One Tree Hill: The Complete Second Season

What started off as a dynamic series about two half-brothers shedding mutual animosity to slowly become friends, eventually became a crowded, primetime soap opera of occasionally absurd proportions. In the 2004-05 second season, the show's ever-deepening morass of intrigues, broken hearts, off-and-on alliances, and acts of duplicity steadily grows more ridiculous over the 23 episodes collected here. Not that you can't get hooked, if you're in a particularly decadent and perhaps masochistic mood, by some of One Tree Hill's multiple subplots. Just try and resist the limitless monstrosity of series villain Dan Scott (Paul Johansson)—father of aforementioned brothers Lucas (Chad Michael Murray) and Nathan (James Lafferty)—who makes master manipulator J.R. Ewing of Dallas look like a sissy. Or Nathan's teenage marriage to Lucas' longtime friend Haley (Bethany Joy Lenz), which defies naysayers who claim that the union will never work. Or the broken heart of Lucas' Uncle Keith (Craig Sheffer), who stews in unrequited love for Lucas' mom (Moira Kelly). And on and on. DVD extras include commentary on three episodes, unaired scenes, and a trio of featurettes. A potential guilty pleasure (and not much else), this is an optional purchase. (T. Keogh)