The Curse of Oak Island, season 2
"One thing's for sure...the data we now have is, to me, the best data that's ever been obtained on Oak Island." - Marty Lagina
release year: 2014-15
genre: TV documentary series
viewing setting: home DVD 1/6-10/16
synopsis: In this second, longer season, the team tries a variety of methods at a variety of locations, and considers several theories that tie Oak Island to other past events of great historical importance.
impressions: If I were reading a review like this, I'd want to know one simple thing: did they make any progress, actually find anything? The answer is...yes. Although there was nothing conclusive, there were some tangible discoveries and progress. They dated the coin found in last season's finale to 1652. They found a couple more old coins using metal detectors, and also pulled an ancient oak stump out of the bottom of the swamp, where oak cannot and did not grow. They drilled down and found pretty compelling evidence of a man-made wooden vault encased in concrete. They put dye in the big borehole to try and figure out where the ocean water floods into the shaft (it didn't work.) They probably found something big buried under the swamp, but were unable to drain the water to get to it. They sent divers down into the big borehole, but they couldn't get too deep due to visibility and safety issues as well as finding the bottom of the shaft blocked. They lowered a sonar buoy into a narrow shaft parallel to the big borehole, and that yielded a pretty cool image of an underground (and underwater) chamber with some manmade objects within. But here's the thing: all of the above took 420 minutes to cover, a lot of which was them talking with various people who had theories to present. To me, those theories were the weakest element - they had to be, because they can't all be true, which means all but one of them are wrong, which means wasted time for the explorers. But it's still entertaining, and good food for thought. And if you like mysteries and a variety of interesting real-life personalities chasing those mysteries, this is the show for you.
acting: n/a...this is a TV documentary with two primary people, several main secondary people, and an ever-changing group of helpers, contractors, and people with theories who show up to try and convince everyone that they know what's going on.
final word: Entertaining, but inherently long and drawn-out due to what it is; this will be fine for those who enjoy the allure of strange old mysteries.
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