The Order discovers that Dracula is the Elder Vampire haunting London. Jonathan is becoming increasingly disillusioned with Dracula and suspects that Mina’s relationship with him is less than innocent. Lucy continues her campaign to seduce Jonathan. Dracula fights with his love for Mina while continuing to manipulate the players to his own ends.
The Breakdown
Dracula and Ilona are about to have fun in their bedroom when the Order comes swarming in. Dracula tries to fight them off, but Ilona is restrained and Dracula is knocked out. In present day, Dracula is in his carriage, watching outside the hospital where Mina is working. Renfield asks Dracula how long he intends to wait outside and that he should either take Mina or walk away. Dracula says that the first would put Mina in mortal harm, but the second would end him.
Inside, Mina finds that Van Helsing’s secret office has been cleared and the vampire blood removed. She scours the office and finds a secret hiding place in the wall, when her father walks in. Her father says that she’s been avoiding him and Jonathan and asks her what Dracula means to her. Mina says that she loves Jonathan and will be his wife, but that Dracula has a strange magnetic pull that she can’t resist. Her father can relate, saying that he only ever loved one woman but that his path to her was hardly a straight line. He tells her to follow her heart.
Lady Jane tells Browning that the signs of another Elder Vampire are undeniable, that vampires are swarming London at a master’s call. Browning tells her to hunt it down. Elsewhere, a man employs a prostitute that turns out to be a vampire. She brings him to a vampire den, but Lady Jane interrupts before she can feed. When Lady Jane demands to know who called her to London, the vampire tells her it is Dracula. Lady Jane is amazed and frightened at the news. The vampire blows her own head off with Lady Jane’s gun.
Jonathan confides in his friend from the newspaper about Dracula and the story about General Shaw. Jonathan realizes that Dracula probably got rid of the bookkeeper to cover his tracks and that he is probably in danger too. His friend gives him a gun for protection. Back at the lab, Van Helsing gives Dracula another dose of the sun serum. They discuss their difficulties regarding the bad press the Resonator machine has gotten and the danger the public believes it poses to them. Van Helsing takes a smug pleasure in causing Dracula pain.
The Order has a meeting where Lady Jane tells them about Dracula. The lower members of the Order thinks its ridiculous, that Dracula is a myth. It turns out that Dracula was once the Master Huntsman in his native land and served on the high counsel of the Order. He was found guilty of heresy and sired by the Order. The information is given only to the Dragon’s Heads and their Master Huntsman. Browning tells Lady Jane to find concrete proof of Dracula’s presence in London.
Jonathan tells Mina about all the trouble with Dracula and tells her to stay away from him until Jonathan can do something about it. Jonathan says that Dracula is the closest thing to evil that he’s ever seen. Dracula tries to see Lady Jane but she turns him away, telling him that their relationship is over. She tells him that it’s obvious that his heart belongs to Mina and that it always had. Lord Davenport prepares to put a plan in action against Mina in order to hurt Dracula.
Mina goes to see Dracula against Jonathan’s wishes to confront him about all that Jonathan said. He denies it, but she sees through him and says that Jonathan was right about him, that he uses people up and spits them out. Jonathan goes to see Lucy to look at swatches for wedding garments, but when he says he hasn’t time Lucy breaks down and reveals to him that she is in love with him. Jonathan says that they must forget it and Lucy agrees, but only after a kiss. Jonathan reluctantly agrees but as Lucy’s lips touch his he pulls away impulsively, saying that he can’t betray Mina’s trust. Lucy reveals that Mina goes to see Dracula quite often, even after Jonathan had told her to stay away.
Dracula is enraged by the fact that Mina judges him and wants nothing to do with him. He wants blood but Renfield refuses to let him go out in such a state. They fight for a bit and end up crashing through a table. Renfield says again that he must either forget her or take her. Jonathan goes to see Mina to confront her about her relationship with Dracula. Jonathan says he’s been a fool, that Mina invents reasons to see Dracula to flirt with him. Mina denies it, but Jonathan doesn’t believe her. Meanwhile, Lady Jane tortures a den of vampires to find out where Dracula is. The last vampire tells her that no one knows where he is, but that he heard that Dracula walks in the sunlight.
