S01.E04: Demimonde

[Meredith Quill]

Episode Synopsis:

Vanessa grows infatuated. Van Helsing comes to work with Dr. Frankenstein.

 

[Tara Ariano]

I wrote about the moment that made this episode the best one yet BY FAR.

[I-Kare]

I literally sat up and said "holy crap" when they actually kissed. As soon as I saw Dorian Gray I tweeted that I knew I was going to ship him with everyone...little did I know he'd be just about paired with everyone by the end of his second episode (if you count "meaningful glances" with Vanessa). 

 

This was something I expected from Dorian, but didn't think they'd go there with the sharpshooting American...so it will be interesting to see if this is new to him and was just some absinthe-fueled moment, or if there's something they'll reveal in his past when it's his episode to do that. 

 

I'm loving this show...have from the start...but this just makes it better.

[Guest]

I mean, honestly, I know this is a period piece, but Caliban as played by 1983-Glen-Danzig-goes-to-a-Cure concert is kinda out of place here.

*edited because I can't keep the monster names straight

Edited June 2, 2014 by Guest

[JayKay]

Vanessa's meeting with little Lucy in front of the church actually made me question my own soundness of mind. What was actually a very sweet conversation with a little girl turned unnerving and surreal because Vanessa (and me, and the score composer) have vampires and zombies and demons on the mind, oh my. Nice little scene to highlight that these characters truly operate from a place of darkness.

 

Not digging Vanessa and Dorian together and the arch dialogue they exchange every time they meet. And my love for the opening theme is going to get worn down if it's used whenever they look at each other. But this show keeps surprising me, so maybe I don't need to worry about some love story dragging down the characters? I hope?

 

I loved the littlest vampire's reaction to Vanessa giving him an apple. Who hasn't had one of those days when you're craving comfort food and someone supplies you with health food? I know Victorian culture is a far cry from how people interact today, but screaming "you fucking devil whore!" is a response that could be equally as understandable and socially unacceptable now as it was then.

 

I'm usually pretty good with accents, but I could only understand about 35% of what Billie Piper was saying in that scene in bed with Josh Hartnett. So her fiance was abusive and she decided not to marry him, her mother disowned her and she had to become a prostitute to survive? This show is trying really hard to make me feel bad for Brona, which can only mean that she's destined for something even more horrible. It may have been irrational, but I felt for her when she couldn't handle being around sweet, gentlemanly Ethan and his fancy, charming friends. And Dorian is such a smarmy creep. He was absolutely feeding off her discomfort. And even if she could befriend them she'd still die a horrible death. It's depressing.

 

Malcolm and Vanessa fighting is one of my favorite things, it seems. Mostly because I think Vanessa rattles Malcolm in a way that his stiff-upper lip propriety is incapable of responding to. There's a playfulness in her disrespect of him, and he hates it. More of those two sniping at each other in mixed company, show. I'm intrigued by what things were like when Mina was still around. These two clearly blame themselves and one another for losing her.

 

What a contrast to see Caliban flinch away from the young male Grand Guignol actor and then threaten to snap Victor's neck. Don't bring your work home with you, Caliban. It can cause ulcers and the desire to dominate the human race in revenge. I hope he gets rejected by his bride to be. Dude is just as presumptuous and arrogant as daddy. And Victor amusingly proved himself useless in the heat of battle as Malcolm and Ethan expected.

 

I still don't know what Ethan is. Jack the Ripper? Werewolf? Closeted non-hetero man in Victorian London? It seems to me that he's just looking for a little kindness in the world. He could be an empath or something. I really can't decide. But honestly, he could do better than Dorian, who will probably turn him away then revel in Ethan's hurt feelings when he grows bored of him like everything else. Did I mention that I'm not buying the allure of Dorian Gray?

 

It was nice to go from "I freaking hate love triangles" to "Oh holy shit, that's one way to subvert a trope." Talk about unexpected pleasures. They certainly satisfied my Dorian-like desire for something new in the face of my tv watcher cynicism.

[David T. Cole]

Aaaaaaoooooo bisexual, maybe a werewolf in London.

[BuddhaBelly]

 

So her fiance was abusive and she decided not to marry him, her mother disowned her and she had to become a prostitute to survive?

She mentioned that one night the fiance got rough and there was blood, she ran home to her mother who told her to marry him anyway. She decided to take the other option to make money which was prostitution.

 

I still think the actor they chose for Dorian isn't nearly handsome enough to play him. Plus he annoys me. His look just seems out of step for the period.

 

Don't care for Victor and his dainty man-pain. I don't know why he bothers me so much. He just presents as whiny, although it didn't bother me until Caliban was introduced. My loyalies shift so fast.

 

I'm also leaning firmly on the werewolf side with Ethan. The way he was so firm about not sharing his blood and said nothing good would come of it was a great clue. Ethan and Vanessa are my favorite characters. I want to know more about Ethan's background.

