In Episode 1.04 of ITV's "The Frankenstein Chronicles," copper John Marlott (Sean Bean) burrows through the dark tunnels under the pub The Fortune of War - which is also the title of the episode - and finds hardened criminals, corrupt officials, body snatchers, and re-animators.
The six-episode crime-drama set amidst a horror gothic background has just passed its half-season mark but the grizzled ex-soldier Marlott is still no closer to finding out the malevolent masterminds behind the missing children and stitched corpses that are terrorizing 19th-century London. Marlott realizes that, in a world where he can't trust anyone absolutely, he is truly alone.
Den of Geek which recently gave a summary of the fourth episode entitled "The Fortune of War", also hints where Marlott's one-man search for the truth and justice can go. Flora is turning out to be a major player and a woman with her own mind at at time when sex workers either end up victims or dead. She agrees to become the bait to lure the killer in. Mary Shelley (Anna Maxwell Martin), the real-life author of the famous novel "Frankenstein," also makes a welcome return, and Marlott doesn't hide his suspicions that she may be somehow involved with all the grisly goings-on. The killer, after all, is taking a page right off her book.
The Telegraph review of "The Frankenstein Chronicles" suggests that the villain in the story has diabolical plans that go beyond creating corpses made from the different body parts of the missing children. It teases that a deranged man of science just might be following the footsteps of Shelley's fictional Frankenstein to resurrect his own family of zombies and re-animated souls.
Scenarios like these elevate "The Frankenstein Chronicles" from a historical crime drama to gothic horror. In an interview with Express, Bean says it was that dalliance with all things dark and possibly demonic that convinced him to sign up for the series - and the audience should expect more of it. Bean says, "I loved the old Frankenstein and Dracula films, the black and white ones with Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee. So I guess I've always had some fascination with horror. And when they approached me about being involved in a version that was capturing the spirit of Frankenstein, I was very excited at the prospect."
The last three episodes of "The Frankenstein Chronicles" will air every Sunday night 9 PM on ITV Encore.
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