What Is Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County?
Laguna Beach is a reality TV programme shown by MTV. The cameras follow the lives of several teenagers living in Laguna Beach, Southern California, one of the wealthiest beach communities in the world. The show isn't scripted and you experience everyday things that happen to every other teenager in the world, along with all the drama on the way.
There is already a season one but season two carries on four months after the first season ended. The second season kicks off during Christmas break 2005 and follows the teens right until they leave for college in August.
Laguna Beach was shot over an eight month period and was shown on MTV before being released onto DVD.
In the second season, the majority of the cast from season one are still screened, but this season focuses more on last years juniors, who are now seniors. Kristin now narrates the show, where as Lauren did it in the previous season.

The Main Cast

Lauren Conrad
Lauren, otherwise known as LC, was the main character in season one but she now has less screen time, and Kristin takes over the narration. During the second season, the love triangle between Kristin and Stephen has died down a bit but there are still a few sparks a long the way. She was my favourite cast member of the show.

Stephen Colletti
As I said before, the chemistry is still there between Lauren, Stephen and Kristin but isn't as strong anymore, especially with Stephen now living in San Francisco. He doesn't get as much screen time as before but is still featured regularly.

Kristin Cavallari
This season, Kristin is now a senior at high school and has taken over Lauren's place as narrator on the show, but that doesn't mean drama doesn't follow, in fact, it probably creates more, especially with Jessica and Alex H on side.

Talan Torriero
Talan is also a senior this year, having briefly appeared in season one. He shares an encounter with Taylor but does he have his eye on Kristin as well?

Taylor Cole
Taylor is one of the new characters, also a senior and is best friends with Alex M. Taylor is one of the nice girls in my opinion.

Jessica Smith
Jessica is best friends with Kristin. She appeared on season 1 every now and again as Dieter's girlfriend, and you often saw her with Kristin, but she has now become a main cast member. At the beginning of the show, she is currently Jason's girlfriend, but a whole lot of drama follows that and becomes one of the main stories throughout this season.

Alex M
Another new cast member and best friend to Taylor. Alex is involved in the Jason and Jessica storyline, which causes tension between her and Jessica.

Jason Wahler
Jason is the new 'bad boy'. Currently Jessica's boyfriend, he is always causing trouble especially with the girls. He also starts a relationship with Lauren, but again, Jessica gets in the way.

Other non-main characters
Dieter Schmitz
Dieter featured in the first season alongside Stephen and Lauren, as he was in their year at school. He was also Jessica's boyfriend. He features in the second season more as friends to Lauren and Stephen still.

Alex H
Alex is Kristin's partner in crime. Where ever Kristin is, Alex is. Alex isn't actually listed as one of the main characters but I think she should of been as she got more screen time than Lauren and starred in nearly every episode. But saying that, Alex didn't actually have any of her own stories going on, she was just involved in Kristin's.

Morgan Olsen & Christina Schuller
In season two, Morgan and Christina are no longer main characters and are only cast in the show in the first couple of episodes.

Lauren 'Lo' Bosworth
Lo gets a lot less screen time during this season and is only on screen when she is either out with the gang or visiting Lauren.

The DVD has a total of three discs, two of which show all of the episodes - seventeen in total and a bonus features disc. Each disc is enclosed in its own case, which is then included in a box.

The Show
Season two starts off with Kristin welcoming you back and then goes on to tell you a bit about everybody. She tells you what the rest of the season 1 cast are up to, then introduces the new cast members.

I'll try not to give too much away in the episode descriptions but just give you a brief insight into what happens in each of the episodes.

Episode 1 - Since you've been gone
It's Christmas break in Laguna Beach and Lo throws a party at her house to welcome everybody back. We also get chance to meet all the new cast during this episode.

Episode 2 - You Can't Trust Him
This episode revolves around Jason, Jessica and Alex M, as Jessica thinks Jason is cheating on her and Alex H and Kristin try to persuade her that she can do better than him.

Episode 3 - It's hard to say goodbye
It's Lauren's 19th birthday and her, Stephen and Dieter head to Mexico to celebrate. It's also Kristin's 18th and Alex H throws her a birthday meal. But LC's happiness soon turns to tears when Stephen has to head back to college in San Francisco.
This was one of my favourite episodes as it was nice to see Lauren and Stephen spend some time together without any drama.

Episode 4 - More than friends
Talan takes Kristin to lunch, but after dropping several hints, Kristin doesn't seem to take the bait.

Episode 5 - Winter Formal
It's Winter Formal party time in Laguna Beach and this is where the girls have to ask the guys to go as their dates. But Jessica's miffed when Alex M beats her to it when it comes to asking Jason, even though she is his girlfriend!

Episode 6 - I Hate Valentine's Day
Stephen's back in town, and it's Valentine's Day, but he plays Lauren and Kristin off against each other, without them knowing it. Also, the night turns sour for Jessica when she invites Jason over for dinner.

Episode 7 - Get Over Him
Kristin, Alex H, Talan and Jeff (Talan's friend) take Jessica snowboarding over at Mammoth mountain to try and help her take her mind off of Jason. Even finding good looking snowboard instructors doesn't help, as she is constantly calling him.

Episode 8 - What goes around...
The two Alex's organise a bonfire on the beach. But things don't go too well for Jessica when she finds out Alex M and Jason are an item.

Episode 9 - Cabo, Cabo, Cabo
It's spring break time again, and while Jessica spends the whole time stressing over Jason and trying to avoid Alex M, they eventually come to blows in a club.

Episode 10 - Lies and Goodbyes
Kristin visits Stephen, as he hopes to rekindle their relationship, but Kristin has to tell him that she just wants to be friends. Also, Casey spreads a rumour about Alex M.