[TrininisaScorp]

This show's tone is very compelling.  Nothing else like it on right now.

 

The Dorian/Ethan hook-up was a pleasant surpise.  I wondered where we were going with what seemed seductive (music, drink, pretty fancy place).  The actor playing Dorian doesn't do it for me; IMO, he's just not charismatic enough to be DG, you know?  Ben Barnes spoiled me.  Meanwhile, Josh Harnett is winning me over in the role; I want more information about his past.  Those trippy pictures and scenes while drinking Absynthe were intriguing. 

 

I generally like Billie Piper, but I'm not feeling Brona.  I agree with many of you:  They are trying so hard to make her sympathetic, so I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Is she to be the creature's bride?

 

I know many of you are cold on Victor, but there is just something about him that I like.  He's this broken thing in his own right, but I enjoyed his scenes with Malcolm and Van Helsing a great deal.  (shallow) He's oddly attractive...like, in the most unconventional way.  (/shallow) 

 

The creature is a hard worker!  Dang, he had all that great stage stuff down to a science.

[David T. Cole]

Ah I like Victor too. He's not a cartoonish obsessive like so many other Dr. Frankensteins. I don't know why I didn't think about Brona as the future bride, TS. That makes perfect sense.

Also it took me waaaay to long to place TRON's Sark as Van Helsing. Bugged the crap out of me until I had the actor's name to look up in the credits (I watched it a few days ago before cast was up in the usual places).

[Bec]

Caliban seemed to be having a ball doing the backstage work. That was pretty cute. Except for that part where the guy in the wolf costume gave him the stink-eye.

 

Am I crazy, or did Victor never actually promise to make Caliban a bride? I thought "threaten me with life" meant "eff you, I'm not doing your bidding." But the show is playing it like he did promise Caliban a bride. Alrighty then.

 

I think Victor's snark is the reason he's still my favorite. He has the best snippy exchanges with everybody. His response to Caliban stipulating "my bride must be beautiful" was perfection. "To match her mate?" with that mocking tone complete with eyebrow raise. Loved it.

 

Sir Malcolm being fatherly towards Victor kind of came out of left field. Even Victor looked like "I mean something to you? Like your son? The hell was that?"

 

 

 

maybe Dr. Frankenstein happens to stop by to drop off some papers or something, and then….

Bwaha! I would like Victor to join the Dorian Gray party at the end of the episode, too. Glad to know it's not just me.

 

Edited to fix spacing issues.

Edited June 2, 2014 by Bec

[spaceghostess]

Loved the episode, especially the ending, but I couldn't with the rats/rat squeaks. Damn.

 

Re: Caliban, I'm torn. On one hand, I'd kind of like to see usual treatment turned on its head, with The Bride (who I'm sure will be Brona) actually falling in love with her intended (because the loneliness of Shelley's Creature was the worst). On the other, Cali was sounding kind of Master Racist tonight, what with "The future belongs to my kind", etc. Also, "[his] kind", meaning an entire race of sterile, reanimated people made by whom, exactly? I'm thinking Victor's not really down for it at this point.

 

 

 

[paramitch]

I love this show, and am really especially enjoying the cinematography and performances. There's something lush and unsettling about it -- it's all so lush and tactile. And the sound design is absolutely fantastic -- there are all sorts of weird sounds and aural undercurrents (moans, whispers, and sighs) that are just as unsettling as the visual shadows and mold and blood. I also love how the camera seems to try to get as close to the people's faces as possible -- it was practically counting Eva Green' pores (of course, she still looks amazing even millimeters away).

 

I had a hard time with some scenes in this episode -- I admit I'm a wimp, but the brutal killing of the kitten onscreen for the kid to feed on was pretty tough for me, as was the scene with the dog and the rats. The show's general gore level I can usually deal with, but there were others tonight that disturbed me.

 

However, the scenes I did like were many. I'm enjoying Billie Piper in this, and I find Brona heartbreaking. The accent isn't bothering me, and I also like that Piper manages to very effectively 'act' a cough -- it probably sounds dumb that it bothers me, but so many actors do these fake little "Camille-like" coughs. However, Brona's coughs seem to come from her core in a way that feels very visceral and real -- especially the way so many times a cough seems to surprise her. 

 

I think Victor's interesting, but thus far I'm still missing poor Mr. Proteus, who was far more interesting. I want to like Caliban, but at the moment he just seems rather tiresome and stereotypically egotistical. I would find him so much more interesting if he ever exhibited empathy. I get that he is a reflection of Frankenstein's own ego, but when he demanded that his mate be "beautiful," I sighed again. I would prefer that we saw even an attempt at connection from him with Victor but we'll see where it goes.

