Lovejoy - The Complete Season 2

Buy This Item Lovejoy - The Complete Season 2 by BBC Warner  Available from Amazon  $34.99  on 11-14-2008     Ian McShane has the best eyes on television--they turn from a mischievous twinkle to a baleful, heart-stopping glare in an instant. McShane achieved fame in the U.S. as foul-mouthed saloon owner Al Swearengen on <I>Deadwood</I>, but long before then he'd made his mark as lovable but slippery antiques dealer Lovejoy, whose gift for sifting true articles from false is matched only by his personal magnetism--for trouble. The second season of this British series beings with Lovejoy in prison for transporting stolen goods. Naturally, he'd been set up, and the episode darts back and forth in time as Lovejoy and his compatriots--boozy partner Tinker (Dudley Sutton), resentful flunky Eric (Chris Jury), and the woman Lovejoy wishes was more than a friend, Lady Jane (Phyllis Logan)--figure out the who, what, and how of the con game. Though the show is best categorized as a mystery, only a few episodes feature any serious violence, and only one is a murder mystery (with a dead body in a suit of medieval armor). At its best, <I>Lovejoy</I> is about trickery and human weakness. Lovejoy helps a disinherited brother take revenge on his greedy sibling; a collection of classic pornography may belong to a girls' school; a wandering artist seduces lonely housewives by doing paintings of their cottages. When there is gunplay--as when a French policeman is killed by thieves who strip homes of their architectural features--it feels a bit overdone, a bit showy. Far more compelling are the subtle conflicts and dramas, such as when Lovejoy gently forces an elderly woman to admit her silver bowls aren't worth what she claimed. Both writing and direction have sharpened in this second season: Plots are twistier, characters better developed, the pace more sprightly, and McShane seems gloriously at ease with unscrupulous alter-ego. In addition to twelve excellent episodes (including the two-part season finale, featuring Linda Gray from <I>Dallas</I>), this box set has two charming interviews with McShane, one made for the dvd release and one from a 1991 British talk show, conducted when the series was aired. <I>Lovejoy</I> features an abundance of vaguely familiar character actors as guest starts, including Brian Blessed (<I>Flash Gordon</I>), Patrick Malahide (<I>The Singing Detective</I>), and Tom Wilkinson (<I>Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind</I>). <I>--Bret Fetzer</I> Reader Reviews One of the best series to come out of Great Britain. The format is unique: a somewhat unconventional, somewhat rogue antiques dealer navigates his way through the wheeling, dealing deception-ridden world of antiques, with the help of an unconventional crew of helpers - a boozing veteran of the trade, a wealthy lady of the manor hungry for intrigue and a young apprentice who seems to find more trouble than is necessary. Through it all Lovejoy manages to make out in his marginal business by thwarting the villians and protecting the less fortunate and less experienced - truely a modern day Robin Hood. Thoroughly enjoyable!

Lovejoy - The Complete Season 2 Available from Amazon Price: $34.99 Updated on 11-14-2008.

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