Penny Dreadful: And Hell Itself My Only Foe
June 28, 2015 8:10 PM - Season 2, Episode 9 - Subscribe

Vanessa goes alone to battle Evelyn in order to save Sir Malcolm.
posted by oh yeah! (29 comments total)
 
This is starting to feel like whatever season it was that I quit watching Teen Wolf. Did they seriously only finally give us a tiny bit of Sembene backstory so that they could kill him off? And they killed their only black character a week after killing their only trans character? I guess Lyle must be next on the chopping block, being both gay and Jewish.

Sigh. There were things I liked about this episode, but, I was too annoyed by the waste of Sembene to spend any time on the 'more inside' (or to wait until morning in case someone else wanted to do a better post.)
posted by oh yeah! at 8:45 PM on June 28, 2015 [3 favorites]


NO NO i am hoping that next week he will just be another werewolf because anything else is totally unacceptable.
posted by poffin boffin at 10:15 PM on June 28, 2015 [5 favorites]


UNACCEPTABLE
posted by poffin boffin at 10:16 PM on June 28, 2015 [3 favorites]


Have you seen this episode? for me, it says Available July 3.
posted by Spumante at 12:54 PM on June 29, 2015


Damn - looks like Angelique really is toast, although maybe there'll be some kind of divine angelic revenge in the future. Or maybe not. :(

I'm going to hold off commenting re: Sembene until I've seen the last episode, but on the face of it it sucks. :( :(

Lily and the Vanessa doll are legit terrifying. Roper was a bit of a bust, the Putneys just signed their own death warrant.
posted by along came the crocodile at 1:49 PM on June 29, 2015 [1 favorite]


I was so overwhelmed with delight by Lavinia's betrayal of Caliban. IT WAS DELICIOUS.
posted by poffin boffin at 1:57 PM on June 29, 2015 [7 favorites]


ALSO WOW I suspected that Lily remembered being Brona a while back but the reveal was still fantastic.
posted by poffin boffin at 1:58 PM on June 29, 2015 [3 favorites]


I liked ghost Lady Malcolm, she was quite effective at being creepy
posted by The Whelk at 2:12 PM on June 29, 2015


I think Lily was faking it from quite early on. Maybe not the very beginning, but soon enough. Kudos to Piper though, I didn't really like Rose Tyler but this is making me reassess her as an actress.

Trappng the Creature with a poetry book was fitting. As much as I love to hear Kinnear reciting poetry - it is lovely - it is also slightly hilarious that you have two other characters who have basically told the Creature that his love of poetry is totally crap and pretentious.
posted by along came the crocodile at 2:17 PM on June 29, 2015 [6 favorites]


HIS FACE THOUGH when Lavinia was like "not everyone likes poetry as much as YOU, nerd"

OH HOW I LAUGHED
posted by poffin boffin at 2:20 PM on June 29, 2015 [5 favorites]


How exactly did Lily know that Dorian was immortal? That's what is bugging me about her whole thread. I can accept her being evil -- I loved her speech last episode -- but for her to make a leap like that with Dorian straight away just ruins it. She could have helped Caliban take over the waxworks or something, but we get her leaping and making a strange assumption?

And for them to waste Sembene that way! He needed something more! I'd have much preferred that they showed that bounty hunter coming back to life as a werewolf! Perhaps they are saving Sembene's reveal for next episode, he's just got to survive. (But then, this is the show that made short work of Dr Van Helsing.)
posted by Catblack at 8:13 PM on June 29, 2015 [1 favorite]


Fucking Caliban.
"Oh, I'm so lonely! I hate you so much, Daddy! Wah!"

"I'm going to murderise your new son, because I'm so jealous/angry and ladies won't kiss me!"

"Wah, why don't girls like me when I stalk them and leer at them from shadows and semi-murder their fiances?!"

"Make me a wife, Daddy, just like me, so I won't be lonely! Do it or I will murderise everything!"

[idiot doctor makes zombie lady]

"You made me a wife, but she's just like me! WAAAAAAH".
Seriously, put #gamergate after his lines and he'd fit right in on Twitter.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:08 AM on June 30, 2015 [4 favorites]


Poor Sembane. The black dude always dies first. Even TV Tropes knows it:
In action or horror films, The Hero (typically a White Male Lead) might have a Black Best Friend Lancer that gets killed off or do a Heroic Sacrifice to show that this is no laughing matter.
I mean, I know it's a show built on pastiche but come on.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:37 AM on June 30, 2015 [1 favorite]


Seriously, put #gamergate after his lines and he'd fit right in on Twitter.

