Penny Dreadful: Beneath the Vaulted Sky

So we come to our first Penny Dreadful episode that feels ... well, a bit lacklustre. Even with everyone getting laid in the last five minutes (except Ethan of course, because Ethan) not a lot seemed to happen. A lack of action doesn't necessarily mean an episode has to be dull, especially not on this show, where the most compelling scenes are invariably Vanessa staring intently at something, but there was simply something missing this time around.

In the aftermath of the witch attack, our intrepid not!heroes gather in the parlour and listen to Ethan recounting his experience  with genocide (yeah, seriously) and sieges, completely missing the irony that a) their camp has already been infiltrated (Ferdinand sits by with a look of abject guilt on his face) and that b) preparing their defences at this point is a bit like closing the stable door after all the horses have escaped.

I've been impressed with Josh Hartnett's acting throughout this show (all the more so since his resume isn't particularly sterling) so it felt like a matter of some significance that he was speaking so passionately about his experiences with the Native American massacre. What exactly was he channelling in this scene? Anger and adrenaline at being caught unawares? Or the memories of his past crimes and how they relate to his current predicament? Because I'm calling it now: this werewolf curse he's under is punishment for something he's done in the past. Just as Angel was cursed with his soul by the gypsies, I'm guessing a Native American tribe are behind Ethan's transformations – because when they're not being slaughtered, that's the main purpose of minority groups in these kinds of shows.

Story time is followed by a montage of the gang battering down the hatches, with everyone calling upon their own personal belief systems to safeguard the house – right before they all leave and immediately throw themselves into danger. Okay, to be fair Vanessa did say they were safe during the day, but honestly Malcolm – screwing a woman who's insinuated herself into your life at the exact same time your foster-daughter is being attacked by a coven of witches? I don't care if you're under a spell, you should just plain know better than this.  

The preparation montage was probably meant to shed some insight into how these characters operate, but the general lack of kick in this episode meant it came across as a little pretentious instead. Malcolm broods with a gun, Ethan does a ritual borrowed from the Native Americans he helped kill, Sembene hangs up dolls that would probably have more significance if we knew the slightest thing about him, and Vanessa paints another image of a scorpion in her blood. Is this supposed to protect her? Because it's really not protecting her.

Still, I did love this shot of Ethan watching her:

And there was a lovely little scene when Ferdinand creeps into the basement and reveals (to the audience at least) that he's Jewish. It was his nervousness that really sold his performance here; the way he checked that he was alone suggests he doesn't want the others to know of yet another secret that could see him ostracized. I really hope he survives this show, not least because (despite all their other faults) I don't think anyone else in the house would really care about Ferdinand's orientation or religion.

***

If there was one significant bit of plot development, it was the death of poor Gladys Murray, who really deserved better than that. I wonder if it wouldn't have been more chilling in the long-run if she had died off-screen and we had simply received news of her death, though I suppose that would have negated the smidgeon of characterization she was given in the premiere.

It wasn't a pleasant sequence to watch, especially since I'm not even entirely sure why Evelyn felt the need to dispose of her. After all, Malcolm seems to be entirely within her power even without freedom from his marriage vows, so the whole thing felt like an extended bit of needless cruelty. And strangely enough, it was not Gladys being haunted by the images of her two children that really hurt, but that in her final few seconds she realized she was dying alone.

***

Back to the world's creepiest love triangle, and perhaps the only one that can boast the involvement of not one but two dead people. And what do you know! For the first time this was actually the most compelling part of this episode. I mean, take a look at the ballet of glances that takes place between them:

Heh. Sorry, couldn't resist.

To a certain degree I can empathize with Caliban and Frankenstein (they wouldn't be good characters or good performances if I couldn't) and I have faith that John Logan is deeply aware of the appalling degree of gas-lighting that the two men are inflicting on Lily – but boy, I've never watched to punch any two characters more than these ones. What makes their behaviour all the more loathsome is that they're self-aware enough to recognize Lily's free will, they know she cannot be forced into anything – and yet right after Caliban admits "she must care for me of her own accord", he shamelessly projects a made-up story on an obviously uncomfortable woman and insists that it's true. It's not unlike the family history that Victor has similarly transcribed onto Lily, and oh boy, am I looking forward to the truth coming out.

