Rabbit Hole: Season One Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Rabbit Hole: Season One Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 21, 2024

It's just difficult to separate Keifer Sutherland from 24. Rightly or wrongly (rightly!) it's his hallmark, the career-defining role, the smash hit TV show that didn't put him on the map but that cemented his place in modern entertainment lore. Along came Designated Survivor which did well to recast him in a different light but still, in some ways, cling to a few of those character and personality traits that made Jack Bauer such a phenomenon, and now here comes Rabbit Hole, a high tech, high stakes, high concept, but low show count series about a man who finds himself on the run after he is falsely accused of a murder he didn't commit. Well, the plot is hardly original, but with the cutting-edge new world order of things at play and something of an Enemy of the State meets the best of the 70s Thrillers vibe going on, the show sees Sutherland back in a role that leverages some of his best character work from 24 within a new framework that allows him to stretch as an actor while still holding to familiar and comfortable territory.

John Weir (Sutherland) is a corporate fixer. Of sorts. He fixes one person's, or organization's, problems at the expense of another. Or, maybe he's a satisfier. He satisfies one man's wants above those of another. Whatever he is, he is very good at it. He is a master of manipulation who uses everything from age-old street smarts to newfangled technology to meet the mission's criteria, which usually involves enriching one person at the expense of another. He's very good at his job, but the feds are also on to him; FBI Special Agent Jo Madi (Enid Graham) is on his case, but things get much more complicated for Weir when he is accused of murder. Now on the run, he finds himself teamed with Hailey Winton (Meta Golding) and in the midst of a massive power play that could reshape the socio-pollical landscape forever.

Lies, deception, misdirection, the whole nine yards come to define Rabbit Hole, a show that is at once the ultimate copycat in terms of raw plot dynamics yet somehow still…fresh….in a way. The show is unabashedly a product of its influences, and the creators are on record as commending the various 70s films on which Rabbit Show is modeled, yet even as familiar element after familiar element works its way into the plot, the writers, and the cast, inject an almost impossible uniqueness to it all, not just with the high technology and conspiracy laden plot lines at play but in the character development, in the overt maneuverings and in the subtle actions and thought processes that ultimately propel the show forward, and into interesting territory, that takes it much further than otherwise stale building blocks allow it to go.

It does take the show a couple of episodes to get going, which in some ways is part of the appeal and in some ways it feels just a little too much investment before the good stuff starts to happen, but there is no mistaking the show's upward swing once it really gets going. Again, that blend of old ideas and new ways of approaching them is a real draw, as is Sutherland in the lead as a complex man who is established in the moment but defined through various flashbacks that help to open up the character and further define the larger concept that the show builds around him, why he is the man who is ultimately at the center of all this. Sutherland is not always given perfect rationale and fully developed character beats, but that seems to be part of the character building nuance to leave some of it vague, yet defined fully enough to really make things work. It can be an odd show, but viewed in its totality it's pretty solid.

Rabbit Hole: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The 1080p video presentation is very good. As with so many digitally shot productions, especially one here like Rabbit Hole which might not be the cream of the crop in terms of production values and budget (though certainly both rate as "excellent"), the image does not really stand out from the pack, but that is OK. Even if it's of an "ordinary" quality -- i.e. it delivers exactly what is expected of it -- it's still a highly agreeable image. Indeed, the digital elements translate very well to 1080p, offering stout, high yield textures that bring life to cityscapes, that offer depth and clarity to various interiors (from sleek businesses to lived-in home spaces), and which of course deliver exceptional definition to faces and clothes, the former of which are wonderfully intricate and complex in close-up and the latter of which really leap off the screen, especially some of the more flashy, colorful clothes that dot an otherwise somewhat depressed clothing color scheme. Colors overall are satisfying for accuracy and depth. While there are plenty of vivid tones, there is something of a deliberately dull look too much of the show, but no matter where the colors are, depth and accuracy are always spot-on. Black levels are also excellent, and skin tones look natural. There is a slight bit of noise here and there, but it never really amounts to any sort of eyesore level. No encode issues were immediately apparent at regular viewing distance. This is not a showstopper, but it is a wonderful image as it is.

Rabbit Hole: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Paramount delivers Rabbit Hole to Blu-ray with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The presentation is a resounding success, offering expert definition and placement from the series' opening moments to its close. The track is perfectly effective and full in its totality, delivering music, ambience, action, and dialogue to practically perfect balance, placement, and definition. Wonderful ambience fills the stage in the opening moments inside a classy restaurant and bar, while additional ambient fill is in evidence throughout the series, especially out on busy streets where plenty of scenes take place. Action elements are well defined, too, offering potent, though certainly not overbearing, depth to explosions, hard-hitting impact to punches and kicks, good depth to gunfire, and so on and so forth. Everything plays in very good balance to give the show a cinematic feel for its audio, and it was clearly the beneficiary of very well engineered and integrated sound elements. Music is nice and wide with precision clarity to all variety that is presented throughout the series. Surround wrap is effective here, too. Dialogue is always clear, centered, and well prioritized for the duration.

Rabbit Hole: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Rabbit Hole contains a few extras on disc two. None of these extras are groundbreaking or extraordinarily insightful, but they offer some basic behind-the-scenes content that fans will appreciate in the nearly 30 minutes it takes to watch them. No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase. This release does not ship with a slipcover.

• Digging the Rabbit Hole (1080p, 9:53): This supplement explores the show's structure, themes, the writing, the production, and more.
• The Look of Rabbit Hole (1080p, 11:10): Exploring the film's 70s movies influenced aesthetics (Klute, The Parallax View, All the President's Men), production design and set construction, props, costumes, and more.
• Stunts (1080p, 7:34): As the title suggests, this piece looks at the making of a few of the show's key stunts as well as physical training and hand-to-hand combat.

Rabbit Hole: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Rabbit Hole was canceled after a single season. It's not a huge surprise given the sum total of all the spreadsheets and flow charts numbers that executive certainly explored, but what they missed was a heartbeat that was authentically its own and, even with so many borrowed plot devices, the show exuded character and individuality, which is sorely lacking today. Sutherland was fantastic, and the show was largely a joy in its short lived run. Paramount's two-disc set delivers pleasing video and audio, and a few extras pad the win column for this release. Recommended!