I should like this show. It’s got a good premise - good source material from what I hear. The lead is likeable. It’s from the same channel that brought 3 of my favorite shows: BSG, SG:A, and Eureka.
Despite all this, it’s falling flat, and I’m thinking about taking it off my DVR. I can’t put my finger on it, but the elements of the show just don’t seem to melt into anything desirable. The plots are uninteresting, the dialogue is flat and boring, the acting is shaky even for the SciFi channel. The visuals look cheap, drab, and dated.
I don’t hate the show, but I’m feeling a little let down by it.
I pretty much have the same “meh” feeling about this one-something’s missing. I read part of
one book, maybe someone who has read just about all of them can be more specific about
what is missing from the broadcast version.
One thing the likes of Buffy and Angel (closest comparable series) had was a surfeit
of good supporting characters and villians (well sometimes the Glories and Adamses
aside). I generally like lone wolf protagonists but hardly anybody outside of the lead
seems to do much or is intriguing.
I’m very meh (is it possible to be VERY meh?) about the show. My husband and son seem to like it, but I’m a little more picky, it seems. (They’re still Heroes fans, I gave up on that one about four weeks ago.) There was just nothing there to grab me. I like brooding lone wolves, but, as John DiFool says, there need to be some interesting, preferably recurring, characters for him to (try not to) interact with.
As far as I can tell (and I missed the last ep and mostly slept through the one before that), the skull ghost guy “belonged” to Dresden’s father, and is only grudgingly serving him. But he also seems to have some fondness for Dresden. He also has the phlebotnum of the week - whatever power is needed to further the plot, regardless of whether we’ve seen it manifest before. It’s not yet been revealed if Dresden’s father killed him and placed his ghost in the skull, or if he “resurrected” and bound him to it, if he was given/stole the ghost and skull intact, or if the skull was his own when alive or what. Basically, he’s the old family butler with magic powers.
The ghost that lives in the skull belonged to Dresden’s evil uncle. Dresden inherited him, when he killed his evil uncle.
I still like the series. But the last 3 episodes have been kind of boring. I want to see more creature/monster types, even if they aren’t the bad guys. It would be interesting if Werewolf Girl had a recurring role. They should follow up on the chemistry between her and Dresden.
You still like the series but the last 3 episodes have been kind of boring? Hasn’t there only been about 5 episodes?
The only episode I recall really liking was the one with the tattoo that kept jumping from body to body. That one did a good job of keeping me guessing. All the others have been quite meh.
The show isn’t as good as I was hoping it would be, but I’m enjoying it for the most part. I’m not sure it would hold my interest if I wasn’t already a fan of the books.
I think it’s been only one episode where Bob produced a magic thingee that saved the day. Mostly Bob provides Harry with information based on his own knowledge and experience. This is also Bob’s primary function in the books, and the reason Harry keeps him.
There were two I remember that I managed to stay awake for - one when he touched a person’s trail and assumed his shape, so Dresden knew who he was looking for, and another when he impersonated the guy who sold his soul so that the devil guy “killed” him instead of the real guy. I guess maybe it was two different uses of the one “power”.
He’s actually used that transformation ability fairly regularly, so it’s not just a gimmick-of-the-week. In the episode before the last one (wasn’t able to watch it last night), Bob also sticks his hand into a cremated pile of ashes and becomes the person they were.
I’m actually enjoying the series despite not having read the books, although I can see where some criticisms can be made. I think part of that is because they’re showing the episodes out of order, something that’s killed at least one good series in the past. I am puzzled that there’s been zero recurring villains so far too, especially since they’re clearly going to great lengths to set them up, like Harry’s uncle and the skinwalker.
And it’s revealed that Bob is trapped in his skull as a punishment for breaking the rules of llife and death, resurrecting his beloved using magicks blacker than black.
Bob’s saved the day in IIRC two of the episodes that I’ve seen so far. In the ep aired first, he put together some magic box that dusted that episodes baddy and in last week’s ep he left a glowing magical clue to point the lady detective to Harry when Harry was drugged and kidnapped.
I actually like the relationship that’s being shown between the two of them and, like Bob, was oddly touched when Harry said that if Bob weren’t useful he’d have thrown his skull away long ago. But I do want Bob’s role in solving the big problem of the ep to be severely curtailed to the point of there’ve been more than enough instances already.
Overall my reaction to the show has, as others have commented, meh. I don’t go out of my way to watch it but it’s always been on at some point when it was the go-to thing on TV. Which probably means I should spend that hour reading a book or something.
[I’m shallow.] I love Supernatural and The Room (and Buffy and Angel etc.) but the actor playing Harry Dresden does nothing for me, so that’s why I stopped watching. About halfway through the first episode, actually. [Shallow]
I had high hopes for The Dresden Files, and the show has been a bit of a letdown for me. I’m still watching (mainly for Terrence Mann as Bob), but if I missed an episode I wouldn’t be very concerned.
That would be it. I didn’t bother elaborating as it tends to be well known around here. Mea culpa.
Essentially, episodes of Firefly were shown out of order in such a way that it was very difficult to understand who the characters were, what their motivations were, and so forth. The show failed miserably until it was released on DVD in its proper order, upon which there was a massive outbreak of fandom.
From what I’m given to understand, Dresden Files has not really had its expositional episode(s) shown yet, which may account for the level of difficulty in getting into the series.
Eureka was also shown out of order, but Sci-Fi at least had the presence of mind to show the freakin’ pilot first, which helped establish a following early on. Firefly didn’t even get that much.
You know, last night my wife and I were commenting that the show was growing on us. We’re skipping watching Rome on Sunday nights in favour of watching it on demand, since it’s too intense to go between *Amazing Race * and The Apprentice ----Dresden Files is just right – good, restful Sunday night fun.
The first episode was the lousiest of the lot, with its clumsy deus ex Bob resolution. I doubt I would have stayed with the show if it weren’t repeated at 11 p.m. on Sunday nights, which is otherwise a real wasteland on the schedule. Since the first episode, the show has risen to the level of pretty pleasant distraction (but not one I would go out of my way to seek out).