Dresden Files 1.05: "Bad Blood"
Feb. 26th, 2007 07:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annathepiperAwright--now I begin to feel like the series is starting to get its feet under it. More characters from the books brought on camera, and the first of what will hopefully be intriguing hints of things to come with the state of politics between the High Council of wizards and the Courts of the vampires. Some more divergences from the books, but this time around, for me at least, that played out just fine.
I gotta say, I really liked how they chose to bring Bianca on camera. Sure, it's a divergence from the books, in which Harry's relationship with her was entirely professional--but I liked how they set up this backstory with her having covered for him when he was on the run for killing his uncle. I liked how they had quite a bit of chemistry and yet were fully cognizant that it couldn't really go anywhere. And I really just liked Bianca as a character in general; she felt to me she had the same spirit as how Jim wrote her in Storm Front.
My favorite exchange between her and Harry: "You sound like a gangster's moll." "I was a gangster's moll."
And Bianca coming on camera of course raises the question of whether the show will hold true to Jim's concepts of the vampires. Is Bianca really a horrible monster underneath an illusion of beauty? I'll be real intrigued to see how they play that out, and whether Harry actually knows the true nature of vamps yet in this continuity. Seeing hints dropped about the state of affairs between the High Council and the Red Court was quite cool as well, especially with having had the last few books under my belt and being aware of where that plot goes. I hope we'll get that as a long-term story arc on the show.
Also very cool: Ancient Mai coming on camera. I don't remember her at all as a character, but then, it's been ages since I read Summer Knight; I didn't even remember which book she appeared in. But she was suitably badassed, not only with her Wardens (and Morgan!) flanking her, but on her own merits as well. That brief shift of her face into Something Scary? What the hell was up with that and what is she, anyway?
On a lighter note, I felt sorry for Harry's waitress girlfriend at the beginning of this episode. There she was enjoying a romantic French movie snuggled up against Harry, sniffling her way through the flick, when weirdness shows up at the door. 'Cause we all know that Harry won't get a chance to resume a relationship with her, poor thing. Meanwhile, I loved how Bob was lurking behind the couch, also sniffling at the movie. ;)
Not at all sure yet what I think about this implementation of ThreeEye as vampire PCP. I noticed Harry's initial line to Morgan after overhearing his little meeting--the quip about clairvoyance. Reference to Storm Front, no doubt, but the sheer name ThreeEye makes more sense as a drug bestowing the Sight. I do wonder whether that'll still happen in TV continuity if the stuff's ingested by humans. We'll have to see.
All in all, though, I enjoyed this episode all the way through, and it felt good and solid to me. It'll be fun to see whether TV!Bianca makes another appearance when "Storm Front" finally airs in a few more weeks.
I gotta say, I really liked how they chose to bring Bianca on camera. Sure, it's a divergence from the books, in which Harry's relationship with her was entirely professional--but I liked how they set up this backstory with her having covered for him when he was on the run for killing his uncle. I liked how they had quite a bit of chemistry and yet were fully cognizant that it couldn't really go anywhere. And I really just liked Bianca as a character in general; she felt to me she had the same spirit as how Jim wrote her in Storm Front.
My favorite exchange between her and Harry: "You sound like a gangster's moll." "I was a gangster's moll."
And Bianca coming on camera of course raises the question of whether the show will hold true to Jim's concepts of the vampires. Is Bianca really a horrible monster underneath an illusion of beauty? I'll be real intrigued to see how they play that out, and whether Harry actually knows the true nature of vamps yet in this continuity. Seeing hints dropped about the state of affairs between the High Council and the Red Court was quite cool as well, especially with having had the last few books under my belt and being aware of where that plot goes. I hope we'll get that as a long-term story arc on the show.
Also very cool: Ancient Mai coming on camera. I don't remember her at all as a character, but then, it's been ages since I read Summer Knight; I didn't even remember which book she appeared in. But she was suitably badassed, not only with her Wardens (and Morgan!) flanking her, but on her own merits as well. That brief shift of her face into Something Scary? What the hell was up with that and what is she, anyway?
On a lighter note, I felt sorry for Harry's waitress girlfriend at the beginning of this episode. There she was enjoying a romantic French movie snuggled up against Harry, sniffling her way through the flick, when weirdness shows up at the door. 'Cause we all know that Harry won't get a chance to resume a relationship with her, poor thing. Meanwhile, I loved how Bob was lurking behind the couch, also sniffling at the movie. ;)
Not at all sure yet what I think about this implementation of ThreeEye as vampire PCP. I noticed Harry's initial line to Morgan after overhearing his little meeting--the quip about clairvoyance. Reference to Storm Front, no doubt, but the sheer name ThreeEye makes more sense as a drug bestowing the Sight. I do wonder whether that'll still happen in TV continuity if the stuff's ingested by humans. We'll have to see.
All in all, though, I enjoyed this episode all the way through, and it felt good and solid to me. It'll be fun to see whether TV!Bianca makes another appearance when "Storm Front" finally airs in a few more weeks.
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Date: 2007-02-27 03:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-27 03:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-27 03:45 am (UTC)Guess I'd better reserve the books at the library. When I first saw the commercials for the series, I thought they'd ripped off parts of "Nightwatch", but maybe it was the other way around.
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Date: 2007-02-27 03:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-27 05:14 pm (UTC)Extremely Predictable. (My girlfriend disagrees.)
I saw coming the comment of the two women spending time together. I saw the betrayal by the blonde vamp. The distraction of pointing the viewer to Jake? Didn't buy it for a minute. I saw the bloodbath of Clive and goons. I saw the arrival of big bad Vamp. I saw a lot of these things coming before they were metioned. That was my main disappointment.
Loved the Gangster Moll comment too.
I like the show, I just hope they don't continue along the same predicable lines or this is going to fall flat fast.
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Date: 2007-02-27 05:50 pm (UTC)This episode did a fine job of keeping my attention with everything on the screen at any given moment, so I actually didn't have any cycles to spare to think about predicting what was coming next. Perfectly agreeable way to blow an hour.
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Date: 2007-03-01 02:57 pm (UTC)I did like the Gangster Moll comment, though I threw it with her, causing the Husband to eye me funny.
All in all, a good romp, just hope (like gilroycullen up there) that it doesn't turn into a pattern.
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Date: 2007-03-02 04:37 am (UTC)