Viva Dracula

The world needs a new Dracula like it needs more Beiberific headlines, but NBC's epynonomous show is a swell one to have. The recently concluded first (possibly last) season is one of the more worthy adaptations of the last decade, bringing a genuine sense of horror, considerable visual flair, and a healthy respect of, but not slavish devotion to, its source material. It's also poorly paced, inconsistently acted, and not nearly as smart as it imagines itself to be. Let's take a closer look:

Good

The Acting - Jonathan Rhys-Myers is hilariously bad at accents, and not what one would call an emotionally nuanced performer. That said, the guy looks great in a suit, smolders well, and delivers a genuine sense of danger to the proceedings. I never bought him as a besotted suitor, but he's entirely believable as a raging, sexily soulfull monster. The show could've done much, much worse in picking a lead. In other news…. Nonso Anozie brings huge presence to a beautifully re-interpreted Renfield, Thomas Kreitschmann schemes and sneers skilfully in a lot of corners, and Victoria Smurfit is a fierce, strong heroine. Well played by all.

Renfield - Those who've read Bram Stoker's novel know that Renfield is depicted as a disgusting little lunatic sleazeball. Spiders for breakfast etc etc. Among the show's strongest choices is a new, far more interesting consigliere for the vampire, as titanically embodied by Nonso Anozie. This Renfield is capable and intelligent, proud and loyal to death. He serves Dracula out of gratitude, but comes to the position with his mind intact and eyes very wide open. Throughout the season, characters challenge and dismiss him as a simple manservant, only to be lacerated by his wit and crushed by the sheer force of his presence. Lunatics, you see, are boring and ultimately quite predictable. It is far more enjoyable to watch a man whose weapons are his brain and his words, delivered as they are in that booming, cultured voice. It helps immensely that Anozie is very funny, and that the writers give him many of the bon mots in a series not short on those. "So, not a bad morning."

The Blood - We've been inundated with toothless vampires who want to do nothing but make out and mope (see; Saga, The Twilight). It's time for bloodsuckers with fangs again. Yes, there's a stretch in mid-season involving Dracula having an existential crisis, wants to be good for Mina blah f-ing blah. Then, he shoves a pool cue through a pair of door handles, and I start grinning like an idiot. Anti-heros are supposed to have some genuine anti to them, and the show doesn't shy away from it in the slightest. Better yet, it delivers these moments with a strong sense of style. Observe the delicate, painterly images of Lucy in the bath, the way the camera lingers on her. Gasp as Dracula enters, flicker-fast, his dark clothing a razored contrast to the milk. Shiver as crimson blossoms in the white. This is simple stuff, but it's beautifully done, and on a very small budget.

Sex - And lots of it. Dracula, the novel, is largely a metaphor for the Victorian terrors of pre-marital sex, the plague, and the meeting of those things which we now call STDs. In the show, Dracula neutralizes the Order Draco's greatest weapon by having sex with her. Is this coincidental? Do I need to draw anyone a map? This is what I mean by fidelity to the source material. This is a show of respect, a distillation of thematic concerns. This is how you make something understandable as visual text. Also, and refreshingly, the show gives us a romantic relationship between two men. While much of how that situation plays out is in questionable taste, I appreciated immensely that it is treated as both tragic and worthy of equal consideration to its more traditional counterparts. This is a progressive and modern show, made by intelligent and sensitive people. Both qualities are rare and worthy of applause.

Jayne - Victoria Smurfit is the best actor on a show with a lot of good ones, and her (entirely original) character is its most interesting personality. She is gorgeous, sexually liberated, and a formidable fighter and "huntsman" of the undead. These qualities are presented in a consistent, decidedly human character, and all as good things. She's not over-masculanized, a slut, or any of the other freakish descriptors one might expect for such a woman in Victorian society. I have some small quibbles with her inability to, for example, notice that her lover is lacking a heartbeat, but overall this is the sort of character we need more of on television. If the show gets another season, I sincerely hope the writers come up with a way to bring her back from the dead. And come on, how hard could that really be?

Bad

The Acting - Oliver Jackson-Cohen and Jessica De Goux seem like wonderful people, and lord knows they've got the looks for this kind of thing. Problem is, they're simply not very good. Dracula looks like he's molesting a scared girl in his romantic scenes with Mina, and Anozie blows Jackson-Cohen off the screen at every opportunity. The parts call for actors with intensity and charisma, and these two just look lost. A shame. The less said about the hammy dunces portraying the Order Draco, the better. Actually,  never mind…..

The Order Draco - What. In. The. Bloody. Hell? This is Dracula's ancient enemy? These idiots? Blah blah blah oil prices blah blah sacred oaths blah blah blaaaaaah. Badly acted, poorly concieved, inconsistently motivated, and generally moronic, this collection of idiots wouldn't scare a Monty Python troop. Moving on…

British Fucking Imperial Coolant - The show's base premise, of Dracula going to Victorian London to wreak havoc on his tormentors, is just fine. Fun, even. The execution sucks. Quick thought experiment: If you were an immortal vampire / badass martial artist killing machine, and had some people to off, would you track them down and rip out throats, or ruin them economically by inventing an incredible new energy technology which would then drive down the price of oil? Who takes the second plan? Anyone? Bueller? Thought not. I understand that this is a Friday-night television show, and that battles are a lot more expensive than board meetings in production terms. But still, an audience tuning into a program named after the most infamous vampire in literary history doesn't want to hear about stock prices. I could live with the plot, if it occupied one or two episodes. As is, it ruins the season's pacing and occupies far too great a percentage of the (very limited) screentime.

And that's a wrap. I have a hard time seeing this show coming back for another season, which is a shame. We need more genre on tv, in movies and books. There are seeds of true greatness here, and I can see another season, made by the same people but with the improvements of experience, reaching stunning new heights. The prevalence of vampires in pop culture won't be lessening anytime soon, and it's nice being reminded that the first bloodsucker hasn't let his fangs grow dull.