Each week, Joe (@bstolemyremote) and Terry (@gaylydreadful) review an episode of Showtime’s Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, alternating between our respective sites — queerhorrormovies.com and gaylydreadful.com.

Spoilers for episode seven…

1.07 “Maria and the Beast”: Molly visits Tiago at his apartment. Dottie and Lewis confront Brian. Elsa and Frank move in with the Crafts. Alex and Townsend discuss how to defeat Councilwoman Beck. Maria summons Santa Muerte.

TERRY

Okay, Joe. This episode is more like it. The stories feel more connected, we’re focusing on one large story and some of the other subplots are connected to it to help flesh out the main narrative. And the parts that weren’t about the main story were slight and helped move along the season-long narrative. This was a winner in my book.

But before I get too ahead of myself, “Maria and the Beast” focuses most of its attention on Maria (Adriana Barraza) and her creeping realization that her family is at the center of whatever Magda (Natalie Dormer) is planning. The episode opens on a newspaper announcing the “confession” that Tiago (Daniel Zovatto) and Lewis (Nathan Lane) coerced out of poor Diego (Adan Rocha) last episode, before panning to Maria on a bus. It’s a beautifully framed shot and one thing I noticed this episode was some of the gorgeous cinematography, particularly in a later scene on a cliffside. While on the bus, Maria sees Magda standing among tombstones, staring her down.

Most of the episode is devoted to Maria’s family coping with decisions and events that brought them here. Poor Mateo (Johnathan Nieves) sees Josefina (Jessica Garza) on the street and only wants to hear that she still loves him. And when she spouts the church’s rhetoric, Mateo realizes he’s completely alone. He has no one to talk to.

Tiago buries his sorrow in a drink at a bar, while the bartender scoffs at the “animal” that Tiago heroically brought to justice. And when he finds Sister Molly (Kerry Bishé) waiting on his doorstep, he can’t bring himself to talk to her about Hazlett’s presumed murderer and instead brings her upstairs to continuing burying his sorrow in sex.

Finally, there’s poor Raul (Adam Rodriguez) who I’ve been feeling pretty ambivalent about because he’s literally done nothing since his miraculous resurrection. But it’s becoming clear that that’s the point. I want to know more about his living/dead/living dead sitch, but when Maria yells at him, “you sit and sit and you don’t say anything!” I started to realize just how empty he is. Hollowed out; a literal zombie of a human.

It’s interesting how Penny Dreadful: City of Angels quietly works in the more overt supernatural moments. It’s not playing in the horror genre as much as Penny Dreadful did from the start. While there’s been an obvious behind-the-scenes supernatural motif, a lot of it could be scrapped and you’d have a period piece noir. It has all of the elements of church and state and outlier forces conspiring together mixed with a femme fatale and a detective who’s stringing everything together. My biggest narrative problem, though, is that I don’t think City of Angels handles the noir elements well enough to stand on its own.

The Hazlett murder, for instance, that I’ve bashed on repeatedly, could have been a throughline to show how everything is connected. It was the more interesting avenue that was completely and utterly dropped until its clumsy “resolution” last episode. And while I know that we’ll eventually discover the murderer--my bet is on Adelaide (Amy Madigan)’s creepy assistant Randolph (David Figlioli)--it’s one of the narrative elements that could have been used more effectively. All this to say that I’m hopeful we’ll start to see more overt supernatural and horror elements taking center stage because that was what Logan’s first series excelled with.

But what about you, Joe? Did this episode redeem some of the problems we’ve had with the series until now? What did you think of the way Elsa (Natalie Dormer) has insidiously slithered her way into the Craft family’s home? And can Frank (Santino Barnard) be anymore creepy? (as an aside, I really noticed this episode how much Santino’s facial features match Natalie’s...fantastic casting, there). And finally, if a creepy kid asks you, “can I get in bed with you?” why, oh god why, would you say yes?!

