Vickie Nelson (Christina Cox) had to walk away from the job she loved (homicide detective) due to a degenerative eye disease that starts with bad night vision (and she may eventually go blind).  She is now working as a private investigator.  Her cases (of late) start to involve the supernatural and she pairs up with a vampire, the graphic novelist Henry Fitzroy (Kevin Schmid), to solve crimes and fight evil.  Also helping Vicki is her former police partner (and ex-boyfriend) Detective Mike Celluci (Dylan Neal).   Vicki still has feelings for Mike while her feelings grow for Henry.  The love triangle creates tension between the three as they're thrust deeper into the world of the supernatural.   Vicki is also cursed with demonic tatoos that connect her to the supernatural even more.

BLOOD TIES is a pleasant surprise- an addictive and well written series.  I never watched it on TV since Lifetime had the misfortune of putting it opposite the Sci-Fi Channel line-up of THE DRESDEN FILES and BATTLESTAR GALACTICA.  The series seems more well-suited for the Sci-Fi Channel than Lifetime.   I’m somewhat familiar with the characters in the series since I did read the first two novels of the series by Tanya Huff (which the series is based on) many years ago.  The show makes good use of Toronto like FOREVER KNIGHT which also had a vampire lead solving crimes.   Also BLOOD TIES shares some of the same things with MOONLIGHT (which I love and yet it isn’t as good as BLOOD TIES).  Unlike Nick Knight and Mick St. John, Henry Fitzroy embraces part of his nature of feeding off women for blood and yet does it in a way of enjoying it as an act of pleasure.  Watch for some great guest stars like Julian Sands playing a Vatican vampire killer in HEART OF ICE and HEART OF FIRE.  Even Tanya Huff contributes a script for one episode.

I first noticed Christina Cox in FX: The Series (I wish that show would come to DVD) and I’m glad she is playing Vicki Nelson.  Gina Holden almost steals the show away from her as her Goth assistant Coreen. 

Too bad BLOOD TIES is divided in two sets where all 22 episodes aired as one season in Canada.  Lifetime broke it up into two seasons and that is how it is presented on DVD.  Season Two is hitting DVD in October.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

THE BEHIND-THE-SCENES featurette is a promotional special (that has interviews with the cast, the series creator, and Tanya Huff) that originally aired on Space (the Canada version of the Sci-Fi Channel).   The two minute trailer for the series is OK if it wasn’t for the narrator dude.

FINAL ANALYSIS:   BLOOD TIES is for the same people who love FOREVER KNIGHT, MOONLIGHT, and HIGHLANDER.  I can’t wait until the next set of episodes are released to DVD.

This DVD review is  (c)6-10-2009 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission (revised and revamped).  No vampires or humans were harmed in the writing of this review.   All Rights Reserved.   Send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com