Writer’s Note: Every Penny Dreadful episode review this season will involve spoilers of some kind so you have been warned.
!! Spoilers Start Now !!
Synopsis
Following the battle between the police precinct and Mexican protestors, Detectives Tiago Vega and Lewis Michner continue their investigation into the Haslett case as Captain Vanderhoff charges them to make sure it resolves with a Mexican suspect, to the chagrin of both. Michner covers for Vega and tells him to ignore the fact that he was shot by his brother. Mateo vows that Tiago will be disowned if their brother Raul dies
They discover that Haslett was involved with Joyful Voices, a radio evangelism show starring Sister Molly. Tiago is able to get closer to Molly after being blocked by her mother, Adelaide, the controlling figure behind the church ministry, while Lewis obtains their financial books.
Meanwhile Magda presses Townsend to use the police deaths as fodder for his road project. She also spends more time with Craft, getting closer to his family at a beach outing and also messing with mind later that night. Lewis, along with a team of other Jews, investigate the Nazi threat by splitting up and trailing two cars: Lewis’ car follow a kid to a chemistry lab on a college campus while the other car is ambushed in the hills by Goss and Kurt.
Mateo is recruited into a LA gang by Diego after he faces down angry cops from Tiago’s precinct. Maria prays over her son, but he has mysteriously left his bed, and ends the episode looming behind her as she searches.
Fallout
Magda’s ploy and whispers did their trick to get a bloody battle in the streets of LA and proved that part of Santa Muerte’s prophecy “brothers killing brothers” extremely accurate. Tiago was already facing a difficult position as the only Mexican member of the police force, but now he’s actively gone against his family by shooting Raul (who was under Magda’s spell). With his younger brother now being recruited by a gang, his mother’s spiritual warnings, and the pressure to figure out the Haslett murders, Tiago isn’t in the best space to wrangle and protect his family from whatever is coming next.
Molly’s Complexity
It’s early and could change, but this season seems very interested in pitting children in different paths from their parents. Tiago with his mother and his separation with his brothers. And now we see this occur again with Molly and Adelaide. Her public persona is a mask covering who she really is and both of them have experienced some form of pressure to conform and/or stand up with various degrees of success. As the supernatural elements of the show start to make their presence more known, I will be curious to see how much Molly’s faith waivers while Tiago gains his.
Is There A Haslett / Townsend / Adelaide connection?
My early guess with Joyful Voice is that Haslett got greedy and having him killed was a convenient ploy that the church ministry could use in conjunction with the race war happening in LA. It’s likely that Molly’s mother Adelaide will require her to gin up some fear that the devil is among them (e.g specifically calling their fellow Mexican citizens as the problem) and possibly aid their removal, drive up or down property values where needed, etc. Which would be convenient for the roadway that Townsend wants to build and the fear mongering that he introduced this episode.
Michner’s Team
God I love this crew though it’s a shame half of them are already gone. The idea that were getting a west coast version of Hunters (Hulu show about Nazi hunters after WW2 in New York) was super cool. I’m curious what spurred the creation of this team since I mostly understood this happening after WW2 (I’m still trying to track down specific real world examples pre-WW2), but it’s an interesting dynamic that I expect will eventually loop in Tiago and possibly open the door to experiments that Hitler was obsessed with. I mean, if we already have supernatural elements, is it so crazy to think this series wouldn’t fictionalize some WW2 stories into this as well?
Random Thoughts
Craft’s son, Tom, definitely knows something isn’t right about Magda’s fake hellspawn of a child. I’ve never seen someone’s eyes give off such a “what the hell is wrong with that kid” than this kid’s performance. Very good and hopefully he’ll tip off his father before it’s too late.
Also umm… I can barely recognize Piper Perabo as Craft’s wife. It took me until this episode to realize that was her. Maybe I’m not the only one, but I was definitely surprised by how well their makeup job did at disguising them, great job,
Conclusion
This was a fantastic follow up to the pilot with slowing burning explorations of last week’s threads. It’s clear that the Haslett investigation, not Magda’s machinating, will take center stage for Tiago and Lewis. But somehow her pushing and prodding with different people is likely going to make these different stories tie together. With these many, I have to believe they will be (like the Haslett case, Joyful Voices, Townsend) because the plot would be way too busy otherwise. I’m sad to see Richard Kind depart so soon as one of Lewis’ Nazi hunting team, but it was incredibly cool to see their humorous interactions for a brief time.
Score: 8/10
Previous Episode: “Santa Muerte”
Next Episode: “Wicked Old World”
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