 

The show's little human touches are what are most fun to me thus far -- Murray's surprising small moment of tenderness with Victor, Brona's joy at the theatre, Caliban's happiness backstage (although you'd think they could afford more than one stagehand!), Miss Ives's talk with Lucy, even the vampire kid's final word ("Mother?")... the show wouldn't work if it were all darkness, all the time.

 

I especially loved those final minutes this week, when for once the subtext didn't stay subtext and was brave enough to become text (to paraphrase Giles on "Buffy"). The chemistry between Hartnett and Carney was terrific and also poignant. I like Dorian and I love Carney in the role. He has a nice, sly sensual about him. I like that he's a contradiction in terms -- that he's someone whose every word seems to come out as a lie, yet at the same time he also always seems utterly honest. I'm also enjoying Hartnett as Ethan -- the sadness just seems to be a part of him. This is by far the best work I've ever seen him do, and maturity suits him. There's a melancholy, slightly worn quality to his beauty now, and that final scene was truly operatic and really well done.

 

Also, it was great to see David Warner as Dr. Van Helsing -- and nice touch to make him a hematologist! I've loved his work ever since Time After Time years ago.

[Misanthrope]

For me, the big clue on the "Chandler is a werewolf" front was last week (I think) when they got menaced by wolves, Kim Bauer-style, and he out-alphaed the pack alpha.

[teddysmom]

I thought Brona would end up being the bride, right before she collapsed on the street.   Then when she fell down coughing up blood, I was like "yeah, this is not going to end well for anyone". 

 

Very disappointed we didn't get to see the portrait. Cannot wait for that reveal. 

 

I ff'd thru the rat fight thing.  I was afraid it would keep me up.  This show really just does not back away from anything.  It reminds me of Hannibal, in that it will push the gore factor as far as it needs to.  

 

WTF's for this episode - three.  The cat, Fenton getting impaled on the window frame, and the Chandler/Dorian hook up. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it just surprised me.  

[TiffanyNichelle]

Since all of these characters keep running into each other (hey look everyone just happens to be at the same theater where Caliban works!) I also think that Brona is going to end up being his bride.

 

The Dorian/Ethan hook-up was very surprising. I did not see that coming. I was also a little surprised that ended up being so tender. The way Ethan grabs him for the kiss in the beginning I thought it was going to be a very rough brief encounter. But no, Dorian likes to take his time.

[sjohnson]

I think it was back in the first episode where the women talking about the murders and curse the murderer were looking directly into the camera...which was showing us Chandler's viewpoint. The victims weren't whores (which the show even pointed out later,) so that ruled out the Ripper. I think they've been pretty upfront about Chandler=Larry Talbot.

 

This show is basically a takeoff on Universal's Frankenstein versus the Wolfman/House of Frankenstein/House of Dracula etc. (Purists please don't hate on me for not knowing the series by heart!) So I've been back and forth with myself about investing. But I have to say that this episode has gotten me to buy in.

 

The play in a play worked, both to highlight Billiie Piper (who showed me what Chandler is with her for,) and the meta compare/contrast of grand guignol and the horror of the ratting bets. I hadn't thought of the Bride but agree that's where this is going.

 

Dorian Gray's realization that he couldn't expect Chandler to be honest about knowing Wagner and his toast to Vanessa confirmed an awareness and interest in him for other people, not just boring self-absorption. His candid yet perfectly deceptive claim that his mask is human was especially striking. To me, now it seems like Gray is not just some pretty actor the camera and script insist is astonishingly sexy. Josh Hartnett is just as pretty, after all. This episode sold me on the idea that whatever's on the outside, what's on the inside is something else, and it's not us. It's on screen that Gray knows there's something amazing and eerie about Vanessa, but does he also realize this about Ethan?

 

The Dorian/Ethan hookup is not quite as bold as it seems. They are after all shipping the two prettiest actors. They are deliberately diminishing Eva Green's looks with the Victorian clothing and hair styles. It's true there's only so much they can do without putting monster makeup on a woman who looks like her. The surprise of Dorian/Ethan helped make up for not knowing if it's supposed to be simple lust, Ethan's anger over Brona or Ethan realizing this is another soul who doesn't fit in with humanity?

 

Little Lucy at the church is far too young for the canonical Lucy Westenra, who after all had three lovers (that's how she contracted syphilis, er, vampirism.)

 

Vanessa appears to be genuinely interested in Dorian, but however will she respond to a discovery that Dorian's vice versa is not as unilateral as she might wish? Also, will her psychic powers work on Ethan? Or does she already suspect something about him? And that's why no one troubled themselves about his wolf powers? 

 

Which brings us to the really big moment, in the plot sense, Dracula's appearance. Going with Murnau instead of Browning is fine. But having the simple presence of the cross save Murray? As pointed out, Frankenstein tried bravely enough, but he was utterly useless. The thing is, the discovery that Fenton was a plant to open the mansion to Dracula suggests that Chandler is in cahoots. What are they going to do about that? Can it be true? Or is this just a plotting error. It's awfully damn early for holes like this to open up.

