Vanessa Ives
A whole episode of Eva Green is a gift from the television gods. I don’t think there is a more captivating face on television right now. Vanessa Ives’s origin story is the one I’ve been waiting for. You too?
Vanessa writes a letter to the missing Mina Murray. She now writes one every day asking for forgiveness. “An endless ribbon of words.”
*Flashback*
Vanessa and Mina are inseparable little girls. The Murray and Ives families live in adjacent beachfront manors joined by a gate. They traverse back and forth, but most of the action is at the Murray Manor. Vanessa is fearless and dark while Mina is conservative and light as emphasized by their hair colors.
Peter, Vanessa and Mina engage in the creepiest hobby, taxidermy. Peter is not as good at it as “Van”. Vanessa says you have to name the animal and then it will come to life. Her future will be full of things coming to life that shouldn’t.
The girls talk about their future husbands. Mina wants a very tall man with a moustache. (Hipster or Super Troopers moustaches?) It is already assumed that Vanessa and Peter will marry. Peter protests and says he will go with Father to Africa although no one takes him seriously.
Malcolm’s homecomings from expeditions are always a holiday for both families. He greets Peter with a handshake and his wife with a peck on the check. Both visibly ache for more physical affection. The two girls on the other hand get sweeping hugs and kisses. The Ives’s are practicing Catholics, which the Murrays tolerate. Malcolm tells epic tales of adventure at the dining table and everyone is enraptured, including Mrs. Ives. Can see this one coming a mile away.
Having learned nothing from The Shining, the Murrays have a hedge maze. Vanessa searches for her friends, but instead finds Malcolm and her mother having sex. The sin turns young Vanessa on and that is the first time she hears the voices. “Something whispered. I listened.” She runs to her room and prays. She never tells Mina. Vanessa notes the change in her and performs small acts of mischief. “Perhaps it (the darkness) was always there.”
Time moves forward and now Mina is engaged to tall Captain Branson, who has a glorious moustache. They will marry and go to India. Vanessa is jealous Mina will know the touch of a man first and go on great adventures while she is stuck at home. She will probably marry the “weak” Peter, who is still alive btw. During the séance, possessed Vanessa made it appear that Peter died as a child. However, he lives to be a young man with an “inadequate beard”.
During the engagement celebrations, Vanessa craves attention and kisses Peter in the hedge maze. Shocked, he pushes her away. She knows she should pursue him and tell him not to go to Africa, but she lets him go. She prays. Instead of god’s voice she hears the demon.
On the night before Mina and the Captain’s wedding, Vanessa seduces Captain Branson. Mina captures them fornicating on the taxidermy table. And that is Vanessa’s big bad that sets in motion the possession of Mina.
The families are broken apart and will no longer see each other. Mina is inconsolable. The wedding is called off and Malcolm is furious with Vanessa. The gate between the manors is closed. Vanessa faints and begins a long bout of seizures. She is either insane or possessed. Or both.
The Ives have not choice but to bring Vanessa to a specialist who diagnoses her with hysteria of a psychosexual nature. (I’m sure this is a compelling treatise regarding the Victorian view of women’s sexuality.) Vanessa is committed to an asylum and subjected to all the horrible treatments of the time including narcotics, “escalating hydrotherapy” and a rather brutal form of brain surgery. To perform the surgery, they shave her head. Eva Green with a shaved head and short hair looks like Lori Petty’s sister.
Once released back into her family’s custody, Peter visits. He is finally off to Africa with his father. Vanessa is still mostly catatonic, but she asks for a kiss. Then promptly tells him he will die there in a super creepy voice. Not surprisingly Peter rushes off.
Alone, Vanessa hears the devil. He has taken Malcolm’s form. She identifies him immediately as the serpent. The devil too likes to quote Keats. Hinting at a relationship with Caliban, Frankenstein’s first-born? Sigh. More Caliban, the emo-est monster ever. I’m 90% sure Caliban’s favorite band is My Chemical Romance.
The devil as Malcolm seduces Vanessa. Her mother walks in to see Vanessa naked and getting fucked by the now invisible demon. It gives dear old mum a heart attack that kills her on the spot.
Eventually time passes and Vanessa’s hair is once again long. She is walking the beach when she runs into Mina. Mina forgives her and Vanessa is grateful. Mina is married now to Jonathan Harker, who does not have a moustache. Poor Peter has indeed died in Africa. Mina suddenly knows about the day in the maze when Vanessa did not chase after him. Mina reveals she is with the master and begs Vanessa to save her as her spirit is pulled back to the devil.
Vanessa goes to Malcolm and tells him what she saw. He hates her and finds her unforgiveable. Still, he still invites her to stay so they can hunt for Mina together. Later Vanessa finishes her letter to Mina but says she will do what Malcolm cannot. She will kill Mina and set her free.
Thoughts
I’m disappointed that Vanessa’s big bad is sleeping with Mina’s fiancée. I understand Victorian era, morals, loyalty et al. It’s just so…so Downton Abbey, which I do love. But this is supposed to be horror. In that sense, I would prefer that Penny Dreadful and Downton stay far, far away from each other. I’m not saying she should have killed and eaten Mina’s dog or anything. When it was implied that Vanessa brought the devil to Mina’s door, I assumed it would be by playing with an Ouija board or dabbling in witchcraft. I expected to be shocked and titillated, not underwhelmed. The episode was perfect except for that one missed opportunity to be different.
ardently entertained 