dinolover
I hesitate to imagine what tripe vampire stories the fans of this show would endure.This interpretation of Dracula was the worst I've witnessed. I stayed away from the low budget tripe, and this NBC series had no business being this horrendous.I'm convinced people would become fans of ANYthing nowadays,as long as pretty people say the stupid lines and they're wearing costumes.The "plots" in this Dracula were stunningly contradictory. Anyone with half a brain would have problems with what the characters were doing and saying. The only way to watch the show was to turn off your brain and watch the pretty pictures go by.I weep for the future of vampire stories, if people liked this one.
j-menzies
I admit, this show was a slow burner. I originally started watching it for one reason - Jonathan Rhys Meyers. He is unmatched in his beauty, and always superb. It took a couple of episodes before I began to get into it. But by the third episode I was captivated, and completely drawn into Alexander's dark and intriguing world. The show has a lot of tension and drama, which comes from several sources. Firstly is 'The Order of The Dragon', with whom Alexander/Dracula is locked in an ongoing battle of wits (and violence), as they pursue their mission to find and destroy him and his kind. The main leader of this group is Lady Jayne Wetherby (Victoria Smurfitt) and she and Alexander engage in a cat and mouse game filled with manipulation and f**king. Jayne is ruthless and cruel in her role as the Huntress, but her relationship with Alexander allows us to see her more vulnerable side. Her desire for him (and to retain her sense of youth) cause her to become blinkered to the truth of his identity and his lack of feelings for her. The second source of tension comes from the deep, obsessional love Dracula has for medical student, Mina Murray (Jessica De Gouw). From the moment he sees her he is captivated, as she is the double/reincarnation of his one true love, Ilona, who was burnt at the stake centuries previously by The Order. Her character is clearly the polar opposite to Jayne. She is kind, shy, vulnerable, and at the peak of her beauty. In her, Alexander sees a chance for love and the kind of life he has never been able to have. This love, and his desire to avenge Ilona's death, become the prime motivation for everything he does. He hires her fiancée, Jonathan (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) to work for him, so that he can keep Mina within his orbit. And in a quest to overcome his body's adverse reaction to sunlight, he recklessly pushes Professor Van Helsing to develop (and test on him) a special, yet dangerous serum. Although Van Helsing carries out these demands, he is secretly plotting his own special brand of revenge on The Order, in opposition to Dracula.Whilst Mina loves Jonathan, she finds herself inexplicably (to her mind) drawn to Alexander. This attraction does not go un-noticed by her fiancée, or The Order, who cunningly use it to their advantage. They manipulate and recruit Jonathan, promising him the chance of revenge on Alexander. His jealousy causes his character to change for the worse, as he becomes enraged and desperate to hold onto the woman he loves.The sub-plot involves Mina's best friend, Lucy, (Katie McGrath) who is secretly in love with Mina, and inadvertently makes an enemy of Alexander/Dracula as a result. This is a crime for which she pays a heavy price. (This turn of events, in particular, would provide a fascinating new storyline for a second series.)All of these stories are expertly interwoven in a clever and subtle manner. It is a grown up, stylish, and intelligent show, which never veers into the hammy, camp territory of some previous Dracula incarnations. The sets, costumes and cinematography are visually stunning. And the actors are all brilliant, especially Rhys Meyers, who portrays a very complex character with apparent ease. His character would be almost entirely unlikable, if not for his relationship with Mina. She brings out qualities in him which are otherwise absent - warmth, love, a fierce loyalty and protectiveness. The fact that he possesses these qualities, seems to be as much of a surprise to Alexander (and his inner circle) as it is to us. Therefore he struggles to control them rationally. Whenever he looks at Mina we see a deep longing, and a vulnerability in those otherwise steely eyes. And in those moments, one would almost mistake him for human.
