S01.E03: Resurrection

[Meredith Quill]

Dr. Frankenstein is confronted by his past. Vanessa has a vision of Mina.

 

[David T. Cole]

My Synopsis:

Frankenstein's Monster gets a career in the theatre!

[Tara Ariano]

Frankenstein's Monster got an advice column!

[dr pepper]

My first response to Frankenstein having his creature choose a name oput of Shakespeare was that it would have to be Caliban. I have always thought that the story is a lot more like that of Prospero and his protege than like "The Golem", as you often see claimed. I was surprised when we ended up with Proteus instead.

 

But I was wrong about the writers missing it, they just kept it for the earlier, rejected creature. And I liked how they made the first creature's back story echo the original novel.

 

I imagine what it was like after Frankenstein fled his country house.

 

Servant 1: I don't understand why the master left without given instructions about his, ehem, guest.

 

Servant 2. The master has always been abrupt like that. As for the guest, it's simple: 1 howl of anguish means bring food. Two howls mean empty the chamber pot. Three mean put more candles in the library.

 

Servant 1: And if someone should ask about the howls?

 

Servant 2: I always tell people that the master is practicing vivisection on a dog.

Edited May 26, 2014 by maraleia
fixed typos

[AzureOwl]

I was finding it hard to believe that learning to communicate by reading poetry would be enough to give the Monster such pompous and overworked language, but then they showed that he spent much of his live in a theater and under the care of a stage actor and I went… Of Course!

[JayKay]

Yes, after the episode began with mini Victor's voice over (good casting; I could tell that it was supposed to be him immediately) and then Caliban revealed himself as the blowhardiest undead guy ever, I lamented that the show had suddenly turned pretentious for no good reason. Clearly someone on the writing staff is enjoying themselves, but if I had to endure scavenging through the flowery dialogue every week, this show would become unbearable. Granted, I'm not much of a fan of Shakespeare himself either. This exchange made me like Caliban, though.

 

"I could never love you."

"...I do not seek love from you, demon."

 

The actor playing Creature 1.0's delivery was just perfect. It was such a mean and presumptuous thing for Victor to say. However, despite everything, I find it hard to blame Victor for running out on Caliban during his birth. I would have too, only I would have been screaming even louder than him. I almost was just watching it. It's cruel, but that "baby" monster was terrifying.

[LittleIggy]

ITA about high-tailing it away from that big-lunged "baby"! I hit the mute on that ASAP. Then when he showed up to reunite with Daddy, I wanted to give him some cheese to go with his whine. Man, I never knew that Frankenstein's monster was such whiney ass! BTW, he said he is "immortal." How is that.

Ethan having sex with the tubercular whore made me cringe, as did Victor's mom puking blood on him. I can watch "Hannibal" and not bat an eye, but when it comes to germs...;-)

[msbeesknees]

To quote a dear friend of mine who studied this era of literature in University... "The new monster in EVERYTHING." And I couldn't agree more. Caliban is gruesome yet beautiful, poetic yet coarse, fierce yet gentle. He's a welcome complexity of character to this rich tapestry of stories.

[bc1795]

Caliban is gruesome yet beautiful, poetic yet coarse, fierce yet gentle. He's a welcome complexity of character to this rich tapestry of stories.

 

I don't know....he just reminds me of Meat Loaf

[JayKay]

I don't know....he just reminds me of Meat Loaf

But is there anything that Caliban wouldn't do for love? A question for the ages. Mostly the early 1990's.

[Aqli]

 

Ethan having sex with the tubercular whore made me cringe, as did Victor's mom puking blood on him. I can watch "Hannibal" and not bat an eye, but when it comes to germs...;-)

 

Aaargh! I was thinking "ohmygoddon'tkissherforfuckssake!".  I mean,  he knows she has consumption. Pleasure to see Josh Hartnet naked, though. One thing I like about Steampunk/Victorian settings: no tans. 

[ganesh]

It's a touch too much for me with all the Frankenstein screentime in E2 and E3. I hope now that they got his side plot out of the way that we can move along the overall story a bit more.

 

I did like how when Chandler was whining about 'torturing a child' Frankenstein was like, 'whatever Indian killer,' and the Vanessa immediately, 'stop being a pussy.'

 

I'm still of the mind that the seance was Mina saying she saw Malcolm and Vanessa fucking because the vampire boy called her a cocksucker. I'm surprised there wasn't much fallout from the seance. 

 

I assume we're going to have to meet a van Helsing?

[LittleIggy]

Will the tubercular whore get to be the Bride?

[sjohnson]

To me, whenever someone starts talking about someone else's whining, they're basically assuming that anyone who objects to something they like is an asshole just for objecting, with overtones of contempt for the objector's powerlessness. To me, real whining is badgering, stalling, nagging with a literal whine, a sound vaguely like a saw cutting wood. Children whine often, adults rarely do...except when someone pissed at an adult's objections wants to be insulting. 

