Penny Dreadful Recap: Episode 2.05 “Above the Vaulted Sky”

The gang recovers and rebuilds after the attack by the Nightcomers this week…while Inspector Rusk is getting closer to what’s been happening with the Mariner’s Inn Massacre…and something definitely brought everyone’s animal instincts during the storm that’s all I’ll say.

We begin with that creepy Vanessa voodoo doll that Evelyn (Helen McCrory) has of her, Evelyn is speaking the Verbis Diablo and we see that she has another voodoo doll and it’s of Sir Malcolm’s wife. Evelyn cracks open the doll’s head and the brain is exposed. Hecate (Sarah Greene) arrives and tells her mother that she has able to get a strand of Vanessa’s hair. Evelyn is pleased and now in what else but a mother and daughter bonding moment both of them are speaking to Lucifer in Verbis Diablo…while Hecate puts the hair in voodoo doll Vanessa and then Evelyn puts a pin right on the brain of Sir Malcolm’s wife doll and his wife screams in pain.

The gang is bit shaken after the attack by the Nightcomers, Ethan (Josh Hartnett) explains to them how this was a siege…where they want everyone dead and we hear a bit about his past and how he was once in a siege during the Indian Wars and explains how they were ambushed and wiped from history, so now they cannot  let themselves get infiltrated by these evil forces…that they need to defend themselves. Vanessa (Eva Green) knows that these Nightcomers are up to something because of the strand of hair that was taken from her…she mentions a voodoo doll. Sembene (Danny Sapani) mentions it was a totem, to have the flesh of the devil so they can consume it and take their power (I love Sembene knows a lot of these supernatural things…but he’s always so secretive about it…I need to know more about this character and his past). Ethan mentions that they need to stand up to them and defend their cliff. We get a montage of the gang doing everything they can in order to prepare for this battle and we see the scorpion siegel in blood at the door.

Vanessa is praying in her room when she hears this heavy breathing…we see two of the Nightcomers on both her sides and she runs off to Ethan’s room telling him that she can’t tell what’s real anymore or if it’s in her head…that she can’t live like this anymore. She tells him the only way to be free is to open a vein and Ethan tells her she cannot do that. Vanessa mentions that God has plan and that they are both here for a reason and she asks Ethan if she can stay in his room tonight, while he sleeps in the couch.

Victor (Harry Treadaway) and Caliban (Rory Kinnear) are doing what else but arguing…what else is new with these two. Caliban wants to know when he will be able to see Lily and wants to know what Victor has told her about him. Victor mentions to him that it is up to her and that she must care about him by her own accord. Caliban wants to know if he’s spoken to Lily about his face he says yes and he takes it the wrong way calling him a sadist. Victor takes Caliban to Lily because as he tells Caliban they need to spend some time together and to entertain her. Lily (Billie Piper) asks Victor if he is going to stay but he says no…well she looks outright bored alone with Caliban (the poor guy can’t catch a break can he?) The conversation between them is just so awkward and Caliban tells her a story of them and how they met…Lily doesn’t quite buy it and tells him that she just wants to be friends and can’t do more than that…while Victor is hearing everything.

Sir Malcolm’s wife is going mad, because we see that there are a bunch of pins stuck on the brain of the voodoo doll that Evelyn has of her. Ethan is out on the town when Inspector Rusk (Douglas Hodge) bumps into him and wants to talk to him (uh oh Ethan). Vanessa has joined Victor and Lily out for lunch (well this will be interesting). But before we get into that scene with those three, Ethan is now at the office of Inspector Rusk and he mentions to him that he knows he used to live in the Mariner’s Inn and if Ethan was aware of the trouble aka the murders that have been happening. Ethan isn’t taking his bluff and tells him if he is free to go and Inspector Rusk tells him anytime he wants to, but he mentions that all these problems started arising when his Wild West show arrived that he sees Mr. Chandler as a mystery and he hates mysteries that he likes order. He mentions to Ethan that there was a survivor, which gets Ethan a bit nervous.

So awkward lunch scene with Vanessa, Victor, and Lily…all of the stuff Lily says seems like it’s a well rehearsed act of what Victor has told her to practice. Vanessa notices the closeness between Victor and Lily definitely not in the cousin way…she tells Victor that she needs to leave because she has another engagement, but hopes he will visit her and the rest of the gang because he is missed.

Ethan is about to leave Inspector’s Rusk office but he tells Ethan if he can join him on the walk…as they are walking he mentions to Ethan that he doesn’t seem like he’s from the East but more like the West and is trying to figure out who he is…he finally leaves Ethan and tells him to be careful. Ethan hurries up and runs while another Inspector that has been following Ethan runs after him, but loses him as Ethan is quicker than him.

Vanessa is at the underground tunnels helping out the people with malaria, when she and Caliban have another conversation and mentions to him that he has the name of the poet John Clare…which Caliban replies that he was moved by his story and how he was a poet for the outcasts of the unloved. Both of them recite a poem together and have another insightful conversation on the views of peace and the goals of religion. He mentions to Vanessa that he has recently met a woman but that he is maladroit. Vanessa tells him to imagine her as the woman he loves while she will teaches him how to dance. We get a quick scene of Ethan heading to Sir Malcolm’s home while Mr. Roper (survivor of the Mariner’s Inn Massacre) watches him.

Dorian (Reeve Carney) and Angelique (Jonny Beauchamp) are walking out from a play when his guy recognizes her and alludes to her being a transsexual and if Dorian knows about this and then proceeds to spit at Angelique. Dorian defends her while they leave. Sir Malcolm (Timothy Dalton) and Evelyn are at the same place having some drinks when she pricks him with her ring and speaks something in Verbis Diablo (you know this is not gonna end well). Mr. Lyle (Simon Russell Beale) and Ethan are taking a look at all the relics and he mentions that there is a repetition in the poetic narrative and both see the Lupus Dei (The Hound of God) relic. Now at Dorian’s…Angelique walks out wearing men’s clothing that she borrowed from him. Angelique tells him that she is tired of the degradation and ridicule and she’s tired of fighting with the way she is for so long. Dorian tells her that she is not fighting this alone and that he cares about her for who she is and not for what she wears.

It’s raining and Sir Malcolm and Evelyn are running towards a hotel…they kiss and he apologizes but tells her that he needs to be with her and head into the hotel. Now this is where we get another montage of everyone else…because I don’t know what this storm did but everyone has having some sexy times well almost everyone. Dorian and Angelique are going at it as are Sir Malcolm and Evelyn. Ethan sees Vanessa and goes to her…all of this is happening while Sir Malcolm’s wife looks awful and in horrendous pain as she sees her children’s graves and hands start coming out from them. Vanessa caresses Ethan gently, while Evelyn pricks Sir Malcolm again in the neck this time. Sir Malcolm’s wife sees both her children coming after her and she slashes her throat.

So, I know this scene will anger some people aka Terence… Lily is frightened by the storm and lightning and she goes running into Victor’s bed and jumps in. And I knew from the moment that this happened that something was gonna happen between these two. Lily kisses Victor and he kisses her back but then he stops it…she reaches out to him and she unties her undergarments Victor can’t resist and starts touching her and they have sex…we knew this was gonna happen folks and that’s it until next week.