Welcome back Dreadfuls!
This episode was much more cerebral than previous episodes. It gave us plenty of backstory on “the White Room”; the orderly who attended Vanessa and the bond that grew between them; the treatments she was forced into; and her torment by both Lucifer and another known to her only as The Master.
The episode opens in Dr. Seward’s office, where Vanessa is under hypnosis, telling Seward the story of her time in “The White Room”. While in the hypnotised state, she can see and speak with Dr. Seward, because her mind is in both realities.
She was an unwilling patient, committed by her parents and subjected to treatment for her “illness” for 5 months. The only human contact she had in that room was the orderly who attended to her needs. The orderly is the man we know as John Clare, later known as Caliban – Frankenstein’s monster. Initially, she refuses to eat and will not speak. John begs her to eat, and tells her that there will be consequences if she does not.
She tells Dr. Seward that she wanted to die, because of her betrayal of her friend Mina, and because she is evil.
As she becomes more used to John’s presence, she begins to eat without being force fed, makes eye contact, and eventually speaks to him. She claims that she is being tortured. She doesn’t know if it is night or day, there are no windows and the light is always on. John tells her that the time is whatever she wants it to be, and that they are trying to make her well. He tells her that it is against the rules for him to tell her his name. But he does warn her that the next treatment is hydrotherapy. The next day, as she sits wet and shivering, he brings a blanket with her food, but when she is warm and dry, he has to take it away because it is against the rules. John is already becoming invested in Vanessa not merely as a patient, but as a human being in distress and is showing an inclination to break the rules for her. Vanessa attacks him when he removes the blanket, with the result that the next time he sees her, she is in a straitjacket.
However, she is recognizing that he is coming to care for her, and she for him. John spoon-feeds her. He explains that it is science, not torture, and that it is meant to make her better. She retorts that it is meant to make her normal – compliant, obedient, a cog in an intricate social machine. John disagrees, as none of the women he knows are cogs; she calls them freaks. John tells her his wife is neither a freak nor a cog. Vanessa thinks that God has forgotten her, that he cannot find her. She has no name or purpose. John still won’t divulge much of a personal nature, but does warn her that the treatments don’t get any easier, and asks her to get better. She tells him that she can’t get better if she is not ill. He asks for an explanation. She tells him that no one believes her, not Dr. Banning and not her parents, but tells him that she was touched by Satan because neither she nor her faith were strong enough. John tells her about his son and how when he got ill, metal spoons hurt him, so he and his wife use a wooden spoon to feed him. She wonders at the wooden spoon he is using for her, and he tells her that he brought it from home, even though it is against the rules.
As John leaves the room, he tells her that he does believe her, because he was there. He turns, and shows Vanessa his demon eyes. Lucifer is speaking through him.
Vanessa, freaking out, demands that Dr. Seward bring her out of the hypnotic state. Dr. Seward says she can’t. She has tried, has even burned her hand with a cigarette. Vanessa is in a fugue state, and will only come out when she reaches the heart of her trauma. Seward advises her to keep going and assures her that she will not leave Vanessa for anything in the world. The only way out is through.
Vanessa cannot speak, because she has been gagged as well as straitjacketed. When next John comes in, he gently leads her to the chair, seats her and takes the gag off. He is sickened by what Vanessa is going through and has come to agree that it is torture. He brushes her hair out, while telling her that they would sack him if they knew. Then he applies makeup that his wife has given him. He has talked about Vanessa to his wife which is against the rules. He would leave if jobs weren’t so scarce, but he also doesn’t want to leave Vanessa alone. He holds a mirror up for her to see who she is. He goes on to break more rules, sharing information about himself and his family, reading children’s poetry to her. Vanessa cries silently. At the end of the visit, John puts everything back as it was so that their interaction remains secret. He tells her it is Christmas today. Another rule broken.
Vanessa is lonely and despondent, her parents have stopped coming and she feels like she will never get out of there. She is so desperate for human contact that she tries to seduce John on his next appearance. She claims she should have died a virgin, like Joan of Arc who sang while she burned. John, growing more distressed, tells her that they will turn to surgery if she doesn’t show signs of improvement. He goes on to describe graphically what will happen, both during the surgery and after. “Do you know what they are, all of them? A broken thing. Ms. Ives, you have to get better.” Vanessa shakes her head, so he begs her to pretend to be cured. She asks him if he would want his son to be anything other than he is. “Would you want him to pretend? Then don’t ask it of me.” John sits down with Vanessa and tells her that though he is a stupid man, he will listen, and invites her to tell him why the Devil would be interested in her.
