Dracula - S1E2 - A Whiff of Sulphur
Previously, on Dracula: “The Blood is the Life”
On the foggy streets of London, Alex Grayson reminisces on that one time he woke up in Romania in 1881 and was Dracula: As his body floats out of his newly opened coffin, he immediately attacks Van Helsing, his releasor. Van Helsing stakes him to the ground at the last second with a cross through the toe and explains why he released the beast.
The Order of the Dragon (Dracula’s own club, really. The name Dracula approximately means “son of the dragon”) killed Van Helsing’s family, in the same way they did Dracula’s, and together they can bring the Order to justice. Justice is obviously a loose use of the word here, since their vehemence ensures that this justice is going to come with a huge helping of blood and vengeance.
And lecturing; back in Grayson’s parlor, Van Helsing draws the vampire’s blood while he chastises Grayson for all of the needless killing on the streets of London. In the business of revenge, their sole purpose is to provide clean, free electric power to the city so that the London Holding Club gets put out of business-not quite the bloody mayhem you expect from the King of the Vampires-but every move Grayson makes reveals another of their cards to the enemy. In the meantime, Van Helsing is still trying to generate a serum from Grayson’s blood that will allow him to walk in sunlight so it’s not a dead giveaway that he’s a vampire.
At what appears to be the weirdest social event of the season (Fencing and Fine Dining? Epees and Egg Salad? En Croute and En Garde?), Lucy Westenra promises the family jewels to Alistair if he will be her fencing hero in the next match. Mina joins the table, and the Westenras and Harker watch as Lucy’s knight is bested and embarrassed by the guy everyone knew was going to win anyway, Lord Davenport’s son. Above the action, Lord Browning and Lady Jayne discuss the replacement of the German huntsman Krueger, who was found mysteriously dead on a rooftop.
Lord Laurent appears at Grayson’s calling in his office, only to be insulted when Grayson offers to buy his shares in the British Cooling Company for triple their worth. When he refuses and then gets all huffy about it, Grayson moves on to Plan B: Harker. It’s a convoluted plan, since Grayson technically wants Harker to work for him so that he can get closer to Mina, but he also wants Harker to provide information on the London society crowd and all their deep dark secrets. He even creates a position just for Harker-the VP of Dirty Secrets-and buys Lord Clive’s now-empty mansion to sweeten the deal.
The next day, as Mina is voicing her worries about passing her examination and moving on past her fourth year in medical school, Harker only has ears for his new VP job offer. The money would be great, of course, and he would finally make enough to propose to Mina, so as he tells her about the new position she insists that he take it regardless of his concerns about the job in general and Grayson’s dodgy background.
While they discuss the details, Lady Jayne stalks through a wicked looking opium den looking for her “Seers”, the new huntsmen. Well, huntsman and huntslady, it looks like, and so far the most interesting looking characters in the show. Their “hunting” is psychic searching through a large glass mirror in their private opium chamber.
Grayson’s insulting offer to Lord Laurent has the British Cooling Company on their guard; they realize that if Grayson’s magical wireless electricity were to ever actually come to fruition, their stock value would plummet. Luckily, Lords Laurent and Browning are quite ruthless and plan to cut Grayson off at every turn, including cutting down anyone who helps him. This seems like it could spell out bad news for Harker…
Lady Jayne and Grayson dine at her house and he wows her with the old “there’s a quarter in your cleavage” magic trick, and then proceeds to stuff her with his whole roll of quarters. Vampires are sexy creatures, and this is a sexy, sexy scene. The inconvenient Friday night time slot just paid off!
The next morning brings storms to London, and Grayson stops on the street to offer Mina a ride in his claustrophobia carriage. He gives her a pep talk about her upcoming test and aspirations to become a lady doctor and not just another nurse. Mina, repeating Grayson’s encouraging words as her mantra, aces her exam for Professor Van Helsing and doesn’t even get her crisp white apron dirty.
At the same time, Harker is having second thoughts about his spiffy new job offer. For no reason whatsoever, he’s beginning to have suspicious thoughts about Grayson and his motives for why he chose Harker for the position.
In the swankest room of the opium den, the Seers use their mirror and psychic spotlight to search the streets of London for Lady Jayne’s vampire. They pick out Grayson and come upon him from behind, but he senses the giant psychic seachlight aimed at his back and turns it back on the Seers, breaking their magic mirror and making it run with blood-but not before they see his face. Lady Jayne reports the news to Browning and they reason that this vampire must be very old and powerful to utilize that kind of magic.
Mina has finished her exams at the top of her class, and Lucy wants to celebrate at the fanciest restaurant in town. Harker, whose rent has just been raised again, realizes he can’t even afford to take his old lady out on the town and accepts Grayson’s job offer. As his first act as VP of Dirty Secrets, he tells Grayson to get to the members-only club that night if he wants the dirt on Lord Laurent.
Grayson heeds the advice and gains entrance to the super secret club to find Lord Laurent and Daniel Davenport full on making out on the settee! With an incredibly open mind for a 15th century warlord, Grayson waxes poetic on the freedom to love but “warns” them of the damage they could do to their reputations and families.
Harker, now fruitfully employed and making bank, reverts to his caveman sensibilities while he celebrates his impending engagement with his buddies. Certain that once he proposes, Mina will clear her head of all of the silly “lady doctor” dreams she’s had since she was a child and will instead be a proper English wife.
Not a one of his buddies that he’s boozing up bother to tell him that she is standing right behind him as he beats his chest, and she runs out of the room in tears. For some reason, hearing Harker say it out loud makes her realize that he has never really encouraged her in her pursuits, and now she knows why.
Finished at the gay club, Grayson pursues an Irish coatcheck girl and then proceeds to drain her. As he decimates her in the street, Lady Jayne’s footsteps echo up the cobblestones (she should have used her garden-sneaking shoes that were so effective last episode). She happens upon the body just as Grayson disappears around the corner; instead of pursuing, she brandishes a fierce blade and lops off the head of the corpse in the middle of the street.
Next week on Dracula: “Goblin Merchant Men”
