I am still amazed at how Dracula turned itself around in only 10 episodes. When I saw the first two, the best thing I could think to say about them was, “Well, they look beautiful.” The premise was far more contrived than the story of Dracula should have been. A brief recap: Dracula was unearthed by Van Helsing because both men had their families murdered by the Order of the Dragon, centuries apart. Van Helsing feels that Dracula is the only one who can help him get the revenge he desperately seeks. So far, so good. To simply murder the Order is apparently too simple, too good for them. Dracula wants to see them live in ruins. Okay, I can accept that. But living in ruins means that Dracula needs to wipe out their vast fortunes. That makes sense… but doing so requires Dracula to come up with a convoluted plan that involves him posing as an American, creating a revolutionary new power technology that would render the Order’s enormous oil holdings worthless, and waiting for the market to decide that oil is useless, letting the stocks tank, and leaving the members of the Order penniless and powerless. That does not make for exciting television.
It wasn’t until episode five that the business dealings were largely pushed aside in favor of torture, murder, political scandal, and sexual intrigue. From that point on, the show just kept getting better. By the season finale, I was completely engrossed in the story and I am eagerly awaiting word on a second season.
So what can we expect from a second season? I guess the first question is, can we expect a second season? Dracula was a pricey series and the ratings weren’t stellar (though they did rise at the end of the season). But let’s suppose it does get picked up. Where will it go?
Mina and Grayson surely won’t hide their relationship anymore. I would like to see Mina move into Carfax, despite (or maybe because of) the scandal it will surely cause. I want to see Jonathan stay on with Grayson, if for no reason other than spite. Not sure where he stands now with the Order - he seemed genuinely surprised that they would blow up the resonator, but only moderately concerned with the loss of life it would cause. I suspect that he is going to embrace the dark side. And I think that Lucy is going to step up her seduction of Mina.