Series appeared earlier this year on Netflix (in partnership with the BBC), Dracula is co-written by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, who is known for their sublime adaptation of Sherlock Holmes in series. With such a team, we could only expect a great success for this new adaptation of the Transylvanian legend… It is therefore with hope and assurance that we immersed ourselves in the first episode of Dracula, "The Rules of the Beast".
A first episode worthy of Moffat…?
We were waiting for him at the turn, and Steven Moffat did not disappoint us: refined dialogues and a refined plot set-up. These are the two editorial elements that stand out when watching the first episode. But is that all we can conclude? Is this enough to say that the writing genius has fulfilled its contract? Well, no, my dear readers, Moffat's talent seems to hide behind a little too much blood. Indeed, he preferred to play on the disconcerting and sensational aspect of the legend. We do not feel it too much at first but, the more the plot is revealed, the more the discomfort and the gore come to mingle with the strange. But don't leave so quickly, so let us explain the plot, spoiler-free, of course.
The plot, well tamed from the first minutes and supported by breathtaking scenery
It is with surprise and desire that we immersed ourselves in this first episode, which still lasts about 90 minutes. Having always had a taste for legends of all kinds and therefore relatively critical of their adaptation, it is without hesitation that we confirm that everything is pretty much in order (yes, yes, this message is for purists). We meet a Jonathan Harker, lawyer with beautiful blue eyes (will understand the initiates), a Count Dracula (played by Claes Bang) rather successful, a Minna who would almost come straight out of a fairy tale, and the sister Agatha, who will have a much more important role than we understand at first glance. All these beautiful people brilliantly play their role in impressive sets. The one that will mark the spirits the most and is almost as important as the characters is the castle of the count. It is a building worthy of the greatest horror films (Nosferatu the Vampire directed by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau), in which you get lost easily and which gives chills in the back, planted in the middle of a forest as black as the soul of Dracula. The plot, we come to it. As explained above, Moffat and Gatiss have, for the first episode at least, perfectly respected the fantastic story of Count Dracula. We first meet Jonathan, sent to Transylvania to conclude a contract with Dracula, the one and only. The just fiancé Harker finds himself at the table with this count, let's say it relatively decrepit, to make him sign the famous contract. But what Jonathan hasn't figured out yet is that Dracula has no intention of letting him go… 
Reasons to be tempted despite criticism
We all read that Gatiss and Moffat had disappointed the critics, even having succeeded in the first episode of the series. But then should we follow the adaptation of this relatively bloody story? At Just Focus, we think we should give a chance to the authors, who still brought us on a silver platter Sherlock Holmes and very notable episodes of Doctor Who. So even if almost everything pushes us to just stop at episode one, we want to see what they are capable of. And then, to feel a little out of time in these difficult times, a mystical and fantastic series like Dracula with its extremely well conducted reversals of situations can not really hurt us. We intend to spend a part of our confinement in front of Dracula and we hope to have opened your eyes to the first episode of a series that still deserves to be followed very closely. We meet again quickly for a new review on episode two "Blood Vessel"!
Dracula trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-b2HXpbg7U
