NBC Fridays @ 10pm ET
It's the late 19th century, and the mysterious Dracula has arrived in London, posing as an American entrepreneur who wants to bring modern science to Victorian society. He's especially interested in the new technology of electricity, which promises to brighten the night - useful for someone who avoids the sun. But he has another reason for his travels: he hopes to take revenge on those who cursed him with immortality centuries earlier. Everything seems to be going according to plan... until he becomes infatuated with a woman who appears to be a reincarnation of his dead wife.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water... The "Twilight" franchise has ended. HBO's "True Blood" is on its final season. The vampire craze finally seemed to be dying down -- until the Fall 2013 TV season, that is. First The CW spun off their successful blood-sucking show "The Vampire Diaries" into the equally vampiric "The Originals", and now NBC has kickstarted a new series that re-imagines the classic tale of Count Dracula, starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers. It seems like America's fascination with these creatures of the night knows no bounds, as evidenced by the strong ratings the premiere of "Dracula" garnered last Friday.
Fortunately, this new version of the character eschews the angsty, glittery, youth-oriented focus of "Twilight" and "The Vampire Diaries" and gets back to the gothic roots of the myth. NBC's show is dark, creepy, violent and beautiful, filled with stunning imagery of Victorian London and performances that strike the perfect balance between serious and campy. Meyers, most famous for portraying the lecherous, womanizing Henry VIII on Showtime's "The Tudors", is a perfect Dracula. With his pale skin, dark features, handsome face, brooding personality and commanding voice, he is the epitome of the seductive, dangerous charmer.
The strongest aspect of this "Dracula" is its willingness to toy with aspects of the story that have been set in stone for centuries. In this telling, Dracula has adopted the pseudonym of Alexander Grayson and a fake American accent to worm his way into London society in a complicated revenge plot. He is surrounded by characters with names known to anyone familiar with the source material, but with a twist. There's a Jonathan Harker, but he's an ambitious journalist instead of a solicitor. There's a Mina Murray, but she's a curious medical student instead of a schoolteacher. There's a Renfield, but he's a suave manservant instead of an insane slave. There's a Van Helsing, but instead of a renowned vampire killer, he's Dracula's unlikely ally. A major part of what will make this show interesting will be watching it continue to reinterpret these familiar characters and tropes and subvert our expectations of a classic story.
To be fair, much of the plot of the pilot revolved around Dracula/Alexander battling against a cadre of oil tycoons by bringing electric power to their city. And while the Clean Energy vs. Big Oil political maneuverings may have been a slow and heady start to a show that should be a fast-paced bloodbath, the episode did pick up towards the end, with alliances coming into focus, bodies being ripped limb from limb, and severed heads being carted around in hatboxes. Pilots have a big job to do, what with introducing audiences to a whole new world of characters, settings and plots, but now that the big picture has been established (read: now that the boring stuff is out of the way), the show should be able to jump full-throttle into some bloody fun. The acting, lush costumes, beautiful cinematography and gruesome effects certainly show that there's promise inside this undead show. (And it makes a perfect companion piece for NBC's other highly-stylized drama centered around a familiar pop culture villain who's been turned into a TV anti-hero: the brilliant and gorgeously gory "Hannibal".)
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1jVcmDH43Y[/youtube]
