Dracula 1.05 “The Devil’s Waltz” Recap

While in bed, Mina notices that Grayson is in the corner of her bedroom, lurking in the shadows by the curtains. He comes closer and sits on her bed, telling her that she’s making a mistake in marrying Harker and that he’d never be able to make her truly happy. She assures him that she loves Harker and Grayson wants her to look him in the eyes and say that, which she can’t. He gets up to leave, only for her to grab him, kiss him, and take him to bed. Except that it was all a dream, as that day is her engagement party and Lucy wakes her up so they can get started with all they have to do. Meanwhile, Van Helsing and Grayson go down to the cellar to fetch the first subject for the solar serum testing – the female vampire that was in Lady Jayne’s dungeon. As people are getting more suspicious of him, Grayson urges Van Helsing to quickly work out the kinks of the serum.

Renfield finds himself tied to a chair and at the mercy of Janina Kleiberson, the contractor that Lord Davenport hired. After working Grayson’s man over, giving him a swollen eye and several cuts, she reminds him that to get out of her clutches, he only has to answer a single question – who does Alexander Grayson love? However, Renfield remains silent and Kleiberson uses a blade to remove one of his fingernails, beginning the next wave of torture in hopes of acquiring the ammunition Lord Davenport needs to bring down Grayson. Harker meets with Vera Markham and learns that General Shaw is taking bribes through a deal with an arms manufacturer – when Britain goes to war, every unit sold puts money in his pocket, including the eight warships that were commissioned that July. In return, Shaw received 60,000 pounds, but Grayson is less concerned about that and more about both Renfield and Mina, the latter distant on what should be one of the happiest days of her life.

As Mina laments about the guest list that includes the likes of Lord Davenport and Lord Rothcroft, as well as the dream she had that Lucy can tell wasn’t about Jonathan, Grayson fills Harker in on what he knows about Renfield’s disappearance, which is nine hours and counting. Harker volunteers to check all hospitals and morgues, with Grayson mentioning that the one task Renfield was to do involved going to local steel mills. Harker attempts to get going, only to be pulled aside by Mina; she’s concerned that he has disinvited his friends from the paper in favor of the new titled friends he’s acquired while working under Grayson. He insists that since they’re moving up in the world, they should be willing to leave certain things and people behind. Later, Mina has a conversation with her dad where she expresses concerns about Jonathan changing and how if he finds people like Szabo expendable, maybe one day he’ll find her expendable, as well.

Renfield still isn’t giving Janina the answers she’s looking for, not even after another round with a blade, so she gets one of her men to salt his freshest wound, uses an instrument to grab skin on his stomach, and tears it while asking the question again – who does Alexander Grayson love? Elsewhere, Van Helsing explains what the vampire will be undergoing during the first trial run of the serum – he’ll apply certain levels of voltage to the heart in hopes in jolting it enough for it to beat again. Once he gets a pulse, he’ll inject a healthy amount of serum into the body before immediately exposing her to sunlight. Grayson wants to get in on the action as soon as it’s proven to work, but Van Helsing reminds him that making the serum is a laborious process and he won’t have enough for the first subject and Grayson, not right now. He then remembers the first time he met Renfield. On a train 12 years ago, he meant to do a deal with Mr. Havershim, hoping to buy the Sweetwater Project and Doubletree Mine for $20,000. However, Havershim’s men pulled guns and Renfield, who was working the bar, advised Grayson not to buy a mine, considering that the mineral tax will be increasing.

After finding Renfield’s notepad outside Empire and Colonial, Harker learns about the abduction from a local newspaper vendor who watched it all happen. Rather than using the police, though, Grayson tells Harker to sit on the information, instead going to the lab to watch Van Helsing complete the experiment with the vampire. 1000 volts are applied, followed by an additional 3000, and her heart does begin beating. But the serum proves to be faulty once again, as exposing the subject to sunlight caused her to burst into flames, the fire spreading quickly from her feet. With that out of the way, Grayson leaves to track down Renfield, stopping outside Empire and Colonial to get a scent from one of the cobblestones. He left right before the engagement party was to kick off and as Harker and Mina make up when she sees he invited some newspaper friends, Renfield undergoes another round of violence, this time being kicked around by Kleiberson’s three men. He then flashes back to the meeting with Grayson, as he informed his future friend that Havershim and his men intended to kill him. Once the men attacked Renfield, Grayson came to his rescue and killed each of them, including Havershim. In present day, Grayson shows up to save Renfield once again, killing Kleiberson’s three men and then her before taking Renfield home.

