Black Dagger Brotherhood: S1E3 Review & Recap

CorinaWrites

6 months ago

Black Dagger Brotherhood S1E3 Review

My overall review is that this was a great episode! It’s not going to be my favorite out of the 6 total, but that’s not because there’s anything wrong with it. I just know we have some key scenes that I love on deck soon, and I can’t wait to get to them. But seeing Beth with Fritz and Beth with Tohr is especially enjoyable, and we really get to connect with Marissa in this episode.

Are you curious about the level of sex scenes depicted in the Black Dagger Brotherhood on Passionflix? I was very intrigued about how this would be handled, and so far I’m pleased with the results. There is some nudity – female breasts and male butts thus far. Lots of passionate kissing, clothing/undies being removed, and a fair degree of thrusting, moaning and otherwise obviously having orgasms. But we don’t see any full frontal nudity, and we don’t see any penetration.

I was unsure about how pornographic the show might be, especially after realizing I needed to pay for a channel called “Passionflix” to watch it. But the channel and show are both definitely geared to the female gaze, and it’s all done very tastefully. I would have been good with more or less nudity and explicit sex, but I think they’ve struck a good balance here.

This episode has the benefit of two sex scenes between Wrath and Beth, with different experiences being portrayed. We also get to see pre-transition Wrath in the Old Country, which is an important piece of the puzzle that is Wrath’s psyche. This, combined with the stuff from Marissa, and the explanations provided about vampires, make this a crucial episode for world building and explanation. If you haven’t read the books, this is a must-see episode to truly understand the intricacies of the BDB vampire lifestyle. Granted, there are only 6 episodes, so they’re all gonna be must-see TV, but this has some especially key details.

On to the episode recap!

Black Dagger Brotherhood S1E3 Recap

We begin in the Old Country, 1690, with pre-transition Wrath. I was hoping we would get to see some scenes from back in the day, and Passionflix delivered! Poor Wrath is living the struggle in his early 20s, all busted up and beaten down by the other guys in the stable. We see him struggling with the start of his transition, and then Marissa appears to give him her vein. This was arranged long ago, and she took of his blood when he was little so she could find him in this vital moment.

The book (Dark Lover) presents this scene as a flashback of Wrath’s, but in the show it is presented as Marissa’s memory. I think that’s a nice change that conveys how significant the memory was to her. As she remembers, she strokes her wrist, because this was a treasured moment that began a relationship she’s been devoted to for centuries.

The scenes with the lessers and Billy Riddle are well done and true to the book, and I still mostly just want to skip them. I don’t, of course, but I am just always so impatient to get back to the characters I actually like! We see Mr. X. taking down Billy Riddle in laser tag, and then switch over to Butch in a bar with Jose.

Butch is getting wicked drunk, and Jose is playing babysitter/wifey and making sure he’s okay. Our interactions with Jose really dwindle after Dark Lover, and that’s a shame. He’s a gem of a character.

When we first see Beth and Wrath, she is explaining that Butch is not her lover, so Wrath doesn’t need to kill him on sight. Beth realizes that Wrath didn’t mean to sleep with her last night (their first night together), just like she didn’t really intend to sleep with him. She asks Wrath why he did it, and he says he had to. I think now is a good time to remind ourselves of some background on both of them.

First, Wrath: he’s been cold, inside and out, almost his whole life. Certainly since his parents died in front of him (more on that later), and the years haven’t been easy on him since. He knows how to fight, but he doesn’t know how to feel. I’m really simplifying the concept here, but that’s what it boils down. He doesn’t expect or want the sudden attraction to Beth, and certainly couldn’t have predicted that her scent would drive him crazy. He’s faced with something he’s never encountered, and she’s ready and willing, urging him on. Can you blame the guy for letting himself feel something good for a change?

Beth’s position may be harder to understand – not many modern women would be comfortable having sex with a man they’ve known for 5 minutes, and especially not a stranger that turned up in their house from God knows where. We find out later that she thought he was sent by Butch, but he’s still a complete unknown and clearly a formidable man. At the same time, remember that Beth is a woman in her mid-twenties who has literally never been sexually attracted to anyone. She’s never had an orgasm. She’s just been living her life, thinking she’s not all that into sex, and suddenly there’s this tall man with great hair that is giving her physical feelings she’s never experienced before. Beyond that, she doesn’t know if she will ever feel them again.

