Last week , Penny Dreadful cranked through some very Victorian flashback and positioned itself for the 2d act . This week , things get even more Victorian as everyone goes out to a gambol and has the worst night ever — except for the people who stick around home , for whom the night was more or less worse .
Spoilers ahead !
This week I in conclusion gave up on trying to screencap every crocked glance , because every glimpse exchanged in this whole installment was Loaded . rather , I made a human relationship map that will hopefully help keep up with this amazing muddle of desperate flavour only hardly subsumed in sniping , staring , or meaningful cut - tos .
Here ’s where things were as of last week :
Dotted line point where we ’re unsure of loudness or intent ; for the most part this has to do with Victor , who ’s so desperate for affection yet so quick to lash out that it ’s hard to tell if he ’s irritably hitting on people or genuinely mean . ( You know the kind . ) The dotted line between him and Caliban is only because Caliban might want to stamp out him more than he wants to make out with him , and so we have to wait for that to play out . It is not because there is not stress :
That ’s cover . It ’s encompass with reasonably much everyone . “ Is it subtext ? Eh , just make it text . ” – Penny Dreadful , about everything .
This is right before Caliban tell Victor , with a variety of defiant shame , “ My St. Bridget must be beautiful . ” Victor , as before long as he ’s recovered from the forcible propinquity , reply , “ To match her Paraguay tea ? ” Rude . This is why he call you “ monster , ” Victor . ( Also , once again TV has given us someone we ’re suppose to involve as physically unsettling , when really it ’s just a hombre who want a haircut and some moisturizer It ’s all very I , Frankenstein . “ I’M A MONSTER ! ” * AB * )
master spend the quietus of his subplot taste to ram off as many people as potential , include a visiting hematologist — Doctor Van Helsing , of track , who baptise the blood - drinking hematophagy , seems to guess what Malcolm is after , and look like he wants to hurtle Victor out a window mere minutes after having met him .
( Dig that golden microscope . No Harlan Fisk Stone pass on unturned in square-toed design . )
It reminds me of Caliban ’s vow to drink down Victor ’s make out ones and how that ’s belike cash in one’s chips to end up being pretty slender pickings , which never fails to make me smile .
In “ Resurrection , ” Penny Dreadful Heads To The Zoo
Victor is terribly good at being a creepy Victorian torturer , though , so that ’s something .
The arrival of Fenton has actually brought a lot of simmer tension to a head , which has its uses perhaps especially in a quiet episode . There ’s much to instruct by see Victor in his element treating a living individual like a solicitation of sampling , and Malcolm seeming to regret his prior Beat The Crap Out of Him approach and angling closer to good cop . ( When he asks why Fenton want Vanessa , Fenton gives him a Look and say , “ Why does everyone need her ? So raise , is n’t she , Sir M , ” which would be chill enough without Olly Alexander ’s heavy bringing and animalism . It ’s a fine line between pathetic and terrifying , and he walk it well here . )
There ’s probably something to learn from Ethan Chandler , normal human man who is definitely not a possible werewolf , refusing to be part of a blood transfusion . There ’s definitely something to teach about how whole beyond this total business Sembene is quickly becoming .
Also over it at the root of this sequence : Dorian , whose elaborate yet awfully holding - still orgies just do n’t hold the appeal they used to , somehow .
That is a man who has tipped over the far side of the effort / reward matrix for orgy hosting ; it ’s just not the same since Brona hacked pedigree all over him . ( This is also a military man who sits in front of his painting when everyone has lead home . Was the bacchanal a hell ? Is he checking to see if it is ? Surely it ’s unfit to lie down and murder and stuff than to host a swingers ’ political party of consenting adult ? Is the painting subject to contemporary social edicts or internal ones ? Who knows . )
On Penny Dreadful , It ’s Not a Party Without a Seance
Vanessa is also searching for some answers in living , sit outside a church and getting random catechism from an endearing moppet identify Lucy ( my ear are perking up , show ) who may or may not be in league with the Devil as she verbalise of physical structure not staying buried the path they ’re supposed to .
Then , in a concurrence I am only buying because of the many tight-laced centime terrible tropes this show evinces , Dorian comes out of the church ( uh huh ) , and Vanessa gives by-line into the orchid show greenhouses . Too bad .
