Frankenstein's Monster: My Dad Was Dr. Frankenstein, You Can Call Me Frankenstein's Monster

[David T. Cole]

Rory Kinnear as Frankenstein's monster.

[Kromm]

Hmmm.  I guess he's not all bolty in the neck, but they didn't go the other way with "handsome guy" either.

[ironclown]

"Caliban" does seem to be very menacing, but I guess being abandoned cold by your "demon" of a creator would do that to you. Nevertheless, the only reason I am not very sympathetic towards him is that he bloody well ripped Proteus in half, and just when I was starting to really like the guy.

[phantom bright]

"Caliban" does seem to be very menacing, but I guess being abandoned cold by your "demon" of a creator would do that to you. Nevertheless, the only reason I am not very sympathetic towards him is that he bloody well ripped Proteus in half, and just when I was starting to really like the guy.

 

Have to say, I almost flounced on this show like a big baby after poor Proteus's fate. It was awful. Just terrible. To destroy someone so sweet.

 

But dat acting with Caliban ... Good Lord, it was utterly riveting. To take that material (hey, you're Frankenstein in a show where vampires exist and dead people come to life -- go!) and make it so believable had me fall in love with this show. Hard. It was like watching a mini-movie. I'm actually rooting for him to gain his bride, although that probably makes me a semi-terrible person. What can I say? I'm a sucker for villain protagonists and sympathetic baddies.

[Door]

I love how his character is allowed to be so multi-faceted. Sure, he's Dr. Frankenstein's nightmare, but the pure, boyish glee he has working in the theater is endearing.

[RedheadZombie]

I'm seeing The Phantom of the Opera in Caliban. Shunned and disfigured, he falls in love with the sweet and beautiful ingenue. How long before he kills a man in the theatre and makes threats?

[ganesh]

Well, he's already killing and making threats. 

[emma675]

Screw Caliban. He killed Proteus; he is dead to me.

Edited June 20, 2014 by emma675d

[Door]

"Caliban slew Proteus! Caliban must not live!"

/bastardized Shakespeare

[Irritable]

I was all set to hate the hell out of Caliban after he killed my beloved Proteus.  I cried actual fat, hot tears when he tore that sweet man in two just after he said he hoped to have 10 friends or more.  I think I even yelled "WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK?!?!?!" and threatened to kick my television in the ball sack.  But damn if Caliban hasn't totally and completely won me over.

 

He's a genius, apparently, because no one of average intelligence can just teach themselves to read with no help, much less understand what they are reading, no matter how many books they have around them.  Not only does he understand things, he understands them on a level so deep that it makes me ache for him when he speaks.  When he smiles, I want to hug him and invite him over for a nice dinner and to pet my cat, because I trust him that much.  At the same time, I know that he is going to do things that will shock me to my core, and I'm constantly cringing when they show his kind friend at the theater, because I know when something bad happens to that man, poor Caliban will totally lose his shit.  Whatever he does to Frankenstein, however, is cool with me.  Demon, indeed.

 

A huge round of applause from me to the writers and to the actor who have made Caliban one of my absolute favorite complex characters on television, which is saying a lot considering the high level of quality and complexity we have come to expect from TV shows today.

[RedheadZombie]

I don't like Caliban, but I think the actor does a good job.  I wonder what the writers' goal is for the character.  I got over the Proteus murder, felt pity for him, and then he murders Van Helsing for no reason.  I don't know how symbolic the opening montage is.  Some of the symbols are on the nose - a wolf followed by Ethan, and bloody hands and scalpel followed by Victor.  The image of a fly caught in a spider's web precedes an image of Caliban.  Is that how the writer's envision the character?  That's not how I view him.

[Irritable]

Oh, I haven't yet seen the episode where he murdered Van Helsing.  I was liking him based on his back story and the job he does so well and with such genuine enthusiasm at the theater.   If he keeps on killing people willy nilly, I suppose that's going to get on my nerves pretty good.  Of course, he IS a monster, after all, so I should expect no less. 

[Bec]

Yeah, I also think the actor does a good job, but Caliban reminds me of those mass murdering shooters, which is unsettling to say the least. The original-recipe creature from the book never gave me this impression, but maybe I need to read it again - when I read it before, it was in a time before mass shootings became prevalent.

 

I wonder if this parallel is intentional. The way the character is being written, it seems like it. The way he kills without any remorse, the way he blames all his problems on others and never considers his own culpability, the way he can't seem to grasp that other people have feelings too and not everything revolves around his own feelings.

 

I don't think Caliban has ever shown remorse and empathy on the show. It's why I'm liking Victor better so far. At least he shows remorse and empathy sometimes.

[Aqli]

Now that Brona is confirmed as Caliban's 'Bride', I  amuse myself thinking how disappointed he'll be with the woman of his dreams as soon as she opens her mouth:

 

Caliban: What foul speech! What undecipherable tongue! Answer me plainly phantasmagoria. 

Brona: Wot the fook eer yez awm abowit? Aym spaekin Unglush, seym ez yoiwz! 

Caliban: Here I find myself once again a player without direction. It is as the night of mine misbegotten birth! 

Brona: Does ye stull weark at the Pleyhauws? Can ye hook mey up wuth a tucket? 

Caliban: Do not mock me apparition! 

 

[Helena Dax]

 

He's a genius, apparently, because no one of average intelligence can just teach themselves to read with no help, much less understand what they are reading, no matter how many books they have around them.

I'd say that's impossible. I mean, that's why no one could understand hyeroglyphics until the Rosetta Stone was found, isn't it?

 

I can't stand Caliban, tbh. He's too whiny. And a cold blood murderer. He's always like "omg, I'm suffering so much", but all the characters in this show have a lot of huge problems and they aren't complaining about them all the time. He's my least fav character on the show.