The episode starts at night with a woman (maybe a prostitute) sitting on a bench on the park. She is about to eat a green apple when she is attacked and killed, only leaving the arm holding the apple. Then the opening credits start.
We see Ethan waking up with a hangover at the docks. He goes back to the pub where he met Vanessa and orders breakfast (aka whisky). The scene changes to Victor who is teaching the creature to eat. Because he can understand him, Victor tells him that he needs a name. Taking a Shakespeare book, he shows the creature how with his finger to pick a random page. The creature names himself “Proteus”. Now Victor has two mouths to feed so he goes out to work, leavening a sad Proteus behind.
Back at the pub, a woman takes a shot of Ethan’s whisky and introduces herself as Brona Craft (Billie Paul Piper, Rose Tyler from Doctor Who). They make conversation about work, telling each other that they are unemployed. Brona seems to have a persisting cough. Though Brona appears to work at night also (prostitute,) Ethan asks for a room in the pub making it seem that an interest sparks between the two of them.
Victor goes to see Sir Malcolm where he is asked to take blood from the vampire’s corps and analyze it. Vanessa and Victor have a Shakespeare poetry moment. When the blood looks unusual, Sir Malcolm tells him that he will find an Entomologist for Victor to consult with. After Victor leaves, Sir Malcolm asks Vanessa what was all that poetry about to what she replies: “Our young doctor has a secret.”
Sir Malcolm goes to see the inspector to ask about the recent killings. He asks to be informed if any more occur. He offers his services to catch the killer, but informs the inspector to stop hunting for a man and start hunting for a beast.
Brona, off to work, goes to a wealthy man. The man introduces himself as Dorian Gray (Reeve Carney from the Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark). She is asked to pose in her underclothes as Dorian watches a servant takes pictures. After taking her top off Dorian joins her, they start to kiss and Brona coughs. She then notices that she has coughed blood on Dorian’s face. She apologizes immediately, but Dorian just licks the blood and kisses her again. They have sex while the servant takes pictures.
A telegram arrives for Ethan from his father telling saying:
“Ethan it is time for you to come home. You can’t run away forever. I can handle your legal problems, the federal has been paid. Stop your foolishness. Do as I say. Your father.”
At Mr. Lyle’s party, Vanessa meets Dorian Gray. She feels the exact moment when he walks into the room, just like she did with Ethan when they first met. Dorian reads her body posture and persona. They’re about to kiss when Mr. Lyle announces that the guest of honor has arrived, Madame Kali (Helen McCrory from 2012’s Skyfall and Narcissa Malfoy in Harry Potter,) she is a spiritualist. Sir Malcolm, Vanessa, Dorian, Mr. Lyle and four other people gather to have a session.
Madam Kali seems to go into a trance, but then she turns towards Vanessa and says: “Amunet, Amunet, Amunet. Amunet, serpent head one, know your past, your lover and your master,” making Vanessa go into trance, too. She starts to speak in another language and then she address to Sir Malcolm as one of his children, which seems to be his dead son Peter. She reenacts his death. She is later possessed by something different. She tells Sir Malcolm that Vanessa saw him have sex with somebody and that she knows that he wants “her”. She talks about a vampire and saving Mina.
Women start to scream and Vanessa walks out, into the rain, where she bumps into a man and has sex with him while Dorian sees from afar. Later we see Sir Malcolm going back home where he finds Vanessa asleep in her bed and he pulls the blanket higher to cover her and leaves.
The next day, Sir Malcolm goes to Mr. Lyle’s house, he tells him that the writing in the corps is a spell that foretells the annihilation of men and the coming of the beast. Mr. Lyle warns him not to tell Vanessa because nobody wants to know that you’re haunted by the devil.
Victor takes Proteus for a walk through London. They see children, animals, they eat food and he meets new people; Ethan and Brona that are having dinner. Proteus remembers the sea and a wife he left behind. When they go back to the apartment, Proteus is telling Victor what they saw during their walk. Victor explains what a friend is, to which Proteus asks if he’s going to have many friends, to what Victor replays if he is lucky he might.
When Proteus is telling Victor that he is going to have many friends, more than ten, a hand bursts out of his chest reaping him in half while a man appears behind him. While Victor is hovering over Proteus’ body the man tells him: “Your first born has returned father,” and the ending credits roll.
In this episode we met new characters such as Dorian Gray, Miss Brona, and the original creature or Frankenstein monster from the book. It seems that the person that was following Victor, in the first episode, was him. We discovered what the hieroglyphics mean. I still don’t know what kind of relationship there is between Sir Malcolm and Vanessa, but I didn’t like that he told her to unbutton the top of her dress when Victor went to draw blood. It seems that he is angry with her. I also think that there is going to be like a love triangle between Vanessa, Ethan and Brona. I know that it’s supposed to be a horror series, but a little romance doesn’t hurt anyone. Yes, Dorian Gray licked Brona’s blood, even though it appears that she has tuberculosis (a fatal illness of that era.) It cannot kill you, right Dorian? You are an immortal being that only a painting can kill. I was shocked to see Proteus die. I had so much hope for him, I was starting to think he was the original creature. And the “first born” looks like Dracula from Hugh Jackman’s Van Helsing movie. So far, so good. Let’s see what the next episodes bring us.
