Welcome Back Dreadfuls! Apologies for the lateness of this review. Got some hardware upgrades and had to learn how to use ‘em! I’ll bet you can all relate! On to the show!
In Predators Far and Near, it really is all about the Predators. Namely Dorian, Lily, Ethan, Hecate and this season’s big bad – Dracula. And to a lesser degree, Inspector Rusk, Sir Malcolm and Kaetenay.
In London’s Chinatown, Dorian and Lily alight from a hansom cab, and enter a building that is serving as a theatre of sorts. The main event is the torture and butchery of a young prostitute, for the enjoyment of a circle of well to do looking men. Did I say men? No, PERVS would be a better description! As Dorian and Lily take their seats, the victim, hooded and naked, is dragged in. The Executioner and Chief Torturer chooses his tools carefully, and rips her hood off. As he goes to strike her, Dorian and Lily spring into action, killing them all thereby rescuing the girl – Justine (Jessica Barden). Lily tells Justine that she is now hers.
In the West, we come across a photographer taking proof of death pictures of victims of the train massacre in their upright coffins. Morbid, right? But historically, this was a thing. A Federal Marshall makes his feelings known about the practice with this particular group of corpses; one must assume that these victims were also Federal Marshalls. The Marshall enters the Sheriff’s office, demanding to know where his prisoner is. He introduces himself to Inspector Rusk as Federal Marshall Franklin Ostow (Sean Gilder), and tells Rusk that his services are no longer required, as the recapture of Ethan is now a federal matter. Rusk plays the Imperial card, which trumps the Marshall’s territorial jurisdiction. He tells Ostow if he doesn’t like it, he can take it up with the British Ambassador in Washington. Rusk intends to bring Ethan to heel, at which point he will be turned over to the appropriate authorities of the US government. He clearly does not feel that Ostow is one of these authorities. As Rusk struggles one-handed to light a cigarette, Ostow inquires as to whether Rusk is familiar with the territory. Rusk admits that he is not, but that his military service has taught him how to endure long stretches on horseback, and how to hunt, track and shoot from the saddle. And besides, no tracking will be required as Rusk now knows exactly where Ethan is going. He points out the Talbot Range on the map behind the Sheriff’s desk. The wolf is returning to his den. Outside of the office, a woman appears to be resting on a bench, but the woman is Hecate, and she is eavesdropping.
Vanessa enters Dr. Sewards’ office, and is greeted by Renfield. As Sewards’ previous appointment leaves, not making eye contact with anyone, Vanessa is shown in to the Dr.’s inner sanctum. Dr. Seward immediately notes that Vanessa is wearing gloves, and tells her that the gloves are merely to remind Vanessa that the itch is still there. Seward sets up a recording device, and tells Vanessa that she records her sessions and takes notes later. Vanessa is uncomfortable with this, but Seward tells her the recordings are strictly for her own use, and invites Vanessa to tell her about her first “sin”. Vanessa tells her of the seduction of Mina’s fiancée on the eve of the wedding, which lead to catastrophe, and eventually Mina’s death. Seward notes that Vanessa blames herself for this. Vanessa agrees that she does, indirectly. Seward asks her “What, directly then?” Vanessa grows extremely uncomfortable about being recorded, but Seward refuses to turn it off, and invites Vanessa to tell her story. Vanessa leans forward, and tells her that if Seward credits her story, if she believes it, she will never sleep quietly again, and asks Seward if she can believe. Seward nods, and says “Tell me”. Vanessa begins her story.
In a tea room across from Bedlam, Henry Jekyll and Victor Frankenstein are having breakfast. Here we learn that Dr. Jekyll is waiting for his father to die. He plans to use the money, estate and title to set himself up in Harley Street, in a proper lab. Jekyll is bitter about the prejudice against his ethnicity, half Indian and half white. He hates his father for leaving his Mother to die alone in India. She was tainted by taking up with his white father; untouchable, as her family had rejected her. She died of leprosy, and he notes the poetry in that. Truly untouchable. He regards his father as not being a duality of person, but as being wholly evil. This leads him to a discussion of his work in duality of person. Everyone is light and dark, angel and devil, and it is the pull between the two which energizes life. He urges Victor to eat, get his strength back, and tells him that he will help Victor with his drug addiction along the way. Victor inquires about the tour of Henry’s lab, and is told that the lab is over there. In Bedlam. As the two travel through Bedlam to Henry’s lab, we see that the inmates are kept in the vilest of conditions. Henry’s duty is to keep these people, especially the most violent, sedated and calm while they wait for the Crown to dispose of them. His lab is subterranean, near where the worst of the worst are kept. The lab is windowless, neatly organized and spacious, with a modified barber chair in the middle of the floor. The chair allows Henry to see into his subjects’ eyes, which are the mirrors of the soul. Victor is mildly upset at the thought of having to bring Lily to this awful place. He needs to know if it will bring Lily back to him. Henry assures him that it will undoubtedly make her more calm, will possibly tame the beast within her, but is not certain that they can make her love Victor again. Victor asks for a demonstration.
