Review: Blade the Series

Blade: The Series contains language, violence and other content that may not be suitable for all audiences. No kidding! There is plenty of action and gore, starting right from the top. We see a heavily decorated officer in Moscow being pursued by a dark man on a motorcycle, heavily weaponed. Eventually, we get our first glimpse of the new Blade, played by Kirk “Sticky” Jones, as a black leather trenchcoat sweeps over black boots. Blade quickly overtakes the officer, lodging the own man’s fire ax into his leg. I smile with glee as the exquisitely gory blood spurts upwards from the wound.

Blade gets the officer in Russia to tell him the whereabouts of Marcus Van Sciver, demanding to know where he’s dumping the bodies. Huh? It’s called a plot hook and now you want to know more.

We continue our story in Detroit, Michigan (though the show is filmed in Vancouver). I have to admit, although I knew I didn’t recognize any of the architechture or streets, they did a good job of presenting this as Detroit (I live a few miles away from Detroit, so you can take my word for it). Sadly, I don’t feel that Detroit was misrepresented. In fact, they speak elegantly of not forgetting the past of Detroit and make mentions to the Joe Louis Arena. The vampire who talks about it is very moving in his dialogue about the history of the buildings and the city that was built upon the auto industry. I was very pleased that they conveyed Detroit realistically, but didn’t talk about the place in a derogative way.

Moving on…Blade the series stays true to the trilogy and the comics. Blade’s car is the same as in the movies, tattoos appear identical, and Summerfield (blind scientist from Blade: Trinity) was even mentioned by Blade’s new gadget-man, Shen. Sorry to disappoint audiences, but Whistler’s daughter Abigail is not in the show, nor is the much-loved Hannibal King. He provided such good comic relief and I was really hoping they would use the character to work a little humor in here and there. Nope, sorry.

We meet Krista Starr, recently home from a tour. She finds out her little brother is dead (ala officers doling the news at her welcome home party) and that he was shot. The detective in charge of the case, Boone, doesn’t seem to be pursuing it. Of course, Krista decides to pursue Zach’s death herself. She is lured by an eerie voice in the dark, telling her he knows who killed her brother. She follows the voice and is attacked by three vampires. Blade swoops in and saves the day with his typical finesse while Krista futilely snaps off shots on her pistol.

Through Krista’s investigation into her brother’s death, we meet Professor Caylo. We see a quiet, serious man…in the form of Randy Quaid. I NEVER pictured Quaid like this, but he aptly pulls off his cameo, filling new viewers and Krista on what the symbol she found means – its a glyph for vampire familiars, humans who do the bidding of vampires – and fills her in on who Blade is, a “daywalker” who is a half-breed with all the strengths of vampires and none of their weaknesses, save for the thirst.

We get little peeks at some sort of experiment being done by vampires on vampires. They talk of a vaccine, inject said vaccine, then inject garlic. It’s pretty obvious they are trying to eliminate their weaknesses. We see plenty of plastic-wrapped vampire “test subjects” for this cause.

Blade, Shen, and Krista hatch a plan to infilitrate the musuem gala that Marcus Van Sciver is hosting. Sciver is a prominent businessman who has revived this old building and is also, you guessed it, an elite vampire. The plan is to put a small transpoder (tracking device) on Sciver. Sciver lets Krista play her song and dance undercover operation for a minute or two, then reveals he knows exactly who she is. He is menacing in a charming, Doogie Howser sort of way.

Jennifer Gower is lovely and tantalizing as sexy vamp vixen Chase, who is given the task of showing newly-turned Krista the ropes of being undead. She comes off as a younger version of Hudson Leick (of Xena fame), wearing tight-fitting gothic clothes and speaking in knowing, authoritative tones. The feel of her character is deliciously wicked.

I’d like to say that I think the writers did a good job with this pilot and of balancing the backstory of the Blade series, while still providing an interesting and fresh plot. All the characters on the canvas are interesting and well-written. You feel their history, even though you don’t yet know it. Chase let one snippet about her go to Krista: “My husband made me…and has lived to regret it”.

Although slow-going at first, you soon become deeply immersed in the story and hang on to every word. Spike TV brought in 2.5 Million viewers with The Blade pilot and I’m sure the ratings will continue to please the network. I certainly will continue to watch, particularly because of Jennifer Gower. Jill Wagner is believable and likeable as Krista, and although Jones feels a little stiffer than the Wesley Snipes’ Blade, he still feels authentic. If you liked the movie trilogy and/or the comics, you’re bound to enjoy Blade: The Series.

****NOTE**** For one week, iTunes users can now download a FREE copy of the two-hour premiere of SPIKE TV’s first original scripted series: “Blade: The Series”. New episodes will be available on iTunes the day after their premiere on-air.