My thoughts: 1. Way to fucking spoil Reinhardt's death TWICE, once with the gypsy telling him "no matter what happens you have done well" after reading his fortune and again after him telling the boatman "I'll be seeing you soon." There's foreshadowing and then there's blatant spoilers.
2. I love how Dracula's castle has exactly ONE guard (even if it is a badass like Dorn). Although they DID imply that any other evil there might have fled to wreak havoc so I'm happy they addressed that little plot-hole.
2. I was so...underwhelmed by the fight against Dorn. I know Dorn is too old to be performing lots of stunts so I was fine with how he did. But to fight a werewolf who doesn't transform just didn't feel right. Plus if Reinhardt is supposed to be this veteran warrior, how did he not even try to stop the knife that killed him? If it had happened after a long, drawn-out battle or if he had been severely wounded I could have understood him being too exhausted to respond. Would it have been too hard for him to grapple with Dorn only for the werewolf to over-power him? At least they showed that the girl was too groggy to stop Dorn.
2.5 I was really sad they killed Reinhardt off. The actor doing him did such a great job, and the writer(s) for Reinhardt's dialogue deserves credit too. All throughout the series he brought some life to the scenes. Like when he says something like "See that hill? [is that where the fort is?] No I just always liked that hill,"; again when [Nothing good is out here this time of night.] "Well, you're out here at this time of night," again at "Well my nephew and I will take my wine elsewhere," and again at "Maybe she has a sister for you [referring to the gypsy dancer].
3. The bumps and stunts the actors did were nice. Drac and Simon took some particularly nice-looking bumps and I'll give mad props to that.
4. I loved that one line when Drac spots the whip and says "Isn't that a bit...[WACK!]...impractical?
5. I would have so loved for them to explore Drac's grey side, especially with the knowledge Simon can kill him. Or they could even have had Drac bluff and say he had no idea Simon had lived, and that knowledge of a living son changes everything? Throughout the series he has never hesitated to utilize treachery and deceit. They alluded to it very briefly with Simon calling him father, but what a throwaway and ironically Simon used it as a bluff and not Drac. I was somewhat disappointed there was no burn or anything on the back of Drac's head, but I also understand the budget may have limited the special effects.
6. And did anyone else laugh when the girl shows up and distracts Simon, causing him to get bitch-slapped?
7. Despite my harsh sounding review of this final episode, I enjoyed the series enough to recommend it to any die-hard Castlevania friends. The actors doing Trevor, Reinhardt, and Dracula did wonderful jobs, while Dorn and Sirtis delivered their usual ass-kicking performance. There were lots of little nods and references to the fans of the series, and they are leaving room open for a sequel. Drac is dead, but who knows what else was awakened with that seal? And what about the vampire who sired Dracula? He's surely not happy to know what has happened. And he even mentions "others". Plus Drac blinking at the end may be an allusion to his perpetual resurrection.
I think it's a great treat and mad props to the team that got this little series together. I had a blast watching all of it and do recommend it to fans of the series. I wonder if there will be a DVD release... (would buy!)
I think Drac blinking at the end was purposeful and not an accident in bad acting of a dead guy. So, imo, this lays credence to what Phoenix said about the purpetual resurrection. I'm interested to see what other vamps are out there for Simon and Sophia to track down.
If they do make additional series' will they get a bigger budget? I'd like to see Simon wear something more battle ready than standard fantasy street clothes. Preferably barbarian wear, but that's just my nostalgic taste. ;)
I would also love to see more Reinhardt, while it was obvious to see his death coming a mile away it was nice to see a kind of "simultaneous kill" kind of death (though the blows were far from simultaneous...) with the other big bad from the series.
Especially after Reinhardt avenges his brother and Dorn says something like "I knew I...should have killed YOU first..."
I thought it was obvious Reinhardt was going to die. Im more surprised he didn't die sooner, during their bout with Were-dorn in the mountain fortress. It's a given that the "old mentor" dies in these kinds of things.