Unfortunately that presumably won't happen for some time, and I'll admit I was a little disappointed in Vanessa for not recognizing Brona upon their meeting. And yes, I know the immediate rebuttal is that Vanessa only met Brona for a few seconds, in the dim light, while she had an Irish accent and was squirming away from her attention, but come on – there wasn't even a little ping of déjà vu?

This is weird, people!

Perhaps it was meant to be a commentary on class differences, in which even Vanessa isn't immune to failing to notice a similarity between a poor prostitute and a well-bred young woman, but surely she must have noticed Lily was a bit odd, what with her adding too much sugar to her tea? Nope, not that either. And barring all the obvious elements that an observant woman like Vanessa should have spotted, isn't she supposed to be a psychic? Shouldn't she have picked something up?

***

Elsewhere, Inspector Rusk catches up with Ethan, who couldn't behave more suspiciously if he tried. Yet even here, Brona gets name-dropped, which felt like foreshadowing that someone somewhere was about to realize who Lily truly was – but nope.

At least we learn two things of note, which are worth bearing in mind as we head into the second half of the season. The first is that Ethan Chandler is not even his real name (which could have significance if one takes into account the magical quality of true names), and the second is that "lupus dei" (or "hound/wolf of God") is inscribed on some of the artefacts belonging to the mad monk. If his scribblings are a prophecy of some kind, then Ethan is officially a part of it.

Miscellaneous Observations:

Was it just me, or was Evelyn's face oddly vulnerable in the moments before Hecate walks in the room? I suspect a bit of a power-play between mother/daughter on the horizon.

Billie Piper is doing some nice work here, especially in demonstrating Lily's complete and utter (and disturbing) reliance on Victor – from the way she looks at him for constant reassurance to her answer to whether she likes the dress she's wearing: "yes, Victor picked it out."

It felt like a waste of the actors playing Peter and Mina to have them turn up as hallucinated zombies for all of five seconds. In Mina's case especially I felt they really dropped the ball on her storyline, and I've been half-hoping for some more closure on her death. Alas, it wasn't in this episode.

Interesting comparison between these two rooms:

Sembene, why don't you tell us more about yourself? He knew what Vanessa was talking about when she mentioned fetishes, and he even hangs up a few of his own, but we still know absolutely nothing about him. And we're halfway through the season! If this episode achieved anything, it was to further whet my appetite for more (any!) Ethan/Sembene backstory.

Does Caliban know anything of his past life? Because you can't help but feel Lily will eventually regain some of her memories of life as Brona (just as Proteus did), but what about Caliban? Either way, someone needs to tell him he's connecting better with Vanessa and Lavinia because he's seeing them as people and not as an answer to his own problems.

An obvious callback to the last time Vanessa and Ethan (or at least someone who looked like him) were alone in a room together:

Oh dear, Dorian is relegated to the miscellaneous pile again, though I did find it interesting that he played out Caliban's little fantasy with Angelique, up to and including kissing her hand in the face of ridicule. After seeing his demeanour toward the cads at the opera house, I'd really like to see Dorian cut loose at one point. He's deliberately played as rather effeminate, but I'm sure he could do some damage if he really wanted to – and in that way he's the mirror opposite of Ethan, who appears the manly man but is clearly very gentle and tender-hearted underneath.

Still, it was nice to see Dorian display a sense of caring for another person, though as another poster pointed out elsewhere, Angelique and Ferdinand really are painted as no-win tragic figures: Ferdinand isn't true to himself and is deeply unhappy, while Angelique is who she wants to be – and is also deeply unhappy.

I'm hoping both characters reach some measure of contentment before the show concludes, though for now I'm guessing that if Angelique/Dorian's storyline ever figures back into the main plot, it'll be because Angelique finds Dorian's portrait down in the basement.

Finally, I'm not much of a shipper at the best of times, but – wow. This hit me like a ton of bricks:

Who knew climbing a staircase could be so intense?