Dracula & Being Erica

[singedsun]

For Challenge #3 of sunshine_challenge

I have two recs for you, if you're looking for small fandoms no one knows about.

First, DRACULA (TV 2013)

It's Dracula, but hear me out. It's 2013. NBC teams up with the British Sky Witness channel to make this RIDICULOUS update to the Dracula mythos in Victorian England. Dracula, called Alexander Grayson and played by notorious scene-chewer, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, pretends to be an American in London. He falls madly in love with Mina Murray played by the gorgeous Jessica De Gouw, who he believes to be the reincarnation of his dead wife. Her best friend and hopeless gay, Lucy Westenra, played by a very blonde Katie McGrath gets lured to the dark side by a fashionable noble huntswoman played by Victoria Smurfit.

There were only 10 episodes of this crazy show and sure, it was likely cancelled because they didn't quite know what they were doing with the plot beneath the main story, but I LOVE IT SO MUCH. This weird Dracula is posing as an American who wants to bring SCIENCE! to England, touting these electric lights (it's a whole thing). He's got a weird and confusing past with Van Helsing who poses as Mina's teacher at University (she's studying to be a doctor) and the two of them, Van Helsing and Dracula are out for revenge on this secret Order of the Dragon. Which to be honest is ill-defined and one of them immediately gets turned, it's great.

Not too mention, if you, like me, like f/f ships this show is a gift. There are multiple options and I love them for it.

I won't spoil it for you, but for the love of all things overdramatic and beautifully costumed, you owe it to yourself to watch it. It was nominated for Cinematography awards and for People's Choice awards and it's a damn shame it didn't get a second season.

It's one of the best vampire shows people don't know about (the Carmilla web series being another) and I shamelessly request it every year for Yuletide.

You can watch the whole show for free on the NBC website here or shop for episodes pretty much anywhere you buy tv shows.

Second, BEING ERICA (TV 2009-2011)

This was a CBC show that ran for four seasons, staring Erin Karpluk as the titular, Erica. Erica's life when we meet her at the beginning of the show is sort of falling down around her. She's in her early twenties and she's like most of us in our early 20s, a mess. She meets a man named Dr. Tom, a therapist. Only he's no ordinary therapist.

During each episode, Erica's sessions with Dr. Tom take her back in time to different parts of her life that center around moments she regrets, or would like to change. She gets to relive those hours/days in the session and see them from her new grown-up perspective, or with the guidance of Dr. Tom, how those moments she regrets might have actually led her down a specific path.

There's a lot of philosophy at play here, it's more comedic than it is dramatic, but it definitely made me cry more than once. The show makes a lot of metaphors about choice and regret and learning to move on from both the painful and ridiculous memories we so often replay in our heads. There's a kind of "let go of what doesn't serve you" kind of vibe about what she learns from Dr. Tom that I really love.

Again if you're into f/f romances you have some options here. But to be really biased there's a relationship between Erica and another "time-traveler" she meets that just undoes me. There's angst there to explore if that's the kind of thing you like too.

If you have Hulu or Amazon Prime, you can stream all four seasons on both sites.

Comments

Sunshine Challenge ☼ 2019

[oldtoadwoman]

Your description of Dracula makes me suspect I should get drunk first?

Re: Sunshine Challenge ☼ 2019

[singedsun]

It certainly won't hurt your viewing any, that's for sure.

[charlottenewtons]

I remember watching Dracula for Katie McGrath. The plot was so random but it was fantastic for f/f.

[pauraque]

Never heard of that version of Dracula, which surprises me because a good friend of mine has watched seemingly everything with vampires, no matter how cheesy or bizarre. I have to say your write-up of it was an entertaining read and made me laugh. (I also initially read it as Jonathan Rhys-Davies, which would have been one hell of a casting choice.)

[singedsun]

That would've been a hell of a different kind of Dracula. Glad my description was entertaining too. :)

[sewn]

Okay, Dracula sounds like gold-tier trashy goodness. Though the latest take on Dracula I saw was the dour "prequel" with Luke Evans, so this is probably much better!

[singedsun]

It really is!

[mekare]

You had me at Katieg McGrath in a costume drama. I'm putting this on my to watch list. :-)

[singedsun]

YES! Come back after and tell me what you thought!

[meridian_rose]

I remember these! All of the first, I saw a season and a bit I think of the second, maybe more. I remember her 'graduating' to group therapy and 'graduating' the test at the end of that but not sure if there was more. I figured her final thing would be becoming a therapist herself...