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Penny Dreadful - Closer Than Sisters
episode 1.5
Ireland / UK / USA 2014
produced by James Flynn, Morgan O'Sullivan, Pippa Harris (executive), John Logan (executive), Sam Mendes (executive), Chris W. King (supervising) for Desert Wolf Productions, Neal Street Productions/Showtime
directed by Coky Giedroyc
starring Timothy Dalton, Danny Sapani, Anna Chancellor, Olivia Llewellyn, Graham Butler, Frank McCusker, Lili Davies, Fern Deacon, Noni Stapleton, Xavier Atkins, Michael James Ford, Joseph Millson, Diane Jennings
written and created by John Logan, based on characters created by Bram Stoker, music by Abel Korzeniowski, special effects by Team FX, visual effects by Take 5 Productions, Mr. X
TV-seriesy Penny Dreadful (TV-series)
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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Back in the day, Vanessa Ives (Eva Green) and the now missing Mina
Murray (Olivia Llewellyn) had been best friends, and Mina's father Malcolm
(Timothy Dalton) was also a father to her - but Vanessa had always been a
tad jealous of Mina. At the same time she was deeply in love with Mina's
brother Peter (Graham Butler), a love that was unrequitted. Vanessa in the
meantime got luckier with Captain Branson (Joseph Millson), a handsom man
who had asked for her hand in marriage - which prompted Vanessa to seduce
him, and of course Mina found them both. The marriage didn't happen after
that, and Vanessa and family are shown off the Murrays' premises. After
being evicted from the Murrays' place, and after a few attempts to
reconcile with Mina, Vanessa's condition gets worse and worse, and she
starts to communicate with the netherworld - and eventually, her condition
becomes so troubling that she's sent to an asylum, where she falls into a
catatonic state. Peter comes round to visit her once, and really gets her
out of her condition - long enough for her to predict his death. Months
later, Vanessa's well again, or as well as she can be having constant
conversations with the netherworld. And one day, she's walking down the
beach and bumps into Mina. At first, it seems the two women reconcile -
but there's something fundamentally wrong with Mina, as if she was
possessed, or wasn't really herself or something - and then she disappears
into thin air right before Vanessa's very eyes. Vanessa pays another visit
to Malcolm, who tells her Mina has been abducted by some dark forces, upon
which Vanessa offers her assistance in tracking Mina down. Malcolm
grudgingly accepts. Probably the best episode of Penny
Dreadful so far as this one finally concentrates on one storyline
and one only rather than telling several disconnected stories all at the
same time, and it does have an actual story arc as well as character arcs.
Sure, there are still quite a few plotholes and leaps of reason here and
there, but overall it spins a fine yarn full of mystery that entertains
quite a bit and makes one want to watch more.
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