phantom bright

I'd love for there to be a lot of attention paid to the historical attitudes. Doesn't have to be a PBS-style documentary (ha) but just a few nods now and again about how "yeah, this is what it was really like back then" would be cool.

Does anyone else love the fact that the other characters basically keep Ethan in the dark as much as possible?

Have to say, I almost flounced on this show like a big baby after poor Proteus's fate. It was awful. Just terrible. To destroy someone so sweet. But dat acting with Caliban ... Good Lord, it was utterly riveting. To take that material (hey, you're Frankenstein in a show where vampires exist and dead people come to life -- go!) and make it so believable had me fall in love with this show. Hard. It was like watching a mini-movie. I'm actually rooting for him to gain his bride, although that probably makes me a semi-terrible person. What can I say? I'm a sucker for villain protagonists and sympathetic baddies.

Does anyone wonder what happened to her

I'm sort of torn between reading Peter as gay or seeing him as completely ashamed of his "unmanliness". I like the second option better since it's a little less cliche. His frail constitution meant that he was never close to his father although he tried very hard to be (his poor "hey look I can grow one too, Dad" beard had me feeling sorry for him). Could be that he didn't want to be kissed by Vanessa -- the social mores of the time dictated that he kiss her. Which he notably does later when she is weak and in bed and he's going off to a very manly African adventure of doom. Also, you have Vanessa wishing she could have told him that she loved his "weakness", which didn't seem to be a metaphor for gayness. Yeah, that would be too much for me. In Game of Thrones, the series resembles more of an epic (this is especially true of the books). The incest there is much more like something I'd read about the Ancient Egyptians. It's removed from real life by a far distance. Penny Dreadful isn't too far from the audience since its set on Earth, in a relatively recent time period. The whole thing with Sir Malcolm being a paternal figure that Vanessa liked better than her own parents and the (sort of) catalyst to her own sexual awakening/freakshow is fairly disturbing on its own. Plus there's that whole "you're the daughter I deserve" thing. The subtext is just creepy enough. Making them actually related would be too sick, and I say that about a show where people are ripped in half and Dorian Gray likes bloody makeout kisses. Plus, as you say, the Vanessa/Sir Malcolm chemistry is excellent. Almost co-dependently poisonous.

Serious spoilers ahead in this topic for all the episodes that have aired to this date. And probably later episodes as well. This is a theory thread for the main thing possessing Vanessa. From most discussions about this show I've had with other people, the consensus seems to be that her mostly invisible friend, (whom I'm just going to nickname Mr. Nightingale for lack of another name) is Satan or perhaps a demon of some kind. I've had an idea about him spinning around in my head since S1E5 "Closer Than Sisters". What if he isn't the Devil at all, but Death itself? Why do I think that? Well, this will probably be shot to heck and back when the final three episodes of the season air, but I still want to put it out there just for fun. Reasons/utterly baseless speculation as to why Vanessa's pal might be the Big D: Vampires fear him, and by extension, Vanessa. What would a nigh immortal (or at least long-lived) creature fear? Probably Death. That Keats's poem, "Ode to a Nightingale", offered a possible clue: "[...] Darkling I listen; and, for many a time/I have been half in love with easeful Death,/Call’d him soft names in many a mused rhyme,/To take into the air my quiet breath; [...]" Oh Vanessa, you and your taxidermy skills have snagged you a terrific beau, you morbid poppet, by naming all those dead things. Just before their "bedroom scene" V calls him many names, but he never exactly confirms that he is the Devil, and the suggestion does seem to amuse him (and maybe just offend him a little). The seance had a line that the possessed Vanessa spoke, explicitly dismissing the suggestion that her body buddy was Amunet. If I remember correctly, it/he said, "No, not Amunet, girl. Much older." As far as religions go, Christianity hasn't been around as long as Ancient Egyptian myths have. The concept of the Devil as a figure of temptation and part-time leaser of human bodies is not found in Judaism either (Satan is more of an adversarial "role" in the Hebrew tradition rather than a force of evil). Death, however, would be older than any religion. Of course, Penny Dreadful's internal "gods" (a.k.a. the writers) could just basically do whatever they want and make their fictional universe run in a different direction, but this is a theory thread, so ... throwing out whatever "evidence" I can twist is A-OK. ;) His very presence can kill people (Mrs. Ives). He can also either call on the dead (Peter Murray) or give Vanessa the ability to call on the dead. Vanessa also foretold that Peter was going to die. In the scene where she was talking to the asylum doctor, she (or Nightingale) mention watching sailors die. Dead people seem to be a running theme with Vanessa and her BFF. Granted, this could just as easily be demonic powers, but let me dream. "You have to name a thing to make it live." Notably, if Mr. Nightingale isn't Satan, then Vanessa hasn't technically "named" him, so in a way, it's almost as if he doesn't live. But what sort of entity would exist without living? Death. So, that about wraps up the reasons for my theory. Does anyone else have a different idea? I'd love to see what other people think about Mr. Nightingale.