Penny Dreadful 2.08
Jun. 22nd, 2015 09:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakFirst episode since 2.03 which I've been truly enthusiastic about, for verily, things happen! Galore! At last!
So Lily has been faking the amnesia and naivete, and has had full access to her Brona memories all this time. (Or at least for a very long while.) On the one hand, makes sense, since Victor has been getting better at the resurrection trade, and while Caliban has no memories, Proteus had been able to access various of his only after two or three days. Also, it at last puts an end to my least favourite storyline. Otoh, it's something of a cheat because there were no signs of her faking it until last episode's ending. Also I have to wonder why she'd put up the act, though then again, if she hadn't been sweet and harmless Lily but an angry NonBrona, Victor was quite capable of handing her over to Caliban shortly post creation and send them both on their ways, and she certainly wouldn't have gotten invites to balls etc. I can fanwank that the memory of Brona's wretched life and death left the newborn Lily not just with deep seated rage but also with the decision to go for a more long term game instead of raging immediately. But it's a bit of a stretch. Still. Will take "screw humanity (literally), I want pay back!" Lily over exploited innocent Lily any time. (Oh, and of course it solves all the consent issues, knowing that she knew all this time.) (Though I'm still afraid and all but certain now this will end in her destruction.)
Caliban, I'm disappointed. I thought we were making progress, and then you go all "she's mine!" with Victor. Otoh, at least you were smart enough to finally spot she was faking to and to ask the "who are you?" question. And then you were chicken when she asked "why do we exist?" You may not know why Victor picked you, but you know damm well why Victor created Lily - because you asked him to.
(Prediction right here and now, related to the above suspicion: having seen his dream of a mate come true as a nightmare, Caliban, not Victor, will be the one to destroy her, leaving him and Victor well and truly stuck with each other.)
Mind you: Victor's with Malcolm was a welcome reminder of Victor having interesting relationships with the rest of the cast. It also was a good transition into the main reason why this episode made me happy. Malcolm freeing himself from Evelyn's spell via his grief and rage issues (just too deeply seated to be magiced away permanently) was a most welcome and very ic twist. While I deplore the fact he was stupid enough not to tell Sembene he'd figured out it was Evelyn before paying her a visit, just about every Malcolm scene in this Malcolm centric episode I loved. Including that during the brief black eyed possession it was Sembene who snapped him out of it by acting immediately and yelling at him "Malcolm, remember who you are!" (And more than ever I want the Sembene backstory and how his relationship with Malcolm started.) Timothy Dalton had a great showcase in this episode, getting to showcase his full range. And while Malcolm really shouldn't have headed off to Evelyn on his own, I did adore their final conversation together. Every aspect. Now that he knows exactly who she is they have the spark together that was missing when she was simply fooling him. Incidentally, I think Evelyn's desire to have him as a companion probably was sincere, but also that it was due to the fact he was able to free himself from her spell via the intensity of his emotions - she wouldn't have been interested if he hadn't been able to do that. Also, and in parallel to the Caliban and Lily scene where Lily taking Caliban was the nightmare version of his romantic fantasy, Evelyn could get what she wants, but solely for Vanessa's sake, and that's not an option for her. And of course she hones in on both the intensity and messed upness of Malcolm's Vanesse love.
I also appreciate all the thematic connections to the other subplots: Evelyn's unwillingness to face age and decline as the origin of her deal with the devil, Malcolm, at this point of his life, ready to face who he is rather than continuing to buy into illusions. With each other, they also share dysfunctional relationships with their children (and daughter-and-more figures), but Evelyn is unable to have anything but a power/domination relationship with Hecate (who is eager to supplant her) or to admit to any guilt, and and for all his myriad of failings, Malcolm actually is capable, at last, of putting Vanessa first. (And of having parental conversations with reminding-him-of-his-son Victor.)
It's fitting she leaves Malcolm with the vision she used to drive Gladys to suicide - his family rising form the dead - but unlike Gladys Malcolm knows what's going on, plus he's just too stubborn a bastard to cut his own throat, so I'm assuming he'll hold out until Vanessa can come to the rescue. Meanwhile, the beginning of the dead bodies sequence had me wonder which one it would be, and it felt right it would be Peter, because that's Malcolm's greatest guilt. Like I said, Timothy Dalton was sublime in that episode, and never more so as when Malcolm was cradling Peter's corpse.
In a continuity feast, there's some follow up to Malcolm's visit to Scotland Yard last season, and Inspector Rusk continues to deduce actual connections, even if Malcolm is extremely unhelpful. (BTW, I wonder why - general principle (he can hardly tell the Inspector his visit was because he thought the killings could have been the work of vampires before seeing the photos and realising it was another crreature altogether) or does he have an inkling re: Ethan?
