Dracula 1x03: "Goblin Merchant Men"

[cleolinda]

"I'll recap the whole season of Dracula," she said. "Barring any catastrophes," she said. Well, there haven't been any full-on catastrophes yet (although the weather is supposed to be hellish, please let those not be famous last words), but I've been dealing with some chronic (mild) health issues, blah blah blah, I'm emotionally upbeat but not

Comments

[mistress_infy]

Bwahahaha, oh god the stories I have about Stretch Velvet Suit Guy. Looking back, I think he was the gothy version of a fedora-dude-bro, like...all hat-tilts and "m'lady," with a side of trying to order food for me (It went something like that scene in White Chicks: "And for the lady, perhaps a salad." "*Laugh* Perhaps NOT. I'll have the ribs, extra sauce...")

On another note, the way that they're trying to jam in random Victorian references is bugging the ever-loving shit out of me. Like, this bit with the guy digging up his Tome of Poems...why include that random, random bit of pre-Raphaelite noodling, which granted is a hilarious story on its own IMO, when we've got literally nothing else historically accurate happening except for the horses pulling the vehicles? On the opposite end of the spectrum, I started watching Ripper Street, and while they do play a little fast and loose with historic events/dates, the rest of the show is so layered with genuine Victorian stuff that it feels like...like little treats sprinkled in when things like that are mentioned, whereas with Flopula, it's more like some kind of desperation: "SEE, SEE, WE ARE SO VICTORIAN YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW, WE MENTIONED THE THING WE TOTALLY DID."

[mistress_infy]

Oh, they're completely not, but that's something most people give a pass on. Like, there's these super-fine boned, very clearly well-bred horses pulling these cabs around.

Husband found it amusing when I pointed out that the same chestnut with socks and a perky tail was pulling nearly every hansom seen in a mid-to-close shot for every episode thus far.

[mistress_infy]

Bwahahaha, right?? All these shiny, spotless cab horses, there is no way.

[cleolinda]

I suspect there's like exactly three establishing "driving a carriage to the Manor" shots they use over and over. One at night, one in the day, and another day shot from the other side (I was surprised to see that one thrown in).

[cleolinda]

The buried poems bit was such a new bit of information--I didn't find out about that cut scene until yesterday while I was finishing up, I think--that I didn't stop to google it. (The recap was also running really long.) So I actually didn't spot it as an obvious Victorian thing (to be fair, I didn't actually get to SEE IT, either). But yeah, some things seem to be dropped in a really heavy-handed way, like "WE WERE JACK THE RIPPER, DO YOU REMEMBER?" But others are actually buried pretty deep? The Punch and Judy show was a nice touch; I don't think I noticed it until I was rewatching it for screencaps. And there was the drag club song that actually turned out to be 1) a real music hall song 2) that had been performed in drag, which I never would have guessed. Or Escoffier at the Savoy, or Café Monico in the background. So sometimes there's things I've had to dig for... and other times they're burning the damn sugar.

(Oh Lord, "m'lady.")