Dracula 1.02 “A Whiff of Sulphur”

So this week there is a little less blood, but a lot has happened in the episode to drive the narrative along. Last week we left off Alexander Grayson (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) meeting with Van Helsing (Thomas Kretschmann) in his home and revealing to the audience that he was the one to set Alexander free from his tomb. This was a pretty cool revelation seeing as how in previous iterations of the story these two are sworn enemies. This week we see the continuation of how that turned out and how Van Helsing made the offer to Grayson to destroy the Order of the Dragon, seeing as how they killed his family as well. Fast forward 15 years later and we find out that Van Helsing is working on a vaccine that would allow Grayson to walk in the daylight, since he’s cooped up in his home during the day and people may take notice to this sooner or later.

This week focused more on the development of the characters and how Grayson is scheming along in professional and personal lives. Renfield (Nonso Anozie) makes a point early on, saying to Alexander “If you want her (Mina), why not just take her?” A question that has run through my mind as well, but as Grayson points out he does not want to damn her to eternity, “it would be an abomination and to lose her twice would be more than I could bear”.

He has a strong sense of morality and honour, but that comes into question when he gives Jonathan Harker (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) a job and makes him Vice-President of his company, a job that he reluctantly agrees to. That’s rather nice of Dracula, considering Harker’s financial woes at the moment, but his job does entail a bit of research into The Order and telling him about their member’s darkest secrets, which puts Harker into a dangerous situation; but maybe this is something that Dracula wants?

Harker informs Dracula that Lord Laurent (Anthony Howell) likes to frequently attend a very secretive club, that Dracula gains access to, discovering that it is a gay club. There, he sees Laurent with Lord Davenport’s son Daniel (Lewis Rainer). Dracula had pressured him earlier to sell his shares in a coolant company (that the Order has control over) to him, but he did not give in, so one could assume that after their confrontation at the club, Dracula has probably successfully pushed him out with the new found information.

Mina (Jessica De Gouw), begins to prepare for her medical exams, and is unsure whether or not she is ready, but is provided some encouragement by Dracula and passes at the top of her class. Harker planned on proposing to Mina; however he only wants her to be a wife and nothing more. She overhears this, leaving their relationship in question and probably pushing her closer to Dracula’s arms. However, for the time being, Lady Jayne (Victoria Smurfit) seems to be resting very comfortably in those arms, as we see the two of them hook up.

Lady Jayne isn’t just one of Dracula’s love interests; she is a prominent member of the Order of the Dragon (which Dracula is well aware of) and a formidable combatant as well (think Buffy). She consults with the Seers (a guy and a girl who use a mystical mirror) to see if they can get a fix on Dracula’s identity and find out where he would be. Dracula is almost caught mid-feed by Lady Jayne as she was trying to pursue, but could not catch up with him. Once again Dracula is able to elude her and keep his secret safe; perhaps he should just stick to eating at home?

This episode has made me question a few things, since Dracula goes around the town feeding and manipulating people, who is more of a danger, Dracula or The Order? What was also interesting was the fact that The Order have the means to track down vampires with the Seers, it makes me question what else might they have up their sleeves? What other abilities are they hiding? We do know that Lady Jayne is keeping captive a young vampire, but for what purpose? So can they really go head to head with the king? There are so many questions to be answered, but only time will tell, stay tuned…