Maybe this is a one night only fluke, so why not see where his body can take hers? He establishes that he’s there to protect her, and she has to encourage him to kiss and touch her. So he’s apparently not a rape or assault threat, but he is super sexy and appealing and basically awakening her entire sexual identity in a matter of seconds. I can’t really blame her for wanting to make that moment last as long as possible. Later, of course, she has concerns about pregnancy, STDs, and generally getting her heart broken by a one night stand. But she’s a practical woman, and she recognizes that this physical thrill is so amazing that maybe it’s worth the potential emotional pain. Better to have loved and lost then never loved at all, and all that, right?

Back to the episode. If you recall, season 1 episode 2 didn’t have any sex scenes in it, which I appreciated. I’m glad there’s a balance and it isn’t just sexy sexy with no emotion. But an episode of no physical connection between our two leads naturally opens the door for double the physicality in the following episode, and I’m not complaining.

Again, Beth is more of the aggressor, with Wrath trying to give her some space and her taunting him a bit, basically daring him to take her. She doesn’t want to feel anything emotionally, because it’s been a hell of a night and she’s tired and overwhelmed. But even as she expresses this to him, she feels guilty and bad. He doesn’t deserve to be used, even if he’s totally on board with the plan. She asks him not to leave, and not to say no, and he can’t resist.

Once again, the interaction is hard and fast and intense and does not hold back. This is what both of them want, and they both end up entirely satisfied. But it’s a challenge for Wrath, because he needs to feed. Beth doesn’t realize this, and she worries about him, but he wants to stick to the incredible task at hand. Ultimately, though, when he climaxes, his bloodlust almost wins out and he has to forcibly remove himself from her to avoid hurting her. Her jugular is just too appealing!

Beth is understandably worried about what happened, and if she did anything wrong, because no one wants their sexual partner to fling themself across the room to get away immediately post-coitus. Him screaming at her to get the fuck back isn’t exactly reassuring, but he does manage to explain that he’s trying not to hurt her and it actually hurts him to be in her presence. Desperate for blood, Wrath screams out for Marissa as Beth leaves the mansion.

Then we have another delightful interaction between Beth and Fritz, where Fritz recaps her entire childhood and proves that he and her father have been watching from afar her entire life. Can you imagine what a mindfuck that would be? You grow up thinking you’re a total orphan, but really there’s been a parental figure the whole time that absolutely adored you and wished he could be in your life. But protection is always foremost in the brotherhood’s minds, so he kept his distance.

Beth also inquires to the nature of her father’s relationship with Wrath, which is how she discovers that Wrath is actually King of the vampires. Adorably, Fritz admonishes Beth about living on the ground floor when they get to her apartment. This is straight from the book, as is most of this show so far, and I was hoping it would make it into the show.

Marissa dutifully responds to Wrath, but finds him in a state of delirium. He feeds from her neck with passion, and she thinks for a moment that he has finally decided to take their relationship to the next level. He’s finally ready to be a true mate to her, take her virginity and have that sexual connection. Unfortunately, she’s able to read his mind a bit, and sees that he’s thinking about Beth. In the book Marissa is described of dropping this vision in her mind “like glass” because it is unbearably painful for her.

Next we get another scene we’ve been waiting for, which is Tohr and Beth hanging out together. He arrives just to keep an eye on her and is perfectly fine hanging outside, but she invites him. Tohr dispels some vampire myths – he drinks beer and eats food, needs the nutrients from regular food along with blood, and loves garlic. It’s hard not to have a soft spot for Tohr when we see him interacting with anyone, but her especially. He’s the peacemaker of the group, and a calm, reassuring presence for Beth.

This brings us to an important moment that isn’t thus far explained as much as it is in the books – that of marking a mate. Tohr points out that Wrath has marked Beth, and he can smell it on her. It’s basically a warning for other males to keep away, and a stamp of ownership on her. But we don’t get the level of detail that we do in the book, and I was a little disappointed there. I get that it’s hard to convey the intricacies of a scent on screen, but scent is a huge part of this world, and I hope we don’t lose that.

For those who don’t know, the marking is basically a scent that a male vampire emits when he is feeling very intensely about the female he loves: a moment of sexual passion, jealousy, fierce protection, or intense romantic love. It often comes out of their pores when they’re having sex, effectively coating the female in the scent inside and out.

It isn’t something they can really control, and it’s often a way that the BDB universe helps a male to realize that he actually has caught real feelings for the female in question. It’s hard to deny your obsession with another when your body is literally producing a scent that everyone else notices. All of the females are described as loving this scent, which smells like rich, dark spices.

