Penny Dreadful: Glorious Horrors

June 8, 2015 5:40 AM - Season 2, Episode 6

Sir Malcolm receives tragic news; a glorious night turns horrible for Vanessa.

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posted by oh yeah! (17 comments total)

This episode was full of fantastic frocks.

Some quick thoughts:

Despite his words of reassurance to her last episode, can't help thinking that if Dorian gets a hint of Lily's true nature, Angelique will be swiftly relegated to the position of yesterday's 'adventure'.

Lavina finds the Creature's hands frighteningly cold, but Lily's cold hands have 'the touch of marble' in Dorian's view - it reminded me of Vanessa speaking last season about how women on the point of death were considered erotic in the Victorian era. (But did Dorian realise who Lily was?)

Hecate despises her mother and is clearly going to betray her as soon as she gets the opportunity. I think she's a bit jealous of Vanessa's place in the grand scheme of things. The scene where Evelyn talks of having been abandoned by God - this is just big 'ol foreshadowing isn't it? The existence of the Devil is one thing, yet the possibility that God doesn't actually care anymore and won't help would be far, far worse in Vanessa's eyes.

Lyle is a sweetie and is almost certainly going to die horribly. :(
posted by along came the crocodile at 9:09 AM on June 8, 2015 [2 favorites]

Lyle is a sweetie and is almost certainly going to die horribly. :(

I'm just hoping against hope that they don't kill Angelique. I want her to live happily ever after somewhere horror-free. Maybe she and Lyle can run away together.
posted by oh yeah! at 7:23 PM on June 8, 2015 [2 favorites]

I was...actually hurt by how Dorian treated Angelique when Lily showed up. I thought his connection to Angelique was genuine and even if taken with someone else, he would have the sensitivity not to flaunt that in front of her at her own coming out party. Guess I was as taken in by Dorian as Angelique was.

Now that Victor has a taste of rejection at the hands of Lily, I wonder how he and John Clare will relate.

As for Dorian finding Lily's hands seductive.He had sex with Brona while she was coughing up blood. Finding things erotic, particularly what others consider frightening, is part of his schtick.
posted by miss-lapin at 7:54 PM on June 8, 2015 [5 favorites]

....my formal dancing skills are so horribly atrophied thanks for reminding me of that, show.

You think that blood rain was a response to Hannibal? " oh you like buckets of blood in your stylish dramas why not a DOWNPOUR."

Dorian is, of course, super fickle and easily entranced by a fresh new (dead) thing, but while I think all of the Frankenfamily plot lines are dull I do like how Vanessa interacts with victor a lot. It's like the only time she gets to smile and tease someone.

Not here for the clean shaven Sir Malcom, nope. He looks like an executive producer without the beard of authority.

So, I assume the Pinkerton survivor of the inn massacre isn't a werewolf now ...and I know he's enmeshed in the investigation about it but uh ...what was stopping Ethan from choking him to death in the parkour? It's not like he has family in London? Why the hell does his father want him back so much? It is a werewolf thing ( I secretly hope it's a wendigo thing myself but that's cause I love Ravenous.)

Vanessa's ball gown was such a werid mix of period accurate and high goth and I loved it.
posted by The Whelk at 11:25 PM on June 8, 2015 [2 favorites]

I do enjoy how far Lyle has survived so far however.
posted by The Whelk at 11:32 PM on June 8, 2015 [1 favorite]

Also, I just assume that show Dorian is like book Dorian, capable of fantastically romantic dramatic overtures when it suits him but easily distracted and fickle to a monsterous degree -- like that's his whole book deal, how he uses people as things without regard to their feelings or personhood cause he's beyond them -- and being an immortal he would be fascinated by a resurrected person.

I mean we all want Dorian and Angelique to be happy forever but I read that book and remembered what happened to Sybil Vane the instant she stopped being fascinating to Dorian and started being a real person.

Which is why I like that Vanessa's reaction to Dorian showing up is basically stark, stoic horror. He's so not something you want in your house.
posted by The Whelk at 11:40 PM on June 8, 2015 [5 favorites]

I admit that I read Dorian Gray in high school and while I remember the general plotline, the nuances are lost to memory. I knew watching the show I should reread it, now it appears to be something I must do immediately.
posted by miss-lapin at 11:45 PM on June 8, 2015

It's a pretty fast read aside from that intolerable chapter about gems, and a lot of stuff is between the lines, but yeah he's basically a mass murderer.
posted by The Whelk at 11:53 PM on June 8, 2015 [1 favorite]

Yeah, Dorian is a horrible piece of work. He should really swap tips with Evelyn about eternal youth. (I find Victor to be the worst, though. His actions and attitudes are just abominable.)

Still very little Sembene - I'm sure I read an interview with Josh Hartnett saying how a lot more would be revealed this season about the guy, and it hasn't happened yet. Maybe the last third of the season is when he's going to save everyone?
posted by along came the crocodile at 1:05 AM on June 9, 2015

Simon Russell Beale. He's just slaying me as Lyle, the arch camp innuendo so utterly inextricable from the terror. The only other TV I've seen him in was Spooks, as one of their forgettable politicians. I know he's a brilliant actor (hunt down the BBC Radio dramatisation of le Carré's 'Smiley' novels - it's the only performance that comes close to Alec Guinness) but this is glorious...
posted by prismatic7 at 4:52 AM on June 10, 2015 [1 favorite]

I totally agree that book Dorian is basically the worst, but if that's the direction that they're going in on the show, they haven't done a very good job. Thus far, Dorian is guilty of: a.) hosting consensual orgies, and b.) being kind of a flirty, flighty dick. In a show where one of the ostensible heroes murdered every patron in a bar and one of the others is possessed by the actual devil, Dorian seems like the only character I'd probably feel comfortable hanging out with.

You know, if I'd had a few beers and felt like putting up with a pretty manchild.
posted by WidgetAlley at 11:23 AM on June 10, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'm hoping Sir Malcolm's cavalier attitude toward his wife's death is just a result of the spells he's under, because if not, wow, what a dick.

Victor is just the worst. His little red rat-eyes when Dorian took Lily off to dance were chilling.

And Dorian totally invited Vanessa to show off that he's found some new plaything.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 12:06 PM on June 10, 2015

Simon Russell Beale. He's just slaying me as Lyle, the arch camp innuendo so utterly inextricable from the terror. The only other TV I've seen him in was Spooks, as one of their forgettable politicians. I know he's a brilliant actor (hunt down the BBC Radio dramatisation of le Carré's 'Smiley' novels - it's the only performance that comes close to Alec Guinness) but this is glorious...
posted by prismatic7 at 11:52 AM on June 10 [+] [!]

I thought he was great as Falstaff in BBC's Hollow Crown series.
posted by Reggie Knoble at 1:54 AM on June 11, 2015

I was upset that Vanessa didn't wear gloves with her dress. It looked like she wasn't fully dressed. I thought that would have some significance later. Loved the Vanessa-Hecate staredown. Van had a cool jeweled scorpion in her hair. The costumes for the ball were great, except for Lily's. Baby pink? Ugh.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 12:59 PM on June 11, 2015 [2 favorites]

Vanessa chooses not to wear gloves. Dorian comments on it in Season 1 if I remember right.
posted by along came the crocodile at 8:07 AM on June 12, 2015

Thanks. I must've forgotten that.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 9:21 AM on June 12, 2015

I don't know London well, but I was amused to find that Victor Frankenstein appears to be a close neighbour of a couple of people I work with.
posted by pipeski at 3:07 PM on June 17, 2015