Penny Dreadful: A Blade of Grass
May 22, 2016 9:08 PM - Season 3, Episode 4 - Subscribe

 
I thought tonight's GoT was excellent, but the amazing intensity of Eva Green and Rory Kinnear's performances alone in a room together for most of an hour here completely blew me away.
posted by Pryde at 10:55 PM on May 22, 2016 [2 favorites]


What a beautiful, beautiful hour. I think it might be the most hopeful episode the show has done. And I don't think I've ever seen the devil get bullied before; I wonder if its always so fragile or a matter of circumstance.
posted by humans are superior! at 11:54 PM on May 22, 2016


What genius though airing Penny Dreadful right after Game of Thrones would be a good deal jeez. I'm still reeling from GoT to soak up PD!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:20 AM on May 23, 2016


I wish the show would stop trying to make me like The Creature; that well has been thoroughly poisoned, not even the awesome powers of Eva Green can overcome it. Watching them kiss made me feel like Sally Field in Soapdish - you can't kiss her!! you can never kiss her!! - I'm just dreading that he's going to be Vanessa's ally in defeating Dracula.
posted by oh yeah! at 5:51 AM on May 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


Watched the episode now and man, that was beautiful. One of the best 'bottle' episodes ever. The Creature may be deplorable, but the man he was before was kind and gentle. Hopefully he can still regain a bit of himself, especially as he watches over his family.

Eva Green as Vanessa continues to astound and amaze. This may be the high point of her career, she's doing such a fantastic job.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:09 AM on May 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


Ultimate bottle episode!

I expected the extreme scientific treatment to be electro-convulsive therapy. Dr Frankenstein, of course, would be at the forefront of this field. Which would explain that, hey, you can't just quit, I've still got a job for you.

Great performances by two astonishing actors. Weakness, strength, love, hate, pain, mercy given and taken and withheld. The script was strong. It's obviously a challenge to write for an hour of dialog, but they were really given a break by two great performers.

Also glad the wild wild west didn't get a breath of air this time. Keep us in Victorian London please.
posted by adept256 at 7:23 AM on May 23, 2016


Well, I was suitably terrified.
posted by The Whelk at 6:22 PM on May 23, 2016 [3 favorites]


I was so excited to finally see Rory Kinnear get to do something other than emo wallowing. He played three distinct roles and did so beautifully. But also that reveal when Vanessa basically says to both Lucifer and Dracula, "you want evil? I WILL SHOW YOU EVIL" that was some beauty right there.
posted by miss-lapin at 7:11 PM on May 23, 2016 [6 favorites]


Yeah I was like "oh okKinnear is a goof actor I just really hate The Creature"

He says he doesn't read poetry! Creature loves his damn poetry.
posted by The Whelk at 8:49 PM on May 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


One interesting thing is the religious angle? Modern vampire stories always drop it but it's a huge part of the traditional vampire story, said vampire either being demonic or making a deal with the devil and being literally unholy.

Although making Dracula Lucifier's ...brother? Kin? Felt like a scrambling bit of retcon so we could say the vampire in season one wasn't DRACULA DRACULA just another demon/vampire.

Although making him literally kin to the Morningstar/Miltonian Satan is ...theologically confusing but whatever I assume the cosmology of these kind of stories to be a "God is absent d horrors run wild" situation cause otherwise why doesn't I Am like ...stop it.
posted by The Whelk at 8:58 PM on May 23, 2016


Eva Green needs all of the Emmys except the one we give to Rory Kinnear for this episode, its so easy to forget how good he is when he's just playing the creature.

