Penny Dreadful - S01E07 Possession (2014)

Review

Vanessa is full on demonic possessed and Sir Malcolm shows he may not have the answers to everything, and even worse he can make appallingly bad calls. Possessed Vanessa shows she can read minds with each one of the Scooby gang coming under scrutiny, and each one of them apparently has something to hide. Secrets etc. that do not reflect well on them as individuals. Still there is a feeling that the group's bounds are strengthened as Vanessa goes full on Regan, talk about walking on the ceiling, come on down Lionel Richie.

Eventually a Priest is called in, who confesses that an exorcism is not going to happen without Papal approval, doesn't make a difference possessed Vanessa simply takes a bite out of religion and continues on her path of mayhem. In an interesting development Vanessa is visited by what she calls Satan, and the whole "mother of evil" thing rolls out. Eventually an exorcism of sorts is performed by the most unlikely contender. Is Vanessa's demon vanquished? - who the hell knows, but Vanessa apparently has tracked down Mina, which could have been Sir Malcolm's plan for Vanessa all along!

If Vanessa levitating in last week's episode sent chills down your spine then remember that was the entrée, this week we get the full main course, Penny Dreadful just ripped it up and went ballistic in the best episode thus far of season one. We get the meat of the possession, and that's got to be about the most demonic mayhem I've ever seen on the small screen, before getting the gravy of the effect the fallout has on those involved. To a certain degree some ties are strengthened, Ethan training Doctor Frankenstein in the use of pistols for example, while a darker pale is cast over other characters, just what did go down in the ill-fated last trip Sir Malcolm made to the Dark Continent? And the center piece of the whole course is of course Eva Green simply knocking it out of the ballpark as she demonstrated Vanessa's vulnerability as well as the malevolence of Vanessa's demonic passenger, all in the eyes folk, Green brings the heebie jeebies with her performance.

Simply wow, Penny Dreadful kicks a major and has us cheering for more!

Guess everyone wants to know how the actual possession went down, demented and matching anything on the big screen would be my answer. Possessed Vanessa is reading everyone's mind like a wild psychic on steroids, and she's digging out their darkest thoughts and most hidden secrets. Actually that pretty much explains the season's tagline. To top this off we have change in facial expression, simply malignance, and some physical manifestations that will have the light hearted going vaporous on us and reaching for the smelling salts. I was quite intrigued by Satan's cameo to be honest, clearly Vanessa isn't harbouring the dark lord - guess it's that Amunet thing the Egyptologist eluded to earlier in the season, and Satan's wanting Vanessa to rule at his side over a scorched and sundered Earth. So the whole "mother of evil" thing keeps vibrating through the season, not seeing a conclusion to this plot arc to be honest, the exorcism for mine simply pushed the entity into retreat and didn't expel it from Vanessa's body/mind. Eva Green nails it all to the barn door, no doubt forcing fundamentalists to reach for their bibles with trembling hands.

Like all decent exorcism outings Possession spends some quality time exploring the effect the unwanted tenants have on those around the possessed. We learn Sir Malcolm isn't the heroic explorer we had presumed, in fact he spent a lot of his time raping and pillaging from one end of Africa to the other. His son died due to insect born melodies after the porters fled with the medical supplies? We also learn that Sembene may have saved Sir Malcolm's life and is hence responsible for him. The whole Ethan/Dorian thing is brought to the surface, possessed Vanessa is pretty gossipy about that to be honest. And Doctor F doesn't get off free of assertions either, though the good Doctor is somewhat predisposed at times, what with the Creature Caliban standing across the road from Sir Malcolm's townhouse simply staring, on the bright side it has curtailed Caliban's murderous rampage for the moment.

I dug the approach Director James Hawes took to the exorcism, which apparently extended over the course of four weeks, though there are no visual clues to this. We keep being brought back to Vanessa's room as additional demonic attacks take place, note the increased violence involved. But in the interim we have plenty of slow motion scenes as various characters try to come to terms with what is happening. Of course we also get some live action rocking scenes, Sir Malcolm's parlour being absolutely trashed as Vanessa goes poltergeist on us, and in one hell of a memorable scene thousands of spiders exploding from under Vanessa's tarot deck and cascading to the floor. It's all pretty out there awesome kids, lock and load on this aspect.

I'm still somewhat at a loss to determine where the final episode, small season 1 folks, might be headed following events here. Clearly all evil wants Vanessa badly, Sir Malcolm has his own agenda, and a number of other characters have hidden secrets we are yet to learn. Doctor F has his creature to face, Ethan may or may not be a werewolf - internet rumour currently, and what is Sembene's john dory? The other thing I was considering was whether or not Ethan had slipped away to check up on Brona at all during the month the gang battled demonic entities, hey I roll that way. Anyways next week's episode promises to rip the lid off the action jar, with everything headed downtown Grand Guignol. Guess we'll get some plot arc wraps and a whole bunch more to sweat on as we wait season two.

Should mention the nice twist the show does with science versus religon. Generally in these outings the medical scientists are called in, who then fail completely, prior to the Priests rocking it out. In the Penny Dreadful universe both science and religon are showing to be lacking in solutions. Nice twist that had me smiling ear to ear.

Got to say Possession was the best episode yet of Penny Dreadful and indicates a franchise finding its voice and feet. We get horror vision and themes, a lot of action, and some real disturbing imagery curtesy of Eva Green. I would have been happy if this episode had of been extended to 90 minutes and wrapped up as a feature movie, yes it's that good. Full recommendation, perhaps the best single horror television hour of 2014 in an increasingly crowded calendar, Penny Dreadful continues to delight and amaze. If you haven't checked into this show yet then do so as soon as possible, can't wait for the concluding episode next week.