Let’s look at what’s wrong first; we’ll save the show's one positive till the end. Apart from the rather ugly look the show has, it also falls short when it comes to action scenes. Buffy and Angel showed it was possible to do good action on a reasonable budget. Here we get another vampire who knows kung fu, but unlike Joss Whedon’s shows we have to take an observer's word for it, as the vamp moves too fast for us to get more than a glimpse of what’s going on. Of course you could argue this is the idea and that the show is aiming to be more character-driven and less action-centric than similar shows that have gone before. Or it could be it allows them to do a fight scene on the cheap.
For a show like this to be good it really needs good villains as well as good leads. That’s what it needs — what it gets are a couple of characters who would be more at home in a Christmas pantomime. And a piece of advice to the producers – giving your “big bad” Marty Feldman eyes is a really bad idea.
So what did it get right? Well the central love triangle of PI Vicki Nelson, vampire Henry Fitzroy, and Police Detective Mike Cellucci works quite well, although that has more to do with charismatic leads than great writing. How they’ll get around having all Vicki’s cases now involve the paranormal will be interesting. Buffy had the Hellmouth and Angel was a PI of sorts, but Fitzroy is a graphic novelist. If they mixed things up a little and had some regular investigations amongst the supernatural ones this could actually be quite interesting and even a little original. It’s just a shame that originality doesn’t seem to be something the producers are interested in.
Criminal Minds
"Ashes and Dust"
The BAU’S investigation into a serial arsonist sees Aaron Hotchner get a little more emotionally involved than normal. Of course that’s not hard as “Hotch” is probably the most coldly analytical member of the team. What gets to him here is a dying father who’s never had the time to spend with his son. It’s something Hotchner can easily identify with as he’s called away from home at a moment's notice to investigate some new heinous act. Thomas Gibson doesn’t go too far — sudden displays of emotion would be too out of character to work. Instead he shows everything with subtle expressions. It works brilliantly. Particularly poignant is the exchange with the man’s son that closes the episode. This may not be one of the series' outstanding episodes but it’s possibly Gibson’s finest hour.
Article comments
1 - Margaret
You're allowed your opinion of Blood Ties but as a fan I feel you're wrong. It's supposed to have somewhat of a dark look. It is well written, well acted, humorous, camp, just exactly what a vamp show needs to be. Thank God not everyone believes critics or if they do, they occassionally watch the show to see if you know what you're talking about. Either way its good as you draw attention to the show. You just happen to have the wrong opinion about the show though, its great.