DVD
Review | Profiler (Season 1)
Written by: Kage
Alan
Talk about the little show that could when it
wasn’t supposed to. When NBC gave the green light to “Profiler”, it
was only supposed to round out a Friday or Saturday night thrillogy of
shows. While the program did get made, there was very little support
from the network and they figured “Profiler” would die a relatively
quick death. Well, it’s certainly always fun to see the suits proven
wrong and the show took off! There was finally a thriller out there
with a strong female lead who didn’t rely on waving around a gun to
get her point across. This show was (gasp!) cerebral.
Dr. Samantha (Sam to her friends) Waters (Ally
Walker, “Universal Soldier”) was a topnotch profiler for the F.B.I.
before a case she was working on came knocking on her front door. A
brilliant and mysterious serial killer named Jack took an interest in
the woman and decided to show her how much better he was at getting away
with things than she was at finding him. Unfortunately, her husband
becomes one of Jack’s victims and Sam disappears with her young daughter
to live a life away from most of the world, especially Jack. As the
series opens, another killer is on the loose, the F.B.I. can’t get a
handle on the situation and Bailey Malone (Robert Davi, “The Hot Chick”)
comes asking for her help.
While Sam is reluctant to get involved in a new
team that Bailey is forming to solve crimes with serial killers, she
can’t ignore that many people have died and will continue to do so
unless she helps. Other team members include John Grant (Julian
McMahon, “Charmed”), Grace Alvarez (Roma Maffia, “Kiss The Girl”),
Nathan Brubaker (Michael Whaley, “Class Act”) and George Fraley (Peter
Frechette, “No Small Affair”). Aside from the killers they try to track
down each week, they must also deal with Jack, who seems to have
resurfaced along with Sam. It’s not long before the hunters begin to
find themselves the hunted and the season’s chilling conclusion was
bound to have fans of the show coming back.
I remember when “Profiler” premiered as well as
watching the first couple of shows. Unfortunately, it came on later at
night and I had to get up early, so watching it meant I was going to be
a real crab the next day. Seeing it in its entirety, I was very
impressed with how the show developed over the season and how the
characters were often emotional, could be burned out, were caught off
guard and had their own personal demons. They weren’t clear-cut heroes
and Ally Walker demonstrated the intensity and drive to bring her
character to life.
A&E has released Season 1 of “Profiler” in its
original full screen format. This was before shows really began to play
around with and embrace Widescreen, so no complaints there. It’s a very
darkly lit show, but the transfer is actually quite nice. Just pull
your drapes closed or turn your blinds before digging in. Audio quality
is also satisfying, so fans won’t be disappointed. As for extras, the
first episode contains a commentary by Walker and another with Davi.
Some information is shared between the two, but each gives different
enough accounts of the production to make them worthwhile. Aside from
those, there are some cast biographies, a photo gallery and an episode
of “American Justice” titled “Profiles of Evil: Inside the Criminal
Mind”. All in all, a very nice introduction to the show and I very much
look forward to Season 2.
For fans of the show and for those interested in
checking out what you missed, this is a fairly solid series. Some of
the episodes start to wear a little thin towards the middle, but the
final two discs really tighten the screws and turn up the terror. I’m
very pleased to see that A&E has taken an interest and I hope they
continue to bring shows out like this one. A lot of care went into this
set and it looks it.
Film Rating:
B+
DVD Special Features: B
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