Penny Dreadful: What Death Can Join Together
June 16, 2014 12:48 PM - Season 1, Episode 6 - Subscribe
Vanessa's latest vision leads Sir Malcolm, Ethan and Sembene on a search. Professor Van Helsing reveals more details to Dr. Frankenstein about who has taken Mina. A night with Dorian unlocks something dark within Vanessa.
Van Helsing didn't last long. I wanted to see more of him and the actor who portrays him, David Warner.
posted by cwest at 1:51 PM on June 16, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by cwest at 1:51 PM on June 16, 2014 [4 favorites]
Dorian Gray is growing on me.
Me too, though I didn't care for him at first. OTOH I'm completely fed up with Frankenstein and Caliban. The former just doesn't fit in this story, and his creation grows more annoying with each episode.
posted by homunculus at 3:25 PM on June 16, 2014 [5 favorites]
Me too, though I didn't care for him at first. OTOH I'm completely fed up with Frankenstein and Caliban. The former just doesn't fit in this story, and his creation grows more annoying with each episode.
posted by homunculus at 3:25 PM on June 16, 2014 [5 favorites]
OTOH I'm completely fed up with Frankenstein and Caliban. The former just doesn't fit in this story, and his creation grows more annoying with each episode.
Yes. The writer, John Logan, is sacrificing the momentum of the Frankenstein/Caliban and Ethan stories for the main plot, Vanessa and Sir Malcolm and the search for Mina (and all the backstory that involves). It's starting to get annoying. The side stories would be perfectly fine if the times we do visit them they didn't have such a feeling of stasis. I'm assuming however that all this will pay off by the final episode.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy watching all the various characters interact. It's just getting a little uneven.
posted by cwest at 4:05 PM on June 16, 2014
Yes. The writer, John Logan, is sacrificing the momentum of the Frankenstein/Caliban and Ethan stories for the main plot, Vanessa and Sir Malcolm and the search for Mina (and all the backstory that involves). It's starting to get annoying. The side stories would be perfectly fine if the times we do visit them they didn't have such a feeling of stasis. I'm assuming however that all this will pay off by the final episode.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy watching all the various characters interact. It's just getting a little uneven.
posted by cwest at 4:05 PM on June 16, 2014
I was too tired to finish watching the episode last night, finished it this evening; if the new thread hadn't been posted already, part of my above-the-fold description would have been something like "Caliban continues to be the worst."
Can't believe there are only 2 episodes left of the season. I suppose there's no chance of anything but cliffhangers for the finale, but, I hope we at least get some kind of reveal on Ethan's backstory
What writer was Frankenstein quoting in the show? Was it some meta in-joke of having him quote Mary Shelley, or was it a different Shelley entirely?
posted by oh yeah! at 6:10 PM on June 16, 2014
Can't believe there are only 2 episodes left of the season. I suppose there's no chance of anything but cliffhangers for the finale, but, I hope we at least get some kind of reveal on Ethan's backstory
What writer was Frankenstein quoting in the show? Was it some meta in-joke of having him quote Mary Shelley, or was it a different Shelley entirely?
posted by oh yeah! at 6:10 PM on June 16, 2014
I hope they never show Gray's painting. NEVER! Just show us reactions to it!
Billie Piper as bride of Caliban, soon, please.
And good god, more David Warner in everything, please, while we still have him on this planet.
posted by Catblack at 8:07 PM on June 16, 2014
Billie Piper as bride of Caliban, soon, please.
And good god, more David Warner in everything, please, while we still have him on this planet.
posted by Catblack at 8:07 PM on June 16, 2014
What writer was Frankenstein quoting in the show? Was it some meta in-joke of having him quote Mary Shelley, or was it a different Shelley entirely?
It was a quote from Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats, by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley was the husband of Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. So yes, it was a bit meta.
The quote from Adonais was "No more let Life divide what Death can join together."
posted by cwest at 8:20 PM on June 16, 2014 [3 favorites]
It was a quote from Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats, by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley was the husband of Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. So yes, it was a bit meta.
The quote from Adonais was "No more let Life divide what Death can join together."
posted by cwest at 8:20 PM on June 16, 2014 [3 favorites]
Van Helsing didn't last long. I wanted to see more of him and the actor who portrays him, David Warner.
