Episode review: Penny Dreadful
May. 19th, 2015 11:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lunabee34I owe poor china_shop an apology for suggesting a watch of this episode without warning for its disturbing content. :( I will lead off this review with a list of that disturbing content so that nobody else gets blind-sided. I got so excited about this episode (it's probably my favorite of the whole series so far) and let my enthusiasm run away with me when I was reccing it.
Warnings for: discussion of abortion, an abortion that happens mostly off-screen with a shot of the implements used in the time period, threat of sexual violence that is averted, someone being burned alive, someone being branded
I think they should have opened this season with this episode; it would have needed a different five minute opening (frankly they could have opened with her and Ethan being attacked in the stage coach and then her explaining to him or to everyone the backstory), but it would have been an excellent transition to the story line.
I am so pleased that we got a story of female mentorship. I read a very negative review that compared the Cut-Wife to Yoda, and I was all, "And that's a bad thing?" We get stories of male heroes being mentored by wise, older male heroes all the time; I can think of dozens of them off the top of my head. I was super excited to see Vanessa being mentored by a woman and in arts that are specifically tied to women. The Cut-Wife's desire to pass on her knowledge because she knows that so many women depend on her was heartbreaking to watch because we all know Vanessa won't stay behind and assume her mantle.
I also thought that the show offered some really interesting commentary on the tense position the Cut-Wife occupies in society. She offers services, not exclusively but primarily, to women: abortion, helping in childbirth, love potions, etc. She helps women save their reputations or keep the number of mouths to feed more manageable or bring the baby they've always wanted into the world safely. These women are grateful to her, and yet a woman she's just given an abortion to is one of the first to turn on her in the mob scene at the end. I imagine that just as grateful as that woman is to not be pregnant any longer, she is also terrified that any discovery that she used the Cut-Wife's services would peg her as in league with the Cut-Wife. She may also buy into the prevailing moral attitude toward the Cut-Wife, believing that a visit to the Cut-Wife is morally wrong (even if not having a child is the best decision for her).
I think the lesbian subtext stopped being sub and started being text in this episode, ear licking from last season aside. I think a sexual relationship between the Cut-Wife and the sisters of her former coven, particularly Madame Kali, was pretty explicitly stated. So when she uses the same language to talk about Vanessa's relationship with Mina, I feel like that goes beyond implication for a possible romantic relationship between those two.
Finally, it was just damn fun to watch Vanessa interact with someone who could stand up to her in force of personality. She and the Cut-Wife had all kinds of chemistry with each other.
ETA: I also think the show is setting up a very interesting choice for Vanessa to make. The Cut-Wife clearly represents a traditional way of witchery, one that's associated very closely with nature, with a rural setting, and with the daylight. She's opposed to Madame Kali and her sisters who are associated with the night, with an urban setting, with modernity and sophistication, with beauty and youth. The Cut-Wife explicitly links Madame Kali's beauty and youth with her tipping over to the dark side, and I think it's no coincidence that the Cut-Wife is not conventionally attractive. She's also not using her craft for power or position in direct contrast to Madame Kali.
The Cut-Wife says that Vanessa was born with her powers; they're not going away; they can't be ignored. Madame Kali's world--the industrialized one full of balls and beautiful gowns--is very much Vanessa's. Vanessa is also ambitious and rather fond of power and control herself, I think. I don't think the show will actually go to this place (although it might as a series finale, I suppose), but I would love the fic where Vanessa chooses to take on the Cut-Wife's mantle because she knows it's the only way she could keep herself from sliding down the same slippery slope as Madame Kali.
I was left with one question, though. The Cut-Wife reveals her name is Joan Clayton in such a way that I was certain she'd be a historical figure, but google is telling me nothing. Is there a historical Joan Clayton, perhaps connected to Cromwell?
china_shop an apology for suggesting a watch of this episode without warning for its disturbing content. :( I will lead off this review with a list of that disturbing content so that nobody else gets blind-sided. I got so excited about this episode (it's probably my favorite of the whole series so far) and let my enthusiasm run away with me when I was reccing it.Warnings for: discussion of abortion, an abortion that happens mostly off-screen with a shot of the implements used in the time period, threat of sexual violence that is averted, someone being burned alive, someone being branded
I think they should have opened this season with this episode; it would have needed a different five minute opening (frankly they could have opened with her and Ethan being attacked in the stage coach and then her explaining to him or to everyone the backstory), but it would have been an excellent transition to the story line.
I am so pleased that we got a story of female mentorship. I read a very negative review that compared the Cut-Wife to Yoda, and I was all, "And that's a bad thing?" We get stories of male heroes being mentored by wise, older male heroes all the time; I can think of dozens of them off the top of my head. I was super excited to see Vanessa being mentored by a woman and in arts that are specifically tied to women. The Cut-Wife's desire to pass on her knowledge because she knows that so many women depend on her was heartbreaking to watch because we all know Vanessa won't stay behind and assume her mantle.
I also thought that the show offered some really interesting commentary on the tense position the Cut-Wife occupies in society. She offers services, not exclusively but primarily, to women: abortion, helping in childbirth, love potions, etc. She helps women save their reputations or keep the number of mouths to feed more manageable or bring the baby they've always wanted into the world safely. These women are grateful to her, and yet a woman she's just given an abortion to is one of the first to turn on her in the mob scene at the end. I imagine that just as grateful as that woman is to not be pregnant any longer, she is also terrified that any discovery that she used the Cut-Wife's services would peg her as in league with the Cut-Wife. She may also buy into the prevailing moral attitude toward the Cut-Wife, believing that a visit to the Cut-Wife is morally wrong (even if not having a child is the best decision for her).
I think the lesbian subtext stopped being sub and started being text in this episode, ear licking from last season aside. I think a sexual relationship between the Cut-Wife and the sisters of her former coven, particularly Madame Kali, was pretty explicitly stated. So when she uses the same language to talk about Vanessa's relationship with Mina, I feel like that goes beyond implication for a possible romantic relationship between those two.
Finally, it was just damn fun to watch Vanessa interact with someone who could stand up to her in force of personality. She and the Cut-Wife had all kinds of chemistry with each other.
ETA: I also think the show is setting up a very interesting choice for Vanessa to make. The Cut-Wife clearly represents a traditional way of witchery, one that's associated very closely with nature, with a rural setting, and with the daylight. She's opposed to Madame Kali and her sisters who are associated with the night, with an urban setting, with modernity and sophistication, with beauty and youth. The Cut-Wife explicitly links Madame Kali's beauty and youth with her tipping over to the dark side, and I think it's no coincidence that the Cut-Wife is not conventionally attractive. She's also not using her craft for power or position in direct contrast to Madame Kali.
The Cut-Wife says that Vanessa was born with her powers; they're not going away; they can't be ignored. Madame Kali's world--the industrialized one full of balls and beautiful gowns--is very much Vanessa's. Vanessa is also ambitious and rather fond of power and control herself, I think. I don't think the show will actually go to this place (although it might as a series finale, I suppose), but I would love the fic where Vanessa chooses to take on the Cut-Wife's mantle because she knows it's the only way she could keep herself from sliding down the same slippery slope as Madame Kali.
I was left with one question, though. The Cut-Wife reveals her name is Joan Clayton in such a way that I was certain she'd be a historical figure, but google is telling me nothing. Is there a historical Joan Clayton, perhaps connected to Cromwell?
