Harry Dresden and the Hand of Glory 3/11/07

Cafe Society
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Harry’s yellow pages ad appeared to be the same one described in the first book: “Harry Dresden - Wizard. Lost Items Found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates. No Love Potions, Endless Purses, Parties, or Other Entertainment.”

There’s an interesting wikipedia article on the Hand of Glory and its appearance in popular fiction, like in the Harry Potter books.

Harry’s still having trouble holding on to his wand, although he made good use of it this time. It was nice to see him actually get to use the hockey stick against Bianca the vampire a couple of episodes ago, because usually it just gets knocked out of his hand.

That magic with the bees against his ear and eye was creepy.

Poor, insubstantial Bob. I like his character more and more.

TV-Morgan is so much more helpful than Book-Morgan. Book-Morgan is nearly irrational with hatred for Harry, and he always got on my nerves.

Previously on The Dresen Files:
3/4/07 2/18/07 2/11/07 1/28/07 1/21/07

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I almost started a thread on last night’s show myself, but I was too tired after I saw it. (I had to catch the second showing, since I was watching [ibBlood Ties**, which fortunately will be running after The Dresden Files in the future.

Yes, Bob is definitely getting more and more interesting. I loved the opening, with him getting so frustrated when he couldn’t pick up the papers, then trying to get Rachel to stay.

I had just finished reading the last book, Proven Guilty so I found the closing scene with Harry, Morgan, and the kid (whose name escapes me at the moment) particularly interesting.

Good use of Harry’s magic in this episode, although I don’t know why they don’t have Harry using the verbal portion of the spells; I woul have liked hearing him say Fuego as he cast the fireball at Caleb.

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[QUOTE=LurkMeister]
Good use of Harry’s magic in this episode, although I don’t know why they don’t have Harry using the verbal portion of the spells; I woul have liked hearing him say Fuego as he cast the fireball at Caleb.
[/QUOTE]
I guess the pseudo-latin phrases Harry uses to invoke spells (like Flickum bicos to light candles) would sound pretty silly, and that doesn’t seem to be what the show is going for. It also might be too reminiscent of Harry Potter.

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I have a question; I know that Bob is a ghost. But I could have sworn I saw him hold something in a previous episode, which I can’t remember right now. Does anyone else here know if they’ve seen this happen on the show? Also, does he appear to anyone besides Harry?

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[QUOTE=medstar]
I have a question; I know that Bob is a ghost. But I could have sworn I saw him hold something in a previous episode, which I can’t remember right now. Does anyone else here know if they’ve seen this happen on the show? Also, does he appear to anyone besides Harry?
[/QUOTE]
I don’t recall him holding anything but I had the same question last week as you about people seeing him. After this week’s episode I’m pretty sure he’s visible to everyone, but hides from people who might ask inconvenient questions, like Murphy for instance.

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Offhand, I don’t remember ever seeing Bob holding anything, although there were several times when he would put his hands on something to work magic with it. And other people can definitely see Bob when he is manifested; this has occurred in several episodes, and Harry has ordered him to “dematerialize” to avoid being seen.

And Eleanor of Aquitaine; I hadn’t made the connection between Harry’s magic phrases and the ones used in the Harry Potter books. It does make sense that they’d want to avoid any possible similarities between the two, though. (And I’d forgotten about Flickum bicos being the spell used to light candles.)

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I was interested in the implication that Harry had gotten into some serious black magic trouble when he was young.

I don’t think we were ever told what he was recovering from when the vampire woman helped him in the past.

And I wondered how she knew who he was in the first place. There’s a lot of Harry’s backstory to be revealed, and I’m looking forward to it.

But it’s also interesting that this kid who screwed up so severely and got people killed is going to be given a chance by the Council…and Harry is still an outsider. Whatever Harry did, it must have been bad.

A few more returning characters would help, but I’m liking the show more and more all the time.

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[QUOTE=merrily]
There’s a lot of Harry’s backstory to be revealed, and I’m looking forward to it.

[/QUOTE]

merrily, if you’d like some answers to your questions (spoilers for both TV! and Book!Harry):

[spoiler]Super-short version to minimize TMI: After Harry’s father died, he was taken in by Justin (referred to as his uncle in the show, but not in the books) who delved heavily into the black side of the arts. He knew Harry was going to grow up to be quite powerful and wanted Harry’s power for his own; he taught Harry a lot about “things he shouldn’t really be messing with.” When Harry discovered what was going on, he killed Justin (in the show, Bob referred to it as “you self-defensed him to death”), which is a HUGE no-no in the magical world. Because of his age (significantly younger than they’re implying in the show) and Justin’s reputation, Harry was allowed to live under the “Doom of Damacles”- the Council keeps a close eye on him, and one slip-up will result in his death. Morgan is the Council’s enforcer in this, and is basically out for Harry’s blood.

