Dracula 1.09 “Four Roses” & 1.10 “Let There Be Light”

When first learning of this show back in October I was quite excited for it, as I was a fan of the original story by Bram Stoker. Although the show has had less than stellar ratings, I do hope that it does come back for another season, because with the way things left off in the final two episodes there is plenty more stories to be told in the future.

In Episode Nine, “Four Roses”, Dracula (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) goes to war with The Order making a direct assault towards them. And Jonathan Harker (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) becomes a member of The Order after his relationship with Mina deteriorates.

This episode established the final stage for things to come in the season finale. As of lately I’ve been particularly watching Harker’s character evolution and by this episode it looks as though all hope is lost for him as he helps to conspire against Grayson and his wireless energy machine. His character overall has just completely changed which is good in a sense, it makes it that much more interesting for the show. I completely disregarded his character previously, however he is probably one of the more interesting characters on the show.

One of the things that I had been annoyed with early on in the season was Mina (Jessica De Gouw) and Grayson’s relationship with each other. Grayson knew what he wanted but never went after it, and in this episode Mina confronts him about his feelings, as she already knows how she feels, but as he states he cannot move on until he finishes his ‘business plans’. By this point as well coincidentally, his relationship with Lady Jayne (Victoria Smurfit) has faded as well which is why she has been using Lucy Westenra (Katie McGrath) to sabotage Mina and Harker’s relationship. So it would appear that Jayne did have some sort of feelings for Grayson and was jealous over his ever evolving relationship with Mina, although she does state later on that she never loved him.

This leads us to episode ten “Let there be light”, where Mina and Grayson’s relationship is in full swing, much to the dismay of Harker. It’s kind of funny how one could think Harker the monster now, since it was his fault with what happened to the machine. However it doesn’t look like he takes full responsibility for his actions as he makes it seem as though Grayson is the one to blame for everything, which leads to his eventual team up with Van Helsing.

In a fit of madness or rage (I couldn’t exactly tell), Van Helsing (Thomas Kretschmann) destroyed the machine that allowed Grayson to walk in the daylight and after being caught in the act he stabs Renfield (Nonso Anozie) (poor Renfield). As to whether or not he is dead we won’t know anything until the next season. Van Helsing was also able to take his revenge against Browning (Ben Miles) for murdering his family; by turning Browning’s kids into vampires and having them feast on him. A bit of a harsh way to go, did Browning deserve it? Yes! But using his kids and killing them, that’s pretty low, and one that truly took me by surprise, which is rare.

Jayne’s showdown with Dracula wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be after all this build up; she was definitely no match for him, even though she had a holy weapon given to her from the Vatican. In the end he doesn’t turn her like he would normally do to some of his victims, because she asked him not too.

The season finale of the show wrapped things up nicely, I am glad that Van Helsing was able to get his revenge for his family, albeit in the manner in which he pursued it was a bit off putting. The show has struggled with ratings over the course of the season, and it looks as though NBC is unsure as to whether it will bring it back for another. I for one hope that they do as there are still more stories to be told with these characters…at least from those who are alive. They have set things up nicely going forward, but I guess we shall have to wait and see what happens with NBCs decision.

Oh and by the way for those of you wondering what has happened to Lucy, well Lucy is now a vampire thanks to her transgressions against Mina, courtesy of Dracula.