I enjoyed this one. It seemed to me like it was an earlier episode in the series, maybe the second one. We get an explanation for why Harry doesn’t tell Murphy what’s going on. And the drum stick is a wand, apparently. It would’ve been nice to know that last week.
This show was more reminiscent of the books: Harry being accused of using dark magic; Harry using magic to locate somebody; Bob making crude suggestions; Harry trapping something in a magic circle (and being demonstrably uncowed by its posturing). It was nice to see Harry use a lot of his personal magic.
I wonder if on the show, his destructive effect on technology is completely voluntary? In the books anything high tech (such as computers and cameras) will malfunction in Harry’s presence unless he exerts himself to prevent it.
I liked clayton_e’s suggestion of linking to threads about past epsidodes. So:
I really hate that they’re showing episodes in some kind of random order. It would have been so nice if we’d had the story build up, so that those of us who haven’t read the books could follow what was going on better. If they’d spent a little more time on stuff like that, I’d be pretty hooked by now, I think.
Even though I think the guy that plays Dresden doesn’t have much charisma or appeal. :dubious:
Like Archergal, I haven’t read the books and would appreciate a more coherent narrative from episode to episode. Since the show is playing in territory I enjoy (and since, unlike Archergal, I think the actor playing Dresden has loads of charm and appeal), I’m giving it a lot of time to win me over completely. I keep wishing the overall tone would go darker, but maybe that’s just my “Angel rarely went dark enough for me” tendencies showing through.
Is Bob such a scream in the books? I’d watch The Bob Files in a heartbeat.
BookBob is an air spirit, tied to a skull, originally commanded by Justin (and another wizard before him. TVBob is a former serious black-magic wizard who was stripped of his powers and confined to the skull as punishment. He was apparently also “owned” by Justin, and was passed on to Harry by the Council as a dual “This is your spirit on black magic” PSA and spy. He is an even bigger scream in the books, IMO, where his lech nature comes out far more often (though we saw a good BookBob imitation from TVBob last night)- his preferred form of payment is porn and/or romance novels.
The drum stick is a blasting rod, NOT a wand, darn it!!
I find mysel loving this series. So much so that I just ordered Storm Front so i can begin reading the books.
Whats more, I was at my mother's house the other day and found a relic of my youth. A single drum stick, that has long since lost it's mate, I tried playing the drums way back in grade school and had no idea that the stick would still be around. I think I will mount it on my wall like a sword, or one of the replica Harry Potter wands that you see for sale. Just to see how many people get the joke. :cool:
You should definitely check out the books. Book 1 is… okay, but they get much better after that.
In the first episode (which, it has already been pointed out, was not the pilot), Bob comments on his former history as a wizard, his black magic tendencies, and his previous ownership by Justin. His repeated admonitions to Harry to not stray too far from his path come from a definite place of experience. I probably got the Council involvement tidbit from either the Jim Butcher boards or from the folks I know that chatted with him at DragonCon, so my apologies for tossing that in there. I imagine that now Morgan has been introduced, we’ll be hearing more about the Council and more about Bob’s assignment.
I loved in Hair of the Dog where they made it very clear Bob can’t be more than a certain distance from his skull. In the books he requires Harry’s explicit permission to leave his skull, and if he leaves during daylight it’s typically in the body of Mister, Harry’s oversized cat, because Bob can’t stand sunlight.
I guess I’m a big enough geek I can piece things together from the show and tidbits dropped here and there about the books in these threads, plus I have a RL friend who has read the books and is watching the show too. I mean c’mon. Most of us have read enough and watched enough of this stuff to well assume what drum & hockey sticks probably are.
I definitely liked the much more confident Harry this ep.
Hey, apologies for offending any big Paul Blackthorne fans out there! I thought he wasn’t too bad till I saw him in Monk the other night. (Episode named “Mr. Monk and the Leper.”) He was so much more engaging in that show that his Harry Dresden portrayal kinda paled in comparison. For me, anyway.
I don’t hate him, but I’m not that crazy about him either.
The Jim Butcher forums, which I probably should’ve linked to earlier. Jim himself posts there (most recently to defend the choices made on what to change for the TV show- how utterly demeaning that he had to to that). The original info came from the press releases.
Having read 1.5 Dresden books, I was wondering why “The White Council” got changed to “The High Council.” Then they introduced Morgan. OK, that kind of makes sense. (For some reason, I had pictured Morgan as Bill Nighy doing the stodgy sourpuss thing in Shaun of the Dead.)
But the explanation that the Council won’t let Harry even let on that magical things are real makes zero sense, considering he advertises as a wizard-for-hire! It would have been simple to just say that the Council won’t let him put on a demonstration designed to convince skeptics, but that he can tell people he’s a wizard and so forth, and those that don’t believe, are allowed to continue to do so.
Nevertheless, I’m liking it, and I’m hoping after they iron out some of the new-series weirdness and air shows in order, it’ll get even better.
Definitely agree that this episode is the closest to the books of the ones that have aired to date. I was glad to see “Bob the lech” finally make an appearance, asking that Harry would provide a detailed report of Caryn’s expected gratitude for his services or (please!) even bring her to Harry’s place for it so he could watch.
From the previews that are being aired, however, I don’t think next Sunday’s episode will, in fact, be Storm Front…it doesn’t fit the episode description in bobkitty’s link.
I’d also like to add that during the scene where Harry and Bob were discussing the return of the sin chain, I said “uh, about that” a split second before Harry did.
This was the best one so far. The drum stick is just silly though and I would prefer that they gave him a walking stick or something. Why would he carry a drum stick around?
I confess that I tend to skim descriptions while reading books. Is Morgan black in the book? I don’t recall him being so.
Like the show very much, like the actor very much.
My only real complaint is that the ‘twists’ are broadcasted. I’m not generally good at this, and I don’t usually try too hard, so the fact that I’ve seen these coming shows they are made too obvious.
Are they as obvious in the books? And, if so, is it okay–maybe the point of the books are not the plot so much as the characters and light mood?