Renfield meets with Van Helsing about the problems facing their plan. They’ve been frozen out of most business dealings and all the normal options for renewing faith in their technology. Renfield mentions Browning and how he might be the Dragon’s Head. Van Helsing remembers how he is the one who burned his family, but denies any knowledge of him. Van Helsing visits Browning’s house where he’s having a lively evening with his family.
As Mina works at the hospital she decides to steal one of the vials of vampire blood that’s been hidden away. As she prepares to leave Lord Davenport’s men swarm her and knock her out. They tie her up and prepare to burn her face with acid. Dracula comes along just in time and rips one guy’s arm right off. He savagely kills them all while a concussed Mina watches and passes out. The next morning, the men are left as warnings, impaled on the wrought iron fence outside the Order headquarters, which ultimately gives Lady Jane her proof of Dracula’s presence.
Jonathan and Dr. Murray watch over Mina at the hospital. Dracula comes along to watch over her too. When she wakes up, Dracula asks her who did this to her and that she must tell them everything. Mina tells of how three men held her down on the table and had a bottle of acid. She remembers one man had a birth mark on his face, which Jonathan remembers as Lord Davenport’s right hand man. Jonathan goes to inform the police, but Dracula tells him that it’s his word against a well-respected peer of the realm, and that no one would believe him. Jonathan says he’ll ask Davenport himself.
Davenport sits quietly at home when Jonathan walks in and holds him at gunpoint. Jonathan demands the truth, but Davenport denies all knowledge. Davenport riles Jonathan up, talking about how Dracula manipulated Jonathan into coming there and how Dracula adores Mina and hired Jonathan to get closer to her. Davenport wants to show Jonathan the Triptych, but Jonathan is so upset that when Davenport goes to uncover the painting that he reflexively shoots Davenport. Jonathan runs away wildly, but has some kind of moment of clarity and goes to see Lucy. He burst into her house and begins kissing her, which she is obviously not into, but pretends rather nicely.
Browning gets home and finds that his children have been stolen away. Lucy and Jonathan have sex. Dracula sits with Mina at the hospital. As Mina sleeps he tells her about Ilona, how she is the reincarnation of his dead wife, but how she is even more than that, because she is Mina Murray too. He says that they belong to each other, and he kisses his fingers and presses the kiss to her hand.
Renfield an Dracula stand by the fire at Carfax. Renfield tells him that Davenport is dead and hands Dracula his dossier. He throws it into the fire and watches it burn. Renfield comments that Jonathan worked out just as planned.
The Analysis
This has probably been one of the more interesting episode of the season, mostly because all the plotlines from the previous episodes are starting to converge in one big, dramatic soap opera ending. There were so many storylines, converging in so many extreme and highly emotional ways, that the show really is starting to feel more like a soap opera than almost anything else. In this sense, it’s easy to see why Dracula might be successful as one of those guilty pleasure type shows. As it happens, the ratings are hardly good enough to merit a renewal, so these next two episodes might be the last we see of Dracula and his long game manipulations.
Speaking of long game manipulations, Dracula seems to be playing the long game indeed. Despite all these plans to usurp the power of the Order through technology and money, Dracula seems to have planned for bloodshed all along and behind the back of Van Helsing. When Jonathan kills Davenport, Renfield comments that hiring Jonathan turned out just as planned. Could it be that Dracula is playing an elaborate chess game, and that every move he makes, however seemingly unconnected, has lead Jonathan up to killing Lord Davenport? How convoluted! But there’s something about that sort of long form manipulation that is pretty devious.
Which makes one wonder – is everything that has happened lead up to all of this? Was Renfield meant to allow the Triptych to be stolen? Did Dracula know all along that Davenport’s men were going to attack Mina, and that’s why Dracula was waiting in the eaves to save her? Was the slandered General Shaw merely a casualty on the road to the death of Lord Davenport? And did Dracula somehow play Lady Jane in order to play Lucy in order to play Jonathan in order to steal Mina away from Jonathan so he could have her for himself? It seems like too much omniscience, even for the vampire of vampires. But what if it’s true and he calculated every single move of every single player – even of the trusty Renfield. Well, that would make Dracula the god of the show. No one can possibly win except for him – unless, that is, this god decides to be merciful.
