Season two’s finale, “And They Were Enemies” wraps up some arcs and leaves others in really interesting places for the third season. I’m legitimately excited to see where these characters will be and what developments are on in store for them. …But there were a couple other things that were pretty weird and may not have gotten the response the writers intended.
And let’s get that out of the way right off the bat: the ending to Vanessa’s arc is really goofy and it’s all because of that damn puppet! As it turns out, the devil really does embody this fetish and tempts Vanessa in the most ludicrous ways. I get what they were going for, maybe something along the lines of Child’s Play, but I couldn’t take it seriously for a second. At one point Vanessa almost kisses it which is the epitome of ridiculous. Penny Dreadful’s always been a little bit corny and pulpy in keeping with the genre of its title, but I felt this was going a little far and taking itself too seriously. Also, her conflict I felt was a little repetitive. She was being offered a normal life, which isn’t that interesting a prospect and I thought she’d already come to terms with that being beyond her. The vision of her married to Chandler with a young family was interesting, the gleaming white of the scene showcasing how unusual it is. But then we got her resistance which was mostly through chanting, and while Eva Green can perform it fine now, the tone went back down to hilarious when the puppet started doing it. It doesn’t help the voice was over-the-top. Then it ends when Vanessa destroys the puppet and scorpions crawl out of its remains, Evelyn is mauled by Chandler who’d been released by Hecate (she really couldn’t have done it before he killed Sembene?), and they look at each other in recognition before he buggers off.
All while this is happening, Sir Malcolm and Frankenstein are being confronted by their demons urging them to kill themselves to atone for their sins against them. Frankenstein’s children make some compelling arguments (I like how Lily stresses the word “abuse”). But before either can do anything, Evelyn is killed and the spell is broken. Oh yeah, and in a strangely awesome moment, Lyle manages to free himself. So everyone though slightly traumatized manages to make it out okay. Except for Sembene. And this is only the episode’s halfway point.
It is a little odd to end the biggest arc relatively early in the episode, but I don’t really have a problem with it, especially how unintentionally corny it wound up being. The aftermath focuses a lot more on characters and where they’re going next and I found that to be very fascinating. First-off was the confrontation we’ve been waiting for between Frankenstein and Lily. He goes to Dorian’s home where he finds them dancing and at first Lily plays off her innocence. But Frankenstein’s angered and demands more assertively she come home. And that’s when she shows her true colours, by revealing her devious nature and mocking him for his perverse lust of her (which we all knew would come back at him). Dorian stands by her at which point Frankenstein shoots both of them which has little effect but create a marvellous visual as Frankenstein trembles at the two decked regally out in white with blood spots now visible on their clothes. He realizes he’s in much further than he can take. Lily convinces Dorian he’s still of use to them so they don’t kill him, leaving him completely drained in shock as he flees. And we get one more great visual of them dancing in blood drenched clothes. It’s a really well acted, tense scene with Harry Treadaway and Billie Piper particularly performing excellently. I don’t know what to make of their relationship, what it’ll be like next season.
Caliban also has some really great moments. It almost seems like he was humouring the Putneys in that cell, because he breaks out rather easily when they start referring to him as “King of Freaks” (were they really asking for anything else?). He kills both of them terrifically quickly but spares their daughter and perhaps forgetting about his alliance with Lily, just takes off. As for the rest of the gang, Sir Malcolm mourns Sembene as well as his family and to get away, undertakes another mission to Africa. Vanessa meets with Chandler and they have a great scene where she reveals her knowledge of who he is but that she wants to stay with him anyway. Chandler though is disturbed at being a threat to her so he winds up turning himself in to Rusk who already has a extradition notice prepared. It’s a bold direction to take the character which I admire.
And then the ending is really good starting with that reunion between Vanessa and Caliban. I’m kind of bummed the relationship between these two didn’t get more attention this season because Eva Green and Rory Kinnear have great chemistry together. Their performance in this scene as they relate their woes and Caliban asks her to come with him is wonderful. Again, Vanessa may be the only person who relates to Caliban and has no prejudice towards him and because of that, their friendship is more endearing. The final montage shows us where everyone is headed which largely seems to be away from Britain: Sir Malcolm is aboard a ship bound for Africa, Caliban is seemingly alone on a vessel somewhere in the Arctic, and a locked up Chandler is being transported with Rusk back to America. Frankenstein who may have the most reason to flee the country, isn’t, but is sinking deeper into his narcotics addiction. And Vanessa now has the Murray mansion to herself. She closes the season by burning her crucifix and with it, any hope for heavenly salvation.
So damn, this season ended on a pretty great note! Which is why it’s a shame the first half of the episode wasn’t very good, the puppet stuff in particular being too goofy to take seriously. Evelyn’s death was also underwhelming except to perhaps set-up Hecate as possibly next season’s antagonist. There are a few other gripes, like how parts of Caliban’s story seem a little pointless in retrospect, and the fact that we still have yet to see a confrontation between Chandler and Lily, but I’m nonetheless thoroughly interested in what happens in season three. “And They Were Enemies” certainly went out of its way to show how much of a penny dreadful this show is, to it’s slight detriment I’d add, but wrapped up the rest of the story incredibly well. Where will these characters go next, what story awaits, will Sir Malcolm return with Sembene’s replacement? Let’s wait and see.
Hopefully it has less of this:
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