JOE

I won’t lie: I was worried for a hot second that something sexually sinister was going to happen when Frank crawled into bed with poor Tom (Julian Hillard). It would have taken the show into some seriously dark places, so it’s probably for the best that it’s simply another minor intimidation tactic by Frank. Naturally that hamster had to go, though!

While I’m very firmly with you that this episode is a significant step up from last week, it’s small details like the hamster, as well as others - like the blase reveal that both Councilman Townsend (Michael Gladis) and Adelaide are both working with the Nazis - that gives me the impression that Penny Dreadful is kinda, well, dreadful at tipping its hand too frequently. There are very few surprises in this new series, which has a tendency to make every reveal feel a bit ho-hum. If it were just a straightforward noir, it would struggle mightily.

Where “Maria and the Beast” fares best is focusing on Adriana Barraza’s Maria. Not only is Maria arguably the most compelling of our cast of humans, barring Nathan Lane’s Lewis, Barraza is exceedingly compelling. We’ve wondered these last few weeks if she would be the one to put the pieces together and while she doesn’t flat-out recognize Magda when she’s in disguise as Elsa, Maria still manages to deduce that her family is in play in a much larger battle of wills.

No lie: I was glued to the screen for that big end of episode confrontation between her, Santa Meurtre (Lorenzo Izzo) and Magda. While the goddess of Death remains a bit of a mystery (I’d love some details about the nature of her fall-out with Magda beyond what we saw in the first episode), I’m happy to finally see Magda emerge as more of a character. It doesn’t hurt Dormer is finally allowed to sink her teeth into something more meaningful than the throw-away bits she plays as Elsa, Alex and Rio; it’s seeing two formidable actresses go toe-to-toe in what could be a tipping point as we move into these last few episodes.

With that said...would I have liked more? Absolutely. There’s still a kind of reserve to Penny Dreadful’s storytelling that feels hesitant. Aside from Maria revealing that she’s aware of Magda’s interference, and some very colourful dialogue about her refusal to back down, what does this scene truly tell us? The regular TV watcher in us can likely anticipate that it spells Maria’s doom: I now have zero belief that she won’t die before season’s end, leaving her vulnerable family in play in this battle of the gods.

Aside from that? It’s mostly just verbal fireworks.

Still, it’s hard to deny that narrowing most of the episode down to Maria is a good idea. Those other storylines you mention are, as always, still slowly advancing in the back: Tiago is brought into Lewis and Dottie (Lin Shaye)’s inner circle, Mateo is in the wind and Elsa is already making moves to inch the good doctor back towards his German roots. There’s not much more, but what’s here is satisfying.

One element that intrigued me is the recurring need for love that pops up across multiple storylines throughout the episode. In addition to Mateo and Josefina, Magda asks for it from Santa Meurtre; Molly confesses she loves Tiago; and Goss (Thomas Kretschmann) worries about Kurt (Dominic Sherwood)’s growing feelings for Townsend. Even Frank wants affection from his new step-sibling.

This is fascinating considering these instances fall between romantic and familial love, with those seeking familial love directly associated with danger and death. Typically when love is raised in narratives, it is in the conventional romantic sense (ie: Molly and Tiago as the series’ default heteronormative couple). I’m not sure exactly what argument Penny Dreadful is making emphasizing different permutations this late in the season, but if we rationalize that Maria’s love for her family is the source of her strength and resilience, we could be headed for some painful heartbreak in the episodes to come.

I have no idea if that makes any sense, Terry, but I’m curious if you have any thoughts on the explicit references to love? Also, as much as you enjoyed Elsa burrowing her way into the Craft household, do you have any sense where this storyline is going? Did you expect a bit more excitement from Tiago and Lewis when they connected the Nazi dots in that restaurant? And who is more likely to die in the remaining three episodes: Maria or Dottie?

TERRY

I’ll be honest, Joe, until you mentioned the recurring theme of love in its many permutations, I never ever clocked it. Maybe it was the fact I had one too many Scotches last night?...Moving on.

