WARNING: If you don't want to know what happened in this episode, don't read this photo recap!
Starting out nice and weird this week as Dimitri consults a vampiric Oracle regarding the key and the location of the Elder. He's very disrespectful and though she tells him where to go, she also gives him a beatdown and kills all but two of his companions for her trouble.
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Back on top of a mountain, Scarlett and her mother (whose name we still don't actually know), are hiking their own way to the crypt, hoping to beat Dimitri there. Scarlett really has no patience for all this plus the family reunion but there are some explanations to be given. Like, did you know her mom wears the "blood of the dark one" around her neck? It's Dracula. We're definitely talking about Dracula, right?
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More fun and creepy blood facts! Mama Van Helsing was apparently gifted this lovely trinket after her mother was killed and has worn it ever since. Oh, and she did experiments on it when she was pregnant with Scarlett/Vanessa but she insists they aren't half-Dracula and offers the necklace to Scarlett which she refuses.
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Dimitri and his minions do end up beating them to the crypt, but lucky for our heroes it looks like it's gonna take a while before they make it all the way to the Elder. Hopefully, Dimitri is very bad at mazes. Then again, he does have a glowing arm compass to help guide his way.
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The mother-daughter journey manages to make its way up to the entrance to the caves. No idea how long its been since Dimitri got there, but Mama Van Helsing is determined to beat him to the Elder. Scarlett is not so trusting of her new parent, especially once she finds out about all the trials they're gonna have to endure on this trip, but what other choice does she have?
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Speaking of trials, how about we start with some family therapy? As Scarlett and her mom are walking through the cave they come upon THEMSELVES! Well, themselves from like 25 years ago. Dr. Bruce wanted to take them off their mother's hands, so Vanessa threw him across the floor. Apparently this was the moment their mom decided to hide them.
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The vampires are having their own visions from the past. Scab/Scott recalls being ridiculed as a human, the Sister remembers being nearly burned at the stake, and Dimitri recalls his time spent with Marquis de Sade in France. They apparently had a twisted relationship full of masochism and sexual deviance and THIS seems to be where Dimitri originally became a vampire.
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Finally away from visions of the past and tiny dark tunnels, mom decides to tell Scarlett that the reason she left them was to protect them from Dr. Bruce. She thought they would be safe and together and away from her but all they really were was away. Scarlett has some pent up anger but she sees a vision of the day her mother left and has some sympathy.
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Further along, Mama Van Helsing tells Scarlett that this isn't the only Elder, but it is the only one locked away by their family. The Elders exist to eventually bring about the "final darkness" by releasing "the Dark One" and they cannot ever let that happen.
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The Van Helsing women finally make their way to the crypt, but they aren't the ony ones. Dimitri and his crew are there as well in a lovely reuinion of enemies. Dimitri wonders where Vanessa is, and says it is her fault the Elder has woken. He's just letting him go. Neither side is gonna back down so you know what that means ...
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FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! Scarlett and Abigail split up, each taking on one of Dimitri's underlings and things don't go very well at the beginning. Scarlett, though, holds her own a lot better than her mother, taking on both vamps in succession as Abigail jumps back in. They never actually kill the vamps, but they do drive them off.
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Dimitri grabs Scarlett by the throat, crushing her windpipe and demanding that Abigail open the crypt in exchange for her daughter's life. You see, only a Van Helsing can open the crypt at all, which makes you wonder why they went after Dimitri in the first place. Not wanting to see her daughter die, Abigail opens the crypt.
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The Elder is awake and immediately recognizes the women as Van Helsings, but he determines there is something else inside Scarlett. It is "the blood of the first" and he recoils from it. So, maybe they are part Dracula after all? He makes a move to kill Abigail but Scarlett demands he stop and ... he does.
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PLOT TWIST! Turns out that when the old Van Helsings captured this Elder he was given a choice. He could swear to protect the Van Helsing line, or he could die. Guess which he picked? Now he's stuck playing servant to the Van Helsings until the "Dark One" is released or destroyed.
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Naturally, her first order is for the Elder to go take care of their Dimitri problem, which he does in the grossest way possible. Once that's done, Scarlett dispatches him to find Vanessa.
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Scarlett turns her attention to her mother who is dying on the ground. She begs her mom to tell her what other secrets she's been hiding, while Abigail tries to get Scarlett to take the blood vial. Before anything can really be said, though, Abigail dies.
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Elsewhere, in the bloody ruins of Dr. Bruce's facility, Vanessa Van Helsing lies dead … until a bite from the Elder awakens her once again. Hello, Sleeping Beauty.
