This week we immersed ourselves in the Dracula series for the second episode "Blood Ship". It was with amazement that we discovered the first episode, and therefore with a certain desire that we spent a part of our afternoon in front of episode 2. On the program mystery and misunderstanding…
A new chapter and new plots
We find our dear Count Dracula for a new episode in closed doors on the Demeter, boat belonging to Captain Solokov. This ship is indeed the means of transport that Dracula uses in the legend to leave his native land (trip notably adapted to the cinema in The Last Voyage of the Demeter in 2018 by André Øvredal). Remember, the vampire had during episode 1, expressed the desire to move to England, to be able to enjoy new Victorian bloods. The second episode opens strangely with Dracula and Agatha starting a game of chess. They discuss the Count's journey to Europe. Thus, the viewer thinks that this one is over. However, this is not the case. We learn that Dracula has made Agatha his new slave, in the same way as with Jonathan. And they're actually both aboard the Demeter. Dracula took care to hide the nun in a cabin. What will happen to the ship's passengers? Watch the episode to find out… 
The character of Agatha at the heart of the story
You thought the hero was Dracula? Well, it seems that Moffat and Gatiss have decided to share the spotlight with a nun. Indeed, we learn her true identity: Agatha Van Helsing… Sister, daughter or just a female version of the famous vampire hunter? We will be sure maybe in the third episode (or in a second season?). Even if her character has been little developed in the first chapter, and that she reveals herself in the last half hour of the second, we find her with a decisive role at the end of it.
A less frightening and more developed heavy atmosphere
In this second episode, the way of filming the actors seems more synthetic, with a well-defined scheme, and which seems to allow a less messy reading than before. Indeed, we notice more the expressions of the actors, and we feel their distress through the screen when they are bitten by the beast. Process already put in place during the first episode, but which can no longer be escaped as the victims in "Blood Vessel". The presence often considered too great blood would make him almost a character in his own right. Even if gore is omnipresent throughout the episode, we will try to convince ourselves that without blood there is no Dracula. In addition to this element, we discover a manipulative vampire, who uses his evil powers to give the closed eight an evil and almost evil atmosphere. It blows a fog to literally "muddy the waters" and make the journey more stifling and scary for passengers and crew. The rendering is relatively credible, even if a fog with yellowish tones raises the question of the means put in place for the special effects. Perhaps it is made to recall the putrefaction of decomposing bodies? That's one of the things we thought about… 
Top or flop?
This second episode is for us an almost total success. Even if the authors could have accentuated the personal stories of the secondary characters and their flashbacks, it is well known that they are no longer part of the life that the count wishes to lead. And maybe finding the Duchess in particular is a way to break with her past. Note the importance of Dracula to have such a range of personalities more singular than the others. He was obviously happy to bring them all together in one place. It almost looks like a nod to Agatha Christie' s famous The Crime of the Orient Express. In any case, we can't wait to discover how Agatha Van Helsing found herself in the 21st century… Not you?