Back in Sewards’ office, Vanessa has tearfully finished unburdening her soul. Her story has shaken Dr. Seward up, as she finds a cigarette and lights it, noting that it is a filthy habit and that she is trying to quit. Vanessa’s appointment has taken longer than expected; Renfield knocks to let the Dr. know that her next appointment has been waiting. Seward tells Vanessa to go do something that makes her happy, and tell her about it at her next appointment. As the door closes behind Vanessa, Dr. Seward allows herself to be visibly shocked. On the street, Vanessa decides where she will go to do her homework, and the boy familiar (Sebastian Croft) follows.
In the middle of the ocean, Sir Malcolm has cabled Vanessa to let her know where he is going. He and Kaetenay discuss hunting. Kaetenay notes that hunting a man is no great thing. They are creatures of habit and will go where their needs lead, “to eat, to sleep, to fuck”. Sir Malcolm wants to know about Mr. Chandler, or Talbot as Kaetenay knows him. Kaetenay tells him that Ethan’s appetites lead elsewhere. Sir Malcolm asks “where”, Kaetenay answers “night”. Sir Malcolm asks if all of Kaetenays’ people speak so enigmatically. Kaetenay answers ‘Yes”, and goes on to tell Sir Malcolm of the story of Ethan and himself. He met Ethan when Ethan came to him with the blood of Kaetenays’ people on his face. Ethan begged him to take his scalp and wear it on his belt. But Kaetenay hated Ethan so much for what he had done that he refused because it was far crueller to keep Ethan alive. He asks Sir Malcolm if he has ever experienced that hate. Sir Malcolm, thinking of Vanessa, says that he has. But that the hate eventually turned into something else, something just as powerful. Kaetenay asks “love?”, Sir Malcolm answers “of a kind”; Kaetenay asks “like a daughter?”, Sir Malcolm answers “of a kind”. It seems Kaetenay is not the only enigmatic one! He realizes that Sir Malcolm understands, and goes about smoking a pipe of ritual herbs that will allow him entry to Ethan’s dreams.
Kaetenay appears in Ethan’s dream of overlooking a vast desert and badlands. Ethan attacks him, holds a knife to his throat and demands that Kaetenay look into his eyes. He asks Kaetenay if “they” looked into his eyes as he killed them. Kaetenay says yes. Ethan warns him that if he comes near him in life, he will take his hair and wear it on his belt. Kaetenay tells him this is a cheap Comanche trick, useful only for scaring white people, but not worthy of an Apache. Ethan protests that he is not an Apache. Kaetenay switches to the Apache tongue, and tells him that he is either an Apache or he is nothing. Ethan lets Kaetenay go. Kaetenay asks him where he is, and Ethan tells him that he is outside of Cascabel, a town on the way to the Talbot Range, where his father waits for him. Kaetenay wants to know what happens when he is brought home, and Ethan tells him that he will end it with his father, just as someday he will end it with Kaetenay. He warns Kaetenay to keep an ocean between them; but Kaetenay only says “I will see you presently, my son.” Ethan warns him that he is changed, that there is blood on his teeth and in his soul. Kaetenay tells him that then he is the Apache Kaetenay needs. Ethan wakes, and Kaetenay tells Sir Malcolm that he knows they are coming.
In the Museum of Natural History, Vanessa attends a lecture that Dr. Sweet is giving on predators. There is some flirting between the two. After the lecture, Dr. Sweet tells her that it is a tiresome part of his job, but necessary to fund the Museum’s acquisitions, and the expeditions. He does not go on these expeditions, as he claims to be not made of the same stuff as his childhood hero, Captain Nemo. She tells him that her childhood hero was Joan of Arc. Dr. Sweet goes back to work, saying good day, but not remembering her name. Vanessa reminds him. When she returns home, she looks at a newspaper and sees something that makes her smile.
