This will be the very first NOC recap for the Showtime horror show Penny Dreadful, which just premiered its second season on Sunday. And what a relief it is to have it back as I very much miss this delightfully dark show with freaks and ghouls that have a penchant for murder. For those who are just catching on, season one focused mostly on revealing dark secrets for the main cast, which includes Vanessa Ives (Eva Green), Sir Malcolm Murray (Timothy Dalton), Victor Frankenstein (Harry Treadyway), his creation Caliban aka The Creature (Rory Kinnear), and Ethan Chandler (Josh Harnett) whose big secret was that he’s a hairy rampaging werewolf.
Right away season two starts off with a macabre bang by establishing its big villain, this time being Madame Kali, Evelyn Poole, (played by Helen McCrory who appeared on several episodes last season and is now upped to series regular), who turns out to be the head honcho with leading a satanic coven filled with witches. Immediately we know she is the one that will cause distress to the dynamic (yet brooding) team as she chants maladies at Vanessa from afar, causing her to breakdown in a patch of snow while onlookers look at her like a crazy bat.
After that, we learn that these witches also like to go bald and naked when on attack mode as they attack Vanessa and Ethan during a carriage ride. And then they cease to attack when Vanessa proceeds to speak in her mysterious throaty devil language. Why are the witches after her? What does Kali want? She wants Vanessa want for her “master,” to which at this point, we can only assume to be the devil (or Count Dracula?) That or the witches really want to get freaky with Vanessa as evidenced by below:
It becomes evidently clear that Vanessa is deathly afraid of the witches and thinks that she’s dead meat. She starts refusing everyone’s help while Kali goes after Malcolm and Ethan (who she knows to be a werewolf through her magical witch powers?)
One thing is for certain, this Kali is going to be quite a tough opponent for our heroes to face as well as being quite a twisted individual as she likes to take baths in blood. Yum.
It’s not like Ethan is having it any easier as he wakes up to find out that he massacred everyone at the Mariner’s Inn during his freakish werewolf transformation. The massacre catches the attention of a new, determined police inspector so we can only assume it’s going to cause some grief for our American werewolf friend.
As for Victor Frankenstein and Caliban, Brona’s been reanimated as a companion for Caliban even though he instantly goes googoo gahgah for the downridden waxworks parlor owner’s blind daughter. I will have to make a note how UTTERLY creepy it was for Victor to grope Brona’s body while she was dead and soaking in water. Shudder
We end this episode with probably the derpiest face ever as Kali chants even more devilish things to freak Vanessa out.
Overall, as an episode review, I found this to be a solid and captivating start and I’m excited to see what happens next. While it may lack the creepy mysterious factor from the first season, I’m all for different directions. Nevertheless, there is NOTHING like Penny Dreadful on TV right now as I am in love with the vintage horror and gore portrait this show provides. And there is no actress working harder than Eva Green right now as she is frighteningly believable in all the crazy possessions and evil spells that take an effect on her.
With that being said, stay tuned for next week’s recap and mini review!
