Writer’s Note: Every Penny Dreadful episode review this season will involve spoilers of some kind so you have been warned.
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Starting this week, I will be giving my impression to every Penny Dreadful episode. So go check out the short review on our Nerd Union YouTube channel here:
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Quick Synopsis
Raul (Adam Rodriguez) is awake and learns from his younger brother Mateo (Johnathan Nieves) what Tiago did in the first episode (shooting him to stop him during the riot) and chastises Mateo for being angry, knowing that their brother is in a difficult position. Magda continues to entrap Dr. Craft (Rory Kinnear) as she feigns abuse from her husband to make him sympathetic.
Detective Lewis (Nathan Lane) meets the coroner to learn about the deaths of his fellow hunters. He tracks down the student from the last episode and coerces him into revealing details. Townsend’s (Michael Gladis) recent news attention earns him the ire of fellow council member Beck (Christine Estabrook), who refuses to allow his rhetoric to continue unchallenged. In turn, over dinner Townsend attempts to push Goss (Thomas Kretschmann) into taking her down and gets dressed down instead, causing him to run off much to Magda’s dismay (Natalie Dormer).
Working overtime, Tiago (Daniel Zavotto) is sent home by Captain Vanderhoff (Brent Spiner) showing a brief moment of concern for his detective. Tiago meets with Molly (Kerry Bishe) and they discuss more of their backgrounds, eventually sharing a kiss on Santa Monica pier. Later, due to Molly lying about her whereabouts, Adelaide (Amy Madigan) taunts her daughter with the knowledge
Mateo arrives at Crimson Cat to take up Fly Rico’s offer (Sebastian Chacon) and meets Rio (Magda in another disguise as the gender-bending leader of the gang). They dance, but are quickly disrupted by a police raid that they escape, prompting Rio to fire up Mateo and Rico into fighting the cops on a grander scale.
Lewis meets with Tiago to discuss the books he obtained last episode and reveals that Molly and Haslett had an affair while he was embezzling money from Joyful Voices, crushing Tiago’s new found affections.
Lewis Tears His Clothes
When Lewis learns about his friends murder at the hands of Goss and company, he goes into the stairwell to lament and tears his clothes. This echoes a regular tradition in Jewish culture of tearing one’s clothing as a “tangible expression of grief and anger”. There’s an expression he recites during the scene which should be the following phrase:
Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha’olam dayan ha’emet.
Blessed are You, Adonai Our God, Ruler of the Universe, the True Judge.
(I’ve tried to go back and hear what Lewis says during this scene, but I had difficulty. Hopefully I’ll get a confirmation soon). It allows Lane to really dive into his character’s pain for a moment and show how much these people meant to him. It lets him anguish from learning he unknowingly sent them to their deaths and sets the stage for the warpath he do
That Dance Scene
Being an avid dancer myself, I love seeing most dance representations in media simply to get people excited, hoping they’ll check out opportunities in their local communities. This montage was fine by those standards and the moments before Magda showed up were certainly stronger, the environment felt more genuine and authentic to a degree (though I was having a hard figuring out what they were dancing as it seemed like a combination of several styles, which I later confirmed here) and kudos to choreographer Tommy Tonge’s work on learning the time period and making decisions to get accurate within reason.
For Dormer’s part, she wasn’t bad per say, but when she’s revealed, I became more focused on how I felt about her character playing this white-passing, gender bending Mexican gang leader. That’s a bunch to take in visually and left me wondering if pulling in different actresses would have made the Magda transformations better.
So far these disguises have been pretty impressive and I do appreciate allowing a performer to try as many hats as Dormer gets to wear. I’m not saying this moment was out of line given that her character is a evil shape-shifting devil who puts themselves in key positions to sway our characters to her machinations. It just comes off weird and puts a lot of interesting dynamics into one character rather than spreading it out.
But Kenneth? Weren’t you just complaining that this cast was getting too large already?
Yes, you’re absolutely right, but that doesn’t mean you couldn’t find another way to allow these conversations to happen and avoid this awkward intersection of fiction and a vital gender / skin color history.
Townsend’s Secret
With everything going on this episode, learning that Townsend is gay seems like the smallest revelation, but it’s 1938 and he’s in politics, so this is a pretty major reveal that gets tackled onto the ending montage (which was still effectively haunting). This was likely the earlier warning that Magda’s Alex character was referring to and wanted to avoid so she could keep him on the path towards the mayor’s office.
Given how nuanced everyone else has been in this show, I doubt this reveal will be used cheaply or not result in some major pay off, but it likely be an uncomfortable leverage for Goss when he or someone else inevitably finds out.
Molly and Tiago
I mean…we knew this was going to blossom based of their intimate chat in the previous episode…but I neither expected that to happen so soon or for the repercussions to be felt so immediately. However, the way they talk with each other is genuinely sweet and enduring me closer to them. It does add an additional complication to Tiago’s plate which seems like it could be an angle that’s too much in one season. However, it would be cool if these first 3 episodes were simply a moment to tease the possibility and give it an opportunity to live later this season or next.
I love how they used a sweet character moment with Tiago and Molly’s impromptu date to create a crushing one later with the montage and Lewis revealing another piece of Molly’s past. She’s alluded to things she done, but we wrongly believed or wanted to believe it had more to do with being a hypocrite and not the things Lewis brought forth.
WTF Adelaide?!
Honestly, I shouldn’t have been surprised that a controlling, religiously-conservative, charlatan in Penny Dreadful would more than live up to that name. But holy crap when she’s turns on the lights and is sitting there taunting Molly with the Popeye theme, I lost my cool for a bit.
Add the shot where she’s speaking through the door can only mean she’s been holding this psychological abuse over her daughter for a long time. The only piece that doesn’t make a ton of sense to me: Haslett and Molly hooking up behind the mother’s back. Now it’s possible the mother became more controlling after that happened and killed Haslett, but I doubt this happened with out her knowledge. It’s a John Logan story so I doubt it’s that simple, I’m curious if this thread is only related to the case or if Magda will eventually take advantage of this situation to her ends somehow.
Random Bits
This episode didn’t tell us how in the world Raul survived his fatal injuries or the creepy moment with his mother last episode. It’s one of those burning questions that I’m sure will get covered later, but I was impressed at the tease and restraint showcased.
Goodness, that final song for the montage “Let’s Face The Music and Dance” was fantastically perfect. Irving Berlin wrote it for a Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire movie called Follow the Fleet though other versions, from Ella Fitzgerald or Nat King Cole became more popular. I haven’t found the creator of this particular arrangement but I will update here when I find out.
Conclusion
The balancing act I talked about last week is still happening, but when it comes to together, it really comes together spectacularly. I won’t have a problem watching this entire season if the quality stays here and avoids the issues that dragged down the pilot. That said, the Raul withhold felt weird and I already talked about the creative choices for Madga as Rio. So it’s simply a matter of small, decisive payoffs as we go and eventually, we’ll need a bigger set piece or reveal soon.