Anyway, Tohr correctly observes that Beth doesn’t mind being marked as belonging with/to Wrath, but this does lead to some thorny questions about whether Wrath already has a mate/wife/shellan (vampire term) that he’s connected to. Tohr skirts around explaining Marissa, but we do get to see and hear his happy go lucky, dumb devotion to Wellsie as he describes his own mate. Tohr is 100% a wife guy and I am 100% here for it.

Back at the mansion, Wrath is having a moment of clarity now that he’s nourished, and Marissa has made a realization of her own. She releases him from their covenant, freeing him to be with the one he really wants. Poor Marissa really thinks that she’s been insufficient this whole time, and not enough for Wrath. But really Wrath was just completely closed off and uninterested in a close connection with anyone, until Beth caught him entirely off guard. Marissa thinks this is indicative of some defect within her, and it’s heartbreaking to see. She ghosts out of there and leaves Wrath feeling like crap, which he pretty much deserves. If he had been up front with her from the beginning he could have saved her a lot of pain, but he also lacked much of the self awareness needed to have that conversation.

Next, Jose checks in on Butch via phone, and advises that hungover Butch lay low, because Internal Affairs wants to question him about his treatment of Billy Riddle. This was absolutely police brutality and incredibly inappropriate – a fact that is all the more obvious after the past decade, compared to when Dark Lover was first published. But in this case, we know that Billy is a rapist who hurt Beth and tried to do serious harm to her, and we know that Butch has strong protective feelings for Beth, so we can understand his behavior. I’m not saying that excuses the violation of anyone’s constitutional rights, but this is fiction. Also, Billy is a rich, spoiled, entitled white male, which often isn’t the description for those who are mistreated by the police.

Sorry for that brief political statement, let’s get back to the episode. We see Beth at work, composing a list of questions for Wrath about vampire living. Fritz gives her a call and offers to take her dress shopping, because Wrath is planning a date night. Fritz is the ultimate wingman/fairy godfather and I feel like if he was in my life, I would be better at everything. My shit would be so totally together thanks to him. Alas, the doggen are a fictional race of people that do not exist in real life. Still, a girl can dream.

In the middle of this scene of Beth at work, we see that Butch is suspended from the force, which surprises exactly no one. Butch still wants to pursue Wrath and figure out what’s going with Beth, but Jose warns him that this won’t bring his sister back. This is a gut punch to Butch, and it hints at his deeper backstory. I won’t get into it now, because all will be revealed in time, but he does have an intense personal connection to the idea of a woman being taken and abused.

Next we jump over to a scene where Marissa joins her brother, Havers, for a meal. He tells her that he has transfused himself with blood and he’s feeling fine, but he also looks off and is definitely not fine. Marissa mentions that he still misses his shellan, Evangeline, and they both agree that drinking from another is not palatable to them. It’s never really discussed, but I assume blood doesn’t work quite right between siblings. Anyway, Havers notices Marissa’s torn up neck and gets real mad, but Marissa clarifies that her relationship with Wrath is now over. Havers is not pleased, as he feels his sister has been disrespected.

On the other side of town, Butch shows up at Beth’s apartment, but she’s headed out for a date with Wrath. He tries to stop her, but she’s obviously got more information on the situation than he does, and she doesn’t do what he wants. She does assure him that they can talk tomorrow, which isn’t much reassurance to Butch, who thinks/knows she may be dead by then.

Do you remember in my episode 2 recap where I mentioned that Wrath is kind of a dick for a bit? Well, we’re here and he’s delivering on that promise. He’s dressed all nice for his date with Beth, but he gets super insecure and flustered when Tohr comments on his appearance and his obvious connection to Beth. Tohr just wants Wrath to be honest about his feelings, but Wrath takes it too far and insults Tohr’s relationship with Wellsie. Wrath tells Tohr that at least he’s not pussy-whipped, and Tohr delivers his line perfectly: Nice. Fucking. Suit. Then Wrath suggests that if Tohr spent less time and attention on Wellsie, Darius might still be alive, which is both insanely rude and not accurate.

Wrath is real pissy after this interaction, and ready to cancel the date, but then Beth shows up at the mansion. What follows is the least appealing scene that Wrath ever has, in my opinion. He’s rude, he’s arrogant, he ignores when Beth repeatedly asks to just go home because obviously he doesn’t want her there. There are some key moments, though.