[BuddhaBelly]

Why would it suggest that Ethan is working with Dracula? He wasn't the one who suggested searching the zoo was he?

I also thought it was interesting that Dorian knew that Ethan would lie about not knowing Wagner. It tied into Brona's discomfort when Vanessa, Ethan and Dorian stood together and their education and class level left her out. The assumption is that Ethan comes from a well respected family and I liked that even though he plays the brash America whose quick on the trigger only Dorian and Vanessa see that. Victor is blinded by his ego and Malcon sees muscle.

[SanLynn]

Color me surprised they actually went there with Ethan/Dorian. I was not expecting that at all. I kinda liked it though. Between that and Ethan possibly being a werewolf I'm actually interested in a Josh Hartnett character for a change.

 

Count me among those that are seeing Bride of Frankenstein's Monster in Brona. It certainly seems like that's where they're headed with this.

 

This show just kills me. Half the time I'm watching through my fingers and the other half I'm saying to my tv "that did not just happen".

[luckyroll3]

Very disappointed we didn't get to see the portrait. Cannot wait for that reveal.

Same here.  I'm also slightly disappointed that they ended the scene before they got all hot and heavy. 

[ganesh]

The show said, "Check me out, I'm kind of cool."

I said, "Ok, not bad. I'll stick with it for a few episodes"

 

So, tonight I was like, "why is Chandler charging at Dorian like that? What is he going to make out with him, heh. What the! heeeee!" 

Then the show said, "Come get some." 

 

I'm all for slash, because really, what's a good genre show without some slash? I wouldn't have called that in a million years. Well played, Penelope. 

 

While I'm all for a decadent orgy, and who isn't really? If I was hanging out with Dorian in the portrait room, I think it would freak me out while I'd be trying to get my freak on. There's just so many of them. 

 

I don't have a problem with the actor playing Dorian being so boyish and smooth-bodied because it brings sort of an androgynous look, which I think fits. But his hair is just shit. He looks like he's ready for his cameo on Friends with that center part.

 

I am doubly pleased that Van Helsing popped up when I asked about him last week.

 

I have to agree that Chandler must be the wolf. Between the play and the dog killing the rats, then last week. I do wonder if he actually knows it. Does he just black out? That would be interesting. 

 

Don't care for Victor and his dainty man-pain.

First of all, I'm stealing this. Second, yes. He's being a pissy bitch. Hey, Victor, you created him. You don't like him? Too bad. He's not going away anytime soon, so deal with it. 

 

Someone speculated in another episode thread that Brona is going to be the Bride, and this makes sense. She was in a bad way after the theatre (I used the olde tymey spelling), and she's close enough into Victor's orbit. I wouldn't be surprised if she died right there and was found by the Monster. 

 

This was a very good balance of all the plots tonight. Eva Green looked especially smoking.

[LittleIggy]

Wasn't expecting the Brokeback Mt. at the conclusion! More, please! Pleeeeeeease! The guy who plays Dorian looks like a ball-jointed doll from Japan, he is so lovely.

I hated the kitty being killed and the rat-baiting. Kill people and or monsters on TV shows, not animals. Yeah, I'm one of those people.

When the Monster was going on about being a superior race, Victor should have said, "Yeah, so superior you need me to create more of you." I really hope the Consumptive Whore will be the Bride. I hate her coughing on Ethan.

Edited June 3, 2014 by LittleIggy

[sjohnson]

Since apparently Dracula was offering Fenton as a kind of Trojan Horse, his wolf pack would have prevented them from taking the bait home with them if it weren't for Ethan. The implication is that the wolf pack was just there to make it look convincing but a fake threat since he knew Ethan would take over. I would think if the trap were simply to take Vanessa after killing the rest, Dracula would have been there to see it done properly. And there would have been no need for Fenton at all. 

[topa]

I assumed the reason Ethan didn't want to give his blood to Fenton was because he was sleeping with Brona, who's consumptive. I thought for sure the absinthe montage -particularly the moment when the two women are GLARING at him, and also the moment with the lady eating an apple- pointed to him being the ripper. I loved how they set this up; with his objections to Fenton's treatment, his anger at Sir Malcolm and Dr. Frankenstein, and his reaction to the dog-rat spectacle. Definitely not predictable (down to that last scene! wowza!). Really, really enjoying this show thus far, can't wait to see how it unfolds!

[topa]

Also, more than the ratting, the way Fenton crawled up the stairs gave me bona fide goosebumps, something no t.v. show or film has done in ages....awesome!

[Bec]

I had no idea watching dogs kill rat and betting on the numbers was a thing. That was more disturbing than all the supernatural stuff combined.

 

I want to like Caliban, but at the moment he just seems rather tiresome and stereotypically egotistical. I would find him so much more interesting if he ever exhibited empathy.