Here ’s the affair ; it ’s absolutely no surprisal to me that he ’d be drawn to her , but despite the turnaround later in this episode ( oh , we ’ll get there ) , he still seems to be little more than the sidling louche , all told , so I ’m at a departure as to why she ’d be pull to him . Acceptable hypotheses : she ’s looking for an affair outside the household circle , so to verbalise ; she senses he ’s supernatural and wants to rule that power for herself ; she wants to cut him some comme il faut smasher .
They directly load the flowers with Victorian - displacement intimate innuendo , because of class they do . He call for her what the flower evidence her . Vanessa : “ Touch me , with your fingerbreadth , softly , my smell on your neck , open your lips , penchant … ”
Eh , just make it text .
Dorian , slightly take aback by her vividness ( this cat is so out of his conference ) , tells her it ’s belladonna , actually , and it ’s poisonous , so who ’d want to taste it , nobody am I right , ha ha !
Vanessa , who drink a glassful of Atropa belladonna just to get up in the morning , is not impressed .
But it ’s surd to blame her for take care outside the house for a makeout spouse , because by the time she comes home , Malcolm has driven a wedge between Ethan and Victor by invite Ethan to go to Africa , but Victor was the one who wants to explore , Surrogate Dad , why ca n’t you ever just pay tending to ME , SURROGATE DAD , while also maintaining a frankly telling snipe front against Ethan ’s arrogate he ’s “ bloodless . ”
( OUR pappa issues , indeed . )
The Victorian Gothic Soap Penny Dreadful Has All the Right Moves
Vanessa , walking in , catches the modality of the room with some hilarious lawn tennis - plot back - and - forth :
Then , she puts on her Socialite Skin and teases everyone just enough to make it all sound like a frivolous argument that allows them to save face , learn in on Fenton , break up , and go home . Vanessa James Ives , you ’re marvelous .
Ethan ’s still interested about how they ’re treating Fenton ; as a normal human world who has no beastly disposition or potential supernatural afflictions himself , he ca n’t suppose what it ’s like to be held imprisoned and used as a science experimentation , but just as a hypothetical he does n’t feel groovy about it , is all .
you could say Vanessa is mature to actually enjoy his company because her eyes are dial down to a softer , gentler , five - hundred - grounds stare . She even seems to share his concern ; certainly she had a moment of pity for Fenton when she strain to tip him her orchard apple tree , and even being the target of Fenton ’s despairing verbal blast did n’t in reality provoke any cruelty or retaliation from her . I believe she ’s brutal , as she warn Ethan last calendar week , but there ’s also some level of apprehension that ’s utterly lacking in , for case , Victor . This episode seems comparatively still , peculiarly through this act , but it ’s doing a lot of work establishing demarcation and shifting relationships .
And that ’s just getting started , since Ethan , Brona , Dorian , and Vanessa all head to the field for a night that ’s even more full of stir relationships and ends up being calamitous for pretty much everyone !
Not that stay home ’s any better . Malcolm and Victor end up have to frighten away the vampire that ’s managed to get into Vanessa ’s room ( yikes ) , toss off an loose Fenton in the process by hurling him onto a shard of windowpane meth ( YIKES ) .
On the other hand , Malcolm explains that Victor reminds him of his own stagnant Logos ( who was also presumptively a elephantine annoyance in the ass ) , and he asked Ethan to go with him because he does n’t care what happens to Ethan nearly as much as he cares about what happens to Victor .
It ’s to the endless credit of Harry Treadaway that Victor has a run of broken humanity in him that keeps him from being a caricature ; his pauperism for any variety of human connection from someone who seems to have solution is distressingly evident in this moment .
Speaking of thing that are painfully evident :
NOBODY ’S A WEREWOLF , OKAY , WHY ARE YOU EVEN ASKING .
Also , this is a remnant both of the pan - across revulsion reveals this show has afford us before and my own theater - person past that as Caliban was rushing around backstage , agilely handle everything , I kept being horribly uneasy something would go faulty during the show and a massacre and/or mentor death would result . ( Who did they have doing this before he come along ? ) I ’m still surprised nothing really happened , though I do admire the intricacy of the offstage mark and Rory Kinnear ’s deft hand with stage business , which are both deserving admire .
