WiC Watches—Penny Dreadful: City of Angels season 1
By Dan Selcke
Daniel Zovatto as Tiago Vega in PENNY DREADFUL: CITY OF ANGELS, “Children of the Royal Sun.” Photo Credit: Warrick Page/SHOWTIME.
Episode 5: “Children of the Royal Sun”
Okay, I know I said last week that I was happy to wait for Penny Dreadful: City of Angels to get to the payoff, but halfway through the season, I’m starting to wonder when I’m going to get an idea of where the show is going. We have all out ongoing plots, all of which are inching forward. But how is Tiago’s romance with Molly going to tie into Dr. Craft’s affair with Elsa going to connect to Councilman Townsend’s scheme to build to the Arroyo Seco Parkway going to link up with Mateo joining a gang? And how do all of them play into whatever master plan Magda has cooking up?
That last one is going to be the big leap. Once again, I wonder if this show shouldn’t have just been an ordinary period drama about 1930s LA. Do we need Magda and Santa Muerte if their presence is going to be so inscrutable. And Natalie Dormer still could have been in the cast as Alex; she’s easily the most fun of Magda’s guises.
If you’re not picking up on it, I didn’t enjoy this entry as much as previous ones. Maybe it’s because, for the most part, the plotlines didn’t budge much, and when they did, there were some missteps. Mateo is fully embedded in the world of Pachuco gangs — after brutally killing the vile Officer Riley last week, he doesn’t really have a choice. The show gets things off to a weird start with Rio, the least fun of Magda’s guises, fitting a naked, still-bloody Mateo for a zoot suit, or at least I’m guessing that’s what she’s doing; either that or the writers wanted a way to kick up the sexual tension and thought tailoring was the answer?
It’s awkward, made more so because the non-Latinx Dormer has to spout off a bunch of lines about her glorious South American cultural heritage. The two have sex, and then Fly Rico gets in on the action, which plays into a stereotype of sexual fluidity being associated with deviancy and criminality. The line between good and bad taste is hard to find on the best of days — especially for a show like City of Angels, which always cranks the melodrama up to 10 — but this was on the wrong side of it.
That said, the ending with Tiago chasing Mateo down and telling him to run after he confesses to Riley’s murder is probably the best part of the episode, even if we all saw it coming. I thought Raul was dead after the first episode. He pulled through, but surely not every member of the Vega family is coming out of this season alive.
(L-R): Jessica Garza as Josefina Vega and Kerry Bishé as Sister Molly in PENNY DREADFUL: CITY OF ANGELS, “Children of the Royal Sun.” Photo Credit: Warrick Page/SHOWTIME.
Speaking of the Vega family, is it a little weird how many pies they have their fingers in? I could probably buy Tiago’s brother being the one to kill Officer Riley, but for some reason I found Josefina just happening to go to Sister Molly for advice following her assault last week a shade too contrived. Different members of Tiago’s family are insinuating themselves into both her personal and professional lives through the power of coincidence. Sure.
I also didn’t love the scenes where Lewis and Tiago attempt to track down Riley’s killer, give or take the bonding scene between Lewis and Maria, which was cute. Tiago’s bad cop speech to the Mexican mother came across as particularly forced. Was it just me? By and large, Daniel Zovatto has done a fine job with the character but I wasn’t buying him in that moment.
(L-R): Veronica Ocasio as Sofia and Nathan Lane as Lewis Michener in PENNY DREADFUL: CITY OF ANGELS, “Children of the Royal Sun.” Photo Credit: Warrick Page/SHOWTIME.
Elsewhere, we continue to have character-building moments that I assume will pay off eventually. Deepening Councilman Townsend is an interesting idea; this show is keeping me on my toes regarding who’s going to a villain and who’s not. He’s still a power-hungry politician who wants to destroy lives and possibly kill people to get what he wants, but he may also be falling in love with Kurt, who brings Chinese. Also he can dance.
And Elsa takes things with Dr. Craft to the next level by seducing a guy, killing him, pretending he’s her husband, and then getting Craft to help dispose of the body. Is the best time to have sex right after you bury the body of the husband of the woman you’re cheating on your wife with? Craft and Elsa seem to think so.
It’s melodramatic as hell, but it was the next natural step in their relationship, and Rory Kinnear and Natalie Dormer sell it like it’s going out of business, so I bought it. I still don’t know where this is going, though. Maybe Elsa’s going to hook him up with the Nazi guy eventually…?
I still don’t know where a lot of this is going. I’m ready for the show to step out with its mission statement.
(L-R): Adriana Barraza as Maria Vega and Nathan Lane as Lewis Michener in PENNY DREADFUL: CITY OF ANGELS, “Children of the Royal Sun.” Photo Credit: Warrick Page/SHOWTIME.
City of Bullet Points
- Oh, and we get a scene where Lewis’ pal Dottie Minter checks in on the college boy on whom the Nazis are leaning to help them develop rockets. I’ll say this for the show: it’s not afraid to have a lot of balls in the air at once.
- Lewis is still giving us the best noir soundbites on the show. “Where the hell have you been?” “It’s personal business.” “Yeah, what’s her name? Can she corroborate?”
- There are a lot of parents cursing in front of their children in this one.
- Whoa, Councilman’s Townsend’s house is plush as f**k. How much does that gig pay?