So I decided to check this out. I had no idea what it was. Judging by the title I thought it may be a war drama, but alas it is a detective show where the detective is.. a wizard. Yup. It is half crime scene and investigation stuff, half voodoo and magic.
There are three main characters. First, is Dresden the main character who is the wizard. He is played by Paul Blackthorne, a rare time where the actor's real name is more fitting than the character's name. He looks like a cross between Billy Bob Thorton and Oswald from the Drew Carrey show. You could imagine him in a black cape and wizard hat, but you could also imagine him driving on a motorcycle to a Godsmack concert.
The second main character is the police woman, Lt. Murphy. She is a typical, older female cop sort of deal. She could fit in on any CSI show. There is slight romantic innuendo that will obviously be a part of the show. She normally calls in Dresden to help her on 'weird' cases for his witchcraft/cult knowledge.
Third is Bob, the ghostly visage of an old wizard. He looks the wizard. Imagine Tim Curry with white hair. He's like Dresden's library of knowledge, comic relief and roommate. He lives in a skull and draws up magic formulas in Dresden's basement lab.
I've seen three episodes. The first episode is full of backstory and information. There's many flashbacks to Dresden's childhood, his relationship to his dad and the conflict with his uncle. The major plot involves a boy who says he sees monsters. It was interesting enough for me to watch the next episode.
Second show is better, and more comical with better extra characters. You get the basic formula for the show here though, where Murphy calls up Dresden and asks for his advice and then Dresden gets more involved than the police want and ends up on his own investigation.
Third episode is better than the second. So quality is rising and this is good. This one involves werewolves and a hot redheaded college girl. MMmm yeah. The scenes where she starts getting all werewolfy on Dresden is kind of hot and for a moment I thought there would be some bitch vs bitch action, but they stop just short of that.
So far, I can't give it a thumbs up or down. My main worry, that it would be a bad reminder of the cheesy wiccan kids you knew in highschool has been alleviated. This is not Charmed gayness. It sticks to a detective show formula mostly and doesn't use magic for cheap stuff, in fact it hardly shows off Dresden's supposed power. It's very restrained, Dresden doesn't turn himself into dragons or the president or curse people into pigs. The magic is used in detective fashion. I need more episodes and deeper episodes as well. The third episode got a bit into moral ambiguity and villian sympathy, but not really all that deep into it. I'll see if it gets more complex than a whodunnit.
