Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

The Big C: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 20, 2019

The human body is "a work of art, an incredible feat of engineering, and a beautiful biological mystery” an eloquent Jimmy Smits says in a particularly well-made television commercial that has been airing lately, advertising a new breakthrough in the battle against cancer called "immunotherapy." Cancer remains one of the most difficult diagnoses one can receive and one of the most frightening words in the English language. It doesn't always mean a death sentence anymore, but for The Big C's Cathy Jamison (Laura Linney), it apparently does. The Showtime Comedy-Drama, which aired for four seasons from 2010-2013, tells the story of an everyday middle-aged woman -- a wife, a mother, a sister, a schoolteacher -- who receives a horrifying diagnosis. She, at first, refuses to tell her family, and the show, at least early on, earns much of its humor, and much of its heart, from her attempts to conceal the truth, to live her life with renewed purpose, and do what she can to fight the disease while keeping her motives in the shadows. As the show moves along, the dynamics shift, but it remains a steadily funny and heartfelt yet somber look at life with a cancer diagnosis hanging over, and changing, everything.

Official synopsis: Laura Linney stars in her Golden Globe-winning role as Cathy Jamison, a 42-year-old schoolteacher who has always played by the rules. That is, until she receives a life-changing diagnosis. But instead of giving up, Cathy decides to live it up! Nothing and no one is safe, including her self-absorbed family, her cantankerous neighbor, and her smart-ass students. Brutally honest, unapologetically funny and perfectly profound, The Big C is a surprisingly different comedy that reminds us that life is always worth living on our own terms.

One of the qualities that makes The Big C not merely tolerable and watchable but rather lovable and bingeable is its carefully attuned yet appreciably authentic approach to life with a cancer diagnosis. While the show offers only one person's responses, perspectives, and lifestyle changes as a result of a cancer diagnosis, it grounds her life in a believable series of adaptations which do evolve over time. Hiding the diagnosis from her loved ones may not be many people's idea of a first reaction and response, but Cathy's concealment allows the show to both closely and intimately follow her radically shifting lifestyle while exploring her reshaping experiences with those who still exist outside of her knowledge bubble and find the humor, and a good bit of turmoil to be sure, in their reactions to her sudden personality shifts. The show gives equal time to the seriousness of the diagnosis and a number of Cathy's reactions to it, which range from flights of fancy and whimsy (having an affair, installing a pool at her home) to realizing that she needs to bridge various gaps in her life, particularly with her son, Adam (Gabriel Basso). The show never tonally shifts, at least not radically or often, but it does see Cathy progress a good bit as the show, and her story, evolves.

The Big C demonstrates command of almost its entire range in the pilot episode, which begins in medias res. Cathy has been living with news of her diagnosis for some time and has developed a strangely friendly and intimate (albeit non-sexual) relationship with her doctor, Todd Mauer (Reid Scott), a fresh-face early 30s practitioner who, in one particularly interesting scene, shares his experiences of telling Cathy of her diagnosis, contrasted with how she received it. The episode sees Cathy trying to recapture a prominent part of her youth by building a pool she has no room for in her yard, which she also hopes to use to teach her son the dives she learned as a child. She meets her curmudgeonly old neighbor, Marlene (Phyllis Somerville), to whom she has lived next door for five years but never spoken a word. It turns out the two have more in common than Cathy could have realized. Both are waiting to die, for their own reasons and in their own ways and on their own timetables, and she becomes something of an outlet and confidant for Cathy, at least before she makes her news known to a wider circle. The episode's embodiment of the show's many arcs, from Cathy's flights of fancy to bouts of regret, from standing up to fear to breaking down when the truth hits her hard one night, always sees it in command of the material. It's oftentimes a remarkable bit of television that establishes the characters, worlds, and realities without subjecting the audience to the expectedly tired and trope-filled scenes that show her growing ill and receiving her diagnosis. Creator Darlene Hunt humanizes the show by making the character, not the cancer, its focus, her new life, not her coming death, its center.