 

You might have nailed why I don't find Caliban as sympathetic as original-recipe Frankenstein's creature. The way he's all "me me me!" all the time. Even Victor (as egotistical as he also is) displayed more empathy than him on the show, thanks to those scenes with Proteus.

 

Bugs me the way Caliban keeps harping on about how much humans suck for rejecting him because he's not handsome, yet he wants a beautiful bride. To him it's a mercy to kill Proteus before he can know pain, but somehow it's okay to create a bride who will have to live through the pain of being reanimated and living as a freak of nature, AND stuck in an arranged marriage with him to boot? (But maybe this is par for the course for how little women's feelings were considered in the olden days.)

 

The new stuff the show added made him such a hypocrite! I don't remember it being like this in the book. But I'm still digging this take on the story and eager to see where it's going.

 

Anyway... the deadly nightshade. Was that like Chekhov's gun - they introduce it early on and later someone's going to get poisoned? Because if would be kind of a waste if that was just a throwaway bit to give Vanessa and Dorian Gray a scene together.

[confessa]

I actually thought that this was the weakest episode by far. Some of the scenes got draggy, e.g. the theatre scene with Caliban running around. I wanted to fast forward so badly. Plus the "like a son" comment from Malcolm to Victor was completely random. 

 

I thought the Ethan/Dorian thing was good on paper, but I don't think they executed it well. In episode 2, Dorian's pull was showcased much better with the music and pacing. Here it just felt off and a bit random. I get that Ethan was upset over Brona, very drunk from the absinthe (which I bet Dorian barely drank), and overwhelmed by all the developments in his life, and on top of that Dorian is basically turning up "Dorian pull" - but while I appreciated what they were trying to do, the whole thing fell a bit flat for me. 

 

Dorian is definitely getting bored with his life. He was basically throwing around the fact that he wasn't human with Ethan, too bad Ethan was too distracted to figure it out. 

 

I like Dorian and Vanessa together, but I hope there is a point to her infatuation with him. Vanessa is extremely acute when it comes to sensing the supernatural, so it is completely unnatural that she has not yet noticed that Dorian isn't normal or even a human. I hope the show has a good explanation for this. Or is it just that she's drawn to him like everyone else? 

[Neurochick]

I literally sat up and said "holy crap" when they actually kissed. As soon as I saw Dorian Gray I tweeted that I knew I was going to ship him with everyone...little did I know he'd be just about paired with everyone by the end of his second episode (if you count "meaningful glances" with Vanessa). 

 

This was something I expected from Dorian, but didn't think they'd go there with the sharpshooting American...so it will be interesting to see if this is new to him and was just some absinthe-fueled moment, or if there's something they'll reveal in his past when it's his episode to do that. 

 

I'm loving this show...have from the start...but this just makes it better.

 

I agree with this.  I watch on my computer with the closed caption on (the only way I can understand what Brona is saying) and I rewound the scene about 5 times because I was like, "WHAT  OMG...YAY"  I mean two hot guys kissing AND taking off their shirts.   Dorian didn't surprise me because in the first scene he was with a man and a woman, but I really didn't expect that from Ethan. 

 

Hope he doesn't blame it on the absinthe.

 

Is Brona dead?  She was lying in that alley wasn't she? 

 

Was Sembene at the theater?  In the shadows.  He scared the shit out of me when he killed that cat, yikes, but at least he didn't let Fenton just tear it to shreds alive.   Also, I could tell the cat wasn't real; the rats were real but I could tell that when the dog was killing them (wouldn't it have made sense if a cat was killing them?) that it was fake. 

Edited June 3, 2014 by Neurochick

[Dirtybubble]

Was Sembene at the theater?

 

Yeah he was and may I say he is getting creepier by the minute.  Something is seriously up with that guy.  When the young boy was looking up at all them before falling asleep he said "so many monsters" and clearly was looking at Sembene as well.  You don't think he's responsible for all those killings do you??

 

He scared the shit out of me when he killed that cat, yikes, but at least he didn't let Fenton just tear it to shreds alive. Also, I could tell the cat wasn't real; the rats were real but I could tell that when the dog was killing them (wouldn't it have made sense if a cat was killing them?) that it was fake.

Those scenes were just too much for me to take.  I had to fast forward thru them.  Killing people is one thing, animals getting hurt--well thats where I draw the line. 

 

All in all a wonderful episode.  I too was surprised by the Dorian & Chandler ending buy IMO it was the sweetest moment of the entire episode.  And I'm in agreement poor Brona is going to be the "monster's" new mate.  I hate to say the bride of frankenstein.  I don't think she actually died on the streets but the end is coming near for her.  Perhaps in the season finale we will see her final fate.

[Neurochick]

 

Yeah he was and may I say he is getting creepier by the minute.  Something is seriously up with that guy.  When the young boy was looking up at all them before falling asleep he said "so many monsters" and clearly was looking at Sembene as well.  You don't think he's responsible for all those killings do you??

