Dracula Recap: 5 surprising twists from Blood Vessel episode.

Dracula’s episode 2, Blood Vessel continues to provide thrills and chills with Claes Bang as Dracula.

Netflix’s new original tv miniseries Dracula continues its uncharted journey away from previous Dracula movies as well as the novel itself. So far, I am enjoying this vision as this Dracula is so imaginative in his evilness.

Mark Gatiss and Stephen Moffat in “The Rules of The Beast” used the same characters from the novel, but in this episode, they introduced some new characters, not even in the book. The complexity of the storyline behind these new characters reveals even more about the devious workings of our illustrious vampire.

The main deviation from the novel is that one of the main characters, Jonathan Harker was killed in the first episode. Talk about a major surprise. Adding another shocker is that Mina Murray is not in this episode either. In the novel, she was Dracula’s target for revenge against Harker and Van Helsing, and she isn’t even in this episode.

So, what other twists and turns do we have in “Blood Vessel?” I’m glad you asked as we go over the other five surprising character deviations from previous movies and the novel.

5. Lord Ruthven

“Blood Vessel” opens with Lord Ruthven (Patrick Walshe McBride) boarding the Russian cargo ship The Demeter with his new wife, the lovely Dorabella. They were just recently married and were celebrating their honeymoon. He brings his manservant Adisa, but it becomes apparent very early into the episode, that there is more going on between them then meets the eye. Dracula, who is onboard the Demeter as well, is openly interacting with the passengers and, while at dinner, places his hand on Lord Ruthven’s thigh, much to the young lord’s delight.

It is also revealed later into the episode that a mysterious Mr. Balaur arranged for the young lord to meet the lovely Dorabella. She has a huge dowery, and Ruthven needs the money but is not in love with her or even interested in women.

What makes this even more interesting is that the character Lord Ruthven isn’t in the novel or movies. Lord Ruthven is a vampire from a short story written in 1819 by John William Polidori titled The Vampyre. I thought this was a nice touch adding another Vampire as a character on the ship to England.