Out of all the themes Logan could work into Penny Dreadful, love may seem like an odd one, given the horror overtones. However, it’s true that all of the classic horror stories utilized love in some manner, and many of the characters employed here are misfits focused on maintaining emotional ties. Victor adored Proteus as much as he clearly detests Caliban, Sir Malcolm’s heart is heavy with worry for his daughter Mina, Dorian Gray (absent in this episode) is all about the angst of love and death, and Ethan seems transfixed on Brona for the time being.
Speaking of that pairing, I’m not sold on Ethan yet, and watching him roll around on a bed in the Mariner’s Inn with Brona in this episode doesn’t add anything to his characterization. I’m convinced that he’s currently the show’s weakest character, lacking the backstory he needs to make his all-American badassery work with the Victorian London setting.
Still, his relationship with Brona gives Ethan the motivation – he wants to buy her some medicine – to go work for Vanessa and Sir Malcolm, who are about to gear up for another expedition. First though, we get a little more information about Mina, who appears in a sudden vision to Vanessa, accompanied by sounds of animals howling. The message is a simple one: Save me, please. Something’s a little fishy about her sudden appearance in Vanessa’s mind, and it’s clear that Sir Malcolm also feels that something’s not quite right. Regardless, they prepare to head to the London Zoo, where Vanessa believes Mina may be imprisoned. When Ethan comes knocking, Vanessa trusts him enough to take him aside and fill him (and us) in. Apparently, Mina was once engaged to Jonathan Harker, a man who met with a nasty fate sometime before the start of the series. During her engagement, Mina “became embroiled with another man,” whom Vanessa insinuates may have not been a man at all. That’s right; Penny Dreadful seems to be setting the stage for Count Dracula, certainly the oft-mentioned “master” of the vampires who have been sneaking around London, to make his entrance.
At the zoo, which is eerily shot by episode director Dearbhla Walsh, the three main characters and Sir Malcolm’s mostly-mute servant Sembene (Danny Sapani, whose character’s development literally begins and ends at weird facial scarring) don’t find Mina. However, they do stumble upon a pack of wolves, which appears ready to rip them limb from limb. Unexpectedly, it’s Ethan who calms them, approaching one of the wolves and offering his hand in greeting. The working theory that Ethan is a werewolf (and is in fact also the bloodthirsty creature that has been menacing London) gets a huge credibility boost here, given that the wolves seem to accept Ethan as one of their own. Is the reason Ethan can’t return to America related to this affinity with wolves? Is Ethan in fact more of a beast than he lets on?