Lastly, Chekov's portrait was finally seen. And it turns out both my speculations re: Angelique become true. Yes, she can accept Dorian like this; otoh, he can't accept anyone knowing, so he kills her anyway. This makes me sorry for Angelique, who was a great character, but I think it's a valid storytelilng choice, not least because Wilde's Dorian Gray does become a murderer for a similar reason, and because it means Dorian really has a place in the cast beyond providing sex scenes and taking characters on dates; i.e. he is one of the monsters. (The portrait itself was like all portraits in all film versions a bit of a let down, but that's inevitable - it can never match what you imagine it to be from reading the story. And I would have been annoyed if the series had remained coy and had NEVER shown it.) Of course, this still isn't connected - other than thematically - to what's going on elsewhere, but now I'm hoping the show will let the good Inspector sic on Dorian Gray next. Maybe someone saw Dorian with Ethan last yeason, and since Rusk is investigating Ethan, he's following that lead? And then he nails Dorian for this unsupernatural and thus provable murder. Or, even more ironic: Dorian gets framed for Ethan's killings as well. Which, again, would justify his existence on the show some more.
In conclusion: sorry for Angelique, but I AM SO RELIEVED that we're getting somewhere in all the plot lines now. Bring on the next episode!
So Lily has been faking the amnesia and naivete, and has had full access to her Brona memories all this time. (Or at least for a very long while.) On the one hand, makes sense, since Victor has been getting better at the resurrection trade, and while Caliban has no memories, Proteus had been able to access various of his only after two or three days. Also, it at last puts an end to my least favourite storyline. Otoh, it's something of a cheat because there were no signs of her faking it until last episode's ending. Also I have to wonder why she'd put up the act, though then again, if she hadn't been sweet and harmless Lily but an angry NonBrona, Victor was quite capable of handing her over to Caliban shortly post creation and send them both on their ways, and she certainly wouldn't have gotten invites to balls etc. I can fanwank that the memory of Brona's wretched life and death left the newborn Lily not just with deep seated rage but also with the decision to go for a more long term game instead of raging immediately. But it's a bit of a stretch. Still. Will take "screw humanity (literally), I want pay back!" Lily over exploited innocent Lily any time. (Oh, and of course it solves all the consent issues, knowing that she knew all this time.) (Though I'm still afraid and all but certain now this will end in her destruction.)
Caliban, I'm disappointed. I thought we were making progress, and then you go all "she's mine!" with Victor. Otoh, at least you were smart enough to finally spot she was faking to and to ask the "who are you?" question. And then you were chicken when she asked "why do we exist?" You may not know why Victor picked you, but you know damm well why Victor created Lily - because you asked him to.
(Prediction right here and now, related to the above suspicion: having seen his dream of a mate come true as a nightmare, Caliban, not Victor, will be the one to destroy her, leaving him and Victor well and truly stuck with each other.)
Mind you: Victor's with Malcolm was a welcome reminder of Victor having interesting relationships with the rest of the cast. It also was a good transition into the main reason why this episode made me happy. Malcolm freeing himself from Evelyn's spell via his grief and rage issues (just too deeply seated to be magiced away permanently) was a most welcome and very ic twist. While I deplore the fact he was stupid enough not to tell Sembene he'd figured out it was Evelyn before paying her a visit, just about every Malcolm scene in this Malcolm centric episode I loved. Including that during the brief black eyed possession it was Sembene who snapped him out of it by acting immediately and yelling at him "Malcolm, remember who you are!" (And more than ever I want the Sembene backstory and how his relationship with Malcolm started.) Timothy Dalton had a great showcase in this episode, getting to showcase his full range. And while Malcolm really shouldn't have headed off to Evelyn on his own, I did adore their final conversation together. Every aspect. Now that he knows exactly who she is they have the spark together that was missing when she was simply fooling him. Incidentally, I think Evelyn's desire to have him as a companion probably was sincere, but also that it was due to the fact he was able to free himself from her spell via the intensity of his emotions - she wouldn't have been interested if he hadn't been able to do that. Also, and in parallel to the Caliban and Lily scene where Lily taking Caliban was the nightmare version of his romantic fantasy, Evelyn could get what she wants, but solely for Vanessa's sake, and that's not an option for her. And of course she hones in on both the intensity and messed upness of Malcolm's Vanesse love.
