A new twist on a well-trodden tale
For the first two thirds of the first episode of the BBC’s new Dracula miniseries, it seems like a pretty straightforward adaptation. We follow Jonathan Harker in the late 1890’s as he experiences the horrors of Dracula’s castle, sees shadows crawling the walls, has strange, eerily real nightmares and is forced to sit and dine with the Count himself through painfully awkward dinner conversations. He’s recalling all of this to two nuns in a convent where he’s sought refuge after escaping and appears to be deathly ill. It’s well told, but it all seems far too familiar.
And then, the old, decrepit Dracula changes appearance to his younger, more vital self, and Claes Bang is onscreen as the Count. From that point on, everything that happens is unpredictable, or pieces of the book retold and put back together in new form. It’s campy, hilarious and exhilarating, much of it due to the fabulous Danish actor Bang as Dracula, who oozes humor, charm, and an absolutely contagious sense of the “joy of performance”- this is an actor who’s having a great time with this new version of an old monster. He’s electric in the part, equally threatening and funny with his spot-on delivery of Sherlock creator Stephen Moffat’s sardonic dialogue. And surprisingly, he’s matched every bit by his costar, Dolly Wells, another unknown actor who steps into this show as “Agatha” Van Helsing, and turns the stodgy vampire hunter into the first charismatic and compelling version of him (now her) we’ve ever encountered.
Agatha Van Helsing is a whole lot more interesting than Abraham ever was
She starts off as the nun interviewing Harker and once she comes face to face with Dracula, turns into his mortal enemy/soulmate as she fights him every step of the way, matching him and outsmarting him in wit and ingenuity. It’s a classic cat and mouse game, but the show just gets wackier with every episode. Once the familiar setup is established in the first one, culminating with Agatha and Dracula’s initial face off, the outstanding second episode takes place entirely on the doomed Demeter’s voyage to England, which gets a reimagining as Dracula preys on each of the passengers one by one, moving his way among them in disguise. Finally, the last episode throws you completely for a loop, so much so that some may not go for this wild twist, as part of it feels like a pilot for a new modern day Dracula series with the Count displaced in time. But it still keeps essential elements of the Bram Stoker’s work intact, with new spins on characters like Lucy Westenra and Jack Seward, and Wells now getting the chance to play a new version of herself as well. I found all of it refreshing and exciting, as the last thing anyone needed was another version of the Dracula story as it was. This show reinvents the myth and and injects new life into it, and you simply cannot get enough of Claes Bang, who’d I’d happily watch continue gleefully terrorizing people for eternity. Give it a shot- you might feel the same.
Grade: A-
Claes Bang brings the Count to brand new life
