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Frankenstein's (Harry Treadaway) creature (Rory Kinnear) tries to get a little too friendly with an actress (Hannah Tointon) who has just tried to be nice to him, so he's thrown out of the theatre he works at, and having nowhere else to go, moves in with Frankenstein. But Frankenstain wants to kill him and actually already cocks his revolver - when the creature goes into a long monologue about being an outsider, feeling alone, wanting to die and all that stuff, which somehow strikes a chord with Frankenstein, and he refrains from killing the creature and promises to make him a mate - to be immediately called away by sharp shooter Ethan (Josh Hartnett), whose prostitute girlfriend Brona (Billie Piper) is dying from consumption. Seizing the opportunity, Frankenstein smothers Brona with a pillow in an unguarded moment, then tells Ethan there's nothing he could have done, and promises to take care of the body and stuff.

Sir Malcolm Murray (Timothy Dalton) and Vanessa Ives' (Eva Green) weird relationship comes to a head when Sir Malcolm admits what she has long known, that he only needs her to save his daughter Mina (Olivia Llewellyn) and would kill her in a heartbeat should it serve that purpose. However, after having a meaningless date with the rather schoolboy-shy Dorian Gray (Reeve Carney), she accompanies Sir Malcolm and the gang - Frankenstein, Ethan and Malcolm's right-hand man Sembene (Danny Sapani) - to the vampire's lair, ironically enough the theatre the creature has been fired from earlier, to free Mina. Their plan almost backfires though as they have apparently been expected, and it's only when Malcolm kills the head vampire (Robert Nairne), that the other vampires die with him. Mina though proves to be possessed by something, and against earlier assertions, Malcolm kills Mina to save Vanessa, and he now pretty much accepts her as his surrogate daughter.

Grieving over the loss of Brona, Ethan tries to drown his sorrow in alcohol when he's addressed by two Pinkerton detectives (Stephen Lord, Julian Black Antelope) who want to apprehend him and take him back to the USA. Of course, Ethan won't go willingly, and during his fight with the detectives he turns into ... a werewolf!

The good: Some narrative threads have been resolved, and against all odds, Sir Malcolm has been allowed a character arc - even if the resolution that he finally accepts Vanessa as his surrogate daughter is a cheesy one. Plus, there are some nice set-ups for season two.

The bad: Again, the story seemed to be just meandering, without finding any clear main focus, just hopping from one point to the next, even if some of them are irrelevant - and speaking of irrelevant, portraying Dorian Gray, one of the most flamboyant literary characters of his era as a shy schoolboy without any charms is a bit ... well, basically the whole season could have done without Dorian, he had no influence on the main storyline, had no actual narrative thread of his own, and the few times his paths have actually crossed with the main plotline his contributions could have been just as well achieved by any random character. So other than namedropping, not sure what his involvement served even. Sure, his character might come to more prominence in season 2, but in this season he's less than promising.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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