Season 3’s third episode of Penny Dreadful gives us more insights to Vanessa’s past and Lily’s grand plans for the future
Penny Dreadful is definitely still going strong with episode 3 of its third season. I mean, Good Lord, they’re not letting up and I am loving it! Where the two first episodes left some characters out of each, this latest episode is a crazy ride that shows us what all the characters are up to. And – as crazy as it sounds – they get away with it. That’s no small wonder with all the storylines happening.
As usual, we’ll start out with Miss Ives (Eva Green), who continues her sessions with Dr. Seward (Patti Lupone), who she suspects doesn’t believe her story.
The good doctor gives her the good old “I believe that you believe it!” and Vanessa is forced to use a bit of her powers as she grabs Dr. Seward’s wrist and manages to reveal things about the doctor’s past that she shouldn’t be able to know. This makes Dr. Seward a bit more of a believer – as it well should.
The Creature (Rory Kinnear) is heading back to London to find out more about his past life – the one he had before he died and was then turned into this immortal creature by Dr. Frankenstein. He finds the apartment where he used to live with his family. It’s placed above a Chinese restaurant – and the place of some intense gambling – but has been empty for a while. After a bit of persuasion, The Creature manages to get the new address of the family that used to live there.
He finds his family in a very dirty appartment, and finds a hiding place above the tiny home (the ceiling is practically non-existing, so he hides in the attic and can look down on the family. His widow is working hard to make ends meet and his son is sick and coughing up blood. Not exactly what he was hoping to find and – of course – he ends up placing a beautiful pocket watch in the apartment before the end of the episode.
While The Creature is out on the streets of London, he also spots the dear Miss Ives, who looks remarkably happy and he’s just about to cross the street to talk to her, when a man shows up and talks to her. Clearly, it’s the man she was waiting for and the one who’s making her smile, so The Creature just smiles at them and moves along.
The man, who showed up to meet Miss Ives, is of course Dr. Alexander Sweet (Christian Camargo). Also known to all of us as Dracula. That bastard… didn’t I say we couldn’t trust the man, who played Dexter’s two-faced brother and Ice Truck Killer on Dexter. I hate being right sometimes! Anyway, for the time being, Vanessa is still happy, but I do urge everyone to saveur these moments, because that’s all about to go to Hell.
Miss Ives and Dr. Sweet go for a stroll and Dr. Sweet reveals that he lost his wife a year ago, and he hasn’t really been a functioning part of society for the year that has passed since her death. He’s just reeling Vanessa in with his story of heartbreak and she reacts with sympathy and understanding. Of course! Anyway, they end up going into a Hall of Mirrors place, where they’re having a fun time until Vanessa spots one of The Master’s minions.
Yep, that’s the one we’ve known about all along, so we all recognize him. She lets go of Dracula… umm, I mean, Dr. Sweet’s arm and turns to the beast. He reveals that she’s about to meet the Master, but has in fact already met him “In the white room” where day and night didn’t exist. Vanessa Ives faces danger just as she’s always done… alone! So a while later when she enjoy a cup of tea with Dr. Sweet, she lets him know that they won’t be seeing each other anymore.
Yeah, Dr. Sweet appears to understand, but Dracula certainly doesn’t. Or rather, he does, as he realize that one of his little minions must’ve gotten to her and he knows which one. He shows up at the lair and while yelling (or practically “roaring”) “She’s mine!” he throws the guilty little minion across the room, before going “Bon appetit!” to the rest of his little vampires. Okay, I’m paraphrasing and he didn’t say “Bon appetit!”, but maybe he should have, because it would’ve suited his indifference to the otherwise loyal subject.
Vanessa is on a mission now and goes to Dr. Seward. After a bit of discussion, Dr. Seward agrees to hypnotize Vanessa, since Miss Ives herself believes this could unlock the mysteries of who “The Master” is. We see the face of the orderly at the hospital (insane asylum is probably more like it), and it’s the face of The Creature from when he was a quite ordinary man. Or was he? I’m really liking The Creature and the story of his past life as a human, so I’m hoping he’ll turn out to have been a friend of Vanessa’s. This would also explain why they bonded so easily when they met on season 2 of Penny Dreadful.
I’ve been saving the storyline of Ethan and Lily for last, since they’re not too interwoven with the others right now. For now anyway. Ethan (Josh Hartnett) is still somewhere in New Mexico, where Hecate (Sarah Green) has decided that they’re a duo now. Basically, she believes he is the “Hound of God” and will end up ruling the darkness, once he gives into it, and she wants to be right there at his side to rule the darkness. While they attempt to get their hands on some horses to travel faster, Hecate manages to kill a man and his wife (the owners of said horses) and while Ethan is against this, he doesn’t put up much of a fight, when Hecate says it was necessary and that their safety must be prioritized.
Sir Malcolm (Timothy Dalton) and Kaetenay (Wes Studi) is hot on their trails and Kaetenay finally reveals – though only after Sir Malcolm asks – why he needs Sir Malcolm, because obviously it isn’t to track Ethan down, since Kaetenay is managing that on his own. The truth is, Ethan trusts Sir Malcolm and his own relationship with the Wolf-boy is a bit more tricky. Also, he’s not strong enough on his own, so they both need to be there to save Ethan. Oh, and by doing this, they’ll essentially be saving the entire world and all of mankind. But, you know, no pressure!
And yes, okay, I admit it… I have a soft spot for Lily’s storyline on this season of Penny Dreadful, which is so badass, so I was saving that for last!
Lily (Billie Piper) is on a mission, which she is explaining to Justine (Jessica Barden) over tea, when a small group of suffragettes gather briefly in the square right next to them before the police stop the demonstration (by beating them of course). Justine notes that Lily is like them [the suffragettes], but Lily denies this flat out. The suffragettes are crude and loud and want equality. Lily doesn’t want equality, she wants to be the master! She will rule all men – with the exception of Dorian Gray, who will be helping her – and they will all have their revenge.
To become part of Lily and Dorian’s family, Justine is to be initiated in blood. Dorian (Reeve Carney) has found the man, who bought Justine when she was just 12 years old. First he used the girl as a whore, then he sold her to others as a whore, before selling her to the place where she was to be killed for entertainment (the place Lily and Dorian saved her from). Justine doesn’t need many seconds to consider as she slashes the man’s throat and then continues to stab him all over. This was apparently the first step of the initiation. The next is celebration via a very bloody and sensual threesome between Lily, Justine and Dorian.
Lily also reveals that just as Justine is now a part of the family, they will find more girls like her, to join them.
Oh yeah, there is one more thing: There was one scene with Dr. Jekyll (Shazad Latif) and Dr. Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway), who continue to test Dr. Jekyll’s treatment of separating good from bad in a human being. Dr. Jekyll has a minor meltdown – nice to see a glimpse of you, Mr. Hyde – and his potion continue to be temporary. Something he can’t fix, because as Victor Frankenstein shares with his dear friend “You can’t, but I can!” and says he wants to try the wonders of electricity combined with the potion to create a lasting effect.
For the record, this is the official – though very lacking – episode plot:
Miss Ives is confronted by a familiar face, who will reveal a clue to Vanessa’s past.
We’ll be back next time with a recap for Penny Dreadful episode 4, which you can watch the promo for right here:
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