Back at the Grand Guignol, no signs of vampires, but Caliban isn’t having a great time despite that. During a rehearsal, the pulley system he’s working to lift up one of the main actors, Simon (Gavin Fowler), becomes stuck. As his theatre “friends” Vincent Brand and Maud Gunneson watch, Simon tears into Caliban, calling him a “menace” and hissing that he “can’t bear the bloody sight of” him. “And neither can anyone else, I might add,” Simon yells. He storms off, a reluctant Maud trailing after. “Show business, all bitches,” says Vincent when Caliban moves to apologize, but Caliban is clearly distraught.
Later, Maud brings Caliban an orange by way of apology. She thanks him for the copy of Paradise Lost that he gave her a few episodes back, not knowing that he heard her dismissing the show of affection earlier. Still, he’s happy for her company and recites a section of Paradise Lost to her that speaks to him. It includes the famous line, “Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay to mould me man?” I don’t think it’s hard to understand why Caliban’ is drawn to the section.
“He’s a beast sometimes but he doesn’t really mean it,” Maud says, apologizing for Simon. “Yes, he does,” Caliban replies. She silently concedes the point. When she asks him about whether he feels love for anyone, as she does in a way for Simon, he makes her sad by saying, “Love is for others.” Before she leaves, she tenderly lays a kiss on him, at which point he’s overcome with emotion, though it’s clear that it’s more a gesture of pity than affection. Still, as Maud says earlier in the scene, “We take the happiness we can get.” For Caliban, a kiss from the beautiful actress makes him about as happy as he’s ever been. Unfortunately, like every creature with a heart, he wants more.
Caliban puts makeup all over his face to make himself more presentable and then brings Maud back an orange. She’s in the changing room when he arrives, and seeing him in the mirror makes her jump. Turning around, Maud can’t help but giggle at his appearance, which dismays and flusters him. “You shouldn’t be in here,” she says, her voice firm but still kind. “Simon comes in here,” he replies. Shocked, she stands. “How do you know what Simon does?” Maud asks, the revelation dawning that Caliban has been spying. His plan to woo her has gone horrifically off the rails, but Caliban presses on, asking her to share the orange with him. “Please get out,” she asks. When he moves forward still, she goes to scream and he covers her mouth, pressing her up against the wall. Anyone who has read Frankenstein was probably expect Caliban to lose it and choke the life out of her in this scene, but Caliban comes to his sense and dashes off, leaving a petrified Maud to try to catch her breath.
After that, Vincent has no choice but to reluctantly sack his stage rat. “I’m a slave to the public,” he admits, throwing up his hands. “Thank you for your kindness, Vincent,” Caliban says. “I’ve not known much of it.” They hug and Vincent leaves Caliban with the words, “Remember us better than we are.” He takes one last look around the Grand Guignol then departs, leaving the only real home he’s ever had behind. What he doesn’t see is the danger within the theatre’s very walls. The camera pans up through the floors of the theatre to reveal that the vampires Malcolm is hunting have made themselves very much at home in the Grand Guignol’s attic.
Back at Malcolm’s home, Vanessa confronts Malcolm about why she wasn’t asked to accompany the group to the ship. “I would sacrifice you to save my daughter, I would choose her over you, and I might even hope I get the chance, but until then, you are invaluable to me,” he says, not surprising her in the least. She leaves.
Much to Dorian’s surprise, Vanessa shows up at the gardens, appearing a little less tense than she had earlier. The flowers they had admired in “Demimonde” are wilting now. “Do you feel I owe you an explanation?” She asks. He tells her that her company this afternoon is enough of an explanation, and she picks him up on how he cordially deflected the question, “risking nothing.” “Then allow me to risk everything,” he begins, but she cuts him off, explaining that they are not well-matched. “It’s too dangerous” for them to be together, she says. Their connection, though palpable, released something in her that she cannot allow, and so she must break things off then and there. Dorian is shell-shocked. “Poor Dorian, you’ve never known this feeling before, have you?” She says, somewhat mockingly. He admits that he has not, and she leans in to give him one last kiss. As they part, she whispers, “It’s rejection.” As she strides away, he’s left in abject misery. Even the gardens themselves appear to be wilting with his sorrow.
