Without a doubt, this was one of the finest episodes of Penny Dreadful, and of premium television if I’m being honest, that I’ve ever seen. And it took place almost completely in one room with just two actors.
Why this story, in this way?
I don’t know what kind of magic he weaves into his story arcs, but John Logan has a way of writing that always keeps us coming back for more. In the first two episodes of this season, it was final lines of dialogue and camera reveals that shocked us into simply needing more.
This week, it’s the stripped down set, focused storyline and intense and intimate character portrayal. What other show can take an entire hour of TV and turn it into a 2-man play and keep us fully riveted? They’ve consigned elaborate Victorian sets and sweeping New Mexican skylines to the sidelines. Instead we have a single cell of white, light and dark. They’ve abandoned the multifarious plotlines and stories and focused on finding the genesis of one.
When Did Vanessa Meet the Master in the Past?
This is the central question the end of episode 3 asked us. This episode takes all the time in the world to answer it. And why? Why collapse the aperture to a single point of light? Because THIS is what Penny Dreadful does so well, answering questions by providing us more character.
What we’ve known about Vanessa’s encounters with Lucifer is that they have been varied, sometimes monstrous, always damaging to her and have provided some of the best horror scenes in the show. So what’s more horrifying than a padded cell in a Victorian Insane Asylum? Not much. Unless you add the bonus of knowing the character is going to encounter Satan and Dracula while there. The stakes in this episode are beyond high: in the past Vanessa doesn’t know she will encounter the demons, but we do. In the present, she’s undertaking a huge risk being hypnotized to delve into her most traumatic memories. There is no guarantee she will come out of any of this ok.
Why the Creature?
John Logan has made no secret that his favorite characters are Vanessa and the Creature. Getting to play them off of one another for this singular episode had to be the most fun he’s had in a while. And it showed in the dialogue, the back and forth, the stalemate, the impasse and the redemption.
But why the Creature? Why is he so integral to Vanessa’s past life? Why is he a case of possession when we’ve only just learned of his normal human life? If he is a Creature of Poetry and Angst, he was a Man of Prose and Simplicity. A family man. A good man. Juxtaposing our introduction to his past self (benign, honorable, wise) to Vanessa at her most broken gives us a full picture of who they are when they meet in the future. It hurts, but it’s cathartic as well.
As far as his possession goes, Vanessa herself gives us a great clue to that in the first scene with Dr Seward. When asked to describe him, she can’t. He’s “nondescript” … but goes on to find him pleasant, tall, strong, young. In as many ways as Vanessa is a blank slate in this episode (how many times do her eyes reveal nothing, her fight gone), it is the Creature who is an open book. He is the perfect instrument for the demon to use.
The Ultimate Duality
This episode was all about the back and forth. The push and pull between the present and the past, between Vanessa’s memories and her mind, between the two of them, between the devil and the demon, between light and dark, between day and night.
We move from extreme closeups of Vanessa’s face where we see every twitch and emotion to larger shots of the cell that show their relation to one another. Emotionally this keeps us on our toes; is she going to pounce on him or curl in a ball?
Vanessa in the beginning is frightened and feral and over the course of an hour we see her become docile and resolute. The Creature moves from being a slightly disinterested workhorse to devoted family.
They stalemate. Over food. Over comfort. He gives and takes away … literally with the blanket, but in other ways as well. The invasiveness of his force feeding her through a tube is juxtaposed with its intimacy; she is pressed against his chest, painful and choking, yes, but they are touching at almost every point. Set that against another stalemate after she attacks him: when he feeds a docile, unmoving straight-jacketed Vanessa the same broth from his own son’s spoon. They touch at no point but it’s intimate in another way.
And of course there is the dual possessions of the devil and the demon. One wants her body, one her soul. But both promise the end of days if she gives over to him. And despite Vanessa levitating and spitting out the verbis diablo, the end of this episode is a profession of love. Will the horror now be when we ultimately see how the Creature met his end?
What were your favorite moments from Blade of Grass? Can John Logan, Eva Green, Rory Kinnear and Patti LuPone do no wrong? Have they sold themselves to Satan to make this show and act that well?
