My impression (backed up by having read no more than 3 pages of the books so far) is that it's the other way around: the High Council seem to be the movers and shakers (however they attained that position) who appoint the Wardens to enforce their policies.

DF: I think Matt's right, having read three of the books. The Wardens are the police/enforcer arm of the Hi-C.

I think a Warden might become a Hi-C member, but (not so sure of this) a member of the Hi-C may or may not ever have been a Warden. Basing that last mostly on not being able to believe that Justin Morningway could ever have passed the vetting process to become a Warden.

DF: how come the dragon/Not!Murphy didn't attack until it was discovered? If it was so badass that Mai was willing to sacrifice all of them to destroy it, why would the dragon bide it's time trying to get all the wizards to destroy themselves? Doesn't sound above-average for a baddie. Unless Mai would consider mass suicide a fair trade to kill a couple of vampires cuz she's just that dedicated...

I almost feel like I'm flapping my hands in the dark trying to find the water to swim in. On one hand they hit us over the head with the simple stuff "I can't find peace/They all hate me" but then leave so much grey area around other things that you could wank a dozen different backstories, one of them being "the writers just don't care that much".

/high on paint fumes and a bottle of chianti and perhaps a little depressed that there's only one ep left and I won't miss it so much if I make myself hate it/

DF: how come the dragon/Not!Murphy didn't attack until it was discovered? If it was so badass that Mai was willing to sacrifice all of them to destroy it, why would the dragon bide it's time trying to get all the wizards to destroy themselves? Doesn't sound above-average for a baddie. Unless Mai would consider mass suicide a fair trade to kill a couple of vampires cuz she's just that dedicated...

I assumed that the dragon wanted to get rid of a few of the wardens first in order the even the odds. It may be badass but it might not have been able to kill Mai with Morgan and the 3 redshirts all defending her.

DF wank alert: Mai said in Storm Front that there were only three wizards in Chicago powerful enough to do that heart-busting spell: her, Morgan, and Harry. Maybe the dragon attacked Mai near Dresden's place knowing that she'd probably run take shelter there, and his plan was to wipe out all three of them at once (with bonus newbie wardens). And while Mai might have known what it was, Morgan was totally surprise; he didn't know it was a dragon. So Drake (my ex's last name!) could probably have killed Mai then; but instead he let her run to Dresden's, got there first like Red Riding Hood's wolf, took Dresden's memories of Murphy to create his disguise (wank, wank) and get past his wards, and meant to off them all except Mai dropped them into hell. So he played along as long as he could (Mai apparently being the only one who could get them out of hell again), and then when outed, took the direct route. She was willing to kill them all and die herself in order to kill Drake; maybe he was willing to die to kill her, too.

I'm wanking this so hard my wrist hurts. I don't care; I love the show anyway.

I'm wanking this so hard my wrist hurts.

snort

Yeah, that was something that bothered me. How did the dragon know that they would run to Harry, and how did the dragon know who Murphy was and that she meant something to Harry. And, how did the dragon get a gun to shoot the warden? I mean, dragons may be shape shifters, but they can't create objects, can they?

TDF:

I love the idea that Ancient Mai is a dragon. (I don't recall if that's in the books.)

Nope. In the books there's no indication that Mai is anything more than a really old human wizard. And book!verse dragons are scary powerful.

Loved loved loved Harry's "Really? Cuz sometimes I scare the hell out of myself" in response to Morgan's "You don't scare me, Dresden."

I did too. I also loved: "I don't always blow things up." "No, sometimes you light them on fire!" Which, as hilarious as it was, is far more fitting for book!Harry than TV!Harry.

So, is next weeks ep, the finale, always intended as the finale?

No clue. The order is so jumbled at this point I don't think the producers even know anymore.

I think Matt's right, having read three of the books. The Wardens are the police/enforcer arm of the Hi-C.

Can't speak for the TV!verse, but in the book!verse, this is the way of things. (Well, in the book!verse, the White Council refers to all wizards in the world who are recognized by the Council, whereas the actual leadership is called the Senior Council) In fact, there's no indication that any of the current Senior Council members were ever Wardens, or if there's even been a Warden on the Senior Council (though I would be suprised if it's never happened.)

TDF:

I liked the episode, although I thought there was a little too much hitting the viewer over the head with backstory. I'm sad that the interactions between Murphy and Bob weren't really Murphy. They have some chemistry, and I hope maybe next season (is there going to be a next season?) they'll get to interact some more.

Blood Ties:

I was reading Tanya Huff's blog on the Lifetime Channel's tie-in page, and came across the following trivia -- the director of Sunday night's episode was Allan Kroeker. Which I didn't notice at the time. He has of course also directed many other things, and for our purposes here, these include the wondrous "Ariel," "Faith" from SPN, 2 eps of BSG, 2 eps of The Inside, and an ep of Wonderfalls. As I said, trivia.

I think my favorite scene from that episode was Henry and Immanuel (Emmanuel? I'm not sure how to spell that), the vampire and the incubus, comparing notes on how women and their approaches to women have changed over the centuries. It was pretty much a throwaway scene, but it was funny.