 Warning! This article contains spoilers. Proceed at your own risk.
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A Seat of Civilisation and Refinement is the fifth episode of the third season, and the 17th episode overall, of the Netflix original series, Castlevania.
Synopsis[]
- Belmont and the Judge discover an ominous symbol, Saint Germain's treasure hunt is cut short, and Alucard's bond with Sumi and Taka continues to grow.
Plot[]
Lindenfeld[]
Trevor notices ominous symbols throughout Lindenfeld. Even so, he continues his walk through the forest, where he stops at a pool of water. Trevor has an intense conversation with himself, when suddenly the Judge appears. The Judge recounts how he became the leader of Lindenfeld. At a young age, he left Lindenfeld with his family for the capital, where he rose in the Court and did well enough that he was sent back to his hometown.
The two men walk back to the town when the Judge suddenly notices a symbol on the gate. While Trevor believes it's the action of a child, the Judge believes that someone else is responsible.
Meanwhile, in the monastery, Saint Germain is reading through various notes and books. The church's monks leave him alone, giving Saint Germain the perfect opportunity to snoop around. With a crystal –later revealed to be made out of Lithomancy– in hand. The jewel leads him to the entrance of the basement. Just when he starts to descend the stairs, Sala appears warning Saint Germain he was told where to stay. The aristocrat comes with the excuse that he was looking for somewhere discreet to urinate. However, Sala doesn't buy his lie. Nevertheless, the leader of the monks lets him go.
Outside, Sypha spots Saint Germain and walks beside him, asking him why he's allowed in the monastery; and also reveals Saint Germain's secret, he's a magician. However, he would like for Sypha to keep this little detail to herself. Sypha suspects that something ominous is lurking inside the church. Prompting Saint Germain to reveal his interest in the church; he's searching for something occult in nature.
Sypha notices a weird symbol on a wall, the same one that Trevor and the Judge spotted outside the town's gates. Saint German recognizes it, and he's worried; it's the alchemical sign for Saturn and lead, thus denoting transformation and redemption. And the scythe: time and harvest.
Trevor joins them, where Sypha introduces Saint Germain. However, the young Belmont isn't too friendly toward the magician. All three of them go to the town's tavern.
At the tavern, Saint Germain retells his days in the slums of Paris, where he invented a drink. Trevor interrupts him and goes to the point: What does Saint Germain know about the church? The aristocrat is in search of the Infinite Corridor. Not surprisingly, Trevor and Sypha know about this mysterious location.
Saint Germain reveals that a long time ago, he lost someone very dear to him in the Infinite Corridor and he's been looking for a way back in ever since. There's a portal to the corridor under the priory, and he will find it despite the dangers.
Forest nearby Dracula's Castle[]
Alucard is training Sumi and Taka in the arts of the blade. However, the vampire hunters can't get close to Alucard, thanks to his long sword. Even so, it becomes a teachable moment, as Alucard shows the disadvantages of letting a bloodsucker get near inches from a human's throat.
Nevertheless, the pair have a few tricks under their sleeves. The training ends when they tackle Alucard to the ground. They head to the castle.
Cast[]
- Richard Armitage as Trevor
- Jason Isaacs as Judge
- Bill Nighy as Saint Germain
- Navid Negahban as Sala
- Alejandra Reynoso as Sypha
- James Callis as Alucard
- Tōru Uchikado as Taka
- Rila Fukushima as Sumi
Quotes[]
- – Trevor: (talking to his reflection in a small pond) What the hell are you doing with your life? (points at it) I'm talking to you, Trevor Belmont... of House Belmont, with no living relatives. (crosses his arms) It is you I address. Last surviving monster hunter from out here in the armpit of the world. (gets down on his knees toward the pond.) What the actual hell are you thinking? (splashes the water) Idiot. (stands up) You're a tramp. You're excommunicated. (walks a quarter of the way around the pond.) You have no family, you have no friends. You've spent your entire adult life being hated by everybody you ever met. And you were fine with that. You even liked it. Nobody could get near you, nobody could ruin your life... because there wasn't much left to ruin. But that little bit of it? That was yours. And then what? A pretty girl holds your hand and takes you to bed, and all of a sudden--
- – Judge: (from behind him) And all of a sudden your world changes, and you don't know what to think about it. (Trevor turns around to face him.) Sorry.
