Martin Roddy

The Name Is Dracula, Count Dracula! Latest incarnation of the Count rapidly evolves from that strong original character from the old book into a cheap Pearse Brosnan tribute act. Episode 1 was exciting, close to the original story and gave us our new 20's cinematic incarnation of the Count. All looked well, even the gender switch of Van Helsing (standard hat tipping to modern gender equality - check!) worked due to the interesting twist to that character. Episode 2, staying close to the original story and period, offered a perspective from the journey of Dracula to England. What happens on the ship is only brushed over in the book so a fair use of poetic licence used here which worked. This episode has the feeling of a bridge between Dracula in Transylvania and him getting to England, so on it's own wouldn't stand up to much. We could handle this episode's function if episode 3 didn't go the way it went. Episode 3. Oh golly what happened during the writing phase here? Dracula appears in modern day England and is faced with Van Helsing's descendent (echos of Hammers horrible attempt to place Dracula in modern setting in the awful Dracula 1972 AD). It's essentially a fish-out-of-water situation comedy. Transporting Dracula into a modern setting with all the original characters setup as young selfie-loving meillenials. Episode 3 gains tiny claw-back at the end with some creative hypothesis around the myths of Dracula and a nice homage to Peter Cushing's closing scene in the orignal Hammer movie where he darts across table to rip down curtains. Regardless, nothing can stop this finale from mortally scarring (was going to use 'stake in the heart' pun here but it is not deserving) what could have been an excellent new trilogy of The Count. Footnote: Despite a great look and superb acting by the lead actor I feel they wrote Dracula as a wannabe Brosnan type Bond. He's far too comedic and relies on corny one liners too much. I was just waiting for him to say 'I like my Blood Shaken not Stirred".