Penny Dreadful: City of Angels Season 1 Episode 2 Review: Dead People Lie Down
Diana Keng
at
.
New shows take time to build their world and characters.
Penny Dreadful: City of Angels Season 1 Episode 2 spends a lot of it floating potential relationships and the implications of those entanglements.
After all, nothing happens in a vacuum. The relationships are where things get messy and intense, outrageous and satisfying.
The relationships set up here explore a variety of attractions whether in a positive, dangerous, or weird context.
The first -- and most "awwww..."-worthy -- pair-up is Molly and Tiago.
I mean, look at them. They LOOK like a Hallmark movie-of-the-week.
All that being said (and although I'm always skeptical of people who start pouring their hearts out to each other on the first encounter) there's sweeping romance written all over this relationship.
Flirting in 1938 is just that much more classy, don't you think?
And there are the standard obstacles to happily-ever-after even excusing status, money, fame, and race.
(Not to mention, he still has to investigate the murder of one of the bursar-deacons of her temple.)
At the heart of it, she's pretty much the princess in the tower, guarded by her dragon-like mother and goon/bodyguard.
Speaking of which, don't Randolph and Miss Adelaide look like a reboot of the American Gothic painting? Just add a pitchfork.
If Tiago is going to rescue this princess (not to say that all princesses need rescuing), he's going to have to defeat -- or at least, evade -- the dragon and goon, scale the walls of the Temple of Joyful Voices (and all the wealth that contains), and offer her something more meaningful than the faith of the multitudes.
In return, it'll be interesting to see what this commercialized angel can do for a man who was literally touched by an angel as a boy.
I liked the insight he gets from seeing her behind the curtain before her service begins.
Once the show started, it was fascinating to see what a Sister Molly sermon looked like. There were a lot more showgirl stylings than I expected from an evangelist. But, then again, I've never seen an evangelist at work before.
But who would be better to spot the truth behind the spot-lit glamor than a cop like Tiago?
Because the truth is important to a cop like Tiago. And it's probably going to cause him a lot of trouble if he doesn't take Lewis's instructions to heart.
Tiago: Lewis, you know who shot you.
Lewis: No, I don't. Neither do you. No one saw anything. No one did anything. No one shot anybody. You hear me, partner?
Temptation is the name of the game that Dr. Peter Craft doesn't even seem to realize he's playing.
Elsa/Magda is intent on driving him wild with a combination of pity and commiserate victimhood which leads ultimately to mind-altering desire.
Her independent little appendage isn't quite as good at blending in with his peers.
Little Frank takes the creepy factor of Mad Men Season 1's Glen Bishop and turns it up to eleven.
One has to wonder what Tom and Trevor really think about Frank.
I mean, we, the audience, know he's just a piece of Magda designed to complete the Elsa costume but to the (ostensibly) older boys, Frank's gotta be pinging wrong to them in all sorts of ways.
Meanwhile, Papa Peter is being led down a provocative rabbit hole by his... carrot? Err, maybe subconscious. It's definitely awkward that his wife picked up on the change in his ardor. I can't help but feel bad for the doctor. Even if he is a Nazi.
He's just so darned homey and earnest. And just a smidgen sad.
The forces at work appear to be offering many characters items of great longing.
Mateo's encounter with the Fly Rico was probably the most intriguing. What are the Pachucos? Do they all look and act that cool?
Reilly: There's four of us, pal.
Rico: There's a city of me.
In all honesty, I thought Mateo's number was up when he was cornered by those cops. How hard would it have been for them to just throw his body into that room stacked high with the forgotten corpses of Belvedere Heights residents?
And then Mama Maria would've been on her knees with Santa Muerte on speed-dial for days. Weeks, even.
But Mateo survives thanks to grape soda and scores an invite to see how a different stripe of Mexican-Americans live.
Rico: Why didn't you scream?
Mateo: I was too busy pissing my pants.
Over at City Hall, Alex/Magda dangles all the power and prestige that Townsend could dream of and he pivots on the tragedy with blinding speed.
It's subtle and ingenious and quite horrifying.
Remembering Magda's words from Penny Dreadful: City of Angels Season 1 Episode 1, she never forces people into committing atrocities. She just lets them know they can.
Forgive me for saying so, but four dead police officers isn't just a tragedy, it's an opportunity.
Alex
And, I think the major difference between the original Penny Dreadful series and this newcomer is spotlighted right here.
Where in the first series, we had a team of supernatural adventurers set on besting their worst selves in order to do right for the world, here we have many mortals being played with quite deftly by a malevolent entity.
With perhaps the exception of Tiago and Lewis, everyone else seems to be puppeted into place by external influences.
Ah, Lewis. He's going to be gutted by the news of his friends' deaths. And will probably want to punch a few Nazis.
How many homicide detectives put in a full day, staring down the likes of Miss Adelaide, and then go out for a night on the town with friends in order to hunt Nazis?
Tiago: We don't exactly fit in.
Lewis: Cops never fit in. That's why we're cops.
There's are multiple plots in motion already and it may take watching Penny Dreadful: City of Angels online a few times to see how they are beginning to dove-tail.
Will Maria be able to pray back Raul's life?
Where do Molly and Tiago go from here?
What would happen if Elsa/Magda and Alex/Magda crossed paths?
Is it possible? How many more of her are running around?
Who else wants Santa Muerte to step up and do something interesting?
What burning questions are keeping you coming back for more?
Diana Keng was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is a lifelong fan of smart sci-fi and fantasy media, an upstanding citizen of the United Federation of Planets, and a supporter of AFC Richmond 'til she dies. Her guilty pleasures include female-led procedurals, old-school sitcoms, and Bluey. She teaches, knits, and dreams big. Follow her on X.
