WIZARD SERIES NEEDS NARRATIVE MAGIC.Byline: David Kronke Television Critic Harry Dresden Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden is the main character of Jim Butcher's contemporary fantasy series The Dresden Files and a television series based on the novels. The series blends magic and hardboiled detective fiction. (Paul Blackthorne) is your standard-issue grizzled griz·zled adj. 1. Partly gray or streaked with gray: a grizzled beard. 2. Having fur or hair streaked or tipped with gray. private detective, with a difference: He's a wizard, a Harry Potter lapsed into dissolute dis·so·lute adj. Lacking moral restraint; indulging in sensual pleasures or vices. [Middle English, from Latin dissol adulthood. His Chicago clients approach him with all manner of paranormal paranormal, adj 1. outside the realm of normal experience or scientific explanation. n 2. collective term for anomalous phenomena. problems. With the assistance of Bob (Terrence Mann), a once all-powerful and now impotent medieval wizard and Harry's confidante con·fi·dante n. 1. A woman to whom secrets or private matters are disclosed. 2. A woman character in a drama or fiction, such as a trusted friend or servant, who serves as a device for revealing the inner thoughts or intentions (think of Bob as a goth Mr. French), he solves the mysteries. ``The Dresden Files'' is a not-disagreeable yet not-compelling mystery series that echoes ``Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and ``Charmed,'' but has yet to tap fully into the wry humor that such series must truck in to alleviate its dour pretensions. Tonight, Dresden grapples with a ``skinwalker,'' which apparently is as awful as it gets; next week, he tangles with an entity that can jump from body to body, even that of his seemingly lone human pal, Connie Murphy (Valerie Cruz), a cop who skeptically consults him on paranormal cases. ``Dresden'' boasts potential aplenty a·plen·ty adj. In plentiful supply; abundant: "There were warning signs aplenty for their candidates as well" Michael Gelb. , but it hasn't found its footing yet: Tonight's episode includes flashbacks to Harry's childhood that ground the proceedings to a halt; both episodes made available for preview don't adhere to any internal logic, which means resolutions just sort of, well, happen. Worse, Harry, in some voice-over narration, explains that the word ``wizard'' comes from the Latin ``wiz,'' pronounced ``viz,'' which he says means, ``To see beyond the obvious.'' While my dictionary dismisses this observation as utter nonsense, even were it true, the show's plots allow viewers to pretty much ``see beyond the obvious'' in the show's unmysterious mysteries. David Kronke, (818) 713-3638 david.kronke@dailynews.com THE DRESDEN FILES - Two and one half stars What: A modern-day Chicago wizard moonlights as a private eye. Where: Sci-Fi. When: 9 tonight. In a nutshell: It is what it is. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Conrad Coates, left, and Paul Blackthorne mix wizardry wiz·ard·ry n. pl. wiz·ard·ries 1. The art, skill, or practice of a wizard; sorcery. 2. a. A power or effect that appears magical by its capacity to transform: and detective work in Sci-Fi's ``The Dresden Files.'' |
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