughter Jesse, guest star Tian Richards as a celestial guide, Carmen Moore as Historical Society representative Hannah, Aadila Dosani as Amanda, Ryan-James Hatanaka as Detective Abe Tamura, Praneet Akilla as Amanda's twin brother Gil, Shannon Kook as new line-cook Grant, Rukiya Bernard as reporter Valentina, Bo Martynowska as Nancy's ancestor Temperance (sigh, an immortal), Erica Cerra as district attorney Jean Rosario, and Zibby Allen, Cecilia Grace, Jaime Callica, and Luke Baines as ghosts from Season One that Nancy revisits.

Rather than create something unique, Nancy Drew turns to the hits of CW present and yesteryear. Riverdale, Supernatural, even some of the DC series to cobble together a Frankenstenian golem that never quite establishes its own identity. The cast is still having a good time and exude enough chemistry to make their misadventures palatable, but the scripts go darker and darker, often against the natural tide of the actors, who continually work to lighten and energize the otherworldly material. It's almost a Nancy Drew series in name only, although there's plenty of mystery solving to keep things plugging along. It's akin to Scooby-Doo! and the Thirteen Ghosts, a bait-n-switch my childhood brain rejected. This isn't Scooby! These are real ghosts! That's dumb! (If I recall the five-year-old me's logic on the matter.) I can't imagine the "Nancy Drew" brand was all that much of a draw to the show originally, so I question the distance the creators have deviated from the books. Rather than a breezy, episodic mystery procedural, we get a dour, heavy-handed macro-narrative that wears out its welcome fast.

If there's a saving grace, again, it's the central quintet and some of their supporting players. While I could do without the dopey-faced expressions of shock and awe at yet another ghostly run-in -- come on kids, are we still surprised by all the supernatural shenanigans? -- I appreciate little touches like a deaf investigator who communicates with sign language (complete with subtitles), the ease with which the Drew Crew splits into ever-changing subgroups when the team needs to divide and conquer, Tian Richards's angel, and the quaint aw shucks sexuality and gee whiz bent of some of the throwback humor; just enough to remind you this is a series whose roots trace all the way back to the 1920s. But by the time Nancy and her pals are kidnapping a powerful businessman and digging up serious dirt, you begin to see the holes in the plot and realize why every lawman within 100 miles of Nancy finds her and her constant meddling to be more than a little irritating. (The term "interfering with an official investigation" is uttered more than once. And that isn't even touching on Drew's incessant need to touch every piece of evidence without slapping on a pair of gloves. Enjoy being the prime suspect in... all the crimes.) In the end it's harmless CW fun. It almost seems mean-spirited to take it to task as if it were the next big HBO original series. But Supernatural found far more engaging means to combine solving mysteries with combating killer ghosts. Nancy Drew either needs to lean in and go harder or return to the lighter, more colorful side of Horseshoe Bay.

Nancy Drew: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Along with the darkening of the series comes a relative downgrade in the second season's 1080p/AVC-encoded presentation. Colors are far more muted, with sickly blue and green tinting that gives every exterior and interior a haunted forest vibe, no matter what time of day. Night scenes struggle to pop as a result, with slightly crushed blacks that never quite descend to the depths of inkier shadows. Likewise, contrast is consistent but dialed in a bit dimly, at times evoking darkness too literally. Detail takes a hit too, though I highly doubt the encode is in any way at fault. Each episode appears to be just as its cinematographers intended; hazy edge definition, gauzy fine textures, blooming lights and all. It gives the show a surreal, ghostly aesthetic but it also brings with it a softness that prevents Nancy Drew from looking like the crisp, polished mystery it so wants to be. Ah well. There at least isn't anything in the way of substantial banding, macroblocking or errant noise (all of which plague the digital streaming version), so that's quite a plus all things considered.

Nancy Drew: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Nancy Drew's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is more satisfying than its video presentation, despite offering another round of good ol' patented CW sound design. Like Season One's mix, Season Two's dialogue is clear and intelligible, although it "floats" a bit too much in the center channel when tension and suspense are on the rise. Rear speaker activity is more convincing, with smooth pans and eerie directionality that make supernatural scenes engaging. It also helps that low-end output gives the LFE channel a nice workout when sinister forces, criminals, murders and general crime-solving is in play, with a series score that delivers some pulsing bass beats. The soundfield is a tad hit or miss, with a few too many front-heavy sequences taking away from the immersion of more intense stretches, but never in a way that suggests the track itself is at fault.

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

Season Two doesn't include any extras of note other than a few deleted scenes and a gag reel (all of which you can find on YouTube, so nothing really special).

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

I get it. Kids love Riverdale. They must want more Riverdale. But Nancy Drew shouldn't be the vessel for it. Not only does its supernatural obsession increasingly feel out of place and overcooked, it isn't comprised of ghost stories that are all that good. Hopefully the third season finds a way to strike a better balance. Paramount's Blu-ray release, meanwhile, is another mixed bag with merely decent video, solid lossless audio, and no extras to speak of. Oh, and the discs are BD-R's. Proceed at your own peril.