TV Recap: Penny Dreadful--Resurrection

Photo courtesy of Showtime

(***WARNING*** This is a recap for an ADULT show. Be prepared for cursing, explicit material, and possible sex, violence, gore and horror discussions! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!)

Welcome to week three, everyone! Sorry my recap is late…Would you believe a werewolf ate my first draft and I had to rewrite it from scratch?! Totally true, I swear!

So, we begin with maggots eating a dead dog! Yaaaay! Ewww!

A young Victor is waxing poetic in a voiceover as he comes across his poor, deceased pup. We meet his mother, and the two discuss death and the dog at bedtime. They have a snuggle, and suddenly mommy dearest is coughing up blood all over the poor kid. Again, I say, EWWWW.

Now in her bed, nurses, maids and doctors tend to Victor’s mother as she continues to cough and choke on her own blood. Aaaaand then, funeral. Well that escalated quickly.

Young Victor, now angry and bitter, loses himself in some, um…medical books? Whatever helps, right?

Flash to present-Victor, who’s pretty much freaked out because, y’know, his child was just torn apart in front of him by his other child. Man, can’t this guy catch a break?!

Frankenstein’s monster, who is DELICIOUSLY CREEPY!, is apparently terrifying to his creator.

And then we flash to the monster’s, um…birthday? Gross, but, yay, backstory! The monster explains that he was born in terror and in agony, and we can pretty much see that as he screams and flings himself all over the room, knocking stuff over and making a huge mess. Man, who’s gonna clean that up, monster?! You need to teach them early, Victor! He needs chores and he needs to be held accountable for…huh? Oh.

Er, so Victor can’t handle the screaming, confused monster, and he flees the lab. And now I feel horrible for the monster, abandoned, alone and scared. You’re a bad father, Victor!

From his window, the monster learns the ways of humans and animals. He realizes that he himself must be an animal, being treated as was by Victor. Eventually, the monster learns to read. He even comes to know Victor by reading the notes in the margins of the books of poetry they both seem to love.

The monster admonishes Victor for expecting to have created a poet, and explains that instead he’s created something born of iron and steam and mechanization. Victor again tries to run from his monster, but the monster holds fast. He won’t let his father run again. Victor asks how the monster could have killed Proteus in such a way, and the monster explains that it was a mercy. It was an “abortion” before Proteus could feel the pain that the monster has experienced. Damn, this monster is DEEP, y’all!

Cut to Sir Malcolm’s house, where creepy things are happening to Vanessa. As she walks through the house, she starts to hear jungle noises, monkeys and birds and such. Suddenly, Mina appears in front of her and begs for help. She says that there are things “all around her”, that they feed at night, and that they’re hungry. Then, POOF, she disappears! CREEPY.

Aaaand back with Victor and the monster, who must have a name but hasn’t said it yet, so I’ma keep calling him “the monster”, the monster continues his story.

As he wanders the city, trying to find his father, he learns about the cruelty and the kindness of people. He’s taken in by a nice old drunk, who gives him a job and a place to live in the theater, which, as the drunk explains, is pretty much a mecca for monsters. So at least he’s got that going for him now.

The monster is enthralled as his drunk friend explains that he’s to be the new “stage rat” for the shows, and the current one is a penny dreadful (ha! See what they did there?!), Sweeny Todd. I LOVE Sweeny Todd!

As Victor never gave his monster a name, the drunk, who really is very endearing, calls him Caliban, from Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Coincidence that both monsters are named from Shakespeare’s plays?! I THINK NOT! Okay, maybe it is. I honestly have no freaking clue.

Caliban, in case you’re wondering, is the main protagonist in Shakespeare’s play. He’s also the son of a witch. Oh, and he’s a monster. So…fitting?

Caliban does well at the theater, and he’s able to continue his search for Victor. He finds him, follows him (and now we know who that was in the first episode behind Victor in the blurry!), and waits. He watched as Victor created Proteus. Victor apologizes to his monster, and Caliban tells Victor they’re going for a walk. What could the monster possibly want?! Hmm!