Episode 11 - Don't Hate The Game
LC goes to see Stephen in San Francisco and surprises her when he asks her if she thinks they could ever be in a real relationship. Also, at Alex H's fiesta party, new eye candy for Jessica takes her mind off Jason, but not before Kristin gets to him first.

Episode 12 - Our Last Prom
It's that time of year again when everybody is trying to decide who asks who, but as everybody has already got their dates sorted, it's just Kristin who hasn't been asked yet.

Episode 13 - Boyfriends are like purses
LC throws a BBQ at her house to celebrate the start of summer, but shocks everyone when she hooks up with the unexpected.
I also really enjoyed this episode as it was full of fun and really liked Lauren and Jason together.

Episode 14 - The end of the beginning
It's Graduation Day for the seniors and everybody is receiving their gifts off of family. Aldo, Casey invites Alex M over to try and get over their falling out.

Episode 15 - I Saw You Kiss Her
a landslide in Stephen and Trey's neighbourhood results in the whole gang coming together to try and raise money for the victims. LC is put in charge, but gets a lot more than she bargained.

Episode 16 - Nothing More To Say
LC throws a formal party and even invites Kristin. Kristin decides that it's time to bury the hatchet with Lauren. But when she turns up at her house, she doesn't even acknowledge her. She stays for two minutes, then leaves with Stephen.

Episode 17 - One Last Wave
As the seniors leave for college, LC leaves for LA, there are a lot of tears shed. Also the guys have one last surf at the beach.

DISC THREE - SPECIAL FEATURES

Deleted Scenes
Various scenes that were deleted from the actual show.
In my opinion, I actually think that some of these scenes should have been put into the show, as some of them are very good.

Cast Interviews
This shows quite lengthy interviews with the cast members about certain topics, all which happened within the season.
These are good but some of them drag on for too long.

Featurettes
Laguna Guide To Love
This featurette is one2one interviews with the cast asking them questions relating to relationships, such as " What's the best/worst thing about being in a relationship?"
This is quite fun too watch as it is something everybody can relate to and it doesn't drag on too long either.

Fight The Slide 2005
Even though this was a devastating disaster to happen, I found the feature really interesting to watch.
It first tells you a bit about what happened and what caused the slide. It then features a video diary of Stephen and Dieter telling you and showing you the impacts of the slide.
It really was devastating to see the effects that it had, and was caused by natural causes. Hard to imagine it happening to your really, as some residents house were going to be completely destroyed as they were unable to re-build them.
The benefit that the residents put on raised over $23,000. The episodes only show you part of the performances from Talan and Alex M,but this featurette shows you them all.

Seventeen Magazine Cover Shoot
This clip goes behind the scenes of Kristin's photo shoot with Seventeen magazine. It shows you the stylists that did her hair & make-up and also gives you some beauty tips.

Behind the season finale with the cast
When the season ended in 2006, MTV did a special programme with all of the cast included on the show. This shows you behind the scenes access and also interviews with members of the public asking them why they like the programme so much.

CosmoGirl Magazine Photo shoot
This feature shows Trey, Stephen, Talan and Jeff behind the scenes of a photo shoot for CosmoGirl. It also features interviews with the boys about what they like about photo shoots.

Laguna Memories
Cast Home Videos
This features the home videos of Lauren, Stephen, Kristin and Jessica. These were really nice to watch as you can see them growing up and feature some highlights in their lives, such as birthdays and their first days at school. I thought this was a really nice addition to the DVD and enjoyed watching them.

Cast Photo Album
This is a slideshow of photos for each character. This is also a nice touch and is nice to look through, especially the most recent ones from only a few years back.

Highlights
Girls are Vicious
This shows you clips from various points in the show where the girls are being bitchy and slagging each other off!

The Two Triangles
This highlights are the love triangles that go on between the cast, but to be honest with you, there is too many to list! Even I got confused because some how, they all intertwine!

Casting Tapes
This includes videos of when MTV were casting for the show. The cast members basically talk about their life and why they think it would be a good idea for MTV to document their life.
These were really interesting to watch as they happened before filming even began.

Overall, I think the bonus footage on the extra DVD is really good. There is a lot of choice and the content is really good. I especially like the home videos and cast photos and the featurette clips.

On the whole, the episodes of Laguna Beach really kept me hooked. There was enough drama to keep me going throughout the whole serious and it's easy to forget that it's real! I thought this sort of thing only happens in soap-land! The episodes link together really well and when Kristin narrates at the beginning, it helps to remind you of what happened in the previous episode.
A good soundtrack to the series helps too, as it helps with the emotion and I have to admit, the music does make up feel the emotions that they are going through, especially when they are crying - if you get my drift! Lol
Even though Laguna Beach is a rich place, you get the idea that they are rich kids and snobbish. They may live in nice house and drive nice cars, but they are pretty down to earth teenagers and don't live with their heads in the clouds.
Hilary Duff sings the opening titles song, "Coming Clean."
The covers of the DVD cases feature photographs of the cast members and a full list of episodes.
I think that this DVD would be great for anybody who watches soaps, and likes to watch a lot of drama - except this is real!
There isn't really any downsides, just that some of the words that they use is not what we are used to in the UK, such as gnarly... and stoked. But eventually you do understand what they mean, especially as they use them so often!
Season twp is currently on sale on Amazon for £9.97 but £25.00 on play.com, which is the RRP. Personally, I wouldn't spend £25 on this, £10 is about right I would say!

Other Information
There is also a spin-off of this show called The Hills which follows Lauren to Los Angeles. It also includes some of the other members of the cast, such as Lo, Jen and Jason. This has proved to be even more popular than Laguna Beach and is now on its fourth season.