Episode Title: “Four Roses”
Writer: Daniel Knauf
Director: Tim Fywell
Previously on “Dracula”
To survey NBC’s “Dracula” from the first episode to now, I would never have figured this show could have evolved into what it has become. It felt hopeless. It felt like Cole Haddon, and all of the writers and producers of the show had given up before they had even got started. By episode nine, the screws have been tightened, the problems largely eliminated, and the story set on the right path.
Part of “Dracula’s” charm stems from it’s ability to leave the “V” word out of the show. Like “The Walking Dead’s” absence of the “Z” word, when you overstate the obvious, the magic is burned of, like the alcohol in a beer battered fish. The other part stems from how the writers have transformed its main character. Our undead entrepreneur Alex Grayson/Dracula (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) has become a sympathetic villain, strolling the line between evil and misunderstood protagonist. Writer Harley Peyton turned the tables in last weeks episode, “Come to Die,” transforming Jonathan Harker (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) into the potential villain alongside The Order of the Dragon. Even the insignificant Lucy Westerna (Katie McGrath) has become a power player, and by the end of this episode, she has become downright dangerous.
“Dracula” works because of the way the writers have changed the roles of each character. It didn’t seem that way in the first four episodes where character choices led to head scratching, but now, every character has purpose and complications. Whether it’s Lady Jayne Wetherby’s (Victoria Smurfit) affection for Grayson, and it’s inevitable role in the finale, or Mina Murray (Jessica De Gouw) as the central character. The little that doesn’t work has been made largely insignificant. The only wild cards are Abraham Van Helsing (Thomas Kretschmann), whose loyalty to Grayson is beginning to wane and becomes trying in this episode. His motivations become downright puzzling. We know that the Order killed his family but we still do not know why. Renfield (Nonso Anozie) is another wild card who deserves more screen time than he’s been given. It’s sad to think that he may never break out of his role, Anozie is too good of an actor to be wasted.
These last two episodes have the potential to be explosive, now that the pieces have begun to move. The beginning of “Four Roses” plays against that though, and feels like an unwinding of sorts, as if all the tethers affecting all the show’s characters are fraying fast. Grayson, as hasty as ever, ignores the pleas of Renfield that Lord Davenport’s (Robert Bathurst) actions in taking the Dresden Tryptych were his alone. Renfield is smart enough to realize that Davenport is acting upon himself, but Dracula can only do what he does every time: give in to his emotions.
The Order still fumbles around with Dracula’s identity too. Browning (Ben Miles) still believes their vampire to be Grayson, but Lady Jayne, like Grayson, won’t have it either. It’s hard to tell if she believes this because of leftover feelings for Grayson. But by this point, Jayne is definitely the Order’s biggest weakness. It’s Browning that breaks from the normal monotony this episode. His children were kidnapped at the end of “Go to Die,” and he stops at nothing to get them back. The first place he searches is Grayson’s of course, and Renfield takes on the role of the audience a bit, questioning his reason being there in the first place. It’s completely unfounded and plays to his character flaw. In many ways, all of these characters suffer from the same flaw: ego over instinct. All of them continue to act on emotion, and the only one that’s right is Browning. He owes that to luck and luck only.
Grayson begins waging his war against The Order, and he assumes the position of General in doing so. His first strike is against Order member Rothcroft (Alastair Makenzie). Grayson’s troops strike in a billiard hall behind closed doors, continuing the show’s preservation for minimal horrors. In the scene it serves its purpose just fine, but misses out on a great horror scene. Grayson looks weak here, considering his undead status. Sending others to do his dirty work is just the beginning; Mina makes him weaker. This is the first episode where the damage is visible and quite considerable. “Dracula” has to make him weak for the Order to be even remotely formidable – It’s a credit to the writers of the show that they managed to make it an emotional vice.
Van Helsing’s time in this episode is a bit of a head scratcher. It was obvious from the start that he was responsible for the kidnapping of Browning’s children. It serves as a mirror image of the “eye for an eye” principle, though is exposed as a moment for weakness for the character when he can’t go through with it. Van Helsing is the one character that the show’s producers don’t seem to have a handle on. In a scene near the end, the camera focuses on Van Helsing making a ransom note, asking for 50,000 British pounds or the children die. it’s like he’s forsaken his family. It makes you wonder if they ever really mattered, or if 50,000 pounds could replace the loss of life.
It’s Mina though that provides the least to the episode, which is greatly disappointing. She’s always been the life of the party, the most interesting character at the center of it all. When Mina learns of Lucy’s affair with Jonathan, the scene means when her only reaction is to yell at her. Instead, Dracula’s actions to turn Lucy at the end provide the appropriate impact for the situation.
In the transition from last week’s explosive episode, “Dracula” pulls back a lot, but still moves the plot forward. It’s unclear as to how the Nikola Tesla rip off machine, as I’ve come to call it, will play out in the season finale. Even more unclear is Lucy’s new role as a fresh vampire, but “Four Roses” leaves just enough questions on the table to make for a compelling finale, and if the previews are to be believed, many of those questions will be answered.