I think Ethan is responsible for the killings because during the "absinthe montage" I saw the mother and daughter bloodied and dead as well as the prostitute who was sitting on the bench.  Why would Ethan think about them, unless he did it. 

 

But I do think Sembene is creepy as all hell; for some reason I think Sir Malcolm is afraid of him.

[Irishmaple]

This show is probably the best thing I'm watching on TV right now because it's one of the few shows capable of surprising me.  Every time I think I know where the show is going, it twists around and I don't see the bite coming.  Ethan and Dorian?  Jaw on the floor.  I thought Ethan was caught in a web of hallucinogenic and guilt, and was about to confess that he was a murdering werewolf.  Dorian seems innately seductive but I thought he wasting his time.  I was so wrong!  That scene was actually hotter than the one at the start with all the naked people roaming around like they'd wandered in off the set of Littlefinger's brothel on Game of Thrones.  When Ethan pulled The Lovers card from Vanessa's Tarot deck, he was dead on.  Fate just keep throwing options at him.

 

Vanessa seemed more understated this week and I don't really understand why she's so drawn to Dorian.  It may be she senses his Otherness but to me, beyond the obvious prettiness, he just seems jaded and kind of whiny.  Why bother to extend his life if its such a drag? 

 

I like Murray's connection with Victor.  They're both explorers of unknown, unsafe places and both of them are willing to go to ugly extremes.  I thought the 'you remind me of my son' was also somewhat of a back-handed compliment because Murray's son was weak and unable to survive in the environments in which his father thrived.  It seemed to me that Murray's 'you're like my son' was another way of saying "you're not cut out for physical hardship and I'm not dragging your useless ass along".  I actually prefer Caliban to Proteus now.  Caliban is a wildcard.  He told Victor he intends to rule humanity, yet he loves the work he does at the theatre and seems genuinely fond of the man who took him in.  The scene of them howling together while pumping blood through the girl's chest was hysterical.  I'm actually hoping Brona doesn't become the Bride; Caliban seems taken with that blonde actress and I'm (cruelly, perhaps) hoping some scenery drops on her head and she becomes the Bride.  I was surprised that Caliban ranks himself as the founder of a new species of Immortal.  Does he actually think he and his Bride will create offspring?  Or is he aware of the vampires and classing himself with Immortals in general?

 

Fenton crawling up the stairs freaked the hell out of me.  He was like a giant, creepy spider but I was sad to see him die.  They had to feed him a cat, though?  Murray was quick enough to tap a vein for research but no-one could pour a few ounces into a glass?  The master vampires are seriously unsettling on this show; I doubt that guy sparkles in the daylight.

[ganesh]

The new stuff the show added made him such a hypocrite! I don't remember it being like this in the book.

 

He wasn't like that in the book. Wasn't he self-educated? (As he was on the show). And I thought he was living in someone's barn in France. He wasn't an asshole like this. 

[BuddhaBelly]

 

First of all, I'm stealing this. Second, yes. He's being a pissy bitch. Hey, Victor, you created him. You don't like him? Too bad. He's not going away anytime soon, so deal with it.

 

That's where I am with it. It also rings false to me that Victor never went back to see what became of the creature. I understood that he was frightened at first but Victor seems too curious for curiosity's sake to not go back. I don't know I feel sympathy for Caliban even at his most hypocritical. He's living in a time where even the littlest difference got people ostracized or mocked and he knows he's as different as they come. People don't feel sorry for him and they assume he was injured in a factory accident. Imagine if the truth came out?

 

He's lonely because women of that time wouldn't look passed that. (Brona turned on Ethan because of class, a barrier she can't pass. Imagine looks) He's ashamed to even show his face, so the next best thing is someone who would be like him. They'd share the same afflictions except she would be beautiful and now have to deal with that sort of torment. Her being beautiful would mean she could walk the street without hiding her face. Yes, it's selfish but also a kindness. 

 

 

his wolf pack would have prevented them from taking the bait home with them if it weren't for Ethan.

 

Whose pack? Ethan's? I didn't get the sense that they were his pack just that he felt some sort of kinship to them because they were wolves. I am open to being proven wrong though.

 

 

I assumed the reason Ethan didn't want to give his blood to Fenton was because he was sleeping with Brona, who's consumptive.

 

I assumed it was because he's a werewolf and didn't want to see how his blood would affect the creature or if the creature could tell. Ethan doesn't seem concerned about getting consumption , a disease that people knew was highly contagious at that point. 

[Kat]

 

Also, it was great to see David Warner as Dr. Van Helsing — and nice touch to make him a hematologist! I’ve loved his work ever since Time After Time years ago.

Yes! I was so excited to see Warner in this role - he's perfect for it. I have a fondness for almost every character on this show, except Caliban and Brona, which considering where this storyline is probably going, is not a good sign. My Billie Piper tolerance level is very low and she's almost reached it.

