![]() ![]() I liked this almost proto-steampunk feel the series adopted – though where they got the technology from is never answered (perhaps Van Helsing invented it, who knows). The way Dracula and Van Helsing intend to take down the order is by a technology they are developing that provides cheap wireless electricity. ![]() Dracula’s presence is like a homing beacon and London is being infiltrated by the undead. The supernatural aspect is continued with the Order adopting seers to try and track down the elder vampire they know to have come to London. She is distracted from the true identity of American industrialist Alexander Grayson (which is the persona that Dracula has adopted) by him pursuing her and involving her in a torrid affair. The enemies in the Order are new characters and of them the two most interesting are Order leader Browning (Ben Miles) and the chief huntsman (or vampire hunter to you and I) Lady Jayne Wetherby (Victoria Smurfit). Lucy (Katie McGrath) is still there as a socialite and secretly in love with Mina. Harker (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) is a journalist and engaged to medical student Mina, she is also played by Jessica De Gouw as she is Ilona reborn. Renfield (Nonso Anozie) becomes an erudite lawyer and loyal employee of Dracula, notably – given the faux-Victorian London setting – he is African American. One – revealed to be Van Helsing (Thomas Kretschmann, Blade 2 & Dracula ) – slits the throat of his companion in order that he might resurrect Dracula and it is this sort of turnaround of characters that the series did well.ĭracula and van Helsing are uneasy allies campaigning to destroy the Order of the Dragon – the Order punished Dracula by burning his wife Ilona (Jessica De Gouw) at the stake and turning him into a vampire (ok, I wasn’t too sure about the appropriateness of that punishment, seemed a little silly to turn your enemy into a supernaturally strong creature) and centuries later punished Van Helsing by burning his wife and children to death in a house fire and forcing him to watch. Two men entering a lost crypt and finding the coffin and mechanically impaled corpse. The plot also added the resurrected love trope.ĭracula’s resurrection was well done. This Dracula was based on the Vlad Ţepeş model but was very different from many portrayals of that variety. ![]() If that was the case, and you are reading this, then all I can say is you are in for a lifetime of disappointment because the persona of Dracula shifts from book to book and film to film – this is probably why Draculas have become a plural common noun for vampire (especially, but not exclusively, in Japan). I felt that the naysayers (often on Facebook) kicked off because it didn’t meet their private vision of who Dracula (Jonathan Rhys Meyers, the Mortal Instruments: City of Bones) should be. That was a shame because, despite reservations, I found myself (first time round) enjoying the series – for the first few episodes. Worrying then that I struggled to watch it again. The series itself made me struggle towards the end and I really wanted to give it the optimum chance. I had watched Dracula as it aired but decided, on reflection, that I wanted to re-watch the series before putting my thoughts to blog (so to speak). ![]()
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