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Review: Blood Ties--"Wrapped"
http://firefox.org/news/articles/931/1/Review-Blood-Ties--quotWrappedquot/Page1.html
Mara Greengrass
I'm a 30-something work-at-home mom. I divide my time between working as a freelance editor, taking care of my husband and daughter, and various fannish pursuits. In my past life, I was a writer, editor, PR flunky, administrative assistant, and archaeologist. (No, not at the same time.)  
By Mara Greengrass
Published on 11/25/2007
 
"Wrapped" was a meaty episode that left me on the edge of my seat...

A showdown with a mummy brings out everyone's bad side.
"Wrapped" was a meaty episode that left me on the edge of my seat. The life-force-sucking mummy was taken straight from the book Blood Lines, as was Henry's recurring dream of the sun, but "Wrapped" fit nicely into the television universe and really brought several major issues to a head.

The episode started with its usual humor and some of the hilarious lines that I love. (Vicki's "Could have been someone you ate" was a runner-up, but this week, Mike wins hands-down for his heartfelt question, "For once, why can't we just have a god of, oh I don't know, fluffy bunnies and long walks holding hands?")

But things got serious pretty fast, with Kate pointing out to Mike that she can't cover his ass if he won't cover hers, Vicki looking desperate, and Henry ready to fling himself in front of danger with no plan. If there was anyone acting entirely rationally in this episode...well, I'd say Kate was pretty much the only possibility.

Mike has been getting more and more uncomfortable with living in this world of vampires and demons, and this week he went over the edge. It wasn't bad enough that he's been hiding information from his partner, now he's outright lying to her and destroying evidence.

I gasped when I saw him destroy the woman's skeleton, because I knew the repercussions (in Mike's own mind) would be huge. Remember back in "DOA" when Henry commented that Mike was going to be one of those cops who dies with his boots on? Well that cop, who was so pissed at Dirty Deeds for crossing the line, just destroyed evidence in a murder investigation. Yeah, Mike's not too happy right now, with either himself or Vicki.

And then there's Henry. The poor guy was running scared, which is something we haven't seen often. But the mummy really got to Henry, threatening him with the sun and using his own fears to attack him. And despite one moment of clarity, when he used Vicki's suggestion to figure out where the mummy was hiding out, Henry seemed unable to handle any solution other than brute force.

Brute force probably wasn't a good answer, but calling on dark magic doesn't seem like it was much better, especially when Henry literally would rather have died than abet it. When Coreen and Vicki started the ritual, I found myself waving at the screen and yelling at them to stop.

But Vicki, who Henry believes has been sliding further and further into the dark, was no longer thinking rationally. And that's pretty unusual for her, so that tells you the depth of her feelings for Henry.

I thought the most telling line of the episode was when Vicki explained that she blamed herself and the demon marks for drawing evil to the city and the people she loves. That explains a lot about her behavior recently, doesn't it? (Mind you, it doesn't make a deal with the devil and drinking vampire blood any more rational...)

As the episode ends, we know that Vicki has been cut off from the support of both Mike and Henry, and I'm not too sure about Coreen, who looked pretty shell-shocked herself. The question is, what is Vicki going to do now? I'm literally on the edge of my seat waiting to find out.

I'll bet you think I forgot about the take-home message. Well, this week there are at least two: Mike would point out that you should look before you leap, and Henry would add that the ends never, ever justify the means.