I'm embarrassed to reveal how many times I've rewatched the last 5 minutes of this episode. SO HOT.

[LittleIggy]

   Also, I could tell the cat wasn't real; the rats were real but I could tell that when the dog was killing them (wouldn't it have made sense if a cat was killing them?)

No, because cats play with their prey. Certain terriers (Rat terriers!) were bred specifically to kill rats.

[sjohnson]

"Whose pack?" Dracula's pack, until Ethan cowed the alpha. Zoos don't ordinarily let wolfpacks patrol the grounds, so I'm certain that Dracula let them loose as part of the trap. What I can't understand is how he could count on just a pack of wolves to kill all Vanessa's protectors. But I think he'd need Ethan's cooperation to, so to speak, de-fang the pack so that the troupe could seize the real trap: Fenton, who would let Dracula into Murray's mansion. Overcoming the fake menace of the wolf pack would make it more convincing.

[iMonrey]

I've definitely been on the fence about this show . . . until now. Holy crap that kiss took me by surprise, to say the least. I mean, the scenes between Ethan and Dorian were rife with the HoYay (especially in the bathroom), but I honestly didn't think they'd go there. Not with Josh Hartnett, especially. Now I just want to know what's going on. Is this some part of the curse Dorian is under, that everyone is so drawn to him they can't help themselves, even totally straight men? Did he put something into Ethan's drink? A combination of both, maybe? 

 

I saw Brona becoming the bride a mile away - I think the first time we saw her and learned she was dying it was obvious something was going to happen to her to "preserve" her life or turn her into one of the undead.

 

That play was all kinds of corny. Funny how starved for entertainment people must have been back then. But Brona's reaction just to being in the theater was touching.

[sjohnson]

Absinthe was supposed to hallucinogenic as well as intoxicating. It appears that if it was it was because of additives, not the absinthe itself. Absinthe was flavored by grand wormwood. The episode had two plants, the wormwood and the nightshade.

[JayKay]

I don't know I feel sympathy for Caliban even at his most hypocritical. He's living in a time where even the littlest difference got people ostracized or mocked and he knows he's as different as they come. People don't feel sorry for him and they assume he was injured in a factory accident. Imagine if the truth came out?

 

He's lonely because women of that time wouldn't look passed that. (Brona turned on Ethan because of class, a barrier she can't pass. Imagine looks) He's ashamed to even show his face, so the next best thing is someone who would be like him. They'd share the same afflictions except she would be beautiful and now have to deal with that sort of torment. Her being beautiful would mean she could walk the street without hiding her face. Yes, it's selfish but also a kindness. 

It's a nice thought, but I don't believe that it's out of kindness. The thing is, imagine she's beautiful and wants to have a relationship with the mortal world because she isn't totally rejected by it. Caliban wants a beautiful bride because he can't make connections with beautiful mortal women, apparently, because he's so ugly. So going by that logic, she will be capable of finding love with a mortal because she won't be ugly. I don't expect that Caliban has considered what she might want because he already sees her as property. I hope he's very disappointed when he realizes that his bride will have just as much control over her life as he does his own.

 

I'm just saying, there are guys like Caliban even in modern times, and they're the kind who Google "mail-order brides."

[Tara Ariano]

So, tonight I was like, "why is Chandler charging at Dorian like that? What is he going to make out with him, heh. What the! heeeee!" 

Then the show said, "Come get some."

 

RIGHT?!

[theFel]

I know the popular opinion is that Ethan is a werewolf, but I was kinda thinking he might be Jekyll/Hyde. Then they did the wolf scene last episode and I figure he was a werewolf. But after the play, I'm not so sure again. He didn't react to it at all. I was expecting some reaction to seeing a werewolf kill a woman. 

 

And we better see Hartnett's behind as he gets out of Grey's bed at the beginning of the next episode!

[ganesh]

If he doesn't have memories of what he does as a werewolf, then he probably wouldn't react to the play.

 

They were pretty heavy with the wolf motif at the end of the episode too. Jekyll willingly took a potion too. It seems like Chandler is turning wolf and has no control over it. 

[LittleIggy]

And we better see Hartnett's behind as he gets out of Grey's bed at the beginning of the next episode!

Oh, yeah! Sign me up for that! :-)

Edited June 4, 2014 by LittleIggy

[theFel]

ganesh - but he reacted to the murdered women. Unless, he has vague memories of killing them, but doesn't realize that he is a wolf/wolfman when he does it.

 

The other way: It would be interesting if Ethan/Jekyll was strait but Hyde was bisexual/gay. The absinthe would have triggered the switch. That could cause some appropriately awkward scenes.  

[iMonrey]

 

Absinthe was supposed to hallucinogenic as well as intoxicating. It appears that if it was it was because of additives, not the absinthe itself.

