Victor Frankenstein and his journey towards science following a life filled with death was the heartbeat of this episode. Through flashbacks, we finally met the first/real Monster as known from the novel; Harry Treadway is stunning as Victor and becoming such a strong yet sympathetic character. There are a lot of layers for this character and layers only added with his messed up “family.” I almost just want to watch a show about Victor and his emotional struggle—or fingers crossed a spinoff.
When the Creature was created, Victor ran out of the room in fear and never returned. The Creature was then forced to overcome being abandoned and learn society by looking out the window and reading books. He ends up meeting a man who feels freaks and outcasts always have a home in the theatre. Theatre in the 19th Century was in its prime and seemed like an experience in itself. I would have loved to work or lurk within the theatre community during the 19th Century—genius material! This Creature also dons a name from Shakespeare, Caliban. Caliban has now returned to demand Victor create a companion for him. My early guess is Brona will desired for resurrection and in turn a companion but not for Caliban. Anyways, we got a Bride of Frankenstein on the way…
The other storyline was not quite as compelling this episode. First of all, Ethan is now romancing Brona and feels bad for her tuberculosis. Who didn’t have TB back then!? It seems like the go to illness for any women characters during this time, especially those romantically linked. Also, Ethan is my least favorite character and quite a bit boring—typical American. Ethan feels bad and wants to make some money to get her some medicine. It just so happens Vanessa and Malcolm need a bodyguard on their new trip to find more vampire information.
Vanessa had a vision of Mina from the in between/underworld. I am not sure why the gang went to the London Zoo at night to look for clues, but they did. They didn’t find Mina or Dracula but did capture a vampire to interrogate. Wolves (maybe werewolves) tried to stop them from continuing; the weird thing was Ethan seemed the most knowledgeable about how to handle the wolves and prevent an attack. Is Ethan a werewolf, Van Helsing, Thibault? There has to be some mystery here and tie to penny dreadfuls or Gothic literature. As an aside, the show does like to throw out the reference to its namesake, though. A theatre was performing the tale of Sweeney Todd, made popular in the new penny dreadful.
Sir Malcolm tried to get answers out of Fenton, the captured vampire, but with no luck. Fenton talked mostly in tongues and seemed more afraid of his “master” than anything else. Malcolm and Vanessa do not hold back when dealing with Fenton, and Victor is keen to study Fenton to search for a cure for blood thirst. At the end, Fenton seems to talk to his master in the shadows—not sure if this is for real or metaphorical. As the show progresses, certain characters and stories are emerging as stronger than others. However, the mystery and horror continues to grow and build anticipation, especially with the little hints towards the source material.
By Kasey Michael-–a lover of all things entertainment. Born and bred in North Carolina, she has a degree in Film Studies and can usually be found in front of a screen.