I also appreciate all the thematic connections to the other subplots: Evelyn's unwillingness to face age and decline as the origin of her deal with the devil, Malcolm, at this point of his life, ready to face who he is rather than continuing to buy into illusions. With each other, they also share dysfunctional relationships with their children (and daughter-and-more figures), but Evelyn is unable to have anything but a power/domination relationship with Hecate (who is eager to supplant her) or to admit to any guilt, and and for all his myriad of failings, Malcolm actually is capable, at last, of putting Vanessa first. (And of having parental conversations with reminding-him-of-his-son Victor.)
It's fitting she leaves Malcolm with the vision she used to drive Gladys to suicide - his family rising form the dead - but unlike Gladys Malcolm knows what's going on, plus he's just too stubborn a bastard to cut his own throat, so I'm assuming he'll hold out until Vanessa can come to the rescue. Meanwhile, the beginning of the dead bodies sequence had me wonder which one it would be, and it felt right it would be Peter, because that's Malcolm's greatest guilt. Like I said, Timothy Dalton was sublime in that episode, and never more so as when Malcolm was cradling Peter's corpse.
In a continuity feast, there's some follow up to Malcolm's visit to Scotland Yard last season, and Inspector Rusk continues to deduce actual connections, even if Malcolm is extremely unhelpful. (BTW, I wonder why - general principle (he can hardly tell the Inspector his visit was because he thought the killings could have been the work of vampires before seeing the photos and realising it was another crreature altogether) or does he have an inkling re: Ethan?
Lastly, Chekov's portrait was finally seen. And it turns out both my speculations re: Angelique become true. Yes, she can accept Dorian like this; otoh, he can't accept anyone knowing, so he kills her anyway. This makes me sorry for Angelique, who was a great character, but I think it's a valid storytelilng choice, not least because Wilde's Dorian Gray does become a murderer for a similar reason, and because it means Dorian really has a place in the cast beyond providing sex scenes and taking characters on dates; i.e. he is one of the monsters. (The portrait itself was like all portraits in all film versions a bit of a let down, but that's inevitable - it can never match what you imagine it to be from reading the story. And I would have been annoyed if the series had remained coy and had NEVER shown it.) Of course, this still isn't connected - other than thematically - to what's going on elsewhere, but now I'm hoping the show will let the good Inspector sic on Dorian Gray next. Maybe someone saw Dorian with Ethan last yeason, and since Rusk is investigating Ethan, he's following that lead? And then he nails Dorian for this unsupernatural and thus provable murder. Or, even more ironic: Dorian gets framed for Ethan's killings as well. Which, again, would justify his existence on the show some more.
In conclusion: sorry for Angelique, but I AM SO RELIEVED that we're getting somewhere in all the plot lines now. Bring on the next episode!
no subject
Date: 2015-06-22 10:54 am (UTC)I'm so glad the Lily charade is finally at an end! Billy Piper did an interview early on where she hinted that Lily has access to all of Brona's memories, but I've been wondering if she only meant to things like speech, movement, etc. I'm still not entirely convinced she's just NotBrona, though. Dear Amunet had some choice things to say about men in relation to women especially, and a few thousand years are a lot of time to collect grievances. (I doubt there were many women in the audience, straight and otherwise, who weren't nodding along to Lily's speech, murderous undead or not.)
I think her whole thing about men who should stay boys also solidifies her playing to Victor's, erm, amorous issues for his mother, which makes the whole thing even creepier than it already was. This season has even more pseudo-incest than the last, if that is even possible. (Speaking of which, Evelyn didn't exactly hint anymore that Vanessa is Malcolm's biological daughter, did she? Those were anvils almost as big as Lyle's hair.)
Also, since Caliban was back to his "abusive ex-boyfriend" routine with Victor in this episode, I didn't feel at all bad for laughing at the genuine fear in his eyes at Lily's revelations. He really has no clue what women are like. I hope Lavinia looks elsewhere for adoration.
Dorian: poor Angelique, but I'm not surprised. I never bought the whole "Dorian is such a nice guy" idea, it just doesn't fit the character in any way. About his identity: given that it was brought up in the episode, and the music in this sequence was their "Dracula" theme, I'm strongly suspecting that he's Lucy's vampire brother. It would explain his infatuation with Vanessa, and it would explain why she was possessed right after they had sex - if they are kind of fighting over her, Lucy was probably getting a bit jealous (If Vanessa were up for it, I'd say a threesome is the solution here as usual).
Inspector Rusk. I need him to live, move to America, and invent being a hardboiled detective. He has all the relevant requisites already!
