Reviews of the Bosch

          “--But there’s a tree, of many, one,            A single field which I have look’d upon,            Both of them speak of something that is gone:            The pansy at my feet            Doth the same tale repeat:            Whither is fled the visionary gleam?            Where is it now, the glory and the dream?”                -William Wordsworth, Ode: Intimations of Immortality , lines 52-57           Before I begin, it’s been great to review Penny Dreadful , even if I am a bit late to the game. I’ll give one final shout-out to this show’s entire ensemble: Eva Green, Timothy Dalton, Josh Hartnett, Rory Kinnear, Harry Treadaway, Billie Piper, Reeve Carney, Wes Studi, Patti LuPone, Danny Sapani,...

          God has sent his plagues upon Old London Town. That’s pretty much what I got from the penultimate episode of Penny Dreadful , which is a conceptually cool episode if not always one that delivers. It’s the only episode in the series not to feature Eva Green at all, apart from a repeat opening narration from last episode. Vanessa’s really just a cloud hanging over as Chandler is once again put in focus.           Chandler arrives with Sir Malcolm and Kaetenay in a deserted, dark, and foggy London (what we don’t see is if there are any other passengers to react to this). Large groups of rats are scurrying about the dock, frogs are coming out of drains in swarms, and we later find out roughly seven thousand people have died. They walk all the way to Murray Manor, and once there Chandler (very symbolically) finds a dead wolf hung from the ceiling in Vanessa’s room. Vanessa of course, isn’t there. Sir Malcolm finds a woman in th...

          It’s quite appropriate this episode is called “Ebb Tide” as it recedes from the intense action of the previous couple episodes, and isn’t thoroughly interesting in any of its stories. In fact a lot of the plot direction feels like it’s just trying to get characters to certain places for the final two episodes.           Vanessa’s been transported after the last episode, awakening in a manger strangely enough. Before she does, Renfield once again creeps on her, licking and nearly biting her before Dracula stops him. He puts on his Sweet façade again once she awakes. She happily returns to Murray Manor where she meets Caliban. They share a visit during which Caliban confides in her his desire to see his family, but inability to owing to his monstrousness. Vanessa sympathizes, and tells him he should attempt to reconnect. She also, now recognizing him, asks if he remembers working in the asylum, which of course Caliban does n...

          The last act of “No Beast So Fierce” is amazing! It’s some of the most tension-filled, yet action-packed, satisfying sequences this show has given us. The episode leading up to it is okay -some good, some bad, mostly dropping breadcrumbs that’ll have to be followed up on soon with only three episodes left.           The fact that nothing in Caliban’s life will ever not be a tragedy was restated for a start when Caliban desiring to be closer with his child gives him water and even talks to him in the voice the son would recognize. Of course, it’s a little inconsistent that Caliban sounds exactly like his former self while Lily (thankfully) has nothing of Brona’s bad Irish accent to her. His son thinks he is an angel while Caliban assures him his pain is only fleeting. And then the kid opens his eyes and is utterly horrified, driving Caliban away with his screams. Again, it seems a bit of an overreaction considering apart fr...

          Damn, I really like that title!           Very much like last week’s episode was all about Vanessa, and a little of Caliban’s former life, “This World is Our Hell” was mostly focussed on Chandler. He doesn’t get the whole show to himself, but his journey is the focal point, and seeing as Chandler began the series as the audience surrogate, it’s high time he had the spotlight like this. And hey, any chance to show more of the Old West.           First off, I’ll touch on the one other storyline that featured in this episode. Frankenstein has purified Jeckyll’s serum and is again administering it to Balfour. That poor guy’s been through a lot though, couldn’t they pick someone else? Frankenstein warns his patient that all his memories of the world will be gone but surmises that’s a good thing as “it is our memories that make us monsters”. Clearly, it’s a little more than that as it’s not just Franken...

          “A Blade of Grass” is a sequel of sorts to “Closer Than Sisters” as well as “The Nightcomers” in that they’re all episodes that devote the full hour to exploring an area of Vanessa’s backstory. Rather than introduce a whole new period in her past, most of what we see in this episode takes place in between a handful of moments from “Closer Than Sisters”; possibly due to that episodes’ popularity (it still may be the series’ best), but also to allow for a more intimate story being entirely set in one room with only three actors (and even then, Patti LuPone only appears a couple times). The result is a stupendous episode that ranks among the shows’ finest.           Beginning where the last episode left off, Vanessa is in a state of hypnosis recalling her time in the madhouse, where she was held the entire time in one room with the only visitor being the orderly who fed her; the man who would one day become Caliban. The goal ...

          Okay…there’s a lot that happened in this episode, but the image of three bloodied people engaged in a ritual orgy has a way of sticking in the mind much more vividly, in spite of more interesting developments taking place in other stories. Not even Game of Thrones has gone that far with a sex scene. But before we get around to that, let’s take a look at the other less titillating/unsettling parts of the episode.           So Chandler awakens after killing a bunch of folks and is annoyed, to put it lightly, to see Hecate there. He awakens from a dream where he saw Kaetenay in blood (a sequence which also gives us some terrific western landscape). Though he wants to leave Hecate, she’s determined to accompany him wherever he’s headed. It’s not until this odd couple reaches a homestead to steal a couple horses that we learn exactly what Hecate’s plan is. She is enraptured by his wolf form and wants Chandler and her to be the...

          “Predators Far and Near” is an appropriate title for an episode showcasing predatorial behaviour from a number of its characters. There are a few new developments that levy the drama, whether or not they’re as shocking or exciting as the showrunners’ intend.            First off this episode filled us in on where Lily and Dorian are. We’re introduced to them entering a den in Whitechapel which appears to be some kind of mutilation club. Men apparently gather to watch a naked woman dissected alive which is a really disturbing idea. It doesn’t get far though, when Lily and Dorian turn on everyone there, killing them and rescuing the poor girl. They bring her to Dorians’ where they behave hospitably towards her (it’s also worth noting they still seem to pass their time dancing around Dorian’s grand portrait room). Lily by now has completely regained her former memories of Brona, and sympathizes with this girl, promising ...