Penny Dreadful - S01E06 What Death Can Join Together (2014)

Review

Victor Frankenstein completes his autopsy on Fenton, discovering that there is nothing different about the deranged creature that seemed fixated with Vanessa. Seeking advice from Van Helsing he learns exactly what the gang are up against, with the indications being Sir Malcolm is out of his depth. Meanwhile Vanessa has a liaison with Dorian Grey, which seems to unleash her inner demon, at least judging by her levitation towards the end of the episode. Oh and Brona's consumption is getting worse, Sir Malcolm offers to pay for a sanatorium in the country but Ethan Chandler refuses, Sir Malcolm warns Ethan that he is going to need narcotics pretty soon for Brona.

Vanessa reads the tarot and gets hints that Mina might be on a ship in the harbour. Sir Malcolm searches the shipping news, discovering that a plague ship from Egypt has been quarantined in the harbour with no actually diagnosis of the plague affecting the passengers. With Sembene and Ethan Chandler Sir Malcolm investigates while Vanessa is having dinner with Dorian. Sir Malcolm and team come up against a horde of vampires and discover that yes Mina is on board the vessel, things don't go quite to plan.

After last week's flashback episode we are back on track with the myriad plot arcs in the current episode. Sir Malcolm and team are hot on the trail of Mina and the Master, Brona is dying from consumption in particularly bloody fashion, Doctor Frankenstein is being harassed by his creation, and of course Vanessa is fighting her internal demons. While this season never seems to advance in any particular haste it still has a lot going down and is promising some major troubles ahead for our Victorian Scooby gang.

Looks like peasoup on the menu with Vanessa going full Regan!

One thing I found strange during the episode was Ethan's tryst with Dorian Grey seems to have been forgotten, neither of the characters seems prone to make much of the encounter or in fact mention it. I guess with a few episodes left it's likely to come into some sort of plot development, but at the moment I can't see how they are going to fit it into anything in a meaningful fashion. Dorian of course has Vanessa to occupy his time, Eva Green certainly sexing it up in a corset that had me biting the side out of my wine glass, though that ends with Vanessa going all Regan and menacingly heading back to Sir Malcolm's crib for a spot of levitation. You can't keep a good demon down and it looks like Sir Malcolm may have a spot of possession to deal with in the next episode. Eva Green once again devours the screen and simply out shines everyone else.

For his part Ethan is caught up with dealing with Brona's increasing propensity to cough up blood. She appears bedridden with little chance of getting better, though Ethan is devoted to her and refuses to assign her to any dubious medical care. This is another aspect of the season that I'm simply not getting, Brona is too big a character to be discarded in simplistic fashion but I simply can't see how the inevitable is going to advance any of the plot arcs. I've got a feeling something is going to happen to Brona, but at this stage am unable to work out exactly what.

Of course Ethan has a night time job and is called upon by Sir Malcolm to investigate a plague ship recently arrived from Egypt that Sir Malcolm considers dubious. It's not long before the two, and Sembene are in the ship's hold being attacked by a bevy of female vamps. Strangely I was reminded of the Wraith from Stargate: Atlantis, all white hair and flowing clothes. Seems in the Penny Dreadful universe vamps can be taken down by head shots etc, which sort of mixes in zombie credentials a tad too much for my liking. Still the ship's hold scene added some well needed action, missing from the past couple of episodes, and equally unearthed what I expect is the Master, a sort of Nosferatu rat like vamp. At least the major plot arc was advanced this week, Mina appears to be still among the living, but can Sir Malcolm's Scooby gang save her before the inevitable goes down?

Frankenstein's creature, Caliban, remains confusing to this little black duck. Caliban raises some sympathy as he falls for a young Grand Guignol starlet, who ventures into the basement to receive some help with her faulty blood tube. She shows a tremendous amount of affection for Caliban, and for the briefest moment he is raised from the darkness. Later the starlet informs her boyfriend that Caliban means nothing to her, which unfortunately the creature hears. Yes get the tissues out ladies, you'll later want to dispense with them however when Caliban viciously kills, in a surprise move, one of Frankenstein's friends, informing the Doctor he will repeat the dose until Frankenstein creates a mate for him. Get out the pitchforks and torches folks, that monster been seen down the windmill! Nice piece of writing for mine, but where exactly is this going to go?

While What Death Can Join Together certainly got us moving forward on a number of plot developments, thankfully as this show is glacier slow, it also hinted that we may be in for one or two more flashbacks and for sure some surprises. For example Sembene indicates that he and Sir Malcolm have a bloody past, which may resolve into what happened to Sir Malcolm's ill-fated son who is clearly no longer breathing. I've got a feeling Sir Malcolm may have hit a slight hoodoo snag in deepest darkest Africa, and no doubt this will come home to bite him on the arse by end of season or during our second dose of Victorian mayhem. And just what is Ethan running from?

Okay think I've prattled on about this bad boy long enough, we get it sexed up thanks to Ms Green, a whole bunch of action going down, and finally Mina in the flesh - fleetingly and just beyond Sir Malcolm's reach. I'm ready to rock to Vanessa going full Captain Howdy on our arses, Sir Malcolm versus the Master, and Caliban's ultimate pay back! There's a heck of a lot to get through in the final brace of episode, I've got a feeling we may get some spillage into season two kids, darn that's going to have me sweating through the summer on the show's return.

What Death Can Join Together is another stupendous episode in this ever engrossing season. The show may be moving at a snail's pace, but as evident here when the action goes down its lethally good. Added honey on this muffin was Eva Green going vixen on us, the girl can pull off sex on a stick as well as delivering some delicious evil facial expressions. While Penny Dreadful may not be everyone's cup of tea, I'm still rocking out to it, full recommendation kids this is adult horror aimed squarely at an adult audience.