Dracula

[Dipsydoodle]

Anyone tuning in tonight? I'm quite excited!

Still very much creeped out by the small vampire child in the cemetery - "Peek-a-boo!", and later in Lucy's bedroom. Brrrr.

Oh God - I'd managed to forget about him. I'm going to have to stay up for at least another hour now until I forget again. Maybe until the sun rises. Which is in about 7 hours time. Oh jesus.

On IMDB, Lucy is listed as ‘bloofer lady’. Isn’t that what the vampire/undead child was saying to her in the graveyard and Dracula told Lucy it was saying she was beautiful? I think that’s what she was referring to.

That makes sense as to why she wasn't saying it properly - but it doesn't make sense as to why she said it full stop. She didn't go round saying it in the immediate aftermath of seeing the child - just after it was no longer true. for maximum horror. But no sense.

In the original book, after Lucy "dies" and her body is interred, there is a copy of a newspaper report* saying that children have been talking about a "bloofer" lady who has been seen locally. The implication is that one small child's mispronunciation of "beautiful" has been taken up by others.

*The book (for those who haven't read it) is made up of letters, diary entries and newspaper articles rather than being a straight narrative.

"Why did Lucy see herself still beautiful in the mirror when she wasn't, but Dracula see himself as his age?"

I interpreted that to mean that vampires saw what they wanted to see. Dracula presented a handsome face to the world, but wanted to see his true face in the mirror, whilst Lucy wanted to see her own beauty.

"Why didn’t they go to Whitby?!"

The foundation was in Whitby so I guess that was the nod to the original.

"But - if she is a vampire... a vampire can regenerate and heal all wounds by feeding off humans and lying in a bed of soil from their native land. That's how he stops being old. That's how he gets better after being set on fire and later blown up in the second episode ... so why couldn't she just regenerate?"

I think that drinking blood regenerates them to the point at which they became a vampire. The point at which they turned into a vampire is the best face that they can present to the world. So, for Lucy, her partially cremated body was what she was stuck with.

I liked the modern setting and the story was certainly new and unpredictable. But I found it unlikely that he would suddenly decide to embrace death, and I thought that vampires couldn't commit suicide anyway (Jonathon couldn't with the stake). Mind you, the writers are already hinting at a series so maybe the unlikely ending is meant to be full of holes.

I've had a time to reflect on the last episode, and actually some of it was great, the one liners from Dracula, I loved that he got his lawyer to come get him.. but I think the issue for me was, whilst the first two episodes worked as 90 minute epic gothic episodes, the last one was just too long in that format.

I think the last episode or future Drac, would have been better being saved to be spread across a mini series, of 40 min episodes.

Sorry also in addition to my thoughts on the last episode.. I also think with more episodes (but shorter) focused in the present day, we could have had more character development, I think that was part of the problem in the last one. There were a lot more characters thrown in the mix, and then the whole Dracula experiment thing too, it was a lot for one episode to try explain.

We don't know for sure if Dracula has killed himself? As said before they can't commit suicide. He may well
Spew up all of Zoe's blood?

I loved it!

Both the scary bits and the humour (The Count had some great one-liners), but I found the finale a total let-down

SPOILER ALERT!

For it to end with him being an (almost immortal) fiend with daddy issues and a couple of weird phobias - PFFT! What a crock.

I loved sister Agatha and her great-great-great- etc niece- so playful as a vampire-hunting nun with no faith - and her Dutch accent was lovely!

@Icantreachthepretzels see I saw the death dream Dracula and Zoe/Agatha were in together in a different light, rather than it being just "a nun with a crush" ending. It was Dracula who was naked and curled around Zoe/Agatha in a more vulnerable position (she was fully dressed iirc) - I didn't see that as Zoe's fantasy but Dracula's. I'll have to watch it again tho as I may be misremenbering. It was his death dream too after all. I think Zoe/Agatha held a lot of power in their relationship and IMO there was no sexual element to it - arguably, his "brides" which were both male and female were held in some kind of sexual thrall to him but Zoe/Agatha never were. He never talked about the possibility of her becoming one of his brides.

And re:fanfic having no place on tv - haha I think TV and films are FULL of fanfic if you understand fanfic in its original sense - a filling in of gaps and/or expanding on canon material

I think it was very typical of Gattis & Merchants style.
Non Americanised, tongue in cheek humour with a lot of nods to the original story with their own twists.
Nobody said it was a remake of the original narrative!!

It was by far the best thing on TV over the festive period!!

One of the writers likes to think he creates clever labyrinthine stories. If the plot is in fact just needlessly convoluted or lack logic, when anyone doesn't like it because they aren't clever enough.(Can't recall if its Moffit or Gatiss who said that.)

Think that arrogance in ability showed here. Lucy's change in personality and the difference in the reflection in a mirror where for just the shock value. (Notible for how long they held back showing what she looked like.)

Dracula's understanding of the modern world was inconsistent. Such as he didn't know what a fridge was yet knew the term download, television and how to log onto wifi. ( May not have been television but it was definitely a modern household item.)

Aldo agree with the PP who said it didn't know what it was. The insertion of the undead child proved this. That was unneeded in the plot (as in ut would have made very little difference without it). He'd never been seen before, by anyone (Lucy managed to get from the crematorium to Dracula's place without being seem.

Overall I enjoyed it, episode 2 was great, but think it unravel in the third episode. It was just fanfiction really. The conclusion was pathetic. Sudden acceptance of death by Dracula and happy death dream for the nun/scientist was sex with Dracula. (Mind you the vast majority of fanfiction does seem to require sex, no matter how shoehorned in. Well the pieces I've read do!)

On aside I thought the crematorium man was stunning. Was not happy he got killed!

I viewed the end dream as more his dream
Than hers.

@squigean he would know about wifi ect after drinking the camera woman's blood

Then that would mean the man in the fridge didn't know what a fridge was.

More to the point, who was the utterly gorgeous crematorium worker?

Back off!! I've already laid claim @dementedma 😐

(I'm looking him up now - will let you know what else we can ogle him in he's in.)

First episode was fab, in a camp sort of way. Next episode was only OK (I know many felt it was the best of the lot but I wasn't crazy about it). 3rd was crap.

One of the writers likes to think he creates clever labyrinthine stories. If the plot is in fact just needlessly convoluted or lack logic, when anyone doesn't like it because they aren't clever enough.(Can't recall if its Moffit or Gatiss who said that.)

Agree. Too clever by half.

I actually thought the first episode was 'meh'. Second was good. Third was crap (didn't finish it)

Wouldn't say too clever personally, IcedPurple. The 'twists' are often not logical or inconsistent. Sometimes they unnecessay and over complicated (to get from A to B, the twist would be A to D to C to E to D to B.)

he would know about wifi ect after drinking the camera woman's blood

I thought he just shot her rather than feeding on her?

Also, it's true that it wasn't made clear that Zoe would die from him bite (rather than being undead).

I think I've found my new husband in Claes Kasper Bang