24: The lighter side of terrorism

I don't know when 24 got this hilarious, but I seriously laughed through a good portion of this episode (in a good way). First of all, Jack's brother? OMG, was he adopted? Could there be less family resemblance?

And, oh yeah... he's EVIL. (If you need a refresher, he was the guy behind the nerve gas and the assassinations in season 5.) So I really didn't mind that Jack's borderline psychopathic tendencies led him to punch, tie up, and suffocate his brother. In fact, from the moment he showed up at the house, I was encouraging him to "make with the pummeling, Jack!" And - who'd have thought? - he listened to me.

But, again, I'm skipping to the end. This whole episode was pretty much begging for the color commentary. I mean, Chloe asking, "Why does everyone around me die?" Well, um, because you work for CTU, Chloe. Have you not watched the last five seasons? That place is pretty much a death trap. Not to mention, anyone within a ten-foot radius of Jack tends to, you know, suffer unimaginable pain and death.

And Jack and that helicopter... kind of hilarious, though I'm not entirely sure why. I feel compelled to transcribe the conversation:

Jack: I'm at the corner of whatever those street names were.
Mom: Kind of. Look up.
Laura: Just look for the big flaming helicopter. I'll be on the roof.
Dad: There's no way he pried that door open with an aluminum antenna.
Mom: And what happened to (whiny voice) "I can't do this anymore"? He's kind of a slacker. Four hours on the job and he's quitting already?
Laura: Well, he's back now.
Mom: Yeah, one minute he's puking up on someone's lawn, but the adrenaline rush from saving that one guy in the helicopter was enough to propel him back into action.
Laura: The bomb thing probably helped.

In other TV news, The Dresden Files premiered last night. The reviews are in, and they're... not so good. I have to admit, I was not as thrilled as I would have liked to be. I liken this to tuning in to Studio 60 (which I'm watching now, by the way) with West Wing expectations. A few of the problems I saw with the show:

• First of all, they didn't follow the book's plot. I had heard that they were going to do a two-hour show based on the first book (Storm Front). Now it turns out that's going to be a one-hour story in episode 5. The plot they used for the opening episode was convoluted and did very little to show off Harry's magical or detective skills.
• I felt a serious lack of voice-over. Maybe it comes from listening to the audio books, but one of the things that really makes the story is hearing it told with Harry's snarky narrative comments. Even though there was some slim voice-over action, it didn't really fill in the way it ought to. I was expecting a VMVO kind of thing, and instead got... well, I don't really know of any examples of lame voice-overs, but whatever.
• Maybe the voice-overs could have helped with this, but some things seemed confusing to me, and I've read all the books. Like, wanna explain who the High Council is for those not in the know? (Actually, it's the White Council, but I won't quibble, except that there's a whole color thing with the black and the white and the red vampires.) Oh, and who the hell is Laura the waitress?
  
• For someone who has one of the largest roles in the book besides Harry himself, Lt. Karrin/Connie Murphy made very little impact on me. (I hear they changed her name because there's a real Karen Murphy in the Chicago PD.) She's also not quite as "cute as a button" as she ought to be.
  
• I'm having a bit of trouble making the mental leap required to accept a character called "Bob the Skull" being played by a full-bodied human being. I think he's got enough spunk in him to provide the appropriate snark factor - "where there's children, there's snot" - but he's a little too wise, and not nearly lascivious enough.
  
• I would have liked to see more of Chicago... I had distinct mental pictures in my mind of what the places looked like, and it would be nice to see it. Of course, that might be difficult, considering they film in Toronto.
  

But, on the plus side, isn't Paul Blackthorne yummy? And just scruffy enough to pull off Harry "I laugh in the face of hygiene" Dresden. He almost makes me forget that he's not James Marsters. I think the show has potential, based on the source material, and I'll stick it out at least until the episode based on Storm Front, but sadly, right now, I'm not so impressed.

And now, for the sad news... Veronica Mars is getting shelved for eight weeks and, for inexplicable reasons, felt the appropriate slot-filler was "Pussycat Dolls Present: Search for the Next Doll." If that doesn't make you want to gouge your eyeballs out with a fork, I don't know what will. The irony hurts me.