Back at the party, Browning expresses curiosity at the lack of Renfield and Lady Jayne’s appearance draws notice, too, as she’s seen looking for Grayson by herself. He pops up soon, though, and kisses Mina’s hand before thanking Harker for the information that led to Renfield’s rescue. He then listens to Harker’s information about Shaw, only to dismiss the idea of making the information public; he wanted to embarrass the general, not bring him up on charges, and Harker leaves, disappointed. In a bid to find out who was responsible for Renfield’s abduction, Grayson uses his powers to decipher Jayne’s response to the subject being broached and she genuinely seems surprised at hearing what happened. Jayne then introduced him to Browning, Davenport, Rothcroft, and Godalmy, only for Grayson to recognize the scent from the cobblestone on one of them.

Mina pulls Grayson outside and introduces him to Van Helsing, just as Jayne confronts Davenport about the Renfield abduction, asking him whether the Order was behind it. He denies it, though, since the Order was given a warning by Browning to pull back when it comes to Grayson. Mina’s father gives a toast to his daughter and Harker and Harker gives a brief speech before “gifting” Grayson with the first dance with Mina that evening. While dancing, Grayson sees her as Ilona and Lucy and Harker both seem especially worried about the chemistry/connection that the two share. Harker tries to cut in and Mina leaves the room in a huff. While on the way home, Browning suggests to Jayne that Grayson’s arrival coincided with the advent of the old one they were chasing and that the ashes she brought him were not in fact the vampire that had been terrorizing London.

As Lucy collapses on a staircase out of grief for losing Mina, Grayson takes care of Renfield and remembers one of his first conversations with his friend. He learned that Renfield was a lawyer who couldn’t find a firm that would take him and hired the man under the guise of becoming his lawyer. The only caveat? Renfield didn’t want any secrets.

Additional thoughts and observations:
-I was a tiny bit confused as to why Van Helsing and Grayson let the vampire test subject burn. They could have easily closed the opening the sunlight was pouring into and used her once the serum underwent more development. Now they must find someone else to undergo the trials before Grayson can use the serum on himself.
-Ms. Kleiberson was especially impressive as a captor, but I’m generally a fan of villains who are less mustache twirly yet still retain a touch of humor/humanity.
-How will the show handle Jayne noticing Lucy playing with Mina’s hair? Is there potential blackmail to come, e.g. Jayne getting Lucy to look for information on Grayson through her friendship with Mina? That way, Lucy gets some sort of revenge on her friend for leaving her and Jayne can prove whether or not Grayson is a vampire.
-The flashbacks had a surprisingly sweet ending, which coincided with a sweet ending for the episode itself. Grayson’s genuine friendship with Renfield was already a highlight of the show for me, but it was still nice seeing him play caretaker to the only truly loyal person in his life, especially since Renfield stayed strong and didn’t tell Kleiberson about Mina.
-When Grayson mentioned Renfield around Lady Jayne, I assumed that he was going to glamor/compel/whatever-your-favorite-word-for-it her and risk blowing his cover by using his powers in public. He did technically use them in public by checking her vital signs, but it was good subversion of expectations and a way to keep the show from overlapping too much with other vampire series.
-I’m glad that Browning’s already caught on to the fact that Grayson might be the old one they’re looking for. Thus far, Grayson’s been pretty much in control of his dance with the Order and the show might be well served by bringing some danger into the doors of Carfax, allowing Grayson to work with his back against the wall. Although I’m “rooting” for Grayson to bring down the Order, there has to be some collateral damage and some sense that he might lose to make a potential victory that much sweeter.
-Favorite shot: Grayson smelling the cobblestone and then walking down the path was an interesting visual, if only for the angle it was shot at and the fact that it looked like he was walking on the side of a wall. Also cool – the second flashback where we saw Grayson killing the men from Renfield’s perspective and the daydream of Harker having his throat sliced on the dance floor, the latter darkly comic in nature.
-Favorite dress: The blue and white gown that Mina wore to her engagement party was stunning.
–Next week on Dracula: Browning wants the board to meet outside in the sunlight, while Grayson and Van Helsing seek out the final necessary component of their wireless electrical technology and Harker and Mina consummate their relationship.