1.1 The Blood is the Life And yet, by the end of the first episode, and ignoring the exaggerated age difference always depicted between Catherine of Aragon and Henry, I was sold. Sure, the lavish costumes, expert actors, frequent bed-mauling, and gorgeous sets helped. But in the end, the entire project rested squarely on Meyers’s shoulders. And what he knew he couldn’t deliver on physically had to be made up for in other ways – namely by nailing the twisted, paranoid, arrogant, but still charismatic quality of one of the most compelling kings to sit on the English throne. So when they announced that he would be playing the titular vampire in NBC’s new 10-episode series Dracula, I had few worries. Meyers might be a stretch as a massive monarch, but he was built to play the seductive and dangerous count. No wonder NBC chose to skip the pilot process on Cole Haddon’s creation and go straight into production. With a team of producers that included Gareth Neame (Downton Abbey), Emmy winner Colin Callender, Tony Krantz (Sports Night, 24), Dracula is poised to become a hit. Set almost exclusively in Victorian England, the episode opens with Van Helsing (Thomas Kretschmann) awakening Dracula from a centuries-long sleep by slitting the throat and feeding him the blood of an avaricious but apparently otherwise innocent man. I’ll let you take a moment to read that again. Because some group called the Order of the Dragon (think the Knights Templar, only actually guilty of everything they were accused of back in the fourteenth century) killed both Van Helsing’s family and Dracula’s wife. So of course they’re going to join forces, have an occasional but quickly mended spat or two, and then become the next great bro-mance. If only it got better from there. The Order has now moved from using the Church to cover its evil to allowing late-nineteenth century capitalism and industry to cloak its doings. In order to thwart and bring down the captains of industry and immolation, Dracula turns up in England disguised as a young American businessman who has a near-miracle to share: technology capable of transmitting electricity wirelessly. Lends a bit of steampunk to the already confused narrative. Dracula reveals this scientific breakthrough (meant to eventually bankrupt the bad guys) during a party where the rest of the more traditional Bram Stoker characters appear: Jonathan Harker (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), the journalist, is escorting medical student Mina Murray (Jessica De Gouw) and un-Victorian flirt Lucy Westenra (Katie McGrath) to a party at the home of Dracula’s alter-ego Alexander Grayson. Renfield (Nonso Anozie) oversees the festivities, which most people appear to have come to out of curiosity or a desire to insult the American “interloper.” And Mina – who just happens to be the spitting image of Dracula’s dead wife – is, of course, immediately drawn to the mysterious American, while Dracula seems a touch too blasé about the incarnation of his wife who’s randomly shown up at his party. The next thirty minutes include a murder, a rooftop fight, a head in a box, an evil-kickboxing-vampire-hunting-blonde (who also apparently enjoys a good fingering by the undead), and Ben Miles of all people, who seems to be playing one of the worst of the Dragonians, a man named Browning (a possible reference to Tod Browning, director of the 1931 Bela Lugosi Dracula?). For a series so determined to play it straight, Dracula reads more on paper as camp than horror or adventure. It was like the show was conceived over a drunken game of Cards Against Humanity. Still, even the most ridiculous of stories (and dialogue) can sometimes be redeemed by a great cast. Unfortunately, while Meyers, Kretschmann, and Anozie put in solid performances, the rest of the ensemble seems a little flat. Lucy is one-note, Mina seems only vaguely aware of her surroundings, and Jonathan’s best quality is that he’s not being played by Keanu Reeves this time round. You’re probably sensing that I’m disappointed. Still, it’s a role Meyers was born to play and it’s that which will ensure NBC an audience for at least a few more episodes. Shirtless, smoldering, and seductive as hell, he’s something to watch in action. Here’s to hoping they give him the writing and supporting cast that allows us to enjoy him for far more than that. Both he, and Dracula, deserve better than what we’ve seen so far. Read Bela Lugosi to Buffy: 10 very different on-screen Draculas, here.
