The Dresden Files—Second City

A mysterious hooded figure stabs a random guy with what looks like a hot poker. Or possibly a wand. Random Guy dies a horrible spitty, pukey death. Okay, that was weird. And also gross.

Murphy and Harry are at a bar having a drink and a chat. Murphy tells him her reputation is suffering from her work with him. He says maybe he'll do less work for her, and she asks if they're breaking up. Murphy is called to the scene of the death of Random Pukey Guy. Somehow the guy drowned two miles away from the lake. He turns out to be a member of the Russian mob. His name is "Sticky." That sounds Russian to me. Mr. Sticky has a strange brand on his shoulder. Also, he drowned in sea water. That's not very Lake Michigany.

Oh, and Murphy's estranged dad is in town.

Investigation focuses on surveillance tapes of a hooded man carrying a possible branding iron, while Bob examines pictures of the actual brand. Harry's very concerned about how Murphy's co-workers are reacting to his involvement with her. Then Mr. Murphy drops by to give Harry the "Stay away from my daughter," speech. It sounds like there's a connection between Dad Murphy and Mr. Sticky--Mr. Sticky was involved in the death of Mr. Murphy's partner back in the day. (Okay, his name is Reyes but I like Mr. Sticky better.) Murphy isn't nuts about her dad's interference and tells him to back off. She and Harry continue their investigation. They follow a magical trail to the killer's hideout. Harry kisses Murphy to get her to slap him to jolt the ant vomit he's using to make the magical trail visible. He's so romantic. *swoon*

They encounter Mysterious Hooded Guy. Murphy shoots him, but to no apparent effect. Murphy is pulled off the case because of irregularities in how she found her way to the bad guy. Kirmani, assigned to the case in Murphy's place, finds a nitro pill on the scene. Which points toward Murphy's dad.

Harry works out that Harrack, a journalist, is the one who got them thrown off the case. Kirmani arrests Mr. Murphy while Harry goes after Harrack and discovers the killer was Munser, another cop. He's taking away the victims' close brushes with death and using them to engineer near misses for himself, so each time he's nearly killed, for instance when Murphy shot him, he has to steal somebody else's near miss to stay alive the next time.

Using pages from a scrapbook Munser was keeping to find people he could pull energy from, Harry and Murphy intercept Munser with Dad Murphy tagging along. Interrupted in his attempt to murder another victim, he takes his second chance from Dad Murphy instead. Harry uses the branding iron to counteract Mr. Murphy's death and prevent Murphy from killing Munser out of grief for her father. Very intriguing concept. I'm not sure it was consistently presented, as far as who gets branded when, but still a neat idea.

Harry destroys the branding iron. Murphy apologizes for slapping Harry and says it won't happen again. Hm. Is that, like, flirting?

Overall this was a very good episode but it didn't really feel like a season finale. I read somewhere that "What About Bob" was scheduled as the season finale, but obviously it wasn't. If it was originally slated to fall into that slot, it might have had a more finale-like feel to it. It's hard to say since it was on a couple of weeks ago.

So I suppose I should sum up this, the first season of The Dresden Files. Overall? I had a great time spending these thirteen not-quite-hours with Harry Dresden and company, and I hope the ratings--particularly strong among us ladies, I hear--will convince SciFi to grant Dresden a deserved second season.

Dresden Files on iTunes:

Drive—Let the Games Begin

Tully's truck is breaking down again. It's like Serenity except smaller. Plus no Wash. The cops stop to help, but promptly arrest Tully. Who's still scruffy, by the way. This is an important plot point, the scruffiness. Okay, not a plot point, but still important. To me. The cops say Tully was involved in a murder/bank robbery in Ashland, Kentucky in 2003. Tully proclaims his innocence.

Corinna tries to track him down but no one at the police station has a record of Tully's being brought in. Plus the truck has disappeared. In the end, the interrogation seems to be some kind of ploy to test Tully's mettle. He's really on some kind of a sound stage. He's gifted with a new car and told to leave Corinna behind. Apparently Mr. Tully does have a dark past...and the car's not new--it's his car from his previous life--complete with knife in the glovebox for purposes of escaping. Corinna's cornered by thugs and Tully rescues her in the new shiny car. Okay, so--did he really drive the getaway car in Kentucky or not? It kind of sounded like he did.

Back in Hastings, Tully's sister is being interrogated by a detective who thinks Tully's running, and obviously suspects him in his wife's disappearance.

The Salazar brothers fuss about Winston's car, and get distracted by a hottie in a red dress who turns out to be a bounty hunter. She apprehends Winston, even though in the first episode he appeared to have been properly released. He also claims he didn't commit the crime he was imprisoned for. One of Salazar Sr.'s thugs, Estovan, meets up with Sean, trying to bring him back. Sean is uncooperative, and tells Estovan that he wants Winston released or he's cutting himself out of the family. Winston is released and returns to the race with Sean. So was Winston released from prison legitimately, or specifically to run the race? Is he technically an escapee at this point?

