Penny Dreadful Season 1, Episode 8 “Grand Guignol”
Written by John Logan
Directed by James Hawes
Aired 6/29/14 on Showtime
With so many rich characters and weird, supernatural plot lines to tie up, it’s no surprise that “Grand Guignol” feels over-stuffed – especially considering its short eight-episode length, which makes this first season more of a introductory mini-series than anything else. Dedicating two of those episodes to the back stories of Frankenstein and Vanessa Ives certainly didn’t help either, stopping major plots dead in their tracks to focus on one specific element within its larger machinations – despite being the best episodes of the season, they work against “Grand Guignol”, condensing plots to the point that the climatic moments lose all their dramatic weight when the show’s two central characters – and the same pair who enjoyed hour-long episodes focused on their pasts – are nowhere to be found.
Even scenes with them aren’t safe: the season’s biggest plot turns out to be its biggest letdown, the final showdown with the creepy vampire a series of loud gunshots, snapping teeth, and incoherent fighting scenes of white-haired women throwing themselves at Sembene, Chandler, and Frankenstein (though doing nothing with them once they have subdued our brave protagonists). The thematic unions between Malcolm/Vanessa and Frankenstein/Caliban at least give the story some emotional resolution: two men finally allowing themselves to be honest with who they are, reconcile with their “children” – but to do so, stories are cut short, and said resolutions rushed in order to give things that “satisfying finale” feel.
Where previous episodes let small bits of story breathe, “Grand Guignol” suffocates: Chandler’s history and love for Brona are condensed into three short scenes, the last of which finally reveals to us that Chandler is indeed, a werewolf who chews bubblegum and rips out throats on the regular. There’s lots of talk about “souls” and salvation, but none of it really resonates, because the pace is moving so fast: we don’t even see any of these people prepare to go find Mina, save for a unnecessarily lengthy scene of Malcolm buying and loading a fancy new automatic pistol – which he didn’t really need, since he impaled the vampire with a fencing sword. All of a sudden, everybody is together, and everyone is even-keeled and sharp, despite the confusing, emotionally devastating things occurring around them.
It’s disappointing, especially because the buildup to the events of this episode are so well done, even for stories with obvious end points: we all know Caliban is going to get rape-y towards the theater star, and we all know that Frankenstein isn’t going to kill Caliban. These endings were inevitable, but Penny Dreadful‘s ability to interweave these predictable turns with engrossing storytelling and great performance made them worthwhile. “Grand Guignol” is not interested in this, however, a clear example of a show getting too worried about plot resolution rather than staying true to the show’s true talents at building atmosphere and letting Eva Green run nuts around it, who is WAY too even-keeled in this episode, by the way: she’s so “in control” it makes her character uninteresting, to a certain degree, especially considering how little of a role she plays in the finale.
But does one misfire (albeit a fairly sizable one, being a season finale and all) a bad season make? As disappointing as “Grand Guignol” was – one scene for Dorian Gray? what the hell? – the show leaves itself a few lifelines in the form of the Wolfman and Brona’s impending resurrection as Frankenstein’s bride (in other words, you can count on a really creepy sex scene with those two in season two). It leaves other characters in the cold – who needs Malcolm or Gray now? – but there’s certainly threads that will keep me watching into the second season. After pleasantly surprising me all season, I suppose it was due time for Penny Dreadful to fall short of expectations: I just wish it wasn’t as undeniably condensed and demystifying as the empty theater our protagonists enter, before Malcolm’s “redemption” (lest we forget, he killed his daughter, let his son die, and cheated on his wife by raping natives) and the season endgame began.
– Randy