Dracula 1.07 “Servant to Two Masters”

After nearly a month off, Dracula returns from its mid-season break to find a monster trying his best to become a man, which does have its consequences.

Mr. Greyson (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is beginning to enjoy the wonders of walking around in the daylight and feeling like a living, breathing man, but his thirst for blood doesn’t make him so. Throughout the entire episode Dracula struggles with his thirst for blood and irritates Van Helsing (Thomas Kretschmann) to no end, as he knows how important it is for him to feed. He tries to act like a man but he no longer is one, which is what Van Helsing tries to reinforce.

The interaction between the two this episode was very exciting to see as Van Helsing showed concern for Dracula’s well being if he doesn’t feed, but this is possibly due to the fact that he needs the vampire in top form to take on The Order. By the end of the episode though, Dracula berates Van Helsing for not giving him the things he wanted most; he had promised him hope. I mean sure he’s able to walk in daylight but that only lasts for so long. Van Helsing brought him back into a world that had forsaken him.

Dracula sees Van Helsing as more of a monster than he is and vows one day to kill him. I think I liked it better when they were working together.

Jonathan Harker (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) is of course a major character in the original Dracula story but it feels as though his character has been underused in the show; he has had some moments here and there but nothing too exciting has happened to him until now. Harker’s relationship with Mr. Greyson is on shaky grounds as Harker has found out about Alexander’s shady dealings and this has left Harker with serious doubts about his employer. Harker is confronted by Browning (Ben Miles) and is given the opportunity to join The Order, meaning he would never have to worry about his social standings ever again. He has yet to give his answer, but it will be interesting to see if he does align with them to bring down Dracula.

The Order has been keeping busy trying to thwart Alexander Greyson’s company as the day his company was meant to showcase his new machine, people in the surrounding area of his company had succumbed to some sort of ailment. However that was due to The Order paying off the police to poison the milk supply located just outside Greyson’s company. Nevertheless the damage had been done and the stakes have been ramped up. I cannot wait to see how Dracula will retaliate against The Order after ruining the standings of his company.

Mina’s (Jessica De Gouw) relationship with Dracula has grown since their last interaction together. Dracula provided a great gesture towards Mina by providing her patients with an opportunity to dance and relax with a full live orchestra. Mina greatly appreciated the gesture and wanted to thank Alexander for his generosity with a dance. As the two got close the only thing Dracula could think about was biting her, but he kept his urges at bay. The interesting thing to note here is that the awkwardness between the two is now absent, and it was Mina who pursued Dracula when all he was trying to do was get to his company’s demonstration. I believe that Harker will soon find out about Mina’s affections towards Greyson and that it will lead to him joining The Order, but that’s just my personal opinion.

Renfield (Nonso Anozie) was assigned by Dracula to pick up an artifact that was very precious to him and he wanted no one else to have an opportunity to claim it. Renfield was able to bid for the artifact without any issues and retrieve the heirloom, but of course Davenport (Robert Bathurst) is always keeping his tabs on every move Dracula makes. Davenport was able to take the item from Renfield without him knowing through his many spies. The item was in fact a portrait of Dracula’s deceased wife Ilona and Davenport points out that it looks like Mina, deducing that Dracula is in love with Mina, and possibly making Mina a target in future episodes.

This episode, although a good one, didn’t provide anything major in terms of surprises. I simply enjoyed how the narrative moved along and how the characters interacted; it was some of the best storytelling provided in the season thus far. I think that alliances will change and we may see some surprises soon. Needless to say, things are picking up more and more for this series as we come down to the final three episodes of the season.