Eastbound & Down appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.78:1 on these Blu-ray Discs. The series’ visuals never dazzled, but they looked fine.
Overall definition seemed good. Occasional wide shots looked a little soft, but those were the exception, not the rule. Most of the series provided nice clarity and definition. I noticed no jagged edges or moiré effects, and edge haloes remained absent. No source flaws appeared; the episodes were a bit grainy but that wasn’t a problem.
Colors looked nice. The series went with a slightly dusty palette in Mexico, but that wasn’t a heavy overlay; most of the shows opted for clear, full tones. Blacks were dark and tight, but shadows seemed less consistent; low-light shots could seem somewhat opaque. The mix of soft shots and shadow issues made this a “B-“, but I still thought it was satisfying.
Though I didn’t think much of the audio found with Season One, Season Two’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtracks were surprisingly good. The episodes featured nice stereo music and opened up the soundscape in a positive manner. Elements like ball games and other outdoor sequences delivered a fair amount of activity and life that used the side and surround speakers in a pretty involving way.
I felt audio quality was usually good. Some edginess occasionally interfered with speech, but not to a terrible degree; most of the lines were natural and concise. Music seemed vivid and full, while effects appeared accurate and tight. I felt pretty happy with the audio here.
When we head to the extras, we start with audio commentaries for five episodes:
Chapter 7: writer/actor Danny McBride and writer/director Jody Hill.
Chapter 10: McBride, Hill and actor Steve Little.
Chapter 11: director David Gordon Green and production sound mixer Chris Gebert.
Chapter 12: Green and Gebert.
Chapter 13: McBride, Hill and Little.
Though all the chats offer good information, I’d say that the ones with Hill and McBride work best. Those dig into a nice variety of show-oriented elements and keep us entertained. With or without Little, we get some funny bits along with solid notes related to the series.
I don’t think the Green/Gebert tracks are quite as good, partially because they sag a bit more; we don’t find a lot of dead air, but they suffer from more gaps. Nonetheless, they still add useful material and deserve a listen. I liked the commentaries for the series’ first season, and these continue to work well.
Two featurettes appear. Invitation to the Set runs eight minutes, 29 seconds as it offers notes from McBride, Hill, Green, Little, executive producer Chris Henchy, writer Shawn Harwell, producer Stephanie Laing, and actors Deep Roy, Ana de la Reguera, Don Johnson, Matthew McConaughey, Andrew Daly, Katy Mixon, Marco Rodriguez, Efren Ramirez, Adam Scott and Michael Peña. This is a general series promo that discusses aspect of the season. We get a few decent facts, but “Set” exists mostly to tout the series, so don’t expect much from it.
Big Red Cockfighting lasts four minutes, 17 seconds and offers notes from Hill, McBride, Henchy, Harwell, stand-by painter Wilhelm Perez, and cock wrangler Eric Colon. We get some notes about shooting the series’ cockfighting scenes. A handful of good comments emerge, but mostly the featurette likes to throw out puns related to “cock”.
12 Deleted Scenes fill a total of 16 minutes. Of the supporting characters, Sebastian gets the biggest boost, as we see a fair amount more from him. Otherwise, we find more nuttiness with Kenny; a couple of other minor bits emerge, but nothing major. The pieces are often amusing, though, so they’re worth a look.
We also find a collection of Outtakes. These occupy 11 minutes, 38 seconds as they show the standard roster of goofs and giggles. I hoped for a bunch of alternate lines, as they would’ve made the reel more interesting; almost 12 minutes of bloopers gets tiresome.
Although I liked the series’ first season quite a lot, Season Two of Eastbound and Down seems less exciting. It’s still generally entertaining, but it’s not as fun and interesting as the initial year. The Blu-ray provides decent to good picture and audio along with a smattering of reasonably useful supplements. Season Two of Eastbound has its moments and leaves me interested in the next set of shows, but it’s still a bit of a disappointment.