It’s interesting, now that I’m thinking about it, because we see love in this episode used as both a bargaining chip, a way of coming together and a way of being a dividing line. When Mateo comes upon Josefina, the first words out of his mouth are, “Will you tell me that you love me?” It’s a phrase that comes fully loaded and while her response is that she loves him, it’s obvious that there’s limits. So it pushes him away and robs him of his last safety net.

And while Molly does profess her love to Tiago, it comes with some weird baggage attached as the statement is preceded by, “I meet you as you are, Tiago. No better, no worse.” This statement comes at the tail end of her saying she has no pride in front of her congregation because they would see it. “I meet them as they are. No better, no worse.” It reeks of performative love and by using that same expression with Tiago, it just doesn’t sit well with me.

I would not be surprised if Molly’s character does completely become the traditional femme fatale in City of Angels...but even if she doesn’t, gloom and doom hangs over her relationship with Tiago. It’s only a matter of time.

I honestly have no clue how Dr. Craft/Elsa’s storyline figures into the main plot, outside of him being German and marching in German parades. Outside of a very meek portrayal of his love life at home, we still don’t really get a sense of why Magda chose him, among a plethora of choices, to intercede on. Unless Magda just really hates Maria and her family and wants to destroy her. That’s literally the only thing I can come up with right now.

As for Tiago and Lewis’s slow march on the Nazis, I wrote “oh heck yeah” when Lewis pulled out his gun...but my excitement was quickly deflated. Everyone in this series talks a lot about doing things, but we never really see them act on it. I mean Councilwoman Beck (Christine Estabrook) has been causing problems for Townsend from the beginning and every episode it’s just “we need to do something about her.” This episode was finally explicit with Townsend’s statement of needing to find an actual cutthroat, but c’mon. He’s been hinting that they need to off her from the beginning! Ditto Dottie who was spied on an episode or two ago and nothing has happened. And now with the unholstering of the guns! Come! On!

I want some bloodshed, Joe!

I share your belief that Maria isn’t long for this world. She’s had this savior/martyr air about her from the very beginning and I wouldn’t be surprised if she sacrifices herself to heal her family or bring them back together in some way.

But what about you, Joe? Am I just being bloodthirsty this Pride Month, or do you want some action? Do you think Dottie’s in danger with Brian hiding at her house...by the La Brea Tar Pits, of all places? Finally, do you think, as Lewis hinted, that with Adelaide involved with the Nazis, “the daughter can’t be far behind”?

JOE

I’ll confess that I’ve never viewed Molly as a femme fatale or a murderer - if only because she’s very clearly been abused by her mother for the purposes of growing the Temple (and its coffers). Of course, if we do consider Penny Dreadful a noir, then there’s definitely a precedent for Tiago’s new lady love to pull the rug out from under his (and our) eyes.

As I said, though, the series is pretty bad at surprises; it tends to telegraph everything very, very far in advance. If it managed to pull off a coup like Molly being the secret big bad - possibly orchestrating her mother’s downfall so that she can escape the limelight and do her own thing - I would be seriously impressed.

You’re not wrong about the bloodlust, though. We’re likely being unfair to City of Angels by constantly comparing it to its predecessor, but one stark difference is just how bloodless this new iteration is. Considering this episode’s game metaphor, however, we may be overdue for some more action in the near future. There’s a strong likelihood that a few pawns will be swept off the board before the season is over. And if you consider the likeliest candidates, they’re almost all older women: Maria, Dottie and Councilwoman Beck. Watch your back, ladies of a certain age!

But then again - in this episode alone - Dottie confesses to running guns, Beck dispenses a make-up related smackdown to Alex and even Maria gets in on the empowered older lady action when she straight up calls Magda “a hateful old cunt” (Ohh Terry, I loved that line). Perhaps we shouldn’t count any of these battle axes out just yet?

We’ll find out next week when we return to QueerHorrorMovies for more games with 1x08 “Hide and Seek.”