Now, the show made Harry much older when he killed Justin, and that incident was what he was recovering from when he ran into Bianca. It would make sense that the guilt from killing his uncle, plus the knowledge he’d seriously fucked up regarding magical law, PLUS detoxing from the black magic he was enticed to do, would put him in that state. Since TV!Bianca was completely different from Book!Bianca, I can only surmise her reason for knowing who he was was exactly as she said- Harry had made quite a reputation for himself.[/spoiler]

This is non-spoilery, so I’ll move it out of the box: As for why the kid in this episode was allowed to live- he was not part of the magical community, and therefore not subject to its rules. Harry was supposed to know better, so he remains punished.

I’m really enjoying the show, despite the differences in the source material and what we’re seeing. But I have to say, the bee thing TOTALLY CREEPED ME OUT. Ewwwww.

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[QUOTE=bobkitty]

This is non-spoilery, so I’ll move it out of the box: As for why the kid in this episode was allowed to live- he was not part of the magical community, and therefore not subject to its rules. Harry was supposed to know better, so he remains punished.
[/QUOTE]

Also, he didn’t kill anyone with magic. In fact, he didn’t kill anyone at all–he wasn’t even in the car, let alone the driver’s seat, when Caleb killed Rachel. The Council would lay that one on whichever of the other two was actually driving (Carson?). The Council would presumably also regard the deaths of the other two boys as their own fault; they used the Hand willingly, and refused to give it up even when Dante tried (admittedly without much conviction at first) to talk them out of it.

So, he definitely didn’t break the first law, which was the only one at issue in this case. The other laws involve somewhat vaguer crimes, and don’t overlap with mundane law. The Council doesn’t seem to care much about mundane law, either–I suspect they weighed his potential usefulness against the hassle of spiriting him away and training him, and it came out in favor of his usefulness.

Also, TV-Morgan appears to be a very different character from book-Morgan, which I think is just as well. Book-Morgan is, in my opinion, a dangerous psychotic. He’ll jump to any conclusion, even in the complete absence of evidence, if it lets him pursue his personal obsessions (which seem to involve killing people, mainly Harry). He also annoys the hell out of me. I don’t think he should be allowed to roam around loose, much less in possession of a sword and formidable magic.

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[QUOTE=Balance]
Also, he didn’t kill anyone with magic. In fact, he didn’t kill anyone at all–he wasn’t even in the car, let alone the driver’s seat, when Caleb killed Rachel. The Council would lay that one on whichever of the other two was actually driving (Carson?). The Council would presumably also regard the deaths of the other two boys as their own fault; they used the Hand willingly, and refused to give it up even when Dante tried (admittedly without much conviction at first) to talk them out of it.
[/QUOTE]
Also, didn’t this particular form of black magic pretty much require someone with a sick relative or something? It was as if to work, they needed to “corrupt” a good person doing it solely for altruistic reasons. The other kid’s mother made a point of saying she was glad to have Dante around because he’d be a good influence on her son, but it turns out that’s precisely what Caleb needed to, but for evil purposes.

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[QUOTE=levdrakon]
Also, didn’t this particular form of black magic pretty much require someone with a sick relative or something? It was as if to work, they needed to “corrupt” a good person doing it solely for altruistic reasons.
[/QUOTE]

I don’t think so. I got the impression that it just needed a spark of magic, something to prime the pump, more or less. What Morgan said suggested that the fact that the hand “woke up” for Dante indicated that he had some sort of Talent. Anyone with a bit of magic and no defenses probably would have been sufficient.

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Thank you, bobkitty.

My take was the same as Balance’s.

Yes, the kid didn’t directly kill someone, but he knew Caleb had been responsible for his girlfriend’s death, and he kept using it, and then his other friend got killed. He certainly has some responsibility, but maybe latent guilt isn’t a bad thing for a person about to learn about magic to carry around.

Two other tiny aggravating bits:

Dresden’s rant about being not good enough for college was hard to believe. Some colleges, yes; some places, yes; some backgrounds, yes; but he was raised in a city by literate people, and don’t tell me there aren’t a lot of community level college opportunities, and people around taking advantage of them. At least it could have been because his magic and his affect on machines kept him from going, that would have been better, but the whole I’m-unworthy was outdated at best, given what we’ve seen of his life.

Also, at the end, Dresden tells the kid his mother is talking. Was she being kept in a coma by Caleb or what? Did Dresden read her somehow? It wasn’t ever explained how that amazingly fortuitious event happened just then.

I think these were slppoy writing or editing, but they were small things.

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The mother was in a coma due to a stroke…

The hand didn’t require an “altruistic” motive… it didn’t corrupt based on that… it took more natural emotions (anger, desier, etc…) and used them for power, it fed off of them, and then in return ended up corrupting the individual to keep the power until it was able to “regenerate” (still not entirely sure what the requirement was there).

