The walls have ears … and eyes and devil brandings.
Here is our review of Penny Dreadful season 2, episode 4.
Vanessa is finally sharing her accent with the monster squad.
They are all protective, but there is a leap they are not taking.
Part of this is Vanessas own fault.
Theres enough different about Vanessa Ives to fill a book, much less a penny dreadful.
Verbis Diablo, the devils book, is a puzzle.
It is a new twist on the legend of a book written with the devils hand.
Im sure the most interesting bits are held in the pre-grammar part.
Choosing a different medium for each part of the story is also original.
But the book is supposed to have been written in one night by one man walled up in solitude.
The pieces were supposed to have been written on whatever material was found.
This smacks of a literary shortcut.
In a novel each piece of the jigsaw could have its own backstory.
I think they rushed one through, like making feet to fit shoes.
Penny Dreadfuldoes a great job of building the suspense.
Cameras circles like sharks before a feeding frenzy.
Everyone feels watched, except the ones on watch.
There are witches around every corner.
The witches are flanking Vanessa, choosing likely prey.
We shouldnt be too hard on them.
After all theyre only servants of the devil doing his work.
Like wolves, each witch lures a member of the group through their weakness.
They separate them individually from the herd before they pounce.
Hecate (Sarah Greene) immediately tries to domesticate Ethan.
Shes always wanted a werewolf for a pet and, by Lupus dei, she can bag one.
Hecate appeals to Ethans sense of loyalty.
Ethan is her savior and she gets him to come panting.
Hecate Aphrodite Livingston, the calculating conjurers initials are HAL, like the computer in2001: A Space Odyssey.
But unlike Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarkes machine, Hecate got some of her data wrong.
Hecate is not the mistress of the waves in Greek mythology.
Her accent is good, but doesnt have the requisite Yankee for a lady of Maine.
The civilized werewolf sniffs out her emancipation, but misplaces it for the Pinkerton Detective Force.
But Lyle was actually telling the intrepid adventurer is hes just like any other man.
Malcolm cant see that he is playing blind mans bluff with Evelyn Poole (Helen McCrory).
Lyle seems to be enjoying his role as cunning linguist more than his part as double agent.
Having been freed from its burden, he is more perceptive than his human or witch counterparts.
Kinnear occasionally plays the Creature like a child, or at least a stunted adolescent.
He is a dreamer.
He bonded over Wordsworth with Vanessa Ives.
Two wounded souls who see a spark of recognition.
Yes, shes an actual person.
Not someone he made up in his mind, or in the lab.
The good doctor has a reason not to get out much, though.
He does a subtle Mary Tyler Moore when bumping into the mannequin and apologizing to it.
Hes not quite up to the task of dealing with the aftermath of stealing the Creatures one true love.
A woman who was just made for him.
Who does Scotland Yard Inspector Rusk (Douglas Hodge) think he is, Columbo?
That is a leap of intuition that only the likes of Miss Ives may make.
The inspector and his deputy look like they stepped out of a hundredPenny Dreadfuletchings.
Of course, they are more realistically rendered in wax.
Theres something going on in the house of wax, all this talk of two entrances and separate admissions.
Oh and freaks locked in the cellar.
It seems Frankensteins creation is forever doomed to be misunderstood.
Provocation is food and drink to Dorian Gray (Reeve Carney).
Of course, they would barely raise a unibrow there, and they just live to shock.
Maybe golf with Alice Cooper.
Sambene (Danny Sapani) says he is half hunter.
What could the other half be?
Pastry chef of course.
Thats the dream, anyway.
Pastries and coffee are very civilizing.
The witches find a new way to hide in plain sight.
They have a future in interior decorating, though wallpapering is the messiest of trades besides stucco.
If the pattern of the witches brandings didnt clashed with the wallpaper, youd never see the seams.
Hecate shouldnt have tipped off Mr. Chandler about the sensible shoes on her way out.
She could have kept him guessing.
Maybe she didnt want to be associated with the Pinkertons.
Evil Spirits in Heavenly Places was written by John Logan and directed by Damon Thomas.
Rating:
4 out of 5
