‘Penny Dreadful’ season 2, episode 1 review: Victor gets creepy, Vanessa fights a new foe
When we last saw our group on “Penny Dreadful” last season there was a lot of turmoil among them even though Mina was found and that crusade was over. Vanessa still wanted to find a way to exorcise her demons, Ethan felt tremendous guilt over his werewolf slaughter at the Inn, Dorian was not dealing with rejection well, and Victor had found a mate for his monster.
We pick up this season pretty much where we left off when it comes to Ethan: He is standing in an Inn surrounded by the bodies of the men he massacred. While speaking to Vanessa to say goodbye and run away with his guilt, they are attacked by 3 women/witches, in service of the demon that hunts her. He realizes he may be needed in London after all, but with there being a survivor to his massacre (and the police looking into the murders) we wonder if that’s going to be a possibility anymore. Things are getting complicated for Ethan and it’s not just because he’s a werewolf!
Even though we saw a moment of sympathy from Victor towards his creature, John, in the season 1 finale (he’s making him a mate), Victor still doesn’t want him in his life and is hoping that once his mate is ready that he will leave him alone, but he won’t. While waiting for a storm to come and awaken Brona, John heads out to try and find work at a wax museum which sets up scenes from grizzly crimes… including Ethan’s massacre at the Inn. He learns that it’s a family business and to get the job he needs the approval of everyone in the family, and that is easy enough for him to get, but what he doesn’t expect is to meet their blind daughter Lavinia who we could easily see becoming a love interest for him at some point.
On the other side of things, while Victor is waiting for a storm to arise, he decides to do some creepy things to Brona and we see how lonely and demented he really is. Could it be that if Brona is brought back to life that Victor may want her for himself as a mate or is he only truly comfortable around the dead? When a storm finally comes and Brona is brought back to life they don’t know what to expect, but she seems mostly frightened.
We were happy to see Brona back since she was such a fun character in the first season, but we wonder what the transformation will do to her and worry that her free spirit will be lost. We aren’t entirely sure about the witches story yet either, but we’re glad to see that Vanessa is still fighting her demons since no one plays being possessed quite like Eva Green! The story we find ourselves the most intrigued by is Ethan, and the investigation into his massacre. There are so many different ways his story can turn right now and it makes us excited for this season. Also, we miss Dorian. Episode grade: B-