Penny Dreadful s. 2 finale
Jul. 6th, 2015 05:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chelseagirlApparently, I had many thoughts about this season's Penny Dreadful finale. Behind the cut there are many spoilers:
I thought this was very much a second-act-of-a-trilogy ending -- last season we had a fairly resolved "happy" ending for most of the characters, save for Vanessa's culminating realization about herself. This season, everything is resolved in a bad place but we can imagine our characters will come back together over the course of the next season [somehow]. I could definitely see them wrapping up the series next season, however, and I think I would be ok with that if they do it well.
Utter waste of Sembene's character; as Danny Sapani has another series coming up, I'm assuming he won't be back, but a) so much untapped potential that the show squandered, and b) it falls straight into the "black guy dies" trope. *shakes head* We can always hope that, as this is a supernatural show, they'll find a way to bring him back, but I fear not.
I'm assuming that Lily and Dorian will be the Big Bad of next season; what a gorgeous final image of them dancing through their own blood. I was waiting throughout to see whether the Creature turned up on their doorstep or not, and am proud of him that he didn't. Vanessa's benediction to him suggested that he is the least monstrous of them all -- I hope he's back and on Team Vanessa in the new season: a) as the least well-treated character on the show, he has more reason for his selfish and awkward behavior than any of the others, so I'm more willing to cut him at least some slack, b) he can twist apart iron bars with his bare hands, so obviously that would be a real asset, c) seeing Victor and he having to work together would have all kinds of potential, and d) he and Vanessa are fun as buddies. (OK, my version of fun might kinda involve them talking about Milton or Romantic poetry, your mileage may vary.) Plus if Lily is the Big Bad, he is her only equivalent -- just as if Dorian is a fallen angel and Vanessa absorbed a Satanic scorpion, they are equivalents and somehow that seems like it will factor into a showdown.
I've always thought Victor Frankenstein was a bit of an idiot (in the book, but here was well) but if he's *already* reduced to injecting himself in the webbing between his fingers, he's got to be close to hitting bottom, because doesn't that mean his veins are already shot? I hope we don't spend most of next season watching him nodding off in doorways.
Ferdinand Lyle feels his deep dark secret is that he's Jewish? *That's* not the thing about him that was against the law in 19th c. Britain . . . I adore him and hope he's back; he's kinda the only one who didn't end the season in a bad place, which makes me worry he won't be. Since Vanessa is giving up on God, or thinks God is giving up on her, perhaps his Judaism will end up playing a more serious role in subsequent seasons, though, as it leaves him the sole person of faith in the group.
Ethan: wouldn't it be so cool if he and the Inspector got on the same wavelength and teamed up? I do ship him and Vanessa, and it would be cool if at the series end, they actually did end up together with cute kids, despite that vision being her Last Temptation moment. I'm glad they went for Wolf Man makeup since so many werewolf iterations have such awkward transformations. (I'm so used to cringing through the "bones breaking and reforming" scenes . . . )
Apparently, I don't care that much about Sir Malcolm, partly because he was such an easy dupe this season, and partly because he's Imperialist as Monster as opposed to everyone else, who are just plain old monsters one way or another, and therefore harder to fault for what they are. (Always excepting Lyle, of course, who's just Awesome.)
But mostly, I'm just worried for Vanessa.
I thought this was very much a second-act-of-a-trilogy ending -- last season we had a fairly resolved "happy" ending for most of the characters, save for Vanessa's culminating realization about herself. This season, everything is resolved in a bad place but we can imagine our characters will come back together over the course of the next season [somehow]. I could definitely see them wrapping up the series next season, however, and I think I would be ok with that if they do it well.
Utter waste of Sembene's character; as Danny Sapani has another series coming up, I'm assuming he won't be back, but a) so much untapped potential that the show squandered, and b) it falls straight into the "black guy dies" trope. *shakes head* We can always hope that, as this is a supernatural show, they'll find a way to bring him back, but I fear not.
I'm assuming that Lily and Dorian will be the Big Bad of next season; what a gorgeous final image of them dancing through their own blood. I was waiting throughout to see whether the Creature turned up on their doorstep or not, and am proud of him that he didn't. Vanessa's benediction to him suggested that he is the least monstrous of them all -- I hope he's back and on Team Vanessa in the new season: a) as the least well-treated character on the show, he has more reason for his selfish and awkward behavior than any of the others, so I'm more willing to cut him at least some slack, b) he can twist apart iron bars with his bare hands, so obviously that would be a real asset, c) seeing Victor and he having to work together would have all kinds of potential, and d) he and Vanessa are fun as buddies. (OK, my version of fun might kinda involve them talking about Milton or Romantic poetry, your mileage may vary.) Plus if Lily is the Big Bad, he is her only equivalent -- just as if Dorian is a fallen angel and Vanessa absorbed a Satanic scorpion, they are equivalents and somehow that seems like it will factor into a showdown.
I've always thought Victor Frankenstein was a bit of an idiot (in the book, but here was well) but if he's *already* reduced to injecting himself in the webbing between his fingers, he's got to be close to hitting bottom, because doesn't that mean his veins are already shot? I hope we don't spend most of next season watching him nodding off in doorways.
Ferdinand Lyle feels his deep dark secret is that he's Jewish? *That's* not the thing about him that was against the law in 19th c. Britain . . . I adore him and hope he's back; he's kinda the only one who didn't end the season in a bad place, which makes me worry he won't be. Since Vanessa is giving up on God, or thinks God is giving up on her, perhaps his Judaism will end up playing a more serious role in subsequent seasons, though, as it leaves him the sole person of faith in the group.
Ethan: wouldn't it be so cool if he and the Inspector got on the same wavelength and teamed up? I do ship him and Vanessa, and it would be cool if at the series end, they actually did end up together with cute kids, despite that vision being her Last Temptation moment. I'm glad they went for Wolf Man makeup since so many werewolf iterations have such awkward transformations. (I'm so used to cringing through the "bones breaking and reforming" scenes . . . )
Apparently, I don't care that much about Sir Malcolm, partly because he was such an easy dupe this season, and partly because he's Imperialist as Monster as opposed to everyone else, who are just plain old monsters one way or another, and therefore harder to fault for what they are. (Always excepting Lyle, of course, who's just Awesome.)
But mostly, I'm just worried for Vanessa.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2015-07-06 06:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-07-06 06:59 pm (UTC)