1.2 Seance If the first episode was merely a taster of the kind of nightmares that John Logan was willing to unleash with Penny Dreadful, then Séance is a hearty main course full of sex, intrigue and lots of death. There still haven’t been any major progressions in terms of plot, but what is teased is enough, particularly where Vanessa is concerned. Logan is far more interested in seeing these characters operate within this world, or rather on the fringes of it. The Gothic as a genre has always been concerned with what happens in the shadows, on the borders of respectability or that place between life and death. It is where these characters reside, linking back to the demi-monde Vanessa spoke of with Chandler. The series is setting itself up to explore some of these intriguing binaries and the spaces in between. It’s hinted at towards in the excellent opening credits, a series of images that clearly relate to plot developments. Like all good credit sequences, it perfectly establishes the dark atmosphere of the show, but it is also carefully constructed to reflect some of the wider themes that are emerging in the first episodes. Each shot is an image of two halves, filmed half in shadow and half in light. The colour scheme also reflects the murky society that the characters reside in as well as the fact that each of them appears to be hiding something, caught in the middle between shadows and light. Another emerging theme is that of consumption, literally in the case of Brona who bloodily coughs and splutters her way through scenes both risqué and tame. Murray is consumed by his grief and it is influencing his every decision. There is clearly something from his past that Chandler is running away from whilst Vanessa is consumed wholly by another entity during this episode. Each character is being consumed by something from within, a monster they have to keep hidden. For Frankenstein, there is a physical representation of this in Proteus, but the final scenes reveal that Frankenstein too has something else that threatens him. Alongside this is the introduction of the enigmatic Dorian Gray. In a wonderful reference to his literary counterpart, Gray is first seen positioned within a frame of a portrait behind him. Reeve Carney is every bit the louche aesthete, but he stands opposite to the other characters in that he appears to be the one consuming rather than the other way around. Art surrounds him in his home and he actively engages in creating it with photography. He observes other characters and deduces from their appearance and even tastes them at one point. His scene with Brona suggested a fascination with death and, if he is true to his literary counterpart, he has also discovered a way in which to prolong life, a motivation which is shared amongst various characters existing within that boundary between the two. Perhaps the séance would have overshadowed the episode if it hadn’t been for the closing moments. Connecting back to the idea of something threatening from within, poor Proteus is ripped apart from the inside by Frankenstein’s first born creature. The episode had previously built up Proteus’ relationship with his creator into something quite tender, aided with the tranquil sensory perception scene in which Proteus discovered the outside worked. The arrival of the first creature shatters that instantly, along with the nerves of the audience. With that cliffhanger and the narrative preceding it, there is an overriding sense that everything is shifting and uncertain, making it wonderfully unclear what Penny Dreadful will unleash on us next. Read Becky’s review of the previous episode, Night Work, here. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
