stampede saturday again? no problem (sobbing)
Sonic Central? I do not know what that is.... But I will Peruse it... Sonic The Hedgehog, I never Knew you did Games Streams!
Powerful Woman Friday!!
HES A LITTLE BIRTHDAY BOY?
DO YOU MEAN IT!
Me: Jonathan is still very much in danger and might die tomorrow. He and the Count are keeping up their facades and playing their parts as they enter the endgame of Dracula’s plan. Unless there is some upset (either on Jonathan’s part or some mysterious third party), I fear that Jonathan’s time now is up. Amazingly crafted tension on Stoker’s part, because even though things look bleak, I still have a small flame of hope that Jonathan could survive. I believe that this is because of the epistolary nature of the novel, that we’re reading how the characters processed the events after they happen. We won’t know Jonathan is dead until someone else records finding his body.
Also me: omg lizard fashion
I'm going to discuss some scenes later in the book. So, a spoiler warning before you read farther:
Last year people suggested that saying Jonathan was fed on was needlessly conspiratorial.
But here's the thing about this section of the book: This is the only time we are seeing the experience fully through the victim's flawed perspective. Later, we know people are fed on because other people interrupt. Mina interrupts with Lucy, and the Crew of Light all break in with Mina.
But if you consider what that would look like if we were reliant on Lucy to tell us what is happening to her, it seems at least plausible that Jonathan is being fed on and not recalling what happened clearly.
It's not necessarily that the epistolary format implies that "anything could happen and we might not be told." That's only true in the part of the book where we have a single perspective. In every other section, the perspectives of others help you judge what is being left out.
okay, time to lose my mind some more over today's re: dracula episode
dracula being able to perfectly mimic jonathan's way of speaking adds even more gravity to this part from june 24th's entry
This, then, is his new scheme of evil: that he will allow others to see me, as they think, so that he may both leave evidence that I have been seen in the towns or villages posting my own letters, and that any wickedness which he may do shall by the local people be attributed to me.
at this point, almost eight weeks have passed since jonathan travelled through those villages and to dracula's castle. almost eight weeks since the people he briefly met desperately tried to stop him from continuing to travel towards his doom.
they met him for such a short period of time, too - and with all time has passed since then, who would question whether someone dressed in jonathan's clothes and speaking with an english accent could be anyone but jonathan
and this part from june 24ths entry?
When she saw my face at the window she threw herself forward, and shouted in a voice laden with menace:—
"Monster, give me my child!"
who would question whether the monster stealing children from their homes would be anyone but him...
oh Dracula is so bloody evil in today's entry. Jonathan finally stands up himself and says he wants to leave, so Dracula takes him to the front door and summons a pack of wolves. i was listening to Re: Dracula out on a walk and actually said "oh, dickhead!" out loud.
he won't just force Jonathan to stay, he goes to lengths to make him say he'll wait until morning, when they both know he doesn't want to and won't really get to leave. he's punishing him for asserting himself. Jonathan breaking down and crying right there in front of him broke my heart, he's truly given up any attempt at pretending he's alright.
and then at the end, Dracula doesn't even try to hide his discussion with the weird sisters (i do love that Jonathan calls them that) right outside of his door, because now he has full confirmation that he can say and do whatever he pleases, and Jonathan won't make the mistake of standing up for himself again.
You know the fact that Jonathan Harker was practically raised in a legal office is largely untapped. That’s got to do something to your brain chemistry.
OKAY, SO. Today's episode is one I've been looking forward to, and it definitely lived up to expectations. I absolutely adored how you can hear Jonathan at the end of his rope, all restraint fraying away. The rage in his voice when he wishes for a weapon "that I might destroy him" - not even 'kill', but 'destroy'. Partially that may be that he realizes Dracula is already 'dead', but even so that is some evocative violent word choice!
Speaking of Dracula, what an incredible performance today. I absolutely loved so many line deliveries. Something about his voice a little softer as he says "my carriage shall come for you," even though it's obviously a lie. Jonathan absolutely cannot stand his lies any longer - the way he spits out "Phh, sincerity!" is amazing. His voice as he's asking to go is so intense, so sharp and insistent but also pleading all the while, you can hear the anger and the fear. But Dracula is return is just so smooth, really really gets across that charm Jonathan is so suspicious of today. Soft, smooth, diabolical. The way Dracula stops to laugh after saying, "speed the parting guest, eh?" SO EVIL OF HIM. And the way he fuckin' mocks everything Jonathan has been through for the past two months, mocks the game he has forced him to play all this time, when he says "sad am I at your going, and that you so suddenly desire it." The sarcasm in those two words is astounding. I WANNA PUNCH HIM IN HIS STUPID EVIL FACE. Incredible. Absolutely top-tier performance.
The SFX were so good too, I absolutely loved how long the chains and such at the door went on, really drawing home how securely it has been shut all this time. And it gets even better because the length of it repeating as Dracula shuts the door again feels so final. Not to mention the wolves: I was loving the snarl of a few of them as Jonathan says they got angrier. The way Jonathan lingered/emphasized just slightly on "their red jaws" - similar to, but not as much as he did for Dracula and the vampire ladies, just enough to really cement the parallel but also show their fear doesn't come with the same kind of fascination.
And Jonathan realizes he will die here. He is too afraid to willingly walk into it. He feels so utterly defeated by this realization; he'd thought he was ready. He'd thought he had nothing left to lose, has already risked death in his last exploration, knows he does not want to allow Dracula and the vampire ladies to kill him at any cost, but... when faced with this certain death (which he witnessed only a few days ago) he can't do it. And it feels like a moral defeat as much as, more than any disappointment at a failed escape. He is absolutely miserable and you can hear it so well in his voice. He literally has to hide his face. He cannot bear to speak to Dracula again, just accepts the escort back to his room in miserable silence. It's agonizing.
And then Dracula smiles, and kisses his hand to Jonathan.
The defeat is so complete and so horrible. And then salt is ground into the wound with the conversation Jonathan overhears outside his doorway. The laughter. All four of them laughing at him. It's an almost childishly blatant type of cruelty for the vampire women to stick around until he sees them and then continue to laugh right in his face before running away - they can vanish into dust! They are choosing to scamper off like this because it feels more fun to them! It's awful and the voice acting is absolutely marvelous.
Gotta love how Tonight is mine was initially cut from the UK version for the strong homoerotic implication, but in @re-dracula it's the title of the June 29 episode!
but GOD. this last entry. Yeah; I wasn’t expecting things to get any better for jonathan, but dracula telling him he’s free to go? and then threatening to send the wolves after him if he leaves? forcing jonathan to say he wants to to stay in the castle??
it’s a frighteningly realistic portrayal of an abusive relationship. jonathan can leave if he wants; the door is unlocked. but the second he sets foot outside the door, dracula warns there will be consequences, because he controls the wolves. and so jonathan chooses to stay, despite the fact he knows dracula is slowly killing him. and just like everything else dracula has done so far, he shifts the blame of jonathan’s own suffering to jonathan himself- because jonathan entered the castle of his own free will. and now, he says he wants to stay.
Diversity win! The vampire offering to feed you to the wolves is Bisexual!
Dear reader, your mission if you chose to accept it is to get "dean winchester" to trend before the end of pride month
Imagine Kirby demanding head pats at the most inconvenient times
Pfffft I love this idea, the comedy potential! He totally would though.
Kirby, stop that.
