Article first published as DRACULA Review on Seat42F.
NBC’s DRACULA, premiering this week paired with Grimm, is surprisingly good! It has not been taken to the modern day (although the 1890s is modern by Dracula-legend standards), does not have anyone solving crimes, allows most characters to speak with non-American accents, and is set in London, England. I never thought one of the Big Four networks would deliver something like this.
NBC’s DRACULA, premiering this week paired with Grimm, is surprisingly good! It has not been taken to the modern day (although the 1890s is modern by Dracula-legend standards), does not have anyone solving crimes, allows most characters to speak with non-American accents, and is set in London, England. I never thought one of the Big Four networks would deliver something like this.
DRACULA does differ quite a bit from the
novel of the same name. In this version, Dracula (Jonathan Rhys Meyers,
The Tudors) is awoken from his slumber nearly 500 years after the death
of his wife. He is intent on stopping the Order of the Dragon, a
secretive group that murdered his beloved, and are still around today.
Since they are oil barons, poised to control the energy industry of the
coming century, Dracula seeks to circumvent them with another power
source.
Which is not to say that Dracula is
fang-less, far from confined to the business world, which is conducted
in parties, not boardrooms. We see him skulking the streets and
rooftops, preying on those with the blood he needs to survive and
dueling with vampire hunters who seek to kill him. While DRACULA is not
gory, there is a creepiness about him and the show, and Meyers makes the
character radiate threat.
The weird thing about the way the
titular character is portrayed is that he is frequently forced to fake
an American accent to keep up the persona of Alexander Grayson, the
colonial entrepreneur he is pretending to be. Meyers’ lilt seems strange
and off. One might say that the character is faking the accent, too, so
this is OK, but he’s supposed to be faking it well, and he doesn’t. The
scenes in which Meyers switches back to a European timbre are better.
Stylistically, DRACULA is interesting.
It maintains some of the best elements of the character, especially the
danger, but puts it in a new setting, and not a lazy one a bunch of
other shows already share. Many of the variations with the source
material seem well thought-out and make sense to the tale being told.
The sets and costumes look pretty cool, though may not be accurate, and
there’s kind of a steam-punk feel to the technology Dracula is playing
with.
The major characters from the novel are
present in DRACULA, but most have departed a bit from their origins.
Renfield (Nonso Anozie, Game of Thrones) is still the vampire’s
manservant, but he is also a former slave, and there is no sign of him
snacking on insects. Van Helsing (Thomas Kretschmann, The River) remains
an intelligent, educated man, but is willing to compromise his
principals for the greater good. Mina (Jessica De Gouw, Arrow) and Lucy
(Katie McGrath, Merlin) are very pretty, but are not as weak.
The one person that hews closest to the
novel is Jonathan Harker (Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Mr Selfridge). A
dedicated reporter and boyfriend of Mina, Jonathan wants to know what
Dracula is up to, but is mostly in the dark. He’s earnest and smart, and
while he does come across as a little gullible at the start, he will
likely rise above it, though perhaps not in a way that will pose a
threat to Dracula.
The question is, will Harker be the hero
of DRACULA? If not him, who? Van Helsing isn’t acting too noble in the
first episode. Instead, if anything, the program seeks to make Dracula
sympathetic. Immediately, viewers will begin to root against the vampire
king’s enemies, hoping that he can gain some kind of revenge against
them. Except, any scene where Dracula isn’t directly working on this
mission doesn’t paint him in a good light, either. Is DRACULA actually
daring to live in the grey, murky middle, with each player having their
strengths and faults, but none clearly in the right or wrong? Because
that would be amazing.
To accomplish that, the villains must be
given layers, too. This wouldn’t be so hard. Yes, they are guilty of
ruining Dracula’s life, once upon a time, or rather, their forbearers
were. But Dracula is an undead creature of the night that deserves to be
punished, right? With none of the Order of the Dragon among the main
cast, I don’t know how much time might be spent developing them, or if
they are merely a distraction until other roles can be grown into
serious contenders.
One character that is not in the book,
as far as I recall, but is part of the main cast, is Lady Jane (Victoria
Smurfit, Trial & Retribution). She is fascinated with Dracula, and
quickly puts the moves on him, despite being married herself. If Dracula
isn’t going to feed on Lucy or Mina yet, he needs a replacement to
seduce, and Lady Jane fits the bill. I’m just not sure where they are
going with her.
DRACULA has its flaws. Some of the
dialogue is cheesy, the direction isn’t clear, the Order of the Dragon
is a very nebulous challenge, the first scene between Dracula and Van
Helsing reads extremely staged, and the style and setting isn’t likely
to appeal to an NBC audience. However, it’s more intelligent than much
of the network’s fare, and hopefully the horror element will draw
Grimm’s fans to it, allowing it time to show us what it can do. DRACULA
could be really good. It isn’t quite yet, but it could be, and because
of the risks it takes, it’s worth giving a chance to.
DRACULA premieres this Friday at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.
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