Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Lethal Weapon Season 3

 

The 15-episode third and final season of Lethal Weapon aired during the 2018/2019 TV season. The show started out with so much promise and ended with mostly a whimper. As many people are likely aware, Clayne Crawford was fired from the show after the second season due, in part, to his behavior on the set and, in part, to his ever-degrading relationship with Damon Waynes. It appears that Crawford was a hothead and Waynes kind of a jackass who did not really even want to do the series in the first place (which makes it kind of surprising that the series was not canceled after season two, and that they decided to go forward with him in the lead role).

The series picks up just after Riggs gets shot at the end of season two, and we find out within the first episode that he died, then there is a six-month time jump and we find out that his brother committed suicide, and that was it for the Riggs storyline (aside from a couple of throwaway lines during the season that mentioned him). The series then focuses on the new Lethal Weapon, an ex-CIA agent named Wesley Cole (played by Sean William Scott), who is new to the department trying to put his past behind him and connect with his 12-year-old daughter.

It is mostly again, a case-of-the-week series, but there are a couple of storylines that play out across multiple episodes. I do think Scott did a great job with the character of Cole. Given that he has mostly played Stifler or slight variations of Stifler his entire career (with a couple of exceptions), this showed he has a range beyond the raunchy comedies. Maggie Lawson (best known for the series Psych) was another good addition to the cast as Cole's ex-wife who is trying to put her past with Cole behind her, yet still, have an amicable relationship with him for the sake of their daughter. One major defection from the cast (aside from Crawford) was Jordana Brewster, who basically left the show after a couple of episodes.

It is a fairly standard MOD set for those who get the blu-ray set. The fifteen episodes are spread over three discs. It has captions and a true "play all" mode that allows you to pick back up where you stop, even in the middle of an episode. There are no extras like commentary tracks, making-of, deleted scenes, or behind-the-scenes material. It did try to keep a similar feel to the prior two seasons, and I think the writers and cast did the best they could, given the mess they had going into the third season. However, it was not the same show without the character of Riggs.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Lethal Weapon Season 2

 

The 22-episode second season of Lethal Weapon aired during the 2017/2018 TV season. Most fans know that the friction (to put it mildly) between Wayans and Crawford led to Crawford's firing and Riggs's writing off of the show. I will not spoil how the season ends, but needless to say, it ends on a very big cliffhanger.

Much of the season is devoted to Rigg's past, specifically at the hands of his abusive father. There are a lot of flashbacks throughout the season. Riggs still has guilt issues over the death of his wife, but the storyline that ended the first season (with Rigg's going to Mexico to get revenge) is resolved pretty much in the first episode. Two of Riggs' friends from his youth are brought into the story this season, one of which becomes a new love interest. I will not go into details to spoil anything for those who have not watched, but it follows the same formula as a weekly procedural that deals with the case of the week, with a larger story arc that spans the course of the season. This season's guest and recurring stars include Michelle Hurd, Ernie Hudson, Joanna "JoJo" Levesque, Adrian Pasdar, Scottie Pippen, and Swoosie Kurtz.

The Blu-Ray set is a four-disc MOD set. They allow for a play-all mode that lets you pick up where you left off, which is better than the "regular" blu-ray sets for the other WB shows. The only extras are deleted scenes for select episodes. There are no commentary tracks on any episodes or behind-the-scenes material, most likely due to the on-set tension that occurred throughout the season. You could tell that by the end of the season, Crawford and Wayans were being kept away from each other as much as possible while filming, and it seemed like every effort was being made to have them together in as few scenes as possible. Even so, they managed to maintain their on-screen chemistry. You could not tell that they were (reportedly) screaming at each other until "action" was called on set.

It is unfortunate that the two leads hated each other because it was a great show, with the two iconic movie characters cast perfectly. Like the first season, it paid homage to the movie franchise and characters without being a carbon copy. Whether it is good or bad going forward into season 3, it will not be the same without the character of Riggs. Chances are it will not survive after season 3, which is a shame because it was really a show that could have had a good 5-6 season (or more) run in it.

