S01.E05: Closer Than Sisters

[Tara Ariano]

Vanessa recalls her past and the events that led to Mina's disappearance.

[David T. Cole]

Just watched. Weird episode, very different than the others.

[Veruca Assault]

Am I the only one that doesn't care about Vanessa?

[JayKay]

Wow. Eva Green commits. The ending theme was lovely. Lobotomies are one of the few things that truly unsettle me enough to upset my stomach even when I know they're fake so good job, show. Man, those Victorians had some massive sexual hangups.

 

Very well structured and I thought that the writing and voice-overs were impressive, but I was not ready for this episode.

[TrininisaScorp]

Ummm...I'm not sure how to feel about that.  It felt like a different show to me than what we've been seeing.  Though, I'm not unhappy about the episode.

 

A few learnings/thoughts: I thought Peter was a much younger person when he passed away, those are some fun errors of judgement that Sir Malcolm and Vanessa made, Vanessa's...possession (?) to be the consort of the "dark serpent" is both intriguing and very, very disturbing, those kid actors did a nice job grounding the loving relationship between Peter/Vanessa/Mina, I really want to meet Harker b/c I find it interesting that this group of people is so touched by the supernatural, and finally, all the stuff done to Vanessa was just painful to watch. 

 

Other questions:  Where are Vanessa's dad and Mina's mom?  How long have Vanessa/Sir M been looking for Mina?  What did Sir Malcolm know about this supernatural world prior to Mina going off with Harker?

 

All in all, an interesting episode that felt a bit out of place.  I would think they'd want to spend some more time building the foundation tone of the show before varying it. 

[Tara Ariano]

The Murrays' gardener is not too happy about what everyone's getting up to in the hedge maze.

[Epeolatrix]

I am amused by a small detail; the actress that played Vanessa's mother also played Eva Green's character's mother in the film "The Dreamers".

Edited June 9, 2014 by WertherEffekt

[spaceghostess]

Wow. Eva Green commits. The ending theme was lovely. Lobotomies are one of the few things that truly unsettle me enough to upset my stomach even when I know they're fake so good job, show. Man, those Victorians had some massive sexual hangups.

 

Very well structured and I thought that the writing and voice-overs were impressive, but I was not ready for this episode.

I thought that was trephination rather than lobotomy. Trepanning had been around for centuries by that time, but was still used (don't know how commonly) through the early 20th century. The first foray into lobotomy happened in 1888 (performed by a Swiss doctor), but it met serious criticism in the scientific world, and wasn't attempted again until the mid-1930s.

 

That being said, the asylum business also freaked me right the hell out, particularly the skull drilling, whatever "procedure" they were doing. And they did their homework pretty well re: treatments for "female" disorders. Hydrotherapy was all the rage, although it wasn't always done with cold water. 

 

And yeah. Eva Green is really killing it. Linda Blair aside, she's tops on my creepy possessed person list.

[Bec]

Yeah, I was wondering if that was supposed to be a lobotomy. Because Vanessa doesn't strike me as someone who is missing a bit of her brain. Trephination is new to me. So many things I'm learning from this show!

 

I don't care much about Vanessa either, but this episode did a good job of making me care a little more than I did before. I kind of love how the show uses the childhood trauma angle so effectively to make me feel for characters who went on to do some terrible things. Worked for Victor, and works in this episode for Vanessa. Whose childhood trauma are we going to see next? Sir Malcolm? Ethan? Dorian?

 

And I also like how women's limited options in ye olden times were highlighted by Vanessa's backstory.

 

Vanessa with short hair reminded me so much of Anne Hathaway in Les Miserables. Was that intentional?

 

And I noticed something that looked like pea soup in the dinner scene. Sly nod to The Exorcist?

 

Maybe this was so wrong, but I totally burst out laughing when Vanessa's mother dropped dead from the shock of seeing her daughter cavorting with thin air. Why does this show make mothers' deaths so inappropriately hilarious? First it was Victor's mother suddenly projectile vomiting blood on him... now this.

