Movie Review: Life Unexpected: The Complete First & Second Seasons DVD

Life Unexpected takes us on the journey of an unwanted teens attempt to start a life on her own without the foster systems intervention but first she needs to meet her unknown parents who gave her up for adoption.

Film making 18/25
Video 21/25
Audio 21/25
Bonus Features 5/25
Total 65/100

Life is unexpected for Lux, Catie and Baze as they find each other when Lux tries to venture out on her own after years in the uncaring foster system. Life Unexpected takes Lux on her journey out of foster care but not as an easy transition to family life with her birth parents.

Lux needs to meet her parents before she can ask the court to allow her to live on her own, her mother gave her up for adoption and her father does not even know she exists. When the uncaring foster system has failed to get Lux adopted or placed in decent foster homes she tries to take matters into her own hands.

Britt Robertson plays Lux, a foster kid who was given up for adoption at birth but has been bounced around the foster care system and juvenile facilities. Lux and best friend Tasha played by Ksenia Solo are fed up with the foster care system and try to get emancipated using Lux as their first trial attempt.

The court requires Lux get her birth parents signatures so they know her parents are unwilling to care for them but the judge decides to make them responsible for her. The judge tells her real parents that they are being given joint custody of Lux and they need to work through all the problems of being new parents to a sixteen year old.

Cate Cassidy played by Shiri Appleby is a radio talk show personality while ex high school football player and bar owner Nathaniel "Baze" Bazile played by Kristoffer Polaha is her father. Lux has problems with coping with authority, dealing with parents that are as responsible as she is and fitting into her new life.

Cate has relationship problems of her own as she is torn between old flame Baze and her new husband and talk show co-host Ryan Thomas played by Kerr Smith. Cate devolves more into irresponsible behavior and typical carefree adult who does not know what she wants but needs some help.

Baze is the typical football star from high school with a wealthy father who did not care much about his son and lives a frat boys lifestyle. Baze becomes more responsible and gets a job at his father's banking firm only to find out his father was really as careless as Baze was starting to act.

Cate has major relationship problems of her own as she bounces between Baze and her husband who also has problems of his own with an old girlfriend. Confused, that is life for all in Life Unexpected which is actually a pretty good series but it could not have maintained itself for long.

Old problems with past foster parents, relationship troubles for everyone and dealing with life's unexpected moments is what Life Unexpected is all about. The two season show does get a bit twisted as things go from one end of the spectrum of relationship troubles to the other but it does work well.

Lux sits in the middle dealing with a new life where normal is anything but what she could expect with new parents who have just as many problems as she does. Even though Lux brings newfound focus to the lives of those she now lives with things still need to be sorted out in their own lives before normal becomes something they can attain.

The 26 episode 2 season series did not get a third season and the show decided to end the series with a wrap up that worked out rather well. Lux graduating top in her class, friend Tasha also graduating with her and the rest of her family and friends sorting out their relationship troubles gives finality to the show for fans.

The series is mostly about the relationships of Lux and those around her but creator Liz Tigelaar keeps things interesting enough that you just have to find out how things progress. You can see many of the events and situations long before they erupt into those tear inducing emotion filled moments which shows the good writing and acting that the series has.

Life Unexpected has great video and audio for a series that is shot in a variety of situations and did very well with quality for all the shows episodes. There really was no obvious or attention distracting quality issues and the show does have a great theme song and set of musical numbers throughout the episodes.

The series did a great job in a lot of areas but it just did not have enough to continue once we traveled through the new life of Lux and a look into her traumatic past. Creator/writer Liz Tigelaar did a great job bringing the characters to life and giving a well-rounded look at the troubled lives of both the adults and the foster kids.

Extras on the third disc which is the end of season 1 include a 13 minute making of feature and a look at the three main characters from their perspective. The rest of the bonus content is a gag reel which is about three minutes long on the last disc which is alright but not all that funny.

The bonus content is alright and at the very least gives some look into the series and the main characters but is about the minimum I would expect as bonus content. Life Unexpected is a down to earth look at the troubles and relationship minefield that people can go through and did not seem so far-fetched as to not be believable at all.

Both the actors and the crew did a great job of bringing the world of Lux to our TV screens in a way that we wanted to watch more until it finally ended before things got out of hand. Life Unexpected is a worthwhile entertaining show and one that I can recommend as a down to earth grown up look at relationships and life as we can expect it.