Ohhhh, so much to cover in this entry, here we go.

-  First and foremost (to me), vindication for my favorite Victorian solicitor man! It was the doubt of his own senses that was messing with him, not just the Dracula trauma itself. Mina may be more forgiving of that liminal line between ‘Am I Mad? VS ‘Was It All Real?’—she accepts that whatever happened, something traumatic occurred and it was powerful enough to deal a heavy blow to her loved one—but Jonathan was gutting himself over and over and over due to the fact that he did not know which to believe. It left him with the worst of both options rather than allowing his mind to settle; so, now knowing the Count and his supernatural menace are reality, he’s no longer floundering. His mind and sanity are locked in: Your nightmare was fact. = Dracula is fact. = It’s time to fuck up Dracula.

-  Oh, physiognomy. One of those fun old pseudosciences that declares skeletal/skull structure somehow translates to mapping your personality and intellect. Hence Jonathan and other characters’ weird fixations on the minutiae of facial composition and expression. Writers of the time were notably in love with the idea as a quick way to 1) drop in a character’s physical description to get it out of the way and 2) foreshadow that character’s whole deal by what seemed (at the time) to be a reliable visual cue.* (*Or, you know. Just assigning traits to a person willy-nilly due to [INSERT BIASES AGAINST X GROUP HERE]. “This person has Bad Person-face! This one has Good Person-face!” You get it.)

- Van Helsing: “Your wife is amazing! A true 10/10 of a woman!”

Jonathan: “She is a 20, but go on.”

-  Van Helsing is once again filling in a recently-vacated paternal role for yet another young person. First Art loses his dad, then Jonathan loses his father figure. Also once again, filling in a niche that appears to be the Un-Dracula; having such powerful Good Vibes that this young ensemble cast is falling over themselves to join his cause and be his grateful, heroic ducklings. I’ve mentioned this before—Abraham Van Helsing is 110% of a heroic bent among likewise valorous youths. He’s an oddball, but he’s also willingly throwing himself into paranormal peril to help others and putting Knowledge is Power to benevolent use versus Dracula’s longstanding abuse of others’ ignorance.

All of that said, my 21st century sensibilities still mark out these gushing interactions—and future interactions which will be…A Lot—as distinctly weird. It’s theatrical to the point of seeming absurd, and feeling, at best, like Bramward Stoker is abusing his authorial powers to make his characters swoon and applaud and give weeping thanks/adulation to his character insert (who is named after him, no big deal). Which is a straightforward enough reason for the behavior.

…But, because I’m me, and because of [REDACTED] scenes coming up much later in the book, I can’t help picturing Van Helsing as exercising just a smidge of hypnotic influence/cues to make things glide by a little smoother with all these young people. If only because it would also be in line with paralleling Dracula. Not done out of malice, perhaps not even done consciously, but adults, young and respectful and Victorian though they are, simply Do Not Act Like This towards random kooky strangers entering their lives, no matter how nice and helpful they are.*

*Even with Hawkins still raw in his memory, I especially don’t see Jonathan being so immediately 100% on board with Professor Eccentric Old Occult-Intelligent Man (Let’s keep those Dracula flashbacks at bay! Deep breaths, Harker!). 90%, maybe. Even 99%. But certain [REDACTED] scenes-to-be will show he’s probably the only one out of Team Fuck-Up-That-Vampire who shows any kind of true dissent against Van Helsing. Because if anybody knows the risks that come with being led around by the nose, (for good or ill) it’s him.

- Jack Seward is having Quite a Fucking Grieving Period :) :) :)

- Jack: Hey, so, what are we going to do about this unconscious kid we found?

Van Helsing: Well, the right and sensible thing to do is approach the police and give a detailed explanation as to the hows and whys of us being in the graveyard at night.

Jack: Really?

Van Helsing, already ditching the kid at a street corner: Ha ha, fuck no