Fucking Caliban. It's hard to understand why Frankenstein doesn't just come clean about him to Malcolm and have Generic American shoot him in the face.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:00 AM on June 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
Fucking Caliban. It's hard to understand why Frankenstein doesn't just come clean about him to Malcolm and have Generic American shoot him in the face.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:00 AM on June 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
Caliban is so emo he can't even cry. And he looked at a female and gave her a present, doesn't she know they're like, married now?
I too find that whole plotline tedious. More Dorian's butt, kthnxbai.
posted by Jilder at 6:30 AM on June 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
I too find that whole plotline tedious. More Dorian's butt, kthnxbai.
posted by Jilder at 6:30 AM on June 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
Caliban always manages to pull me out of the story into being annoyed at the writers rather than feeling for the characters. I should have been upset by Van Helsing's murder because it's upsetting for Frankenstein. Instead I was rolling my eyes at the writers for following a 'friendzoning' with a murder.
I just have no idea what the show wants me to think about the monster. If the scenes in the theater are supposed to make me feel sympathy for him, they're failing. If I'm supposed to find him frightening, it's not working either, because so far everyone he's killed onscreen has been frail or taken by surprise. I can't imagine he'd win against the combined forces of the vampire hunters, so all I can do is get impatient waiting for Frankenstein to ask for help already.
posted by oh yeah! at 9:51 AM on June 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
I just have no idea what the show wants me to think about the monster. If the scenes in the theater are supposed to make me feel sympathy for him, they're failing. If I'm supposed to find him frightening, it's not working either, because so far everyone he's killed onscreen has been frail or taken by surprise. I can't imagine he'd win against the combined forces of the vampire hunters, so all I can do is get impatient waiting for Frankenstein to ask for help already.
posted by oh yeah! at 9:51 AM on June 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
JESUS FUCKING CHRIST CALIBAN.
I've had it with that petulant arsehole.
posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 5:12 PM on June 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
I've had it with that petulant arsehole.
posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 5:12 PM on June 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
In other news: The Tomb Of Vlad Dracula May Have Been Found In Italy
posted by homunculus at 7:47 PM on June 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by homunculus at 7:47 PM on June 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
Ugh fuck off caliban no one likes you
posted by elizardbits at 8:00 PM on June 17, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by elizardbits at 8:00 PM on June 17, 2014 [5 favorites]
Caliban is like a goth Meatloaf with a bad Skrillex haircut. I was getting so annoyed at his whimpering when he was spying on that actress. Geez, she was just trying to be nice to you, it doesn't mean she's your feelings nanny now! I really dislike the whole Frankenstein plotline. The English Major Outrage center of my brain gets all a-flame with rage at having Dr. Frankenstein be in Dracula.
Speaking of which, so the bald dude with the major lip lines is not supposed to be Dracula, right? I mean, no. That just can't be because that's awful and lame. And why are all the vampire dens populated by Victorian Taylor Momsens? Do vampires just really have A Type or is there something about being a lady vampire that makes you suddenly become an undead Stevie Nicks?
Dorian is still kind of an Ed Hardy street magician. I seriously do not like his Goo Goo Dolls hair.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 5:33 AM on June 18, 2014 [3 favorites]
Speaking of which, so the bald dude with the major lip lines is not supposed to be Dracula, right? I mean, no. That just can't be because that's awful and lame. And why are all the vampire dens populated by Victorian Taylor Momsens? Do vampires just really have A Type or is there something about being a lady vampire that makes you suddenly become an undead Stevie Nicks?
Dorian is still kind of an Ed Hardy street magician. I seriously do not like his Goo Goo Dolls hair.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 5:33 AM on June 18, 2014 [3 favorites]
She compared his situation to her injured brother's, ffs. "My brother had an accident too you know" does not equal "let's bone the fuck down right now and then forever when you have me killed and reanimated as your eternal sex slave" you gross fucking creeper.
ugh i hate him so much and i want him to drown in poops
posted by elizardbits at 7:54 AM on June 18, 2014 [6 favorites]
ugh i hate him so much and i want him to drown in poops
posted by elizardbits at 7:54 AM on June 18, 2014 [6 favorites]
Vanessa was right; she shouldn't have worn that dress.
posted by tracicle at 1:17 PM on June 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by tracicle at 1:17 PM on June 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
Has fandom come up with a nickname for Lord Malcolm & co yet? There's got to be something more interesting to call them than vampire-hunters.
posted by oh yeah! at 5:54 PM on June 18, 2014
posted by oh yeah! at 5:54 PM on June 18, 2014
I suggest "The Penny-Savers".