There's a fully realized persona driving the character in every scene. Laura Linney absolutely runs with the material in a performance for the ages. She demonstrates a command of the material not simply as it is written but rather as her character's innermost and ever-evolving persona define it. She brings to the part both inner grace and outer fire (and sometimes vice-versa) on two separate ends while fully understanding, embracing, and inhabiting Cathy's body and the soul that shapes her life, both the longstanding components that defined her before the diagnosis and the evolving persona that both immediately and gradually takes shape after. The performance embraces the chaotic melding of the two. She finds a remarkable balance within the character's turmoil that is both personally internalized and externally realized: the flights of fancy, the family struggles, the mental and emotional breakdowns, the successes, the setbacks, and in all the ways she deals with the new realities of her life and her fate are put on display with an authenticity and depth that perhaps no other lead could have captured with such realism. Layers and subtlety become prominent parts of the performance that Linney uses to emote often a broad range of responses to a situation both broadly and intimately, in the physical and in the metaphysical. It's a deservedly award-winning performance that is the show's most prominent and important component.

The Big C: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Big C: The Complete Series' 1080p Blu-ray presentation is fairly typical of Mill Creek's full series TV offerings that tend to cram as many episodes as possible onto as few discs as possible without the image suffering completely detrimental damage. The image looks quite nice at a glance, revealing generally crisp and efficient details and stable colors, but warts begin to appear, and quickly, if one gives it more than a passing glance. Compression issues are the biggest detriment, with backgrounds usually appearing in some level of chaotic disarray in the form of macroblocking. At its best, it's barely visible. At its worst, it's a fairly significant eyesore, which is usually most obvious across solidly colored backgrounds, like interior walls and particularly those of very bland colors, like school hallways. Lower light scenes fare even worse in this regard. Other than that, the image is fairly good, with textural qualities appearing in agreeable complexity. Clothes are one of the primary highlights, with various garments revealing sharp, fairly precise complexities across a number of different fabrics. Skin textures are likewise nicely revealing and stable, as are various location elements both interior and exterior. Colors are lively and generally rich, particularly in well-lit locales. Clothes, again, are the best examples, with surprisingly punchy and stable hues offering enticing visual cues. Skin tones push mildly pasty at times and black levels are sometimes a little dense and overly deep. The image is very imperfect, but its essentials are in good working order. The macroblocking is the worst offending problem, and it's bad enough to limit the image's potential but not always its enjoyability. Fans need approach this one with modest expectations rather than hopes for perfection.

The Big C: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Big C: The Complete Series features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The presentation is generally fine. Dialogue drives the show, presenting with firm and consistent front-center placement. Clarity and prioritization are likewise fine. Music stretches to the sides, and fairly far at that. Instrumental detailing is very good across the score's generally breezy and light construction; there's not a significant amount of weight to it, or to any component for that matter. A few exceptions creep in here and there, including a paintball attack on a bus in episode two. Environmental fill largely remains up front but usually presents at a complimentary volume. Surrounds are used sparsely throughout the run. The track is efficient and complimentary to the material. There's little need for much beyond what is presented here, and what's presented here is in fairly good working order.

The Big C: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Mill Creek's full series TV releases have, of late, been either packed to the gills with supplements (The Shield, Rescue Me) or entirely barebones (Damages). The Big C: The Complete Series unfortunately falls into the latter category. A few minutes of Internet sleuthing reveals that the first two seasons on DVD, released by Sony, reportedly included various featurettes, deleted scenes, and outtakes. None of that has been ported over here. The six-disc set ships in an extra-large Amaray-style case with each disc on its own hub, most of them on one of the flippable leafs. The package is shipped in a slip box that does include alternate artwork that is not identical to the Blu-ray packaging, which is a nice touch. Unfortunately, no DVD or digital copies are included.

The Big C: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Big C: The Complete Series is a masterful show of human emotion and response to a diagnosis that is tantamount to a death sentence. The show quickly introduces and establishes (and unleashes) Linney's Cathy Jamison but takes its time building the new life that forms around her in the shadow of death. Linney is nothing short of spectacular in the part, breathing life into a dying character with humor, heart, and even some horror as the situation warrants. The story is compelling, Linney's performance is spellbinding, and The Big C is one of the best of the must-watch shows of the past decade. Mill Creek's Blu-ray may not be of tip-top reference quality, and the complete absence of extras is disappointing, but the show is well worth adding to any Blu-ray collection. Recommended.