![]() * Kathleen (Chanel Cresswell) is the unfortunate Whitby woman whose house the Count hides in. As she confronts the vampire, Zoe’s English accent starts to drift into Agatha’s Dutch. ‘Together’, they work out what Count Dracula’s plan is and set out to stop him. Because his blood contains traces of all of his victims, Zoe now has some of Agatha’s DNA in her system – and she starts to imagine conversations with her proactive forebear. After Dracula has escaped the Jonathan Harker Foundation, the organisation Zoe works for, a despondent Zoe drinks a sample she took of the Count’s blood. It’s because Zoe has cancer and her blood is foul to him. (So after Agatha, we now have Zoe – the A to Z of the Van Helsing lineage.) During her pursuit of the vampire, he bites her – but then recoils. She looks exactly like her 1897 ancestor Agatha, who was her great-great-aunt on her father’s side. * Dr Zoe Helsing (Dolly Wells) is in change of the armed forces that attempt to arrest Dracula on the beach then hunt him down to a nearby house. But it is far from her only contribution to this story… * Agatha Van Helsing (Dolly Wells) appears briefly in the opening scene, set during the timeframe of episode one. Wonderful at conveying a commanding confidence – a supreme, unflappable arrogance – without ever being boorish or po-faced, and also adding a sexy charisma, his Count joins Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee and Louis Jourdan in the first division of Draculas. Freed from his psychosis, he drinks the tainted blood of the terminally ill Zoe, killing them both… In this three-part series, Claes Bang has given us a Dracula for the 21st century. He realises that he is terrified of death – that’s why he recoils at the crucifix (a symbol of execution), that’s why he was drawn to Lucy, who had was excited by the idea. ![]() However, an encounter with Zoe leads to him having an epiphany about his own existence. Of course, the death doesn’t trouble Dracula – he may have liked Lucy, but she was always a means to an end. The Count regularly feeds on her blood – she is, from her point of view, a willing victim – and it soon kills her. In a flirty text message, he even uses a ‘Dracula’ emoji (‘the most meta gag ever,’ says Moffat, pointing out that Dracula isn’t a pop-culture icon in this continuity). He woos her, preys on her vanity, and reveals his true nature – which intrigues her. (As co-writer Steven Moffat has pointed out, we’re all conditioned to accept that characters in thrillers can be summarily locked up – but people actually aren’t allowed to do that!) Now free, the Count heads for London and targets a new victim: a young woman called Lucy, who he stumbles across after stealing someone’s mobile phone. He’s kept in a steampunk prison cell, but they mistakenly give him access to a tablet and he uses it to call in his lawyer, who facilitates his release. An agent called Zoe Helsing, a descendent of his old foe Sister Agatha, captures him and takes him to an underground bunker run by a shady organisation that has been planning for the Count’s return. Evading the authorities by turning into a colony of bats, he steals a suit and hides in a working-class home, where he kills one occupant and is then enraptured by seeing a shot of the sun on TV. As he points out, he’s 500 years old and has seen change often enough not to be confused by new technologies (‘I like the flying thing,’ he says of a helicopter). He’s momentarily surprised that 123 years have passed while he was asleep, but he soon acclimatises to the new world. * Count Dracula (Claes Bang) has awoken from his seabed slumber and climbed ashore in Whitby. The shop is on a steep road called Flowergate and is opposite the hotel where I stayed while on holiday in Whitby in February 2019. Personal note: The Dark Compass features a swooping camera shot showing us the smashed window of Whitby clothes store Spanton. Bram Stoker worked on his novel while on holiday in Whitby in the 1890s it was in Whitby Library that he first came across the name he gave to his villain and he set chunks of his story in the town. Most of the first half of The Dark Compass takes place in Whitby, a beautiful town on the North Yorkshire coast with strong Dracula connections, then the action cuts to three months later in London. Setting: Other than a short scene set in 1897 (at the convent seen in episode one), we are now in the year 2020. Written by: Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss. Broadcast: BBC1, Friday 3 January 2020 Netflix, Saturday 4 January 2020. Having finally arrived in Britain, Count Dracula is captured by a secretive organisation – but he soon escapes and ensnares a new victim…Įpisode: 3 of 3. My review of episode two, Blood Vessel, is here. You can read my review of episode one, The Rules of the Game, here. SPOILER WARNING: These reviews reveal plot twists.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |