The Dresden Files: Bad Blood

The latest issue of SFX (#155, April) reviews the early episodes of The Dresden Files and makes the same Charmed comparisons I did some time ago. It goes on to sum the show up as equal parts Charmed, X-Files, Supernatural, Medium and Angel with no unique identity of its own.

I guess we have been spoilt, as a geeky audience, with such masterpieces as the new Battlestar Galactica and Lost, but while Harry Dresden's ongoing adventures on TV still fall way short of these modern day giants of the small screen, tonight's Bad Blood episode went a small way towards making up some ground.

This was the dirty streets and shady warehouses (although they still looked like stage sets) that suit Harry's film noirish roots, mixed in with a cracking tale of vampires, hitmen and Thirdeye dealers (it's a supernatural drug, by the way).

Our much-battered hero - and he takes several meaty hits in this episode - is hired by Bianca, a vampire madam, to find out who's trying to have her assassinated, following a botched 'hit'. The all-powerful High Council (who oversee all things magical) are implicated and the story spins off from there.

Although Dresdenverse vampires seem pretty lame compared to, say, those in Blade, Bianca (Joanne Kelly) gets some snappy dialogue, as befits her past as a 1930's gangster's moll, but she is too creepy-looking to merit the tag of "most beautiful vampire" in Chicago - especially when you get the impression the show's makers wanted a Morena Baccarin-lookalike ( the sultry brunette from Firefly/Serenity and Stargate SG-1) for the role.

Nevertheless, this is the best episode to date (earning it a solid A Grade, just edging ahead of Hair of The Dog because it didn't involve the Chicago police force, but did give some more hints about Harry's dark history and the role of the High Council).

If The Dresden Files can keep this standard up, it could mature in a decent, second-string show. It's never going to be a Lost or Battlestar Galactica (unless it undergoes a major reboot), but it could be the next Stargate SG-1 or even Babylon 5 (remember the first season of that was pretty much 'monster-of-the-week' fodder). It just needs to find its hook - to keep pulling viewers back week-after-week.