Brona and Ethan have a wonderful time , Dorian ca n’t keep his eyes off Vanessa , Vanessa once in a while pins Dorian the right way to the rampart with her stare , and things are die not bad until they all meet up in the foyer .
Poor Brona , already nervous with her sickness and mingle with schmancy types , being inaugurate to the work wife who has more to casually chat about that Brona dares speculation . bad possible date . Wait , nope , flow on :
There we go .
It goes about as well as anticipate , and ends with a crushed Brona trying to preemptively save some heartache by breaking up with Ethan in the heart of the street .
She keel home , but she does n’t last long ; when she sags down cough in a street and then buy the farm placid , either she ’s passed out , or Caliban has just had his number called on the bride front . ( It ’s a suitably busy street , as well ; this episode ’s second one-half is packed with prudish beats like this , where women just die in the street sometimes , and what are you going to do ? Gory theater safely watch from above for the fancy types ? Sure thing . Underground play rings ? But of course . )
Ethan ’s snap up and distrait – so much that when Dorian invites him to ditch Act II and go keep an eye on a dog belt down some rats , Ethan agrees .
Vanessa ’s left alone at the field , with only Sembene for company .
( Sembene , why are you here ? Malcolm told Victor you had the dark off , so he is lie and you ’re still under his employment or is there something more verbatim between you and Vanessa ? I ’d candidly make love to know anything else about Sembene whatsoever ; we ’re at the halfway point , he needs to get more to do than stand around and occasionally kill Arabian tea for quasi - vampiric hostages . )
When she goes home , Malcolm recount her what she miss , and she immediately distinguish that Mina set her up to notice Fenton and rent the big hombre in , which is a mash blow . Malcolm read the opportunity to have an even more loaded line of reasoning than normal as they lunge blame at each other for what go on to Mina , inching closer and closer :
He calls her on her fell streak and lastly spue out , “ You ’re the daughter I merit , ” which does perfectly nothing to reclassify their freeform tension ; it ’s still just as present , and now it ’s more ill at ease than ever .
It ’s especially interesting when counterpoint against the respite of Ethan ’s dark , after the hole-and-corner rat - baiting sashay does n’t go well .
( not bad shot ; this episode really carries the feeling of those with sumptuousness being at play in a way that feels nicely dark . )
Ethan , normal human valet , is not doing well with this dog raining down butchery . When he ’s set about by the most pricelessly classy group of yobbo ever ( Actual negotiation : “ You ’re in Britain now . We do thing like we like . You hear ? ” “ do him , you rude thing . ” ) , it was bound to cease in a fistfight .
Back at Dorian ’s , they chat about art over Artemisia absinthium in a way that , on any other show , would be extremely loaded subtext .
“ I speculate we all play part , ” Dorian genus Mus , after Ethan feeds him a cowboy blood line about his best-loved artwork being in saloons . Ethan : “ What ’s yours ? ” Dorian , becoming interesting for perhaps the first prison term : “ Human . ”
They toast to Vanessa ( hmm ) and bulge drinking , at which point Ethan feel one of those flashback that start ten mo ago and steering wheel back through time all the manner to the pilot , which show that he ’s an enormous , hopeless mess desperate for any way out of have to face up to his past , however recent , and not look forward to the future very much either . He ’s also quiet wild , seethe drunk , and as he ’s told Dorian , he ’s hurt to be someone else . It ’s bound to overflow .
This was the pointedness at which I thought , “ This is a LOT of subtext . ” But I had blank out what sort of show this is .
“ Is it subtext ? Eh , make it text . ”
Why Ethan Chandler , you certainly can surprise a girl .
How does our map look now ?
Busy episode , after all ! I cogitate this episode and the last one were necessary even though they lacked the showstopping atmosphere of the first two ; there was a lot of character work done this hebdomad , and most of it feels like it ’s about to pay up off . I look forward to this mapping becoming a huge , ridiculous snarl next week — specially if Brona ends up being the Bride , and definitely so when we insert Mina properly , plus the out-and-out number of nascent makeouts waiting in the wings . Never has a show been so worldly about any characters want to bang . “ Sure , it could take place ” – Penny Dreadful , about literally anyone .
Next workweek : More straightlaced flashbacks , so riddled with subtext we wo n’t even know what to do with ourselves .
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