 

So, Vanessa's "going bad" was brought on by seeing her mother shagging Sir Malcolm, which lead to Vanessa shagging Mina's fiance, which lead to Sir Malcolm breaking it off with Vanessa's mother. Everything comes full-circle!

Edited June 9, 2014 by Bec

[sjohnson]

I hate to be such a negative person, but I'm afraid I had trouble believing Eva Green was twenty. Also, having a great deal of trouble really buying into the sex=evil=crazy=clairvoyance thing. And to nitpick, after seeing Ives condemn Murray for ignoring his daughter her whole life, seeing Murray ignore his son in her favor, is confusing. Another nitpick, "inadequate" beard? That's just snark. If Ives didn't like Peter's masculinity (third nitpick, this kind of heavy handed irony!) she shouldn't hit on him. And, although Eva Green didn't look twenty to me, what the hell was Peter's problem? But, if it doesn't matter what his objection is, why are we even seeing him? I'm not sure what's supposed to be going on here...female lust demons are so much more powerful they give their victims powers? If it was supposed to be lesbian subtext it was too sub for me.

 

Incidentally, re the blood in the face: In horror films, you can always read a gush of blood as ejaculation, since multiple readings are almost never ruled out.

[emma675]

I don't really know how I feel about this episode. One the one hand, I'm happy to have all of Vanessa's (very sad) background and this definitely cleared up some things revealed in the seance, but on the other hand, this episode felt totally out of place and I missed seeing all of the other characters.

 

Are we supposed to infer that Vanessa seeing her mom screwing Malcolm in the hedge maze one night messed her up for life and made her susceptible to demon possession? Yikes.

 

I'll give it to Eva Green, girl sells every scene she's in. I was flinching and thinking "Stop. STOP!" during those water scenes in the asylum.

[BuddhaBelly]

I really enjoyed this episode. I liked the change in tone and the much needed backstory on why there was so much vitrol between Malcom and Vanessa, yet she continued to live with him. For a moment, especially after learning he was having an affair with the mother, I was expecting it to come out that she was his daughter too.

 

 

Also, having a great deal of trouble really buying into the sex=evil=crazy=clairvoyance thing.

 

 I'm not sure that's what they were selling. I think seeing Malcom and her mother engaged in sinful behavior opened up a doorway in her that was already partially open. She liked seeing that transgression and then mentions that the whispering started...but it may have always been there. I figured she has natural powers that always made her attractive to demonic forces but until her own (initial) sin she didn't really hear them and then they kept working on her cumlminating in her having sex with Mina's fiance.

 

What made her 'crazy' was being locked away a family she had always been entwined with and the added public shame. She would have been confined to the house and alone thus the depression.

[paramitch]

I found this episode both necessary, painful yet weirdly hypnotic. I thought it was a fascinating one-off that showed us what we badly needed to know about Miss Ives and her relationships -- especially how she'd teamed up with Murray to seek salvation for Mina.

 

I really liked it but I didn't love it as  much as the first four -- not least because it was incredibly painful to watch Vanessa undergo all those tortures -- fascinating and very true to the times. I felt like so much of it was her endlessly torturing herself for her betrayal of Mina's trust, as well as for her own sexual appetites.

 

Performancewise, I loved everyone we saw -- Dalton was both sympathetic and magnetic, and Eva Green was absolutely amazing here. I just think she's absolutely fearless as an actor, and I love what she brings to the character.

 

But I'll be glad to be back to the whole gang of Penny Dreadful monsters and heroes next week. I missed them this week, especially after last week's sensational ending.

[Bec]

I'm not sure what's supposed to be going on here... female lust demons are so much more powerful they give their victims powers?

I don't think it's sex by itself = now here comes the demons. Seeing your parents get it on will mess a person up. Hee. More so if you see them in the act of cheating on their spouses. Let's not forget all the other factors here. It was the Victorian era. She was just a kid (I'm gonna guess not even preteen yet). Her world was very small and these were two of the major adults in it. One of them is her best friend's father.