Blu-Ray/Movie Collection Review: Lethal Weapon Collection

 

This is a five-disc set with the four original Lethal Weapon series of buddy-cop movies (1987's Lethal Weapon, 1989's Lethal Weapon 2, 1992's Lethal Weapon 3, and 1998's Lethal Weapon 4). All of the movies starred Mel Gibson as Martin Riggs and Danny Glover as Roger Murtaugh. Throughout the series, Gary Busey, Mitchell Ryan,  Joe Peschi (who would be a co-star in parts 2-4), Patsy Kensit, Renee Ruso (who would co-star in parts 3 and 4), Chris Rock, and Jet Li (among others) would co-star.  It should be noted that this set only contains the theatrical versions of the movies. If you strongly prefer the extended editions of the movies, which to this point are only available on DVD, then you will probably want to steer clear of the Blu-ray set. It does, however, include the extended scenes (for films 1-3) included as bonus material on the disc for that movie. 

As I said above, there are 5 discs in all in this set. There is one disc for each movie, and then a 5th disc that contains 4 separate featurettes (one for each movie) which is essentially a 25th-anniversary commemorative documentary, with the highlight being a sit-down interview with Donner, Gibson, and Glover, interspersed with interviews from some of the other actors (mainly Renee Russo and Chris Rock) and filmmakers from the series. They also weave in some footage from the filming of each movie. In all the bonus disc has about 2hrs worth of additional material. The bonus material on Lethal Weapon 4's disc is a 30 min compilation of alternate and deleted scenes and gag reel material from each movie. So between the 4 movies, all the deleted scenes and bonus material there is about 10.5 hrs worth of content for those who go through all the extra features.

As far as the quality of the movies goes. Obviously, the A/V quality is better in the 4th movie than any of the others. You can tell there was no heavy film restoration done, so the movies pretty much look exactly the same as they always have. So, you are not getting the great jump in picture quality that you would get from movies that have a ton of CGI or released more recently. That is why sticking with the DVDs for those who prefer the extended editions of the movies is fine. I am not sure that the material included on the bonus disc is out there on the DVD releases though so you may want to take that into consideration. Hopefully, at some point, especially if a fifth movie gets made, there will be 4k restorations of all the movies, but that remains to be seen.

Overall, I am very happy with the set and would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the series, especially those of us who are old enough to have seen all (or, in my case, the last three) of the movies in the theater when they were originally released. The movies mostly hold up well, but some of the dialogue (especially from the first two movies), is cheesy and/or would be considered non-PC these days. Even so, they still hold up as movies with great action blended with comedy and drama.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Lethal Weapon: Season 1

 

Lethal Weapon is a TV adaptation of the movies which, as most know, starred Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. The series is led by Damon Wayans taking over the role of Roger Murtaugh, a veteran detective who is not on the brink of retirement as the character was in the movies, but trying to lead a less stressful life because of a recently diagnosed heart condition. That plan is upset when he is partnered with Martin Riggs, played by Clayne Crawford (who had been a character actor up to this point), a recently widowed ex-Navy Seal who has little regard for rule, or safety, especially his own. 

The show follows a pretty standard procedural buddy-cop show format. It has a case-of-the-week format, but toward the end of the season does introduce a serial arc that stretches into the second season. The show has a strong supporting cast including Jordana Brewster, who plays the department psychologist, Maureen Cahil, Keesha Sharp as Roger's wife Trish, Kevin Rahm as the police captain Avery Brooks, and also has a very strong recurring cast including Thomas Lennon who plays Leo Getz (a version of the character Joe Pesci played in the movies), Hillarie Burton as DEA agent Karen Palmer, and Floriana Lima, who plays Rigg's late wife, Miranda in flashbacks.

If you get the blu-ray set, the A/V quality is good, about the same as the other Warner blu-ray releases, but not outstanding. There are some extras including an extended version of the pilot episode that adds less than a minute to the version that aired, about 25 minutes, give or take, worth of deleted scenes spread across the three discs, and a short (under three minutes) gag reel. The most extensive extra is a 15-minute making-of featurette that includes cast and showrunner interviews that goes over how the show came to be, how they tried to tie things in with the movies (like using some of the same locations) but also trying to make the show their own entity (by putting twists on characters such as having Leo be an ambulance chasing lawyer as opposed to a mob accountant). 

I think the first season did a good job of putting a twist on the story. Both Crawford and Wayans did a great job honoring the characters as Gibson and Glover played them without being carbon copies of either of them, which would not work. As most fans of the series are aware, Crawford would eventually be fired from the show because of behavioral issues, including tension with Wayans that reportedly turned into outright hatred. But, during the first season, if any of that had started it did not bleed over into what made it on screen. The show is pretty solidly TV-13 as it does have some violence and as much bad language and sexual content as can be aired on network TV. I cannot say that everyone will love it, but if you liked the movies I do think it is worth checking out.