Dracula takes measures against the Order while Jonathan prepares to join the Dragon’s ranks. Mina finds out about Lucy and Jonathan, which brings her closer to Dracula. Lucy pays for the pain she caused Mina. Having kidnapped Browning’s children, Van Helsing now finds himself at a loss for what to do with them.

The Breakdown

Mina lies in hospital having dreams of the night she was attacked by Davenport’s men. She remembers Dracula’s interceding violently to save her. When she awakes, she finds a single rose by her bedside. At Carfax, Dracula is beside himself with anger about the attack on Mina and is determined to attribute the act to the entire Order, while Renfield tries to convince him that it was the lone act of Davenport as revenge for his son’s death. Dracula says that from that moment on until the Order yields, blood will flow. Renfield tries to convince Van Helsing to talk reason to him, but Van Helsing feels that their contract has been breached and that their partnership is over.

Four Roses

Meanwhile, at Browning’s house Lady Jane is excited about the arrival of all the major huntsment in Europe and the purge of vampires across London. Browning tells Lady Jane about the abduction of his children and shows her Daniel Davenport’s suicide note found at Davenport’s home. Browning is determined to believe the abduction of his children are part of a bigger conspiracy and that Alexander Grayson is actually Dracula. Lady Jane still thinks it’s ridiculous, telling Browning that Grayson will be dealt with in due course, but that the more important thing is ridding London of the vampire plague.

Jonathan awakes in Lucy’s bed after having spent the night with her. He gets dressed and prepares to leave when Lucy wakes up and calls to him. He looks at her briefly but then leaves without saying anything. Lucy’s mother sees this and Lucy in bed and asks what she’s done. Lucy closes the door in her face.

At Carfax, the police are searching the house. Renfield asks to see the warrant, which has no mention of what they are looking for, which makes it invalid. Browning comes along and says they’re looking for his children. Renfield says they still have to return with a valid warrant, but Dracula comes along and allows them to search the premises. They find no children, but when Browning returns to his carriage he finds Jonathan inside. Renfield wonders is Van Helsing might have abducted Browning’s children but Dracula doubts it, saying that he’s bound to his own plan. Renfield, however, isn’t so sure.

Four Roses

Lucy is having a hard time coming to terms with everything that’s happened to her. Her mother wants to know what’s going on. Lucy asks her why she wasn’t told that it was natural for a woman to fall in love with another woman. When her mother reacts shocked to the statement, Lucy realizes that Lady Jane has been lying to her. In Browning’s carriage Jonathan accepts the offer to join the Order, but wants to know why Mina was attached. Browning says that the Order never sanctioned an attack and that Davenport would have been seriously dealt with if they had found out. He then realizes that Jonathan is the one that killed Davenport. He welcomes him to the Order and they shake hands.

Jonathan’s first job is to get the Resonator blueprints for the Order. Renfield walks in as he’s putting the blueprints in his bag, but lies his way through. Renfield seems suspicious. Dracula goes to see Van Helsing, saying that their plan isn’t finished yet and asking about Browning’s children. He says that it puts undue scrutiny on their plans. Van Helsing goes to the countryside where he has Browning’s children stashed. He prepares to kill them but is unable to do so. He leaves them drugged and sleeping in the basement. Dracula goes to see a number of Order members at a club, bringing with him some vampire friends. He locks them in the room and leaves as the vampires feed on the Order members.

Four Roses

Mina awakes at the hospital with Dracula by her side. The sun is coming up and he prepares to leave, leaving a red rose by her side. She had thought the flowers were from Jonathan. She tells him that she knows he was there that night, that he stopped the attack. He tells her to forget it. She asks him to stay, but the sun is coming up. He leaves, dodging the sunbeams. Lady Jane and another huntsmen investigate the bloodbath at the club, deciding that it’s a declaration of war. Browning comes along and tells the police that he’s found his children, that it was just a lost telegram and a terrible mix up. His children are still missing, of course, but he tells Lady Jane that she was right, that all their efforts must be dedicated to eradicating the vampire plague from London.