 

And I'm speculating, but Sir Malcolm could have brought more back from his travels then just the animal pelt. Maybe he unwitting opened the door for some demon to follow him home. It then latched onto poor little Vanessa because she was the most susceptible person around.

 

Or it could be like BuddhaBelly says, and she already had natural super-abilities that attract demons. Like ants to a picnic. And it's like there was one of those food cover things keeping them out, but Sir Malcolm and her mother punched a hole in the cover and the ants flooded right in.

 

If this was real life, there are no literal demons: she would simply be scarred for life, not possessed. Events could have unfolded in a similar way without demonic influence. But that's no fun. If I want reality I wouldn't be watching a show with supernatural creatures in it. As a metaphor for the "demons inside of us" I think it works really well.

 

As for what was up with Peter, I think he could have been in the closet or asexual or maybe they are brother and sister like someone speculated and somehow he knew. In any case, considering how they practically grew up together, she would sure feel like a sister to him, wouldn't she?

 

Just think, if Vanessa was born in modern times, she could have all the sex she wants and not be limited to marrying one guy who might be her brother and sampling her friend's fiance (who apparently was the only other dude around). And she could have gotten some proper therapy for her childhood trauma instead of getting locked up and "treated" with cold water and a hole in the head.

[JayKay]

I thought that was trephination rather than lobotomy. Trepanning had been around for centuries by that time, but was still used (don't know how commonly) through the early 20th century. The first foray into lobotomy happened in 1888 (performed by a Swiss doctor), but it met serious criticism in the scientific world, and wasn't attempted again until the mid-1930s.

Ahh. I never knew about trepanning. I thought I'd read somewhere that lobotomies were practiced briefly during the tail end of the Victorian era, but this other procedure makes much more sense. Thanks for clearing that up. Anytime somebody starts putting the screws to someone's brain, I've gotta hide. What was the doctor looking for exactly, when he checked over her wound? He had such a strange expression on his face. I watched the whole sequence from behind my fingers, so I may have missed something important.

For a moment, especially after learning he was having an affair with the mother, I was expecting it to come out that she was his daughter too.

Me too. Malcolm had that line last episode about how Vanessa was the "daughter he deserved" and it actually makes perfect sense if they were related. She's got his restless spirit and hunger for adventure. The same propensity for betrayal and morbidity. If only Malcolm could have taken her to explore Africa instead of Peter, everything could have been fine. If it's revealed later that they are father and daughter, I won't be surprised.

Edited June 9, 2014 by JayKay

[MamaMax]

. What was the doctor looking for exactly, when he checked over her wound? He had such a strange expression on his face.

 

I also wondered this. I thought he was going to peel back the skin and reveal the weird skin that they found on the vampire, the one with all the Egyptian symbols!

[theFel]

I thought the doctor was looking at the wound because she wasn't bleeding. Isn't that a test for a demon? That they don't bleed?

 

This was a weird episode. Since Vanessa isn't one of my favorite characters a lot of it was meh. 

[RedheadZombie]

This was my favorite episode by far.  I'm a sucker for all things demonic.  I still have many questions, but enough have been answered for the moment to satisfy me.  I do wonder where Vanessa's father and Mina's mother went.  It would still be unacceptable in that time period for the two of them to be living together. 

 

This episode made me care about Vanessa.  Her creepy voice still irks me, but I understand better.  I think the whole sexual scenario would have been twisted and even more understandably damaging to everyone if (after getting turned on watching her mother and Malcolm), she seduced Malcolm and got caught.  That would still be devastating to the families and to the relationship between Mina and Vanessa.  But it would also be damaging to Vanessa because they showed an almost father/daughter relationship between the two.  And there's a reason that the demon wore Malcolm's face.  Either she hallucinated and her brain chose Malcolm, or it was real and the demon knew she could be seduced by Malcolm.