Much as I love Vanessa (and even everyone's favourite wolfboy), I didn't realize that she wasn't in this ep until almost right up to the end, which is a testament to the rest of the cast being able to carry the show flawlessy.
no subject
Date: 2015-06-22 11:20 am (UTC)It occurs to me that Victor knows where Vanessa is, and he knows Malcolm is in an odd mood about romance. They all know he's currently "courting" Evelyn. So the deduction re: Malcolm's whereabouts hopefully will happen fast.
Of course it's also possible Lyle comes clean. His gamble about deliberately ensuring that he wouldn't know where Vanessa and Ethan are so he couldn't betray them to Evelyn paid off in this episode, but that's a stalling tactic at best, and soon, he really has to pick a side. BTW I thought Simon Russell Beale has been wonderful all season, never more so in the scene with Evelyn where you see that Lyle has an odd dignity he keeps despite being constantly humiliated and menaced by her, and that he's successfully hiding how much he does care for Our Heroes by now.
I'm still not entirely convinced she's just NotBrona, though. Dear Amunet had some choice things to say about men in relation to women especially, and a few thousand years are a lot of time to collect grievances.
True, and I still like your idea of Victor accidentally providing bodies for ancient entities. However, some of Lily's statements were Brona-specific, so she is a mixed creature (so to speak) for me right now.
I think her whole thing about men who should stay boys also solidifies her playing to Victor's, erm, amorous issues for his mother, which makes the whole thing even creepier than it already was.
Well, yes, though since I've been recently reading up on my Barrie, I also thought John "Author of Peter and Alice" Logan paid homage to JMB with Lily's statement there. (And of course in Logan's play Peter Llewelyn Davies, he with the dead brothers and the suicide ahead of him, eventually says "There is just one reason why boys don't grow up. Because they die, Uncle Jim".)
I see we have identical reactions re: Dorian. Lucy's vampire brother - but then he wouldn't need the portrait to keep his youth, surely? Mind you, since Oscar never provided us for an explanation for the portrait magic - it just happened! - there's room to fit in something like that. Also, if he were millennia old, as Lucy's brother must be (at least), surely he would have gotten dumped a few times before Vanessa did it? That experience definitely was new to him.
This being said, the brother revelation obviously must have some pay off in the future.
Here's hoping for Rusk's survival!
Speaking of which, Evelyn didn't exactly hint anymore that Vanessa is Malcolm's biological daughter, did she? Those were anvils almost as big as Lyle's hair.
If Malcolm was there when Vanessa was born, he certainly is in the running again for biological fatherhood. (We never were told just when his affair with Claire started.) I would prefer it if he wasn't, of course, but it always was a possibility.
no subject
Date: 2015-06-22 01:00 pm (UTC)Malcolm episodes are the best episodes. Thanks for making me really look forward to this one.
no subject
Date: 2015-06-22 03:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-06-22 01:10 pm (UTC)Lily, the remix: agreed. I'm assuming the Brona memories only serve to fuel her rage even more. (btw, I can't help thinking that the name is also a play on Lilith, now that she has turned out to be a lot more knowing than previously suspected.)
Peter Pan homage: that makes sense, although you could also say that Victor in turn has hints of Peter by essentially refusing to grow up and let go of a childish fantasy.
Dorian getting dumped: probably, but never by the Mother of all Evil! That's much worse! (now I imagine him like Morpheus after being left by Thessaly, with the constant rain and the moping. Immortals in love.)
I'm agnostic on Malcolm being Vanessa's Bio Dad, that whole cluster of relationships is so screwed up, one more twist won't matter.
no subject
Date: 2015-06-22 03:13 pm (UTC)Oh absolutely. Fitting, since in Mary Shelley's novel the Creature tells Frankenstein at one point "I ought to have been thy Adam!", and Lilith is the first woman created, so...
Dorian getting dumped: probably, but never by the Mother of all Evil! That's much worse! (now I imagine him like Morpheus after being left by Thessaly, with the constant rain and the moping. Immortals in love.)
OMG yes. Dorian so would have let it rain if he could have.
I'm agnostic on Malcolm being Vanessa's Bio Dad, that whole cluster of relationships is so screwed up, one more twist won't matter.
Well quite. The one reason why I'd prefer it if he weren't is that it gives his choice of her over Mina more power of he chooses Vanessa for herself, not also because of a biological connection, but I can certainly live with it if he is. In that case, I'd speculate he probably doesn't know whether she is or isn't, since Claire obviously was sleeping with both men at the time (otherwise her husband would have suspected something), so how would you know in an age pre DNA or blood tests? You wouldn't.