 

Was Ethan whining? I don't think so. 

[ganesh]

It was funny because everyone one else was basically, 'who the fuck are you? and why do you think you have an equal say in what's going on? Your daughter is a vampire too? Because I thought you were just hiding from your daddy.' The look on Vanessa was priceless.

 

I mean, Ethan comes in basically begging for a job because he needs money for his whore girlfriend and he doesn't care what the job is, but now all of a sudden he thinks he can dictate what they're going to do.

 

This is a good, B horror series. It's *great* and it's *fun*. I'm not taking it too seriously, and it seems like the actors are having a lot of fun with it too. It's like everything on tv now has to be True Detective or Game of Thrones, which I like too. I'm glad there's room for fun, weird shows.

 

It's not going to matter anyway because it seems like the kid is going to escape to me.

Edited May 28, 2014 by ganesh

[Bec]

I found myself feeling bad for Caliban at some points, but overall he comes off like an ass and I'm starting to get tired of him already. He reminds me of the kind of guy who goes on shooting sprees. Except he's gonna go on a strangling spree or rip-apart-with-bare-hands spree, I guess. Oh hey, I wonder if he's the "ripper" who made that big pile of corpses the cops found? Eh, could have also been the vampires.

 

But oddly enough I'm liking Victor more.

Weird, because I remember sympathizing with the creature more and thinking Victor is an ass in the book version. I liked the way show version Victor just flat out got in Caliban's face and called his bluff when he wanted Victor to create a female companion for him. That showed way more backbone than book Victor. Even though Caliban threatening to kill everyone he loves is kind of an empty threat on the show. In the book he had family and friends for his creature to kill.

This version, none except poor Proteus who Caliban already killed.

 

Hard to believe Victor made a second "child" after the "firstborn" freaked him out so much he just cut and run.

So he's still a deadbeat dad in this version. But at least he apologized, I don't remember that happening in the book.

And I suppose it makes Victor more likable that we got to see him be a good daddy to Proteus first. He's still pretty mean to Caliban, but can't say I blame Victor too much for that when I'm also still pissed at Caliban for killing Proteus. Gee, if he wanted companionship so bad maybe he shouldn't have killed his little brother, who probably would have been happy to be friends with him (*sniff*).

 

But nooo... the companion Caliban wants has to have a vagina and be made from the freshly murdered remains of live women, he's too good for one made of corpses! And she probably has to be at least a 9, too. It would be kind of funny if Victor makes a female creature according to those specifications (it'll probably be Brona Croft like people speculated) and then she has nothing against his looks but rejects him because he has such a repellent personality.

 

Right now I couldn't care less about the Sir Malcolm and the rest of them. Yaaaawn.

Edited May 28, 2014 by SilverStormm
Please spoiler tag book talk.

[Blue Girl]

Wow, young Victor: Worse Day Ever.  Not only does his dog die but his mom takes him to its maggot covered body, all, "Surprise!"  No tales of "your dog went to live on a farm" for the Frankenstein family. Then his mom goes from zero to  blood fountain in 3 seconds.   At that point I thought it was a dream sequence and was flabbergasted it was real.
 

Gee, if he wanted companionship so bad maybe he shouldn't have killed his little brother, who probably would have been happy to be friends with him (*sniff*).

 

But nooo... the companion Caliban wants has to have a vagina and be made from the freshly murdered remains of live women, he's too good for one made of corpses! And she probably has to be at least a 9, too.

 

I KNOW!  I want to like Caliban (since I guess we'll be seeing a lot more of him) but can't.  Makes me wonder who he was before  he was resurrected and if any of his old personality is showing through.  Also, I was kinda skeptical that Victor ran away, he doesn't seem like the squeamish type, and I can't imagine some screaming would deter him from at least examining more closely his first triumph over death.

 

ITA with everyone who says Brona currently is carrying a huge sign that says, "Bride of Frankenstein's Monster."  At least she won't be able to give Ethan consumption anymore.

 

Speaking of Ethan, I didn't have a problem with him chiming in about not torturing people. Apparently he is the voice of reason in this crazy group, even though he kisses women with consumption on the mouth.   I thought the bit with the dogs showed that he has good instincts about some things, and that he doesn't kill just because he can if there is another way.

 

 

[confessa]

I'm kind of the opposite. I felt really sorry for Caliban and thought Victor was being a dick (Caliban killing poor Proteus aside LOL). I didn't think of Brona being the bride at all. Interesting. 

 

Victor's storyline was by far my favourite through the first three episodes, but I agree with @ganesh. I hope it won't take too much away from the main plot (i.e. finding Mina) as we move forward. I liked Victor's snark with Ethan so hope we see more of them together.