 

I'm still confused about Mina's husband.  Did her father meet her husband?  Do we know it's the husband who's evil?

 

Who exactly is the mysterious black man?  I get the impression that Malcolm and his assistant have dabbled in something evil and brought it back.  Otherwise, why give the character that background?

 

What was the purpose of showing Vanessa's family is Catholic?

[LittleIggy]

Am I the only one that doesn't care about Vanessa?

No. I was hoping to see Ethan and Dorian in bed together this week. I still don't understand how she got demon possessed. BTW, always lock the door when you are fucking the devil so you won't scare your mom to death.

Trephination was used to alleve swelling/subdural bleeding of the brain. In the movie "Master and Commander," Dr. Maturin is shown doing the procedure on a sailor with a head injury. Maybe Vanessa's doctor was looking for cranial bleeding.

[ganesh]

I swear I am not joking, when Eva Green was smoldering for like the 100th time in the episode with demon/Murray and the poetry, I said, "Eva could fuck the air and it would be hot."

 

This show is fucking *horny*. I think it's actually possessed. Last week, the show said to me, "Come get some." This week it said, "You'll get what I give you and you'll like it. Now thank me." Thank you show, may I have another?

 

Wow. Eva Green commits.

I think the technical term is "Eva Green Does Not Fuck Around." Did they actually cut her hair? Because she looks great with short hair.

 

I thought that was trephination rather than lobotomy.

I thought the lobotomy was in the front and they removed some brain. This looked like only [yeah only] a hole in the skull. I don't know if they thought she had a tumor and the hole was supposed to lessen the pressure of the brain against the skull.

 

She liked seeing that transgression and then mentions that the whispering started...but it may have always been there.

That's the key point. She saw her mother and Malcolm fucking and knew it was wrong, but still liked watching. 

 

What was the purpose of showing Vanessa's family is Catholic?

Guilt and sin and demons are big things with the catholics. Possession too. Eva should have felt guilty for seeing her mother fucking and prayed for forgiveness, but she liked it and knew it was wrong. Which as others have said, it may have opened the door. Plus, if Vanessa was sexually attracted to Mina, gay stuff is verboten with the catholics, sadly, even in 2014. So Eva should have felt guilty for that "if she was a good catholic." Basically, catholics think because of original sin (which isn't in the bible), people are born into the world sinful and are tempted all the time to sin more because everything is a sin so they should feel guilty all the time for being sinful and have to pray like all the time. 

 

Is this show Victorian or what? It's VICTORIAN. Illicit sex in the hedges. Dunking horny women in cold baths, skull drilling, demons. 

 

 

I was hoping to see Ethan and Dorian in bed together this week.

I assumed while Vanessa was writing her letter in 'real time' and flashbacking, that Ethan had Dorian bent over his fancy divan in the portrait room. 

Edited June 10, 2014 by ganesh

[AngelKitty]

I'm so confused. So Vanessa became possessed after fucking her best friend's fiancé and then, after fucking the devil in the guise of her best friend's father, she's not possessed anymore?

 

Also, why do they not know where Mina is?  They know she's married to Jonathan Harker.  Where is he?  Is he searching too?

[Dirtybubble]

I'm so confused. So Vanessa became possessed after fucking her best friend's fiancé and then, after fucking the devil in the guise of her best friend's father, she's not possessed anymore?

From what I gathered she's always had the "bad seed" inside of her--after seeing her mother and Sir Malcom going at it in the maze I think that might have triggered something inside of her and let her dark side take over so to speak.  She seemed to be in a constant battle within herself to give into the serpent (devil I guess he's considered) and staying on the straight and narrow.

Also, why do they not know where Mina is? They know she's married to Jonathan Harker. Where is he? Is he searching too?

If this show is going by the book and popular movies then Mr. Harker is either dead or too far gone amoung the vampires to be saved, I think anyway.  From what I remember Mr. Harker was taken first by Dracula and then its Mina who either is next or saves the day depending on which movie you see.  My guess is that Vanessa and Sir Malcom have already tried to get in contact with Johnathan Harker with no success--something that has either happened off screen or will be brought up in a later episode.

