Dark therapy.
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
It might be a safe, if unsettling, assumption that we could be walking into the final season of Penny Dreadful. I don't know anything for certain, mind you, but the reduced order (only by one episode, compared to Season 2) and the leap into what could be a show-stopping villain/big bad maybe indicate certain things. That being said, "The Day Tennyson Died," Dreadful's Season 3 premiere, was a hell of a ride. Doing what this show does best which is exploring the beauty and poetry behind gothic horror with dialogue that both renders plot and reveals heart.
The team is now scattered, as much as we could ever truly call them a "team." Victor's at his drug-addled wit's end about Lily, Ethan's trapped back in the New Mexico territory, in custody, and Sir Malcolm's off in Zanzibar. Vanessa, at home with her haunted soul, finds herself in such a dire state of depression that she actually takes Ferdinand's advice about seeing a therapist/alienist - a totally new form of treatment for the era.
And then, lurking behind it all...Dracula. Bam! What an awesome surprise there at the end. Basically, the show's main villain though Season 2 would reveal that Dracula is but one half of Lucifer's fallen form). The one who's been teased since the very start. Since Malcolm and Vanessa recruited Ethan to help rescue Mina. The disguised monster who capture Mina and used her against her own family. Now out in full force for Vanessa, using transformed subordinates. Those who look human, as Mina did, and not the creature feature ones from the show's beginnings.
So I'm definitely excited about this turn of events. Plus, we met Renfield (Samuel Barnett) too. The sniveling servant who'll now be spying on Vanessa. Reminding me that, back in Season 1 we met a Renfield type in the form of "Fenton." So this season has the makings of being something really ghoulish and wonderful. They just need to get the band back together. Somehow. Though that might now be a quick fix. Could take all season, in fact. Dreadful seems to love splintering these characters more than congealing them.
I wasn't a huge fan of how Shazad Latif's Dr. Jekyll was brought into the story (an old friend of Victor's who we'd never heard of, who just so happened to be totally into a weird-yet-totally-serpartate untapped field of fringe science), but I did like how he wound up convincing Victor that he could make Lily docile and obedient. Because there's the fall. Victor, at first wanting to destroy his abomination, giving into his lust (which never left) and opting to try and mend his ego by making a pet out of her. I hope she fillets them both.
More intriguing to me, on the doctor front, were Patti LuPone's Dr. Seward (whose resemblance to Cut-Wife Joan Clayton was explained, and made meaningful) and Christian Camargo's Dr. Sweet. An eccentric zoologist who Vanessa meets while trying to do something different with her day (doctor's orders!). Both are great additions to Vanessa's life, given that she's now mostly alone in London. One to coddle her curiosities and one to help her navigate the darkness within.
Both Ethan and Malcolm's stories were very violent, providing all of the action for the premiere - which was kind of the most brutal premiere the show's ever done. Though their stories were connected, since Malcolm was saved by West Studi's Kaetenay (a Native American surrogate father to Ethan) it was a bit of a shame that both these big, bloody action pieces came so close together. And were so similar in theme (both involved murderous rescues). Especially since the train carnage that ensued in the "liberating" of Ethan was pretty overwhelming. You know, from a straight "sheer amount of innocent lives taken" point of view.
Anyhow, it seems as though - from our hero pool - Malcolm and Ethan are to be reunited first. That or John Clare will run into Vanessa when he returns to London (as he experienced an actual memory, leftover from the man he once was).
The Verdict
From the look and feel of "The Day Tennyson Died," it seems a long road awaits our heroes with regards to a reunion. If, in fact, that's even in the cards. Perhaps these characters are never truly meant to commingle in the same way ever again. And it's enough that we now enjoy watching them all separately as they, presumedly, round out their stories. Great premiere, with a terrific twist at the end.
Editors' Choice
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