She doesn’t know so asks him “If you were Lucifer, why would you be interested in someone?”. John says “That’s easy. Because I love you.” But it is not John speaking, it is Lucifer with his demon eyes. He names himself. A shadow serpent coils around the walls, and around her. He asks her if God’s mercy has touched her life. She kneels in a prayerful attitude, and tells him that her God is merciful, and that He will not abandon her. Lucifer claims that He already has, that she is not even a blade of grass to Him. He invites her to “be as she was with him before there was time, before the Scorpion crawled and the Adder hissed. Give yourself to me freely.” At this a soft, menacing laughter echoes around the room. Lucifer backs into a corner. This is the other, who also appears in John Clare’s form. Vanessa demands a name, but this other only says that she can read it on his tomb. The other addresses Lucifer as his brother, mocking him for his insignificance. Lucifer berates him for the eating of flesh and drinking of blood.
The other seduces Vanessa through her baser desires. “You are a thing of the flesh, like me. You are powerful. Become the wolf, the bat, the scorpion. Be who you are. Give me your flesh, your blood, be my bride and then all light will end, and the world will live in darkness. Such is our power, such is our Kingdom, such is my kiss. In this mortal world they will lock you away in rooms like this, they will brand you a freak and a sorceress. I love you for who you are, Vanessa.” Vanessa asks him “What name do I whisper to you Beloved?” “I am the demon, the dragon, my name is Dracula.” Vanessa breaks away, and tells them that both her body and soul are promised to another. The brothers voice a litany of threats; she stands her ground. “I am no more than a blade of grass, but I am. You think you know evil? Here it stands”. Reciting something that sounds very much like the Verdis Diablo of last season, she banishes the brothers into the shadows. She wakes from this vision to find John asking “Well, why would the Devil be interested in you?”. She claims tiredness, so John leaves.
Dr. Seward tells her she can come out of hypnosis now, but Vanessa refuses. She is not yet done.
The next time John brings her food, she has a shaved head. She tells John she tried to counterfeit normality. But when the Dr. asked about her faith, she told him the truth. John tells her he is leaving. He was at home helping his son build a model of an exploring ship, and his son asked where they went. John told him that they would explore everywhere, including the frozen north. When his son wondered if people lived there, he said no. It was too cold and lonely for people to live there. Then he realized that he knows one person who lives where it is cold and lonely all the time, and this knowledge caused him such grief he couldn’t stop crying. He has tendered his resignation. But he will stay long enough so that the last person Vanessa sees before her surgery will be someone who loves her.
Vanessa comes out of hypnosis on her own. Dr. Seward has filled an ashtray with butts, and her desk with notes. She pours them both a drink and asks what Vanessa remembers. “Images like a dream, yes?” but Vanessa says “No. Everything. You once said we name things so they don’t frighten us. I’m not frightened. His name is Dracula.”
.
Fade to Black.
This episode explains a lot about Vanessa’s response to John Clare as Caliban. And Caliban’s response to Vanessa. It’s like a muscle memory. John was the only one who showed her compassion during her time in the White Room, he is the one who kept her sane. She is the one who touched his humanity, both in her time in the White Room, and later, when they met in the Cholera Clinic, neither knowing the other. And I believe that he will become a valuable ally in her fight against Dracula, even if they don’t remember their past relationship to each other.
And so we come to the end of this review. Look into your crystal ball. Do you feel Vanessa and John Clare will come to remember each other? Is it necessary to the story that they do? Let me know what you think – of the episode, of my review, of the future. And don’t forget to check out our awesome site, Skatronixxx.com, and all the writers that contribute. An original web series – Pinheads – has made its home on our site. Episode 1 Sweet Charity is up and running.
Until next time, Dreadfuls!
Reblogged this on Forty Two and commented:
What happened to Vanessa in the White Room, and who John Clare is to her.
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