The main one is that Beth realizes from Wrath’s mannerisms and context clues that he can’t see. In the book, she also realizes that he has some insecurity related to that, and because he’s so intense, it can’t just be as run of the mill as insecurity. No, for Wrath it has to be full-blown self-hatred. This gives us, as the reader/audience, a better understanding as to why Beth continues to even talk to him after he literally tells her to sit down and shut up.

I never tend to enjoy meal scenes in shows, because they speed through them without eating much of anything. That is the case here, but it’s a necessity to get through the scene in any kind of reasonable time frame. Wrath finally realizes that he’s not treating Beth right, and explains that he thought she deserved some kind of date. He explains that he would have been much better suited to teaching her how to fight. Fighting he can handle, connecting emotionally is something else altogether, We can see in Beth’s eyes that some understanding is dawning, but I wish it had been more fleshed out somehow.

Wrath gives Beth a rundown on the creation of vampires, the Scribe Virgin and the Omega, the lessers and the threat they pose, and how the Black Dagger Brotherhood came to be. It’s a good recap/explanation for us, depending on your level of familiarity with the BDB world. He also sets Beth straight that the humans aren’t “us” to her anymore, they’re “them”. She’s not entirely human now and soon won’t be human at all.

Side note, this show is giving me serious red wine cravings that cannot be satiated while I’m pregnant. I’ve always been a red wine fan but it’s weird how much I wish I could enjoy a glass these days.

Back at the date, the conversation covers how vampires can’t go out in the sun (one of the few things that fiction usually gets right about them), but since Beth is a half-breed, it could be different. She asks how often she will have to feed, and how she will find someone, and Wrath gets all up in his head and offended at the idea of her feeding from someone else. Even though he’s the one that says she has to find someone else, so really this is all up to him.

It leads to Beth asking if he has a mate, and who he currently feeds from, and Wrath finally breaks a bit in response to her reporter-esque questioning. Beth doesn’t like hearing that Wrath drank from another female, which at least helps Wrath to get some of his insecurity under control. He reiterates that he can’t take her as his own, even though that’s what he wants (what they both want) but he won’t give a good reason why. Mainly because he doesn’t actually have a good reason beyond fear. Fear for her safety, fear of emotional intimacy, etc. Vampires, they’re just like us!

Things turn intimate when Wrath feeds Beth strawberries. It isn’t explained in much detail in this episode, but in the BDB world, a male feeding a female is a very significant act. It represents their devotion and subservience to their mate, so participating in this with Beth has much more meaning than she realizes. Wrath doesn’t handle everything perfectly, though. Beth asks if he had sex with Marissa, and he says no, but then says “I’m not sleeping with anyone but you right now”. Way to make a girl feel special. Still, Beth is a logical woman, and she recognizes that this isn’t necessarily going to be a long time thing, but it can still be a really good time.

At this point they’re both too turned on to eat anymore (and apparently full after eating approximately 3 bites total on screen), so they move back to the bedroom. Beth tries to discuss safe sex with Wrath, but he clarifies that vampires can’t catch human viruses, and she’s not fertile right now, so no worries. He mentions “the needing”, and how a female uses her male during that time, but doesn’t go into much detail. Still, he insists that will be another male’s duty and privilege with her.

Now we have another key scene, where Beth asks Wrath to take off his glasses so she can see his eyes. I personally don’t love the sunglasses and think he’s much more attractive with them off, so I am in favor of this plan. She finally asks Wrath point blank if he’s blind, and Wrath immediately assumes she’s worried that he can’t take care of her. Oh Wrath. Not everything is about finding you inferior in some way. He shows off his stunning light green eyes, which Beth declares to be beautiful, and he labels as useless.

He explains a bit about how he was born visually impaired, and his vision will likely get worse, but right now he can see some things. He knows that he likes her hair down, and he knows that she is very beautiful. Way to recover, Wrath! This guy is a roller coaster of emotions but Beth is very good at riding that ride. Now things get even more intimate as Wrath extols the virtues of the other four senses that are just as important, if not more so, than sight.

Another random side note – I’ve been loving Beth’s lingerie throughout this series. Her red bra has little bows on the straps and it’s adorable. Anyway, Wrath admits that he wouldn’t let Fritz change his sheets after she left, because he wanted to keep her smell on them. This is a pretty vulnerable confession from Wrath, and he follows it with more touching (on her cute matching panties, natch) and the assertion that he’s been too greedy with her thus far.