 

The young boy confused me though. What is he supposed to be? A vampire? I don't even know what he was eating except seeing fur. 

[Neurochick]

I just watched this episode as well as the first two.  I watched with the closed captions on this time.  During the seance, when Vanessa was possessed by whatever, the caption said she was "speaking Lingala."  I know that Lingala is a language that is spoken in the Congo.  Why would the demon speak to Sir Malcolm in that language?  

 

I too think Brona will end up as the bride and I wonder if Ethan is a werewolf, or maybe he's Mr. Hyde?  

[AngelKitty]

I absolutely think Ethan is the werewolf.  The only thing that casts any doubt for me is that he woke up with all his clothes on.

 

And when Caliban said he wanted a mate, I immediately thought of Rose, I mean Brona.

[confessa]

Rather than being a werewolf, someone on tumblr raised the idea that Ethan may be some depiction of the Norse god Tyr. I know next to nothing about Norse mythology except that he placed his hand in the mouth of Fenrir, a wolf, as a sign of good faith while Fenrir was being captured (tricking Fenrir I think). You guys can read about it here. 

[Bec]

I haven't thought of Ethan as Mr. Hyde. I just thought he's an American werewolf in London. Whichever the case, there is definitely something up with him. In the pilot episode he got this weird expression on his face like he was trying not to smile when he was outside the crime-scene with the massive bloody body pile watching the cops haul the bodies out on stretchers. The two extras who got lines in that scene looked right at him like "Geez, what a creep."

 

Then his mom goes from zero to  blood fountain in 3 seconds.

 

Yeah, that was such a WTF moment. I didn't know whether to freak or laugh. I do like how this whole childhood trauma angle the show added makes the character's motivation more understandable - he watched loved ones die, has no one left, and that is why he is obsessed with bringing back the dead. He's still an egomaniac, but now instead of being annoyed at his god-complex, I'm like "aww... poor little Dr. Frankenstein". This show made Dr. Frankenstein a woobie.

[BuddhaBelly]

 

I found myself feeling bad for Caliban at some points, but overall he comes off like an ass and I'm starting to get tired of him already.

 

I'm totally opposite. I have way more sympathy for Caliban and what he has suffered in his new life. He didn't ask for Victor to create him and then to be abandoned in the one of the most superficial eras in history. I find Victor incredibly pretentious and entitled so whatever hell Caliban wants to rain on him I'm here for it.

 

 

I know that Lingala is a language that is spoken in the Congo.  Why would the demon speak to Sir Malcolm in that language?

 

He's been to the Congo. He's a big game hunter.

 

 

I thought the bit with the dogs showed that he has good instincts about some things, and that he doesn't kill just because he can if there is another way.

 

Those weren't dogs. I'm pretty sure they were wolves and it really bothered me that everyone took that scene in stride.

[ganesh]

 

Why would the demon speak to Sir Malcolm in that language?

Also, didn't he bring his son with him on a trip and he died there when he got sick?

[Neurochick]

He's been to the Congo. He's a big game hunter.

 

 

I guess the demon spoke to Sir Malcolm in Lingala because the demon knew he'd recognize that language, Sir Malcolm's head went up when he heard it.  

[Bec]

I find Victor incredibly pretentious and entitled so whatever hell Caliban wants to rain on him I'm here for it.

I feel that way about original-recipe Victor. It probably helps that he's a penniless orphan in this, and not, say, a guy who already has everything (yet still can't leave well enough alone). I guess they had to make him poor to explain why he would keep working for Sir Malcolm when he's already pretty busy. It also serves to make him easier to relate to.

 

I did laugh when Caliban was like "I do not seek your love, demon. I would weep for you if ever I learned how." Yeah, that was so presumptuous of Victor. Amused me that Caliban got to reject him, too. At this point they're kind of even. Victor was a terrible father, Caliban murdered his other child. I've never been down with the idea that Frankenstein owes his creature a female counterpart, so I'm not with Caliban on that one, I'm siding more with Victor's look of horror at the request.

 

I'm still waiting for Caliban to rain hell on Victor though. Wonder what he could possibly do. Kill Victor's dog? Wait, his dog is already dead. (After Proteus got compared to a puppy, it was funny to see the show juxtapose poor dead Proteus with Victor's poor dead childhood dog.)

[BollywoodLover]

I love Caliban and just want to give him a hug. He is much more lively and less creepy than Dorian Grey is. 

 

I feel that nobody has really put Victor in check for a long time and started to believe his own greatness. I think that he viewed Proteus as the Golden Child that would do now wrong/not disappoint him. Given a little time, however, I think he would do the same thing that Caliban did and disagree with him. 

 

Who knew that Josh Hartnett's character was a dog whisperer? I really hope they do a back story on the Sir Malcom's servant.