Edited June 10, 2014 by Dirtybubble

[Irishmaple]

Normally I'm not a fan of backstory episodes because I like my narrative to go forward.  Last week's episode had questions I'd like answered too: did Ethan spend the night?  Did Brona cough up a lung?  Did Caliban drop something on that actress's head (I'm holding out for her as Bride)? 

 

In this case: that was freaking awesome.  I do like Vanessa and have since she cut her deck of Tarot cards; I was curious about the 'transgression' that bound her to Sir Malcolm and I was curious about her fervent praying to the Cross.  This whole episode was so high gothic and Victorian that I loved every moment.  It was like something out of Mrs. Radcliffe or a Bronte sister.  I think Vanessa always had a dark side; she was trying to talk Mina into the sea further than they'd ever gone, she believed in the power of names, and she was aroused and likely confused by the sexuality of her authority figures.  Her being Catholic ties her to ritual and iconography and she gets to pray in Latin which sounds appropriately gothic.  The demon knew what he was doing when he went after Vanessa.  The Catholic Church believes in demons and the devil, so Vanessa would have been raised with that awareness that these things exist.  A more prosaic soul might never have heard the whispers, much less understood what tempted her.  No wonder Vanessa doesn't bat an eyelid at vampires and so on; she screwed a demon and the shock killed her mother.  Eva Green was amazing in this episode.  I've always liked her, but she is blowing me away in this.

 

I believe trepanning holes have been found in Stone Age-type skulls so it's been used to relieve pressure on the brain for a very long time.  I wonder if the asylum doctor dealt with women who were actually possessed before.  He seemed confident that he could deal with Vanessa until she used his full name.  Then he got very nervous and quickly summoned help.

[Addlepated]

If Vanessa didn't have brain swelling before they bored a hole into her skull and dabbed at it with that filthy freaking rag, certainly she did afterwards.

[sjohnson]

I think that vampirism in today's movies and TV are transparently symbols of transgressive sex, but the old sex=death motif is usually fairly deeply buried. It's still there, which is why vamps made a comeback when AIDS hit. But the original Dracula was in a time when the sex=death disease was syphilis, before penicillin, which killed off most vampires too.

In the book, Harker is the husband who forgives his cheating wife, even to the point he'll share her with Dracula, i.e., become a vampire to be with her. Cuckolds are not cool, so Harker has always been difficult to adapt to modern notions where dumping the bitch is regarded as the sensible response. In the book, Harker is also the one who goes one-to-one with Dracula and escapes, whose knowledge is then an essential part in his defeat in England and who finally kills Dracula. And such heroics are still not reconcilable with contempt for him as a man who can't keep his wife from screwing Dracula. What Penny Dreadful would do with this I have no idea. 

 

I cannot reconcile demonic Vanessa Ives with tool of Dracula  to Egyptian-vampirize the planet. Vanessa's demon would be the perfect inside man, which makes the entire Amonet/Amon-Ra plot a pointless Rube Goldberg contraption. 

Edited June 14, 2014 by SilverStormm
Please spoiler tag book talk.

[BuddhaBelly]

I believe a demonic or supernatural touched Vanessa would be very attractive to Dracula if he's trying to find a consort to change the world. I mean, if a demon or the Devil (I couldn't tell which) desired her for a companion and she fought back in her own way that must make her strong with a lot of doors open to her soul. She was easily possessed at the seance. I wonder if she would have the strength to fight of Dracula once in his thrall.

[ganesh]

She'd probably fuck him to death. 

[Ltg.jon]

Once I accepted that the flashback was going to last the entire episode, I enjoyed it.  But it made me wonder -- when Vanessa starts the letter, she says that she's been writing letters like this to Mina ever since she got over her illness.  Does that mean that she writes this entire story every time? 