He says he hasn’t really taken her properly yet, and formerly-orgasm-free-Beth is like yeah no sir, I disagree. But if he wants to try even harder, she’s certainly not going to stop him. She wants more, and Wrath is happy to oblige.

We see that his fingers go everywhere, and Beth is very much enjoying it. He then licks his fingers, and has her taste said fingers, and asks if she knows what she tastes like. Here is the infamous moment where he says she tastes like peaches, as he begins kissing his way up her thighs. The final line of the episode? Wrath saying “and I love peaches”, as Beth clearly enjoys where his mouth was heading.

Want to get fully schooled on the Black Dagger Brotherhood universe? You gotta read the books. I promise, you will love them. Some of the language/styles are a bit dated, but stick with them. It just gets better and better, and you will be so immersed and in love with these characters, this world, and all things BDB. Sadly, at the ripe old age of 42, I’ve accepted that my transition (which usually occurs around age 25) isn’t gonna happen. But reading the books gets you pretty close to living in their universe, and that’s enough for me. Get started reading with the Amazon links below:

BDB and Related Universe Reading Order

Dark Lover (Wrath & Beth) 2005

Lover Eternal (Rhage & Mary) 2006

Lover Awakened (Zsadist & Bella) 2006

Lover Revealed (Butch & Marissa) 2007

Lover Unbound (Vishous & Jane) 2007

Lover Enshrined (Phury & Cormia) 2008

Father Mine (Zsadist & Bella) 2008

The Black Dagger Brotherhood: An Insider’s Guide 2008

The Story of Son (The Black Dagger Brotherhood World) (Claire & Michael) (Note – originally published in the romance anthology Dead After Dark in 2008)

Covet (A Novel of the Fallen Angels) 2009

Lover Avenged (Rehv & Ehlena) 2009

Crave (A Novel of the Fallen Angels) 2010

Lover Mine (John Matthew & Xhex) 2010

Envy (A Novel of the Fallen Angels) 2011

Lover Unleashed (Payne & Manny) 2011

Rapture (A Novel of the Fallen Angels) 2012

Lover Reborn (Tohr & Autumn) 2012

Lover at Last (Blay & Qhuinn) 2013

Possession (A Novel of the Fallen Angels) 2013

The King (Wrath & Beth) 2014

Immortal (A Novel of the Fallen Angels) 2014

The Shadows (Trez & Selena, iAm & maichen) 2015

Blood Kiss (Black Dagger Legacy) (Paradise & Craeg) 2015

The Beast (Rhage & Mary) 2017

Blood Vow (Black Dagger Legacy) (Axe & Elise) (Rhage & Mary) 2016

The Chosen (Layla & Xcor, Blay & Qhuinn) 2017

Blood Fury (Black Dagger Legacy) (Peyton & Novo, Saxton & Ruhn) 2018

Dearest Ivie (The Black Dagger Brotherhood World) (Ivie & Silas) 2018

The Thief (Assail & Sola) 2018

Prisoner of Night (The Black Dagger Brotherhood World) (Ahmare & Duran) 2019

The Savior (Murhder & Sarah) 2019

Blood Truth (Black Dagger Legacy) (Boone & Helaine) 2019

Where Winter Finds You (A Caldwell Christmas) (Trez & Therese) 2019

The Sinner (Syn & Jo) 2020

The Jackal (The Black Dagger Brotherhood Prison Camp) (Jackal & Nyx) 2020

A Warm Heart in Winter (A Caldwell Christmas) (Blay & Qhuinn) 2020

Lover Unveiled (Sahvage & Mae) 2021

Claimed (The Lair of the Wolven Book 1) (Lydia & Daniel) 2021

The Wolf (The Black Dagger Brotherhood Prison Camp) (Lucan & Rio) 2022

Darius: A Black Dagger Brotherhood Love Story (Darius & Anne) 2022

The Viper (The Black Dagger Brotherhood Prison Camp) (Kane & Nadya) 2022

Forever (The Lair of the Wolven Book 2) (Lydia & Daniel) 2023

Lassiter (Lassiter & Rahvyn) 2023

Mine (The Lair of the Wolven Book 3) (Lydia & Daniel) 2024

A Bloom in Winter (A Black Dagger Brotherhood Holiday Book) (Apex & Callum) 2024

The Beloved (Nalla & Nate) 2025

Lover Forbidden (Lyric