Dracula Episode 107
“Servant to Two Masters”
Written By: Rebecca Kirsch
Directed By: Brian Kelly
Original Airdate: 3 January 2014
In This Episode…
The nickel-steel alloy seems to have done the trick, and Grayson is ready for a public demonstration of his wireless electricity machine. Van Helsing has gotten the daylight serum to be effective for up to four hours now, which allows Grayson to take a walk in the park with Mina - then visit Jayne and screw her brains out. Grayson has decided to turn his back on his vampirism. He tells a worried Van Helsing that he doesn’t need to feed, and refuses to be a slave to his inhuman desires.
Mina wants to do something to lift the spirits of the patients at the sanitarium. Grayson suggests having a dance, something which Mina’s father is against. He relents, so long as she doesn’t spend a dime from the hospital’s budget. She uses flowers from the garden to decorate and asks Grayson to borrow his Victrola. Though Grayson can’t attend the dance - it is at the same time as his demonstration - he does better than provide a Victrola - he provides a full string symphony. As he tries to duck out, Mina chases after him and insists that he dance with her. Jonathan never showed up (though he promised he would) and there is no one there to see. He relents, and they come dangerously close to kissing - instead, Grayson nuzzles her neck and tries to fight back his hunger. Her cross catches in the light, stinging him, and Grayson runs off to his demonstration.
Browning, meanwhile, paid off the police chief to poison the local milk supply. The people who live near Grayson’s machine end up becoming very sick, which gives the police cause to shut down Grayson’s demonstration and confiscate his machine, saying it is a threat to public health. Grayson is understandably furious, so later that night he succumbs to his hunger and feeds on the police chief.
Jonathan had a good reason for not showing up to Mina’s dance: the Order of the Dragon kidnapped him. They want him to join their order, but don’t mention the whole “vampire” thing. Instead, Browning (the only one of the Order who made his identity known) wants him to help plot against the Ottoman Empire. They are sitting on a “sea of oil” and Britain must gain control of it. Browning actually describes this as a holy war. Jonathan points out that Grayson’s technology will make the need for oil obsolete; Browning brushes him off by saying it is all gimmickry. Jonathan has been a bit disillusioned by Grayson after he discovered that Grayson was the one who fabricated the General Shaw story, but as of now he remains in Grayson’s employ and has no answer for the Order. He does apologize to Mina for missing her dance, but by this point Mina is clearly starting to fall for Grayson.
Renfield is dispatched to Budapest, where a painting that once belonged to him was going up for auction. He waits until the last minute, then swoops in with a million-pound bid. Renfield watches carefully as it is packaged and sealed in a small wooden box, but he doesn’t leave with it immediately. Instead, he hides it behind a huge bureau in his room. When he comes back and sees a maid in there, he dismisses her with a glance at her cleaning cart, then checks: his package is still behind the bureau. Of course, when he gets home and Grayson tears into the package, the painting had been replaces by a block of wood. The maid was employed by Davenport, and she successfully delivers the painting to him. Unsurprisingly, the painting is of Dracula’s beloved wife - but to Davenport, it just looks like Mina. Scandalous.
Lucy is despondent over being rebuffed by Mina. Jayne soothes her with passionate kisses and promises to teach her the art of seduction. Not for Mina, but for Jonathan, to lure him away and break Mina’s heart, perhaps even driving her into Lucy’s arms.
Dig It or Bury It?
I liked this episode, but I don’t know why. There was nothing revelatory or exciting or game-changing about this episode. It was just a pleasant hour of television. But I am enjoying how everything is getting more entwined and kind of soapy.
Prophecies?
Jonathan accuses Mina of being in love with Grayson, and the Order hears rumors that the legendary Dracula is in their fair city. Plus, there are people on spikes. Nifty.