- – Trevor: You weren't following me, were you?
- – Judge: (walks toward a stump and sits on it.) This is my little place of peace. I come out here to think sometimes.
- – Trevor: Pretty sure your nice little house has a door on it.
- – Judge: (chuckles) I can't always do it at home. Someone can always knock on my door. Somebody always needs something. Sometimes I have to walk outside the town to be able to see it properly. (closes his eyes and gazes at Trevor with interest.) So, you're an actual Belmont. I grew up with stories about your family.
- – Trevor: (sits on a stump next to the Judge.) Scary bedtime stories?
- – Judge: Mostly. They still tell them here, you know. But they have a different ending now.
- – Trevor: (emotionlessly) Oh?
- – Judge: They end with "And the Belmonts aren't here to save you anymore, so if you're not good, the monster will come and eat you up."
- – Trevor: (unfazed) Christ.
- – Judge: Yes. Well, Lindenfelders are a basic kind of people. Honest to the point of brutality.
- – Trevor: You're not one of them?
- – Judge: Not really. You can't be part of the town and also rule it. To be a leader, you will always be... held apart from the rest of your world. (watches a couple of birds fly above his head.) I was born here, so I can claim to be a Lindenfelder. But my family and I left when I was young. We moved to the capital, you see. I remember thinking as we left: "I'll never see this place again."
- – Trevor: I remember thinking the same thing as I left my old house. Places have a strange way of catching back up with you.
- – Judge: Huh. I suppose so. (pulls out a flask from his robes.) Like some roads are circular. (opens a cork) I rose in the court at the capital, and did just well enough... that I was sent back here to head the town.
- – Trevor: In my experience, no good deed goes unpunished. Do you miss the capital? I only passed through it a couple of times.
- – Judge: (drinks from his flask) Well, coming back here to run the town was an odd little revelation for me. The same stories happen in cities, but there are so many people in cities that the stories just rush by. Here, every little story is a huge thing. A farming accident. A sickness. A lost child. A death. They have an importance to the whole place. Doesn't happen in cities. (He tosses Trevor the flask) So how long have you and Sypha been traveling together?
- – Trevor: (grunts) Couple of months. (drinks from the flask with his eyes closed.) We were supposed to go and rejoin her caravan, but... things happened along the way. (tosses the Judge his flash back.) And at some point, we decided to just keep moving, I suppose.
- – Judge: (stands up) Well, it doesn't sound like you decided much of anything. (turns to leave toward the village.)
- – Trevor: (walks back with him) I suppose not.
- – Judge: Not really a man with a plan, are you Belmont?
- – Trevor: I don't especially trust men with plans. That Saint Germain git in town, he's a man with a plan. That's what they're like.
- – Judge: **** charlatan. We used to see them in the capital, his type. Drifting between the courts of Europe, pulling rabbits out of hats in hope of patronage.
- – Trevor: What's he doing here?
- – Judge: God knows. Maybe he's finally hit bottom. (spots a rune on a wooden column at the gate.) Wait.
- – Trevor: What?
- – Judge: That wasn't there yesterday. (He walks over to the rune and examines it.)
- – Trevor: Are you sure that's not just some kid **** around with his first knife?
- – Judge: Children do not run around defacing property with knives in my town. (places his hand on the rune.) In fact, they don't run around at all, if I can help it.
- – Trevor: And you know it wasn't there yesterday?
- – Judge: (sighs) This is my town, Belmont. It's my job to pay attention to it.
- – Trevor: I have to say, running a town does not sound like it's fun.
- – Judge: (walks inside the village.) It has its little pleasures. (Trevor looks ahead as the wind whistles.)
- – Sala: Why do you think I would believe you were looking for somewhere to piss down here?
- – Sypha: Oh, he wouldn't really slit your throat. But I could kill you by looking at you.
- – Alucard: Never let a vampire in close. I'm half-vampire. Half of me wants you to step in close enough for me to bite out your throat.
- – Saint Germain: Have you heard... of the Infinite Corridor?
- – Trevor and Sypha: (in unison) Yes.
- – Saint Germain: Well, I suppose this was the wrong company to unveil ancient occult secrets in and expect to be impressive.
Gallery[]