FOR REALS, especially with his whole "oh you went out with another man? guess i have to beat you up now" bullshit. Creeping on her so grotesquely. She straight up tells him to leave a number of times and he just get all up in her face and then just flips out like a lunatic when she throws his bucolic little fantasy back in his face.

and then she destroooys him

yay
posted by poffin boffin at 7:43 AM on June 30, 2015 [2 favorites]


I mean I enjoy that Calibaby is trapped in a cage but every episode that doesn't end with someone beating him to death with a shoe is an episode wasted
posted by The Whelk at 7:47 AM on June 30, 2015 [10 favorites]


How exactly did Lily know that Dorian was immortal?
Maybe the immortals just sense it? But it's a bit of a puzzle, like how the Creature knew he was immortal.

If Lily's persuaded Dorian to tell her his secret, she's got massive leverage over him now. She (and a willing undead poetry-loving accomplice) could just pick the portrait up and walk off with it. She could really put the screws on him.
posted by along came the crocodile at 1:23 PM on June 30, 2015 [2 favorites]


How exactly did Lily know that Dorian was immortal? That's what is bugging me about her whole thread.

If she remembers being Brona now, could it be because she knows he should have caught her consumption from their blood-filled sexual encounter? Still a big leap to make, but, I think she would have been just as satisfied with killing him and/or leaving him one-eared as finding out he had eternal youth.
posted by oh yeah! at 7:49 PM on June 30, 2015 [2 favorites]


I just read it that Dorian told her between-scenes - first scene ended with him kneeling and her ordering him to tell her his secret... next scene she bites his ear off and tells him to heal himself.
posted by coriolisdave at 9:47 PM on June 30, 2015 [4 favorites]


can I brag a bit about doing the vfx for the missing ear? I was kinda pleased about how that turned out...
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 3:21 AM on July 1, 2015 [15 favorites]


I think I was probably wrong about Vanessa giving up on God. It might be more that she's turned herself into a grim weapon for God, like Ethan, that she will do whatever it takes to defeat her foes and she's accepted that she may be subsequently damned for it. But that'll be on her terms, not the fallen angels.

can I brag a bit about doing the vfx for the missing ear? I was kinda pleased about how that turned out...

You certainly can! I think the VFX have been excellent - a very high quality series in many ways.
posted by along came the crocodile at 6:22 AM on July 1, 2015


You know I was thinking last week that I really hoped that Sembene's backstory FINALLY got some fleshing out, but nope. After serving his purpose helping others in the cast, he heroically sacrifices himself. Ick. I really wanted him to become a major player next season.

I LOVE how Lily/ Brona is developing. Her voice this episode was delicious as was watching her develop.

I continue to really enjoy Frankenstein and Vanessa's connection-her warmth with him. It's such a relief from how she is with the other characters.

I found the addiction to God line way over the top. Oy.
posted by miss-lapin at 3:11 PM on July 1, 2015 [1 favorite]


If Lily's persuaded Dorian to tell her his secret, she's got massive leverage over him now. She (and a willing undead poetry-loving accomplice) could just pick the portrait up and walk off with it. She could really put the screws on him.

Why would she still choose Caliban over Dorian? At least Dorian's got the money, connections, and other resources needed to take over the world! (and he hasn't been creepy towards her).

Also, why would they put Frankenstein and Lyle together to go into the house? They're the two most useless people when it comes to a fight!
posted by astapasta24 at 8:37 PM on July 1, 2015 [2 favorites]


I kind of think Lily's whole attitude toward Caliban is that he's easy to control. Like I don't buy she's really, really gunning for him.
posted by The Whelk at 8:44 PM on July 1, 2015 [6 favorites]


(and he hasn't been creepy towards her).

I don't know - it depends how Lily feels about the situation she was put in as Brona when they ended up having sex during the photo session. If she actually sees Dorian as no better than the rest of her clients, she may have deliberately targeted him as part of her revenge campaign. They share common ground in terms of their immortality, but perhaps ultimately he's to be destroyed after serving a purpose.

If that were the case I suppose it could be some kind of poetic justice for Angelique given her and Brona's shared backgrounds but I'm not convinced it really works.
posted by along came the crocodile at 12:03 AM on July 2, 2015 [3 favorites]


Mrs. chazlarson and I were out the other day when this came on the radio and I was suddenly struck by the image of Caliban rocking it.
posted by chazlarson at 9:08 AM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]


I read Lily's speech to Caliban as pure manipulation tactics. I mean it whips around in tone and mood and content until she starts getting a response out of him - then locks into his fear and desire and loneliness and reels him in. He's totally a tool to her. No love there at all. I doubt she has any love for anyone.

I do wonder what happens when she seens Ethan though. That could be interesting.
posted by Jilder at 2:28 AM on July 5, 2015 [4 favorites]


OF COURSE ETHAN'S REAL NAME IS LARRY TALBOT.
posted by Kitteh at 11:20 AM on July 23, 2015 [2 favorites]


DAMN, Ethan's wardrobe! I want that sweater & jacket combination!
Sembene is the only character with a lick of sense, OF COURSE he has to die. Idjits.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 9:51 PM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]


I am hoping Ethan just made the first lieutenant in his werewolf army, but I sadly suspect not.
posted by corb at 10:18 AM on September 21, 2017


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