John still doesn't seem to be doing well, plus he's fussing about Violet's driving. Violet tutors John in lying so he can deal with her mother, who's expecting to see Violet that weekend. Which obviously they can't do if they're in a road race. But the call is actually from his doctor, who's checking to be sure John has enough meds.

We see a bit more of Rob and Ellie, who are currently in the lead. Rob, who's supposed to be in Iraq, sees a news story about a man killed there--he knew the guy. They get into an argument when he wants to make some calls to check in on his unit. Ellie doesn't want him to go back to the Army ever, and thinks winning the race will make that possible.

Ivy and Wendy continue their alliance, but it's sorely strained when Ivy removes the carseat from Wendy's car. Wendy insists she put it back. In fact she seems to be a little psycho about it.

All our major players make it to Rome, GA, to a drive-in. Their next clue is shown on the screen... except we don't get to see it.

If you missed any of the first three episodes, they're available at Fox's Drive site on myspace.

News

Some news this morning.

Rumor has it Jericho has been picked up for a second season. Please note--rumor. SyFy Portal is reporting this here, again with disclaimers that CBS has still not made an official announcement.

A similar rumor is floating around that Supernatural has earned a season three. While this would not surprise me, and the Magic 8 Ball says, "All signs point to yes," it's still unofficial.

If you'd like to make your voice heard regarding renewal of your favorite shows, drop by USA Today and participate in their SOS survey. It's much more comprehensive than other similar efforts being presented on the net, and also gives voters a chance to talk about why they've voted for their favorite shows, and a chance to be interviewed in a follow-up.

In other news, the new episode of Bones that was supposed to air this Wednesday has been pulled from the schedule because of the horrible shootings yesterday at Virginia Tech. The storyline involved a murder on a college campus, so it was probably the right thing to do. No word yet on when the episode will re-air.

Drive—Premiere Event

Part Two: Partners

27 years ago
A couple appears to be participating in the race. They see a little girl and are amazed and awed that she is alive. Then they're run off the road.

The present

Wendy pursues Ivy, obviously uncertain about her orders to eliminate the other woman. Gracie, from Jericho, plays the waitress in the cafe where Wendy mulls her need to eliminate Ivy. She tells Wendy's she's in a kill or be killed situation. (For an undercover, Supr Sekrit race, an awful lot of people seem to know about it.) Wendy calls Sammy on a phone given to her by the woman taking care of him. (When li'l Sammy is six months old, will Wendy burn to death on the ceiling of his nursery? Oh, please. By now you know that's an obligatory joke.) Supposedly her husband can't trace the call on that phone. I really want to know what's up with Wendy's husband. Obviously he's a Very Bad Man. Wendy shoots a hole in Ivy's tire and then stops to "help." Ivy grabs her gun and turns the tables. Ivy suggests she join Wendy in her car, thinking this will get them around the actual shooting thing, but still reduce the number of contestants by one. Ivy abandons her original two partners.

Corinna comes to fetch Tully, who's scruffy in a hotel room (Dude! Scruffy!). And he has the race coordinator guy Bill tied up in his bathtub. Which isn't quite as hot as when Wesley had Justine in the closet but it's damn close. But I digress. Oh, and he's talking to his wife (Amy Acker) in the mirror. Just hearing Amy Acker say "Ginormous" makes me want to weep. Bill tells Tully Corinna isn't involved in the race. Tully presses her for information about what's on the flash drive. He tries to ditch her and she knocks him senseless. He catches up with the two of them and finds Corinna holding a gun on Bill. Corinna's after revenge--her parents were the ones killed in the flashback, because the race coordinators kidnapped her to motivate them to race (again--with 32 million at stake, why the coercion? Should I shut up about that?). Another tussle ends with Bill holding the gun. Tully uses the flash drive as collateral and gets Corinna away from Bill. Tully makes her his official partner. Then, at the checkpoint--Cape Canaveral this episode--Tully hands the phone over to Corinna, saying he's quitting and giving his position in the race to her unless he gets some proof the race coordinators have his wife. He gets his proof immediately via camera phone. And he's back in.

In Subplot Land:
The older man, John, who's racing with his daughter is dying. He passes out when they reach Cape Canaveral. The Salazars stop to help. Violet, John's daughter, takes over the driving.

Ivy's previous partners don't make it to Cape Canaveral before the shuttle lifts off.

Next stop--Rome, Georgia, almost 500 miles away. And they have to get there by sunset.

Kreuzberg--Bloc Party (played during the shuttle lift-off)