Without a Trace

Without a Trace - The Complete Second Season

WITHOUT A TRACE is a fast-paced procedural drama about the Missing Persons Squad of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The sole responsibility of the special task force is to find missing persons by applying advanced psychological profiling techniques. The team reconstructs a "Day of Disappearance" timeline that details every minute of the 24 hours prior to the disappearance following one simple rule: learn who the victim is in order to learn where the victim is.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS UPC: 012569594395 Manufacturer No: 59439

"You can't save everyone, Jack," a child molester taunts FBI Agent Jack Malone before hurling himself out a window. But the tireless efforts of Malone (Anthony LaPaglia in his Golden Globe-winning role) and the members of the elite Missing Persons Squad to do just that are what make Without a Trace so compelling. Each episode is a race against time to find a person who has mysteriously vanished (their slow fade from the screen has lost none of its unsettling power). In some of this sophomore season's most gripping cases, people and events are not what they seem. In "Confidence," the task force discovers that a missing wealthy socialite has a seriously shady past and keeps "bad company." The past haunts the present in "Risen," in which Vivian (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) gets a new lead on a four-year-old case (Kirstie Alley is excellent as the missing girl's distraught mother), and in "Copycat," a sociopath with a grudge against Jack (see "Are You Now or Have You Ever Been" from the first season) is involved in a disappearance with disturbing similarities to a 12-year-old case.

The procedural aspect of Without a Trace is fascinating as Jack and company employ advanced profiling techniques in their investigations. Over the course of the season, episodes also deftly flesh out the characters. Samantha (Poppy Montgomery) struggles with the psychological repercussions of being shot in the season 1 cliffhanger. Taylor (Enrique Murciano) is revealed to have a brother who is in jail. Samantha, who had an affair with Jack, is drawn to Martin (Eric Close). Jack learns that his father (Martin Landau in an Emmy Award-winning performance) has Alzheimer's. He also weighs a move to Chicago to save his rocky marriage. Fulfilling the promise of the auspicious first season, Without a Trace has established itself as among the best-written and -acted (not for nothing did the series earn a Best Casting for TV award from the Casting Society of America) hours on television. And without commercials to break the tension, it's an even more intense experience on DVD. --Donald Liebenson

Without a Trace - The Complete First Season

WITHOUT A TRACE is a fast-paced procedural drama about the Missing Persons Squad of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The sole responsibility of the special task force is to find missing persons by applying advanced psychological profiling techniques. The team reconstructs a "Day of Disappearance" timeline that details every minute of the 24 hours prior to the disappearance following one simple rule: learn who the victim is in order to learn where the victim is. Senior agent Jack Malone (Anthony LaPaglia) heads the dedicated team. His squad includes Samantha Spade (Poppy Montgomery) Vivian Johnson (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) Danny Taylor (Enrique Murciano) and Martin Fitzgerald (Eric Close)Running Time: 922 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 085393370329

It has not taken long for Without a Trace to emerge from the shadows of CSI and become a ratings force in its own right. Jerry Bruckheimer produced both series, and both feature the-face-is-familiar character actors with extensive and diverse resumes who have been catapulted to primetime stardom. Jack Malone, head of a crack FBI missing persons unit, is the Australian-born Anthony LaPaglia's breakout role after years of portraying enough Italian mobsters and criminals to populate a season of The Sopranos. LaPaglia was a surprise Golden Globe Award-winner for this inaugural season. Without a Trace is instantly arresting. "The clock is ticking" in each episode, as Malone and company race against time to find a missing person. "After 48 hours," Malone explains to the rookie member of the team in the series pilot, "they're gone." To solve each baffling case, Malone and fellow agents Samantha Spade (Poppy Montgomery), Vivian Johnson (Marianne Jean-Baptiste of Secrets and Lies), Danny Taylor (Enrique Murciano), and new guy Martin Fitzgerald (Eric Close), must work from the inside out. "Once we find out who she is," Malone says of one victim, "odds are we'll find out where she is."

Among the inaugural season's most wrenching episodes are "Between the Cracks" and "Hang On to Me," both featuring Charles Dutton in his Emmy Award-winning performance as a father whose son has been missing for five years. The powerful season finale, "Fallout," presented in this four-disc set in a "creator's cut," concerns a man who lost his wife in the 9/11 attacks. The riveting episodes mostly stand alone, but some cases do return to haunt Malone, as witness "In Extremis," a case that ends tragically and leads to an internal investigation that threatens to subvert the close-knit unit in the episode. "Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?" Sharp writing, authentic procedurals, taut direction, and effective use of music make Without a Trace a series worth finding on DVD. --Donald Liebenson

Without a Trace - The First & Second Complete Seasons

Executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer's award-winning television series WITHOUT A TRACE follows the FBI's Missing Persons Unit as they investigate individual disappearances in New York City. Led by senior agent Jack Malone (Anthony LaPaglia) the special task force utilizes psychological profiling to reconstruct a timeline of the missing person's last day and determine the cause as either kidnapping murder suicide or runaway. With a topnotch cast that includes Poppy Montgomery Marianne Jean-Baptiste Enrique Murciano and Eric Close Bruckheimer's suspenseful crime drama garnered two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe for LaPaglia as Best Actor in a Dramatic Series--all in its first year. This release includes every episode from the show's first and second seasons.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS UPC: 085391143185 Manufacturer No: 114318

Without a Trace - Season One [Region 2]

Without a Trace - The Complete Third Season