IR TV Review: PENNY DREADFUL - CITY OF ANGELS - EPISODE 4 ("Josefina & The Holy Spirit") [Showtime]
The ideas of path and conscience play heavily into Episode 3 of "Penny Dreadful: City Of Angels" entitled "Josefina & The Holy Spirit". This ideal can be reflected in the metaphor of loss of innocence but inherently a perspective of reality. This is true within all the characters but more dominantly the females, in this case Molly and, to a heavier degree, Josefina, the younger daughter in the Vegas family. The men lash out in violence much more diametrically but there is inherently sometime more dark tendency in how the women see the world here which is reflected in Santa Muerte and the triple portense of her sister. The Holy Spirit in many ways speaks to the harbinger of death because in many ways, the sister is building down the different ares of the story down on itself to create a powder keg. But this can also be seen in a sense of light with Molly to combat the dark. While the incessant energy of the club from the previous episode is not found here, the dread is. What is interesting is that many of the stills provided for the episode do not reflect the final episode, as if certain areas were reworked for more sustainable power (which the episode does have). This might be true since very aneel of the different vignettes throughout is pointed and creates the notion of paradoxes.
Sister Molly is both truthful and deceiving. She cannot be what her detective suitor wants her to be but he has trouble being within the structure of the LAPD what he needs to be. Yet is it truth or temptation. His brother is being drawn into a life of darkness that is undeniably fueled by acceptance. And yet there are spark points throughout the play of the story especially a simple but trigger point scene that has inherent relevance later in the story. Adding in another structure in the form of a well known comedian's darker approach to an underlying narrative which in many perspectives is essential to this story definitely creates a tension that is building. What is also interesting in the genre spinnings of this story are the little moments including references to stigmata and the notion of both the trinity and deliverance. Josefina represents that and her path between who should listen and who does what is very telling. Again"City Of Angels" ups the ante within the series in a different way using the textures of mixed archetypes, anti-heroes and intellectual metaphors without overwhelming the viewer creating a patchwork that is both modern and yet undeniably old school and decidedly classical.
A
By Tim Wassberg