[goodogcarl]

if a demon or the Devil (I couldn't tell which) desired her for a companion

 

I think my attention must have waned.  I don't remember the devil/demon.  Would someone mind bringing me up to speed. (It's a sad day when you realize you're too stupid to watch television.)

[BuddhaBelly]

The moment after Peter visits Vanessa after getting home from the asylum, she gets a vision of Sir Malcom but she easily surmises that it's a demon/the Devil (for a moment I could have sworn his eyes turned completely black). They talk, he seduces her then her mother walk in her on her fucking the air/the demon and drops dead from shock.

[ganesh]

His eyes did turn black. Right before mine glazed over in burning lust watching Eva Green fucking the air.

[RedheadZombie]

In present time, is Vanessa's hair all the way to her waist again?  It would have taken years to grow that long after being shaved.  My post-chemo cousin has taken three years to grow hair half that long.  I'm trying to get a grasp on the timeline. 

[MamaMax]

In present time, is Vanessa's hair all the way to her waist again?  It would have taken years to grow that long after being shaved.  My post-chemo cousin has taken three years to grow hair half that long.  I'm trying to get a grasp on the timeline. 

Not to mention how long it took to write all those letters.

[Bec]

Huh, I didn't even think about that. Maybe Vanessa and Sir Malcolm (and Sembene!) has been at this for years.

[Neurochick]

I think it was years between the time Vanessa's mother died and when she first saw "Mina."  Vanessa's hair was short at her mother's funeral but when she was walking on the beach it was long again, so I assumed a lot of time had passed.

[AngelKitty]

She'd probably fuck him to death.

 

That does seem to be her Power of Doom.

[Bec]

I think it was years between the time Vanessa's mother died and when she first saw "Mina."

That does make more sense than what I said.

 

Come to think of it, another thing I'm not sure of is why "sealing the deal" with the demon seemed to give her back some level of control? Before that she was lying in bed apparently unable to move. And when she was first brought to the asylum she was so possessed she was like "Who's Vanessa" and was about to bite the doctor (then apparently ranted and raved in a foreign language for a good long time). I don't know why she seems more or less cured now. It couldn't have been the hole in the head that did it.

[RedheadZombie]

I'm hoping for more clarity.  We know why Vanessa went so long out of contact with Mina.  But why didn't Malcolm know Mina was involved in something bad?  It seemed like he was clueless until Vanessa informed him that Mina needed help.  It's interesting that Malcolm believes in this power that Vanessa has.

 

One thing I wish had happened, when Malcolm shut the gate in Vanessa's face and made her feel like such a monster, I wish she would have thrown in something like - "Yeah, that's how I felt when I saw you fucking my mother.  I bet my father and your wife had a problem with it".  He was such a self-righteous asshole.

 

Vanessa had been a sheltered virgin, why was it automatically assumed that she was some femme fatale?  We saw her seduce him, but he didn't need much convincing.

[ganesh]

She just needed a good demonic shag to get it out of her system. Don't we all sometimes? 

[Irishmaple]

Maybe her life became easier when Vanessa stopped fighting the demon and allowed its possession?  She channeled it without any issue at the séance and she still uses sex to deal with its presence, which seems to be the demon's preferred method of contact. 

[iMonrey]

I was just really disappointed with this episode because the last one ended on such a note of surprise I was very much looking forward to a follow-up. Between this and Game of Thrones that's two shows that did bottle episodes this week covering only one storyline.

[BuddhaBelly]

 

Vanessa had been a sheltered virgin, why was it automatically assumed that she was some femme fatale?  We saw her seduce him, but he didn't need much convincing.

 

From what I read the Victorian times were steeped in Christianity and morality, which means women would have been the ultimate tempters. In their minds she didn't do what a proper girl should have done, stay in bed and avoid being alone with a man.