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 6:48 PM on June 18, 2014
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 6:48 PM on June 18, 2014
Club Dread.
posted by Pendragon at 12:07 AM on June 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Pendragon at 12:07 AM on June 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
The Dreadful Greats?
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 12:07 AM on June 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 12:07 AM on June 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
In Dracula scholarship the Harker-Holmwood-Morris-VanHelsing brigade is referred to as The Crew of Light.
I propose their evil mirror world counterparts be called the Crew of Night.
posted by Jilder at 3:01 AM on June 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
I propose their evil mirror world counterparts be called the Crew of Night.
posted by Jilder at 3:01 AM on June 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
2 Night Crew
posted by Kitty Stardust at 4:13 AM on June 19, 2014
posted by Kitty Stardust at 4:13 AM on June 19, 2014
Dreadfuls? Dreadfools?
For that matter, has the fandom been named? Are we the Dreadnuts?
posted by oh yeah! at 5:37 AM on June 19, 2014
For that matter, has the fandom been named? Are we the Dreadnuts?
posted by oh yeah! at 5:37 AM on June 19, 2014
Murray's Midnight Runners
posted by Kitty Stardust at 6:12 AM on June 19, 2014
posted by Kitty Stardust at 6:12 AM on June 19, 2014
We're just dreadful.
posted by Pendragon at 7:21 AM on June 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Pendragon at 7:21 AM on June 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
Caliban is Frankenstein's Nice Guy.
Also that scene between Vanessa and Dorian is basically the hottest thing I've seen on TV. Srsly, all the sex on this show is so raw.
And I assume next episode Ethan will just walk out into his first scene with like a dog collar he doesn't notice was on him and quickly hide it behind his back and Murray will be all "what was that?" and he'll be like "nothing" and then he'll go and bury it out back.
posted by griphus at 4:06 PM on June 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
Also that scene between Vanessa and Dorian is basically the hottest thing I've seen on TV. Srsly, all the sex on this show is so raw.
And I assume next episode Ethan will just walk out into his first scene with like a dog collar he doesn't notice was on him and quickly hide it behind his back and Murray will be all "what was that?" and he'll be like "nothing" and then he'll go and bury it out back.
posted by griphus at 4:06 PM on June 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
PS Am I the only one who doesn't understand 75% of Billie Piper's dialogue?
posted by griphus at 4:10 PM on June 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by griphus at 4:10 PM on June 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
This is why you turn on the subtitles
posted by elizardbits at 4:17 PM on June 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by elizardbits at 4:17 PM on June 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
I watch this show with a zoetrope and a gramophone kthx
posted by griphus at 4:19 PM on June 19, 2014 [6 favorites]
posted by griphus at 4:19 PM on June 19, 2014 [6 favorites]
Caliban is Frankenstein's Nice Guy.
It's too early fashion-wise for fedoras. He'll just have to get a bowler or something.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 11:21 PM on June 19, 2014
It's too early fashion-wise for fedoras. He'll just have to get a bowler or something.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 11:21 PM on June 19, 2014
The fedora hit the stage 1882, so Caliban can both be fashion forward and a complete wanker.
posted by Jilder at 3:49 AM on June 20, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Jilder at 3:49 AM on June 20, 2014 [2 favorites]
is it lame that I totally want a charcoal grey version of Ethan's bowler?
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 4:44 AM on June 20, 2014
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 4:44 AM on June 20, 2014
Finally got to this episode, and could not make out what the voice Vanessa heard when she was having it on with Dorian said. Anyone catch what she heard?
posted by Meep! Eek! at 6:27 PM on July 1, 2014
posted by Meep! Eek! at 6:27 PM on July 1, 2014
Anyone catch what she heard?
"Hello, my child. I've been waiting. What games we will have now!"
posted by obloquy at 3:36 PM on April 23, 2015
"Hello, my child. I've been waiting. What games we will have now!"
posted by obloquy at 3:36 PM on April 23, 2015
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posted by Pendragon at 1:02 PM on June 16, 2014