Discourse on Villains

I'm disappointed with The Dresden Files books. I liked them at the
beginning, but now they're getting more and more sexual. In the fifth one,
there's a graphic/creepy sex scene, and I was going to buy the sixth one but
the plot is Dresden is investigating something on the set of a porn movie,
and the white vampires (the sex starved ones) feature prominently. So I've
stopped buying them, which is disappointing. I thought I found a book
series that I could love. Unfortunately,that is not the case. I probably
should have suspected when Dresden ends up naked in every book (however, not
always because he is sleeping with someone.)

#1: He is in the shower when a demon attacks Susan, who is waiting for him,
and he runs out with a towel and throughout the course of the fight, he
loses his towel.

#2: He turns into a werewolf and for the transition, he has to be naked,
otherwise his clothes will rip.

#3: Sleeps with Susan.

#4: I can't quite remember. I don't think Dresden being naked was a very
prominent part of the book.

#5: Sleeps with Susan.

They've turned into Sophie Kinsella books thinly veiled as noir paranormal
thrillers. They're less witty and more trashy. Jim Butcher should be
ashamed of himself. Hopefully the TV series doesn't turn out like that.
Even thought they were so much different from the books, I still enjoyed the
series. Casting Paul Blackthorne was genius and I hope whoever's idea that
was gets an award. The only thing I disliked was Dresden's girlfriend,
whose name I believe was Laura. She was vastly underdeveloped, and she was
also a huge pansy and SO STUPID. I think she was actually only in two
episodes, and then she just kind of faded from the show. No one cared.

I hate when things I like turn bad. Like season 3 of House, the Dresden
Files (books), The X-Files seasons 8 and 9, and others which I am unaware of
at this moment. The only thing that didn't turn bad was Stargate SG-1. It
lasted 10 seasons, and always maintained its integrity, even with the loss
of Richard Dean Anderson (better known as Col. O'Neill, but best known as
MacGyver). I think this was because they replaced him with Lt. Col.
Mitchell, who was so like him in personality, and then added Vala, who was
really hilarious. If X-Files replaced Mulder with someone who was like him,
and continued the adventures and didn't JUST concentrate on the
Mulder/Scully soap opera and the alien conspiracy, and DIDN'T cast TWO WHOLE
NEW AGENTS, then maybe X-Files could have continued. It didn't help that
Agent Doggett was played by the actor who played T-2 in Terminator 2. I
kept expecting him to morph his arms into those giant knives. They made a
huge mistake in getting rid of Darin Morgan. I should be a consultant for
TV shows. If I was in charge, a whole crapload of TV shows wouldn't suck.
In the finale of Criminal Minds, we find out that the leader of the FBI (or
something) is trying to get the BAU team to help her get rid of Hotch.
Which is shades of House season 3, and we all know how THAT turned out. I
don't know why producers feel the need to insert additional plotlines. Law
and Order never did that to my knowledge, and I believe it's going into its
seventeenth season. If House just concentrated on the medical mysteries,
instead of reiterating what an asshole House is, some people would still
like it. People will never get tired of new mysteries every week, because
they're new! That's why Stargate SG-1 had such longevity, they had the
"mission of the week", if you will, and never let the fight against the
Goa'ould or Ori overtake the original reason why the show got as popular as
it did. The mytharcs never smothered the mission of the week, it just
played out alongside them.

Speaking of X-Files, I think the Cigarette Smoking Man (hereafter referred
to as CSM) is the most deeply nuanced villain in history (Lex Luthor is a
close second). In the season 4 episode "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man"
we find out that all he wanted was to write adventure novels, but he kept
getting shot down. If someone just published his novel, maybe he wouldn't
have rotted so deeply inside, and the Syndicate would be nonexistent. The
constant rejection just fuelled the inner evil that possible might have
remained veiled if he succeeded in the one thing he really wanted in life.
The writers of X-Files also never just portrayed him as evil and vicious;
they also let us see his vulnerable side, such as his desire to get to know
his son, Jeffery Spender (even though, in the season 6 episode "One Son",
CSM shoots Jeffery). Still, the thought was there. And when Spender
refused to do something CSM wanted, CSM said, "you pale to Fox Mulder," and
also stated that he wanted Spender to honor him, "like Mulder does his
father." He has respect and admiration for Mulder. Few villains have
respect for their opponents. If you recall colourful villains, such as
Joker, Riddler, the Green Goblin, Sandman, etc., they're usually just
obsessed with world dominance. And even though they're scary in their own
way, vulnerable and nuanced villains such as CSM are frightening in a
different way. You can't help but pity CSM, and it's terrifying to feel
pity for a psychotic individual. In the two part episodes entitled "Two
Fathers" and "One Son", it is revealed that Spender's mother, Cassandra, is
CSM's ex-wife, and also the first successful alien/human hybrid. CSM is
ordered to kill her, but he can't. It's vulnerability like that that makes
villains human to us, and more relatable than, say, The Joker.

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