At Dorian’s house, the rescued Justine wakes in a richly appointed bedroom. She hears music, and follows it to find Dorian and Lily dancing in the ballroom. Lily welcomes her home, if she is so inclined. Justine states that they killed them all, and Dorian assures her that they would have killed more. Lily adds that they will. The girl wonders why, so Lily tells her that she is dazzled by the opulence of the room, much as she herself was the first time she stood there. A feral animal, raised on the streets and forced to her knees as a girl, to service any man with “2 bob and a hard back to his hand”. She notes that there she would have stayed and died, were it not for a strange working of fate that allowed her a new life. Dorian asks Justine if she will do the same. She agrees. Dorian asks her “no matter the cost?” and she answers fiercely “BUGGER the cost!”. Lily wants to know if she will forgive the men from her past, so the girl asks her if Lily would have her do that. Lily replies “No, no! We shall have, my dear, a monumental revenge.”, and kisses Justine on the mouth.
At the Bedlam lab, the guards have brought a screaming, thrashing, animalistic man to Dr. Jekyll, and have strapped him into the chair and gagged him. Henry asks Victor for his medical opinion on the state of the man and tells him that he is a potential regicide and Jacobite. He advises Victor to never piss off a Monarch. Henry gives the man a shot that he has prepared, upon which the man has a seizure and goes limp. Henry ungags the man and asks him to greet their guest. He lifts his head, having undergone an amazing transformation both medically and mentally, and politely, lucidly and in a civilized fashion asks for a glass of water. Victor is suitably impressed.
At his office in the Museum, Dr. Sweet receives an invitation to meet Vanessa at a certain address at a certain time that evening. The address is a theatre where a projection of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is being presented with the use of new (to the times) technology.
In Dr. Sewards office, Renfield listens to Vanessa’s recordings. At a general store/saloon in Cascabel, the leader of Ethan’s captors is ordering supplies. Ethan is sitting handcuffed at a table looking out the window at the moon which is hiding behind a cloud. A Native American woman who is cleaning tables, asks Ethan what he did to be so sad and handcuffed. Ethan tells her that he killed a Senators’ son. She switches to the Apache tongue, telling him that she knows him. She is of Kaetenay’s people. Ethan, also speaking in the Apache tongue, wants to know where the old demon is. She does not know, but says that “most of the others” are on a reservation in Oklahoma Territory. She goes on to lament that the “others are cold and frozen, dead and dying, all gone”. Ethan is saddened by this news. She tells him that she would help him if she could, so he asks her to help by leaving the room right now. She pats his shoulder and says “Bless you, Son”. He responds “Thank you, Mother”. She leaves the room as Ethan’s transformation begins. He breaks free, and lays about himself killing all present. Hecate, in her witch form, detaches from the wall to help him. Hecate tells Ethan she has missed him.
After their evening at the theatre, Vanessa invites Dr. Sweet for coffee, but he declines. He thanks her for the evening, kisses her hand and vows never to forget her name again. As Vanessa turns to go home, she gets the feeling that she is being watched, but shrugs it off. However, she is being watched, by the lead familiar (Jack Greenless).
Victor is sitting outside Dorian and Lily’s house, hoping to catch a glimpse of Lily. Creeper!! She sees him, and tells him that he cannot be there, there is nothing for him there. Victor declares that where she is, he belongs, so Lily tells him to take his romance, his memories and go. Victor wants to save her from all this, one way or another, as he created, and is responsible for, her. She says that she needs no man to save her, and muses that she more created him than he did her. She tells him that he will recover from this first love, and requests that he not come back. He will not like what she is becoming.
Vanessa writes to Sir Malcolm. In her letter, she wonders if Sir Malcolm will cross paths with their lost friend, Ethan. She assures him that all is well with her, and tells him she misses him.
At the end of the episode, we find Renfield at Draculas’ lair. He tells the voice that Vanessa has told Seward her story, but doesn’t think Seward believes her. He begs for blood. Who knew that vamp blood would be every bit as addictive as modern day once-and-you’re-screwed drugs? Dracula appears, slashes his wrist, and offers it to Renfield, telling him that he will be flesh of his flesh, blood of his blood. Renfield hungrily drinks, as our viewpoint pulls back to reveal that Dracula is none other than Dr. Sweet!
Fade To Black.
Here’s a trailer for the next Penny Dreadful, airing on Sunday May 15, 2016. Enjoy! And don’t forget to follow the Skatronixxx team at Skatronixxx.com for all your pop culture needs!
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Welcome to your weekly dose of Penny Dreadful, fellow Dreadfuls!
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