I was concerned during the pilot that the characters seemed to be one-note stereotypes: rich preppy jerk, brainy geek, flighty party girl, drunken slacker. Fortunately, by the end of the season nearly all the main characters had decent character development. When Evan cheats on her in the pilot, Casey is forced to realize that her ex, Cappie, may not be the loser she thought; in fact, Cappie is set up as the sympathetic romantic hero throughout the season. What was surprising for a show like this is that Evan was not then turned into the bad guy: he made a bad decision but subsequently showed remorse and regret and worked hard to regain Casey’s trust. The viewer is put in the unusual position of having to like both of Casey’s erstwhile suitors, thus identifying with her dilemma.
The acting is not fabulous although the attractive cast definitely improves as the season progresses; I suspect that the second season will bring continued improvement from all comers. While the only cast member whose name is at all recognizable is Spencer Grammer (Kelsey’s daughter, who plays Casey), there are some notable cameos: Dan Castellaneta (reprising his Veronica Mars S3 grumpy psychology professor role) as a grumpy physics professor; Alan Ruck as Dean of Students; and Charisma Carpenter as a representative for Zeta Beta Zeta’s national organization.
There are not much by way of extras in the 3-disc DVD set: a typical behind-the-scenes featurette; three deleted scenes; a brief look ahead at Season 2; and an extended version of a scene from Episode 8 with Dale’s hilarious Christian rock band, Darwin Lied.
I was pleasantly surprised at this first chapter of Greek. While the writing is not as sharp as some of its preceding second cousins (Veronica Mars, Buffy, Undeclared), this show has a lot of heart, simultaneously revering and skewering the collegiate Greek system.
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