And then, RANDOM UNEXPECETED SEX! JEEZ, warn a person next time, would ya?! Oh, it’s Chandler and Brona. So…I guess they’re hitting it off, then?

Chandler pays a visit to Malcolm and Vanessa. He’s looking for money to pay for medicine for Brona’s cough. It’s lurve, I tells ya!

Oooh, and we get another backstory when Vanessa, who mentions that she “sees things sometimes”, also tells Chandler what happens to Mina!

Mina was a governess until she got engaged to Jonathan Harker…heeeeeey. This is getting AWFULLY familiar now, you guys! So, Mina’s with Dracula then? And why not? We already have Frankenstein, his monster, Dorian Gray, possibly Dr. Jekyll (I’ll leave you guys to figure that one out!). Why not Dracula? (I feel like there should be a “why not Zoidberg” meme here, so you guys can picture one in your heads. Got it? Okay, now laugh cause that’s funny shit, y’all!)

Back with Frankenstein, Caliban tells Victor that he wants love. …oh good god, are we about to get a bride of Frankenstein scenario here?!

Aaaaaaand, yup. That’s exactly what Caliban wants. He orders Victor to create him an immortal love, or he’ll kill everyone Victor loves. I mean, the guy speaks so eloquently and all, but he really is a monster! Of course, I suppose I can’t blame him, considering the life he’s had with the scars and horrible birthday and being abandoned and all. I can’t help but wonder, though, why I don’t feel the same kind of love for him as I did for Proteus. If anything, Caliban deserves it more, doesn’t he?

Victor doesn’t seem too worried about Caliban’s threat, and the two part ways. For now.

Over in the zoo, Vanessa, Malcolm, Chandler and Malcolm’s man are taking a moonlit stroll. Because, y’know, that’s apparently normal for them.

Suddenly, they’re surrounded by (were?)wolves. Chandler does this weird wolf-whispering thing, and the alpha wolf gently takes Chandler’s hand into his mouth. (OH MY GAWD, IS CHANDLER A WEREWOLF?!) And then the wolves run off. That was freakin’ weird.

Over near the monkeys, they find a vampire snacking on an animal and decide to take it prisoner.

So, I guess they knew to go to the zoo because of the sounds Vanessa heard in her “vision”? Well what about the freakin’ wolves?! What do they have to do with anything?! Argh!

Malcolm’s man, whose name, according to IMBD, is Sembene, is sent to bring Victor in on things. Yay, the gang’s all together again!

Fenton the vampire, which is a ridiculous name for a vampire, btw. I mean, FENTON? Come on! He’ll never be taken seriously in the vampire world with a name like Fenton. Now, RENFIELD. THAT’S a cool vampire name! ;)

So Fenton goes on about his Master and Amunet/Amun-Ra, and he talks about Vanessa like he knows her.

They all go upstairs, the men bicker for a while. Frankenstein wants to try to cure the vampire’s disease. He wants to treat it as he would a blood disorder and do experiments and things on poor Fenton. See, that’s what he gets for having such a sucky name.

The Scooby-Gang all pledge to do…something, I guess. I have no idea what they were pledging. To stick together? To do experiments on vampires? Bah, this show gives me a headache.

Malcolm then tells Vanessa that he thinks it’s she that the Master really wants, and not Mina. But he has no idea why the Master wants her.

Chandler and Vanessa have a little heart-to-heart about Brona, and Malcolm and Victor have a heart-to-heart about monster responsibility.

And then the Master shows up to visit poor Fenton in the basement, I think? Unless Fenton, y’know, being crazy, is only seeing things.

I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT EVEN JUST HAPPENED YOU GUYS.

Okay, thoughts:

Dracula HAS to be the Master, right?
Werewolves? Or regular wolves?
If werewolves, is Chandler one?
Will Frankenstein create a bride for Caliban?
Where the hell is Mina?!
If it is Vanessa the Master wants, why her?
What is the trouble Chandler is in back in the US
Will Brona die?
WHERE THE HELL WAS DORIAN?!

I have more, but I’m worried the werewolves are going to return for this second draft. I’ll end it here.

See you guys next week, and remember, always check the back seat of your car before you get in. The Master may be looking for YOU!