In other words, it turned the kids to the “dark side” using thier own emotions as a trigger/fuel source.

It just happened to be that the last kid was doing the crimes out of love, not greed, and that somehow redeemed him.

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[QUOTE=simster]
It just happened to be that the last kid was doing the crimes out of love, not greed, and that somehow redeemed him.
[/QUOTE]
You’re right, I was wrong. I just re-watched the scene with Harry mispronouncing La Main de Gloire much to Bob’s abhorrence.

Bob explained the spirit of the hand exploits pain, anger and loss and Harry observed Dante’s mother was dying. I originally took that to mean one of them had to be experiencing an “altruistic” emotion but now I stand corrected. It just so happens Dante was basically a good kid, but he didn’t have to be for the black magic to work.

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Sorry for the double post, but since no one else is posting…

I am curious about Harry’s and Bob’s backstory too. This exchange was particularly interesting:

“He’s getting more alive.”
“And soon he’ll be free.”
“Jealous?”
“I’ve made my piece with my situation.”
“Since when?”
“I will never escape. Only your uncle held that key.”
“Ain’t that a shame.”
“He had his moments.”

So did Harry’s uncle inherit Bob too, or is Harry’s uncle the one who imprisoned him? If he was the one who imprisoned him we know it was punishment for using black magic to resurrect his beloved, right? Why would Harry’s uncle punish him for that, if he was into the black arts himself? Was Harry’s uncle some sort of enforcer for the Council as well?

How did Harry’s mom die anyway? She’s the magic side of the family, obviously.

Does Harry now hold the “key” to Bob’s imprisonment?

It seems like Bob genuinely cares about Harry. Why? Just because he’s the guy who owns his skull?

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[QUOTE=levdrakon]
Sorry for the double post, but since no one else is posting…

I am curious about Harry’s and Bob’s backstory too. This exchange was particularly interesting:

“He’s getting more alive.”
“And soon he’ll be free.”
“Jealous?”
“I’ve made my piece with my situation.”
“Since when?”
“I will never escape. Only your uncle held that key.”
“Ain’t that a shame.”
“He had his moments.”

So did Harry’s uncle inherit Bob too, or is Harry’s uncle the one who imprisoned him? If he was the one who imprisoned him we know it was punishment for using black magic to resurrect his beloved, right? Why would Harry’s uncle punish him for that, if he was into the black arts himself? Was Harry’s uncle some sort of enforcer for the Council as well?

How did Harry’s mom die anyway? She’s the magic side of the family, obviously.

Does Harry now hold the “key” to Bob’s imprisonment?

It seems like Bob genuinely cares about Harry. Why? Just because he’s the guy who owns his skull?
[/QUOTE]

They havent said how the uncle got Bob, Bob is much older than that. I hope we get to see more of that story.

Harry’s mom was killed in some sort of magic thing, but not before giving her magic “protection bracelet” to the young harry.

I thought it was pretty clearly stated that the key to releasing Bob was lost with the Uncle… (any kind of real release other than destroying the skull). THe “freedom” they were reffering to in htat exchange (of Caleb) was into a “living” body.

I took the earlier exchange to be where Bob was lamenting his situation, and wishing for release, until Harry reminded him:

“If you were’nt useful, I would’ve smashed your skull long ago”

That seemed to cheer old Bob up a bit.

Dad was not magical… a muggle if you will.

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[QUOTE=simster]
I thought it was pretty clearly stated that the key to releasing Bob was lost with the Uncle… (any kind of real release other than destroying the skull). THe “freedom” they were reffering to in htat exchange (of Caleb) was into a “living” body.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, but there was something about their exchange that made me think

“oh, well sigh, only your uncle had the key and he’s gone so now I’m resolved to my fate even though I suspect you have the key and you’re not telling me.”

“Ain’t that a shame, that I have the key but I’m definitely not telling you I have the key even though you suspect I have the key and are fishing for hints I’m still not telling you because you were very naughty when you were alive and all black magical and stuff.”

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There’s an episode called “What About Bob?” scheduled for April 15 (although we all know that may change) which I’m hoping will give more backstory on Bob. Off the top of my head I can’t remember how much of Bob’s story has been revealed in the books, but that may not be relevant to the TV show anyway, since they’ve already made changes in Harry’s background. (In the books Julian was not Harry’s uncle, for example.)

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Do we know when the pilot will be shown, or have I not been paying attention?

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Maybe someone can answer a question about Morgan for me. I have only read the first two books and he wasn’t in the second one. In the books is Morgan black? It doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things I consider the show and the books as two separate entities. In my mind I pictured Morgan as a Captain America type, blond, square jawed and a bit dense. Did I miss something? It is quite possible.

On another note, it looks like next weeks episode is based in some way on the first book.