Dante's Cove - Series 1-3 - Complete [DVD]

This show is ridiculously, wonderfully bonkers!! I have never had so much fun watching a show in my life.

As a straight woman I can only encourage *all* types of people to try this - other women take note...there are some of the best abs in the world on display here!

I stumbled on the show by accident and have since bought the box set of all 3 seasons so I can wallow in its (inserting the tagline here!) "guilty pleasures". The storylines are a hoot and, having just watched the Season 3 finale, I can honestly say I'm counting the days until Season 4.

OK so the acting levels do vary but most of the main cast are great and even those who are a bit shaky on the acting win you over with their sheer enthusiasm. There have never been more amazingly jaw dropping plot twists and fall over laughing one-liners in any single TV show. Straight, gay whatever you are, check this show out....it's pure escapism and a joy to tune into.

Dante's Cove is best described by drawing parallels to other (superior) TV shows. So imagine "Charmed" or "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" aimed at a purely homosexual audience, then throw in plenty of X-Rated action and remove all the decent acting, convincing visual effects and any attempt at a coherent plot. This will give you a pretty good idea of what the show is about.

Set on an idyllic tropical island, the plot of Dante's Cove is centered around the hedonistic lives of the hot young things that live on it's shores. The supernatural element of the series is provided by Grace (Tracy Scoggins) and Ambrosius (William Gregory Lee), two practioners of 'Tresum' (think witchcraft) who cause all sorts of ridiculous drama with their endless feuding, romantic entaglements and irresponsible use of their powers. This is played out over the first two series, with their conflicting goals and motives and the appearance of Grace's mysterious sister Diana (Thea Gill) driving much of the plot forward. All this goes on the back-burner for season three, which is focused more on an evil force that invades Dante's Cove, providing a much darker and bloody atmosphere to the show, yet still somehow remaining ultimately cheesy and frivolous.

The acting and production values of the show start off at a pretty dire level, but do slowly increase in quality as the series goes on. Tracy Scoggins and Thea Gill definitely give the best performances, stealing most scene's they are in. The other actors seem to have been cast on the basis of how good they look with no top on, but in their defense this usally distracts from any attempt at acting they make, so it can be forgiven. However, the magic and special effects look terribly dated for a show created only a few years ago and really don't compare to other high-concept shows produced at a similar time. The show is also plagued by numerous off-screen changes occuring between seasons. This means locations, characters and plotlines abruptly vanish from the show, or are suddenly played by different actors.

If you're looking for some high-brow gay-themed entertainment to engage you intellectually and elicit some serious emotional response, Dante's Cove is probably the last place you want to visit. However, if you're able to suspend your disbelief, turn off your higher brain functions and just enjoy campy, over-the-top fun with hot guys & gals making out (and the rest) with each other every 5 minutes, then Dante's Cove may just be your new favourite show.

I only heard about Dante's Cove in Gay Times a few months back, but after renting it on amazon's partner Lovefilm, I was hooked

The story to begin with is very longwinded (as all backhistory stories are), 200 years ago when an engagement is struck between Grace and Ambrosius Vallan, each from a differing House who practice the universal magic called Tresum.
The Moon House (Grace) believed in a prophecy that a child shall be blessed with the powers of both the Moon and the Sun, but they also believed that this is only possible if upon conception or shortly after birth, the father should be killed with Moon Tresum and thus pass the powers to the child, making them supposedly in charge of both houses.
Grace believes Ambrosius to be upstanding and moral person in the Tresum community, however on one day she found Ambrosius being "taken" by his man-servant.
Grace being spiteful killed the manservant and chained Ambrosius in the house's dungeon for all eternity, when only a kiss of a young boy will set him free.
Ambrosius is waiting for that special someone, will he get them??

(Season 1 is split into 2 episodes each roughly 1 hour - 1 hour 20 mins long.)

Season 2 begins with a new character, Diana (Grace's sister) who secretly taught Ambrosius a stronger branch of Sun House Tresum whilst he was chained in the Dungeon and therefore his original source of power.
The Cove being central to Tresum runs much like modern withcraft in a cycle, that cycle being the giving of power at set times in the year, Both Sun (Male) and Moon (Female) are to represented in the ritual for nature to take its unhindered course, but with Ambrosius chained for 200 years at Grace's hand, nature has obviously started to become more dangerous and unpredicatable.
The ritual requires each house to have an aspirant (apprentice) [and this is the main plot for season 2], upon finishing this ritual it gives the chosen one, a chance to reverse one moment in time.
What will that one moment be?

Season 2 is split into 5 episodes each roughly 30 - 35 minutes long

Season 3 - Evil has come to the cove in the guise of The House of Shadows a long since banished and captive branch of magic, a House of Chaos in all its uncertainty. No one is totally sure of what to do with the House as its main desire is revenge and spite, so death is inevitable to any who try to stop it unprepared.
This season has elements of zombies attacks as well as a new location (which gained it's own spin-off) called The Lair, a nightclub by night, a gay orgy central during the day run by inconspicuous vampires.
Will the Houses of Sun and Moon combine and fight that of the House of Shadows or will there be another course of action needed to banish the Shadows once and for all?

Season 3 is split into 5 episodes each roughtly of 30 minutes in length

Things to watch for:
Season 1 - This was filmed in the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Pacific Ocean.

Season 2 - For reasons unsure, the location of Dante's Cove is changed to Hawaii, not far from the site for the TV Series Lost.
Although not mentioned specifically in the shoiw, one comment Grace says does outline it's a new location.
"It's amazing, what a new lick of paint can do!"

Season 3 - Again location changed, possibly due to the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, as a tsunami is said to be the cause for the destruction of the Date's Cove Hotel
Also Diane's stance as she's possessed by The Shadows, it seems more like she's blind than possessed.