One thing occurred to me: does the museum guy know he's Dracula? The orderly didn't know he was being possessed, so is it possible this is a Ben/Glory situation?
posted by hobgadling at 8:17 AM on May 24, 2016 [5 favorites]


Eva Green, fellow humans. She is not one of us. She is some magnificent godlike creature deployed on this earth to make us all realise how much better actors could be. There is no other performer on the screen who genuinely gives no fucks about the necessities of 'method', 'realism' or 'belief'. Her physicality has the contorted crisis of Butoh, her voice is luscious honey and eldritch howl (the massive stretch of the Language of the Devil she uttered was electrifying). Rory Kinnear is a good, well-mannered British actor (although no great one) so the contrast between his solid roast-beefy ordinariness and this sinuous mobile thing prowling the set was utterly mesmerising.

There was some fine writing in this episode as well - Penny Dreadful has always delighted in total commitment to its genre, with its deliciously overwrought dialogue intact - but there are moments (like Lily's terrifying, glorious monologue last season) where it really takes that High Gothic Victoriana business, nails it to a wall and sprays white-hot fire on its corpse.

In the awed silence that happens after every single show, dear ladyfriend7 and I look at each other and say "We were going to give up on this after the first episode!"
posted by prismatic7 at 5:07 AM on May 25, 2016 [8 favorites]


why isnt eva green my infernal bride
posted by poffin boffin at 10:43 PM on May 26, 2016 [4 favorites]


so is it possible this is a Ben/Glory situation?

Yu know that never occurred to me until just know give. That THIS Dracula is more an evil spirit and not like, a physical dude , it's possible?

Like that could love tail nicely with future Jekyll/Hyde themes and also the wolfmens, not knowing you're a monster etc etc
posted by The Whelk at 10:47 PM on May 26, 2016 [2 favorites]


But yes, the contrast between perfectly fine, very good Rory kinnear being a very dedicated British actor and Eva Green like *~Channeling the spirit realm~* was a master class in the difference between very good and genius.
posted by The Whelk at 10:49 PM on May 26, 2016 [4 favorites]


As someone, somewhere said today:
The Universal Cinematic Monsterverse should hope to be this good.

S3, and I actually think the show has gotten better, and the last time I said that was Buffy, Babylon 5 or Star Trek: Enterprise.

Even my partner was enraptured, and she gave up two years ago.
posted by Mezentian at 9:56 AM on May 27, 2016 [2 favorites]


I do, overall, think its better. However, I would like to see a bit of variety in the main plot if things continue. I'm guessing we're heading towards a monster show down with Lili's army vs Vanessa and pals. It would be nice to see that rather than more Vanessa gets pursued by evil.
posted by miss-lapin at 12:00 PM on May 27, 2016


I'm dying a bit to see what they bring in from American pulp, to be honest. There's a rich vein there to be mined, provided they stay away from frikkin Tom Sawyer.

And I really loved how tight all this was. One room, two performers, for the better part of it, just astonishing.
posted by Jilder at 7:29 AM on May 28, 2016


someone mentioned in a previous thread that there were cancellation rumours? is this a thing that the internet made up in a silly game of telephone or is it legit?
posted by poffin boffin at 9:11 AM on May 28, 2016


It hasn't been canceled or renewed yet, so we'll see
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:16 AM on May 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


I finally caught this episode the other night. Wow! This season hasn't quite been doing it for me, but that was extraordinary. Eva Green is always magnificent, so her performance wasn't a surprise, but I was amazed at Rory Kinnear. What a wonderful episode.
posted by homunculus at 1:06 PM on May 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


C'mon showtime. You want more Eva Green. Pony up and give us that season order.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 11:01 PM on June 2, 2016


He says he doesn't read poetry! Creature loves his damn poetry.

I think that's actually a really fascinating thing. The man before was not very good at learning by his own admission and wasn't very good at poetry. The Creature, reborn, adores it. Would he go back, if he could? Has it all been bad? It's an interesting question.
posted by corb at 6:39 AM on September 29, 2017 [1 favorite]


Fuck yes, this was better than last season's witch-burning, and just like that episode, it justifies all the bullshit in the other episodes.
posted by mwhybark at 11:10 PM on February 23, 2018


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