[Bec]

Ah, yes, it's that whole "Eve tempted Adam with the forbidden fruit" thing. That's why the woman would be considered the one transgressing, and the man? Just "couldn't help himself". Some of this way of looking at things still live on to this day even though time has changed so much. It's why stories like this, set so long ago, still feel surprisingly relevant.

 

Sir Malcolm and Branson didn't really suffer too badly as a result of what they did. But Vanessa and her mother got some immense suffering. And Sir Malcolm still acts like he has the moral high-ground around Vanessa (yeah, what an asshole).

[blixie]

 

Sir Malcolm and Branson didn't really suffer too badly as a result of what they did.

 

Well he lost both of his children, and there is still the question of what happened to his wife. I wouldn't say that's a pass, and Branson lost out on a sweet ass dowry.  He can't compete with demonically possessed/dead, but I'm not sure that the demon wasn't the *reason* Vanessa did what she did, rather than the consequence of what she did.

[BuddhaBelly]

I wonder why Branson wasn't forced to marry Vanessa. That was quite a scandal that got out. The shame would have been both of theirs. Vanessa wouldn't have been welcomed anywhere and very few parents would have given their daughters over to him because he would have been seen as a man who 'ruined' a woman's reputation. His pickings would have been slim and no hefty dowry to live off of.

[Bec]

Good points, but I guess that's not enough to satisfy my sadistic side, because I sure would like Sir Malcolm and Branson to suffer more. They don't seem to have much of a sense of shame and regret for what they've done. Sir Malcolm, for instance, still seems to have this attitude that he's better than Vanessa.

 

Whereas I feel like Vanessa has suffered enough, and she does feel shame and regret for what she's done. Which makes her better than SIr Malcolm in my book. At least from what we've seen so far.

[blixie]

I wonder why Branson wasn't forced to marry Vanessa. That was quite a scandal that got out.

 

 

I think there is a lot still left conspicuously unsaid about what's happened. It's possible they kept it quiet and only Mina/the families knew, made up some other reason for the broken engagement to London Society. I'm more wondering what happened to Malcolm's wife and Vanessa's father, they completely drop out of her letter narrative/flashbacks. Either the affair came to light after Mina left, or they both conveniently died? I don't need a lot of backstory one line of dialogue could clear it up, but maybe we'll get that when Malcolm has his character focused episode.

 

 

Sir Malcolm, for instance, still seems to have this attitude that he's better than Vanessa.

 

He admitted they were  both responsible when she came to him about seeing Mina ,and he looked guilty as hell during the Seance, there is a a lot we still don't know about Sir Malcolm and what's going on in his mind. He is certainly angry at Vanessa, as her betrayal was the instigating act *in their minds* as to why Mina fled, but I think that's projection of all the shit that exists between Vanessa and himself. 

 

Malcolm was absent, and when he was home he was rejecting Peter, awkwardly and chastely kissing his wife, banging the neighbor, and doting on Mina/Vanessa. I'm assuming that Vanessa is obviously potentially (probably actually) his daughter too, so I think he spent a great deal of time in Africa to avoid his penchant for sin/avoid dealing with that reality in any day to day way. I don't think it was any accident The Demon appeared to Vanessa in his form, and not just because she realized in the maze she has the hots for her best friends dad. Malcolm and his "family" were all things to Vanessa, I think it's interesting that she completely loses it NOT when Mina discovers her with Branson, but practically the very moment Malcolm literally shuts her out if his home/life.

I think that's meant to parallel strongly with The Master/Dracula wanting to be all things to Vanessa, to completely alienate her from the Murray's and have her become Amunet, Mother of (weirdly now Egyptian) Vampires.

[ganesh]

 

It's possible they kept it quiet and only Mina/the families knew, made up some other reason for the broken engagement to London Society.

That's what I figured. Plus, wasn't he a "captain?" He could have asked for a post far away to get out of sight out of mind too.

[BuddhaBelly]

He was going to India, that was one of the reasons Mina was so excited

[ganesh]

Oh, right. I forgot. Good call. So, we was way out of sight, and they could just make up some story.