WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Nevers, Episode 2, “Exposure,” which premiered Sunday on HBO.
Though Joss Whedon’s name has been scrubbed from The Nevers marketing materials following accusations of abuse on the set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, his most well-known series, those familiar with his work are still likely to notice his influence on The Nevers, which he also created. And in The Nevers‘ second episode, “Exposure,” a winking vampire reference is made that is both appropriate to the show’s Victorian London period and a knowing nod to fans who are familiar with Whedon’s vampire-centric work.
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The episode is directed by Whedon and written by Jane Espenson, who was a writer and producer on Buffy as well as several other Whedon-created series. Given that combination, it’s no surprise that this is the episode with a vampire shout-out. The moment happens during a tense conversation between Lord Gilbert Massen and Hugo Swann about the Touched, the people who were mysteriously imbued with various powers three years prior to the events of the show. On the one hand, Massen, a high-ranking official in the English government, is deeply suspicious of these newly empowered individuals. On the other, Swann, a rich, promiscuous elite, intends to exploit the Touched’s second-class citizen status by employing them in his brothel, the Ferryman’s Club. Given their very different perspectives on life, it’s no surprise that their exchange starts with Massen insulting Swann, leading Swann to reference Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula.
Massen approaches Swann and comments that he’s surprised to see him so early in the day. In response, Swann jokes he “can leave his coffin by day if the smog’s thick enough.” Massen doesn’t recognize the reference so Swann enlightens him. While he never mentions the classic vampire by name, he identifies Stoker as the writer of the “clever epistolary fantasia” he’s alluding to. All of these things ensure the reference is unmistakable. Dracula was published in 1897, just two years prior to The Nevers‘ 1899 setting and is an epistolary novel, a work told through documents such as letters, newspaper stories and diary entries. In addition, while vampires typically can’t venture out before dark in most modern fiction, Dracula’s movements were actually less limited in Stoker’s novel, and as Swann indicates, the vampire could move about by day if it was overcast enough and he was well nourished.
This is a fun addition to the show that also links it to Buffy, as Dracula is one of the vampires the Vampire Slayer fought. In Season 5’s premiere episode, “Buffy vs. Dracula,” the ancient vampire comes to Buffy’s hometown of Sunnydale and attempts to persuade Buffy to let him make her an immortal. Of course, she refuses and eventually defeats him, but not before Xander becomes Dracula’s bug-eating servant like the novel’s Renfield and Buffy allows Dracula to bite her. Moreover, even though Buffy stakes Dracula repeatedly, there’s an indication that she never truly defeats him as after he seemingly dies he starts to materialize again out of a cloud of black smoke before supposedly learning his lesson and leaving Buffy’s town.
In The Nevers, Dracula remains purely fictional, but that doesn’t mean the reference isn’t valuable in Massen and Swann’s conversation. Massen is unhappy to hear Swann is planning to turn the Ferryman’s Club into a real business and is employing the Touched as “entertainers,” both things that shouldn’t happen in polite society, especially after Maladie’s recent murderous appearance at the opera. However, according to Swann, Maladie only increased requests to join his club. As he observes, “horror and fascination go arm and arm,” something he points out Massen would know if he’d read Stoker’s novel.
While Swann’s desire to exploit the Touched as sex workers is just as vile as Massen’s desire to eradicate them, Swann isn’t wrong about the reason behind his club’s recent success. In fact, his explanation speaks to our ongoing fascination with horror stories in general. And although, in the world of The Nevers, what both men are doing is more horrifying than any vampire tale, Espenson’s nod to Dracula in her script is a fun bit of fan service.
Created by Joss Whedon, The Nevers stars Laura Donnelly, Olivia Williams, James Norton, Tom Riley, Ann Skelly, Ben Chaplin, Pip Torrens, Zackary Momoh, Amy Manson, Nick Frost, Rochelle Neil, Eleanor Tomlinson and Denis O’Hare. New episodes air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO.
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