 

Please don't tell me the whole make-out scene ends up just being an hallucination.

[ganesh]

It better not be an hallucination because that would be a massive massive cop out.

 

 

The other way: It would be interesting if Ethan/Jekyll was strait but Hyde was bisexual/gay.

Brona might want to stick around for some crazy kinky threeways then.

[spaceghostess]

Dorian's scenes this episode -- particularly the ones featuring D/V and D/E -- gave me the confidence to posit a theory I've been germinating:

 

Does anyone else think that Dorian may be a human manifestation of that soul-sucking Egyptian god Sir Ferdinand told Sir Malcolm about in "Seance"? When Sir ("You Heard with Ferd") Ferdinand hauled out the mythology re: Amunet and Amun-Ra (after Vanessa channeled Amunet at the seance), I connected the two of them right away, figuring this might be why she drew Dorian like a magnet.

 

Amun-Ra needs souls to perpetuate his immortality. Dorian Grey's "fulfillment" -- as fleeting as it may be -- is derived from revealing, then possessing the innermost secrets/guilt, driving passions, agonies, and obsessions at the core of everyone who crosses his path. If the person is an innocent (as was Sybil Vane in Wilde's story), corruption of that innocence is what feeds him.

 

"Demimonde"'s Dorian/Vanessa scenes really (for me, anyway) locked in the idea that she's his goddess in human form. Or, at least, he thinks she is. I think the Dracula/Vanessa connection is a red herring. Dorian is the vampire to watch out for.

[Dirtybubble]

It seemed to me that Murray's 'you're like my son' was another way of saying "you're not cut out for physical hardship and I'm not dragging your useless ass along"

Did you notice that when the vampire/Dracula was attacking Murray Victor stood there frozen like a statue.  Poor guy.  I like Victor, I really do, but yeah he isn't cut out for fighting.  I guess because he is so accustomed to working with the dead?  I don't believe though that Murray thinks Chandler is simply a finger on a trigger.

 

Wow--Chandler as the Jekyll/Hyde character?!  Interesting but it doesn't explain his connection with the wolves in the zoo.  That has to mean something. 

[spaceghostess]

No, because cats play with their prey. Certain terriers (Rat terriers!) were bred specifically to kill rats.

Further, the way cats kill (stalk, then attack) puts them at a distinct disadvantage in a rat swarm situation. There have been amazing feline ratters (one resided and ratted at a British sports stadium for decades), but their hunting style is more the long game. A cat couldn't survive being thrown in with a bunch of scared, angry rats. Rat terriers, however, are bred to strike and kill at breakneck (sorry!) speed -- I thought the show did a great (if grisly and really disturbing) job of portraying it.

 

That being said, Mr. spaceghostess commented that the betting would most likely have been on the survival of the dog rather than his number of kills. Successive bouts would pit him against increasing numbers of rats until . . . you get the (horrible) picture. He may be right, but I don't have the stomach to research it right now.

 

I really liked the way the whole scene got to Ethan. His lashing out could have meant many things, but the situation was so dark and visceral, the perfect proverbial "straw" considering the preceding events. He was putty in Dorian's hands after that, and their final scene worked so very well.

 

The idea of Ethan as Jekyll/Hyde is intriguing, but I think the [American] werewolf role works better. 

 

What if the Ripper is Mr. Hyde . . . and we don't find out until Season 2?

Edited June 4, 2014 by spaceghostess

[Dirtybubble]

The idea of Ethan as Jekyll/Hyde is intriguing, but I think the [American] werewolf role works better.

True and if we are going to be very specific it's Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Ethan Chandler isn't a doctor of any sort.

[goodogcarl]

Further, the way cats kill (stalk, then attack) puts them at a distinct disadvantage in a rat swarm situation. There have been amazing feline ratters (one resided and ratted at a British sports stadium for decades), but their hunting style is more the long game. A cat couldn't survive being thrown in with a bunch of scared, angry rats. Rat terriers, however, are bred to strike and kill at breakneck (sorry!) speed -- I thought the show did a great (if grisly and really disturbing) job of portraying it.

 

That being said, Mr. spaceghostess commented that the betting would most likely have been on the survival of the dog rather than his number of kills. Successive bouts would pit him against increasing numbers of rats until . . . you get the (horrible) picture. He may be right, but I don't have the stomach to research it right now.

 

I really liked the way the whole scene got to Ethan. His lashing out could have meant many things, but the situation was so dark and visceral, the perfect proverbial "straw" considering the preceding events. He was putty in Dorian's hands after that, and their final scene worked so very well.

 

The idea of Ethan as Jekyll/Hyde is intriguing, but I think the [American] werewolf role works better. 

 

What if the Ripper is Mr. Hyde . . . and we don't find out until Season 2?

That's what I thought was happening when the dog/rat scene began. I thought the rats were going to go after that dog.  I couldn't've watched.