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Penny Dreadful - Possession
episode 1.7
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 James Hawes
starring Timothy Dalton, Eva Green, Josh Hartnett, Harry Treadaway, Danny Sapani, Rory Kinnear, Oliver Cotton
written and created by John Logan, Frankenstein created by Mary W. Shelley, music by Abel Korzeniowski, special effects by Team FX, visual effects by Take 5 Productions, Mr. X
TV-series
Penny Dreadful (TV-series), Frankenstein, Dorian Gray, Van Helsing
review by
Mike Haberfelner
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Medium Vanessa Ives (Eva Green) is possessed by something, probably the
Devil, and now it's up to those closest to her to sit it through with her
and drive out whatever it is - and those closest to her are Sir Malcolm
Murray, who depends on her because only she can find his daughter Mina who
has been carried away by vampires, Sir Malcolm's loyal servant Sembene
(Danny Sapani), Victor Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway), and sharp shooter
Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett). And possessed Vanessa makes it her sport
to insult all of them, reveal their darkest secrets, and try to bring them
up against one another (at least in parts successfully, too). And the
longer Vanessa's state lasts, the worse she gets, and ultimately she has
to be restrained even. And even though none of the men who watch over her
is religious in any form or way, they at last call a priest (Oliver
Cotton) - but the priest refuses to perform an exorcism ... and then
Vanessa breaks her restraints and attacks (kills?) him. But all of a
sudden, Ethan remembers an amulet in his possession, presses it against
Vanessa's forehead and says some spell, and just like that she's healed -
with the result that she now even knows where Mina might be ... This
episode tries to bring the different narrative threads of the story
together, and it's better structured than most other episodes to be sure,
as it tells a homogenous story with climax and everything, and a
mouth-whetting conclusion - but all the same it above everything else
reveals the weaknesses of the series: Basically, the series has no
character to really sympathize with, Vanessa, the center of the story,
doesn't have any clear character traits at all, sometimes she's cold, then
again (like when she dates Dorian Gray) seems like a bubbly teenage lover,
once she's mysterious, then just a slut having sex with Mina's fiancé -
so really all one knows about her is that one doesn't know her. Sir
Malcolm is drawn as a cold, self-righteous character, which fits the story
well but doesn't evoke any sympathies. Likewise Frankenstein is supposed
to be morally ambiguous and highly morbid, but not likeable. Ethan is the
closest to a hero, but he remains totally bland. There might be some
skeletons in his past, but in the series he always tries to make the right
decision. And finally there's Sambene - who isn't graced with any
character traits at all. So while there's lot of excitement in this one,
there's nobody to care for. And on top of that, the whole possession
sequence follows genre conventions too slavishly to really be of interest. That
all said, the episode at least promises quite something for the season
finale, so at least it keeps one watching.
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