‘Penny Dreadful’ season 1, episode 5 recap: My humps 

‘Penny Dreadful’ season 1, episode 5 recap: My humps

By Tariq Kyle (@TRQhz) at 10:56 pm, June 8, 2014 | Reviewed by Brandi Delhagen

season 1, episode 5, “Closer Than Sisters,” aired tonight and it showed us a whole new side to Vanessa. Check out our recap and let us know what you thought!

The episode starts with Vanessa writing a letter to Mina, as she’s been doing for a very long time. A flashback shows her running with Mina on the beach. They used to live next to each other, and Vanessa was very good friends with both of Malcolm’s kids. There was a particularly bad night that something happened that Vanessa is recounting.

One night, Vanessa goes into the maze to look for her friends and instead finds her mother having sex with Mina’s father. She actually enjoyed it, and that’s when Vanessa realized some demon must have been inside of her. She never told Mina, but that night is when she started being more mischievous.

As they grew up, Mina found a man first. Vanessa envied Mina, as this only left her with Peter (Mina’s brother), which she didn’t necessarily want. When Mina started thinking about going to India with her new man, Vanessa didn’t want her to. One day in a walk with Peter in the Maze, Vanessa started kissing Peter but he didn’t want to, and got flustered and ran away. That night she tried to pray, but her prayers weren’t answered by God; but rather a demon’s voice.

On the eve of Mina’s wedding, Vanessa lured her fiance to the taxidermy room with all of the stuffed animals. They then have sex. Like, really, really angry violent sex. In a room filled with dead things. That’s when Mina walks in and sees it happen, but he keeps going and Vanessa stares at Mina while she watches.

That day, Mina’s fiance leaves and the wedding is cancelled. Vanessa goes to see Mina but finds Malcolm instead, and he doesn’t allow her back into her home. Before she gets back to her own home, Vanessa faints and falls under a random illness. Her mother gets so desperate, she thinks to send her to an asylum.

The doctor at the asylum believes he can treat Vanessa. In a private meeting with the Doctor, Vanessa (clearly possessed) almost killed the doctor. In the next couple of scenes, they attempt to “treat” her.

Her treatments include and ice-water bath, medicine to the neck, being hosed down with a power hose, and getting a short haircut. Well, the short haircut was for a lobotomy; but still – now she’s bald.

Back at her home, Vanessa’s mother gets a visit from Peter. He’s off to Africa with his father, and wanted to see Vanessa. She’s laying in bed, and he tells her that he’s off to Africa when she asks him to kiss her. When he does, she says that he is going to die in Africa. Lo and behold, he does.

Malcolm visits Vanessa, and she knows that he’s also possessed, but by the devil. They kiss, as the two spirits have clearly been together before. And then at one point in that night, Vanessa is naked and humping the air when her mother walks in and dies, probably from straight fright since Vanessa’s eyes were completely white when she looked at her.

The day of her mother’s funeral, Vanessa sees Mina again. Mina says she’s married now, to Jonathan Harker. She also explains she knows about Vanessa’s run-in with Peter, and explains the master has taught her a lot. And then suddenly, without warning, Mina gets sucked into the sky.

And that is when Vanessa comes to Malcolm’s house, telling him Mina needs their help. Cue the start of their relationship together. Vanessa explains how hurt she’s been by her transgression the night before Mina’s wedding.

At the end of the letter, Vanessa explains she will not rest until Mina is safe. When she’s done, she puts it away into a bin of countless other letters she’s written to Mina. And in a postscript response, she tells Mina she loves her enough to kill her.

Wow, that was one crazy, and powerful, episode. <3 Eva Green is such a good actress.

Just amazing episode! I felt like I was watching a masterpiece from long ago. A classic. What a great prequel to Dracula! Eva Green is splendid. Now I see, fully, what everyone has been talking about. As for her character, how she came back from that, at all, is a testament to Vanessa’s sheer strength. I feel for Vanessa so much, I just want to see sunny days in the future, for her and Dorian. lol. But, alas that’s not to be……..Can’t wait to see the rest of the season, and can’t wait to get back to Mr. Ethan Chandler, and possibly a full moon.

Wasting an entire episode from a short-run eight on a single thread of backstory was a mistake. The lack of plot development since the end of episode one, is now at 50% of the entire season. I realize it has been auto-renewed for season two (as are all Showtime pick-ups), but if the pace (or lack thereof) continues at this rate, the limited viewship will die off. If that happens then the decision to renew may be overturned. All the gratuitous nudity and sexuality will not bring in enough of an audience.

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