Mina goes to see Lucy at the hospital, where she tells her that she must call off her engagement with Jonathan. Mina insists on knowing why. Lucy says that Mina will hate her and says she’s sorry. Mina reads between the lines and tells Lucy to get out. Meanwhile Jonathan goes through the initiation ceremony to join the Order of the Dragon. Van Helsing cuts and pastes newspaper letters to make a ransom note for Browning’s children.

Dracula tells Renfield about how he slaughtered a chapter of the Order. Van Helsing comes by to say that he is preparing to leave the country when Kowalski comes in with news that the board of health has raised the quarantine against the Resonator. Everyone seems to be suspicious of this sudden change but Dracula. He asks Van Helsing to attend the demonstration to see their first decisive victory over their “competitors”.

Four Roses

The Order inspects the Resonator blueprints and it turns out that Browning had the department of health lift the quarantine so that they can sabotage the machine for its public demonstration. Mina leaves the hospital to confront Jonatan about Lucy. She asks him why and he says because she loves Dracula. She leaves and has some trouble getting back. She sees Ilona’s reflection in a puddle and faints in the street. She is taken back to the hospital where Dracula visits her. They have a very serious conversation about their relationship and he tells her about Ilona. Mina says that she’s dreamed of Ilona since she was a little girl. Mina asks if Dracula loves her and he says he can’t give himself to anyone until the debt he owes Ilona is paid. He finds out about Lucy and leaves the hospital, furious that anyone could hurt Mina like that.

He sneaks into Lucy’s house while she’s taking a bath and says that if she insists on acting monstrously, that he’ll turn her into a monster. Then he drinks her blood and forces her to drink his.

Four Roses

The Analysis

I mentioned last week that this show is quickly becoming a high budget soap opera and that feeling definitely carries over into this episode. Who’s sleeping with whom? Who’s lying and what about? Who’s being played and who are the players? Who’s dead, who’s undead? Lucy is a pretty major instigator of everything soapy about this show and she’s really only a secondary character. Then of course there’s the infuriating love triangle between Jonathan, Mina, and Dracula. It might be more interesting if Dracula and Jonathan also found each other inexplicably attracted to one another – but I guess that’s a storyline for next season.

And am I the only one who wants to punch Jonathan in his sad little face? I don’t really feel much sympathy for the man and the expressions he makes are so weepily self-indulgent that they really do beg to be punched. Jonathan has always been a bit of self-involved character, so I suppose it’s hardly surprising that he can think only about himself in this crisis of love and character. It’s also hardly surprising that the two most self-involved characters in the show (and that’s in a show about Dracula) end up sleeping together to hurt the woman they both love – and to hurt her for doing nothing in particular, merely what they imagined to be slights to their delicate and all important egos.

Yes, Mina has a deep attraction toward Dracula. Yes, she was surprised by Lucy’s declaration of love in a time when that sort of thing was unthinkable for most people. But knowing this, Mina had never acted shamefully against either of the two people who are most dear to her. It is frankly incredible that she could care so much for two people who turn out to be so incredibly petty as to vindictively break her heart – and in the case of Jonathan, for staying true to him in the face of an overwhelming physical attraction to a mesmerizing vampire with whom she has an ancient spiritual connection. I’d say Mina has been pretty nobly conscientious given the circumstances.

It is also incredible that Lady Jane continues to believe that Alexander Grayson could not possibly be Dracula. There was a moment this episode where I could swear it would finally dawn on her, during her investigation of the vampire attack at the club. She calls the attack “bold, brazen, and flamboyant”. If that doesn’t scream Alexander Grayson, I don’t know what does. But there seemed to be no recognition of the similarities in style. Sometimes I wonder if Lady Jane is meant just to provide all the irony for the series.

And for those of you counting, yes, there were only three roses in an episode titled “Four Roses”. I can only assume that the blood soaked Lucy was meant to be the fourth rose – another consolation for the injured Mina.