Three episodes in, and Jekyll and Hyde finally found its groove … for five minutes. Like when Jekyll tries to restrain his Hyde, the rest of the episode is promising fun in patches, but still too often more of an awkward splutter followed by noncommittal apologies and a vague promise to do better in the future.
The pre-title sequence opens with nocturnal, fog-enshrouded dock activity; the kind that only ever imports trouble. This is followed by a dynamic three quarter-angled close up of a one-eyed chauffeur (Tony Way), with the camera moving to show Captain Dance (Enzo Cilenti) and Fedora (Natasha O’Keeffe) — both looking as implacably confident and seductive as people with unshared mastermind schemes often do. Pulse-raising music fills the aural gaps, all overlaid with a map that tracks their journey with an animated red line from Gravesend to London. So far, so pulp adventure romp. As the car settles next to a disused, lamp-lit warehouse, the canted camera sits behind a barred gate of some sort, voyeuristically managing to search, and pick up on, black shadows of activity, drenched in ominous red flood lighting. The tension ratchets up a couple more notches.
Inside the warehouse, the camera moves around, eventually settling on the crate container from last week. Just as our minds confirm the contents of the case (you did watch it last week didn’t you?), out pour the monstrous Vetala; predatorily searching the environment with their senses and screaming directly at the camera. All the villains are petrified, and maybe the viewer is a little bit too, except for Captain Dance who, with the monsters encircling his feet, calmly announces: “Right. Let’s get to work shall we?” Roll titles. You may now punch the air, hug a loved one, or run outside and high-five someone in the street…
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Carl Wilson 