List of Penny Dreadful Episodes
From Iwe
Penny Dreadful is a British-American horror drama television series created and written by John Logan, who serves as executive producer alongside Sam Mendes. The title refers to the penny dreadfuls, a type of 19th-century cheap British fiction publication with lurid and sensational subject matter. The series premiered on Showtime on May 11, 2014. After the third-season finale on June 19, 2016, series creator John Logan announced that Penny Dreadful had ended. During the course of the series, 27 episodes of Penny Dreadful aired over three seasons.
The series draws upon many public domain characters from 19th-century British and Irish fiction, including Dorian Gray from Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray; Mina Harker, Abraham Van Helsing, Dr. Seward, Renfield, and Count Dracula from Bram Stoker's Dracula; Victor Frankenstein and his creature from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; and Dr. Henry Jekyll from Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
Contents |
[edit] Series overview
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | |||
| 1 | 8 | May 11, 2014 | June 29, 2014 | |
| 2 | 10 | May 3, 2015 | July 5, 2015 | |
| 3 | 9 | May 1, 2016 | June 19, 2016 | |
[edit] Episodes
[edit] Season 1 (2014)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | U.S. viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Night Work" | J. A. Bayona | John Logan | May 11, 2014 | 0.872 |
| The episode opens in Victorian England on September 22, 1891, with the brutal abduction of a woman and her daughter who are later found mutilated and dismembered. Meanwhile, the enigmatic Vanessa Ives enlists the skilled marksman/showman Ethan Chandler to do some "night work". She introduces him to Sir Malcolm Murray, father of the recently-abducted Mina Harker. The trio infiltrate a vampire nest in search of Mina. They find and kill a vicious vampire, later enlisting Victor Frankenstein to examine it. The autopsy reveals hieroglyphs etched beneath its skin, which are later found to be from the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Ethan, overwhelmed by the new world opening before him, takes his payment and leaves Vanessa and Sir Malcolm's service, but is later tempted to return. In his laboratory, Frankenstein brings life to a dead body. | ||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Séance" | J. A. Bayona | John Logan | May 18, 2014 | 0.722 |
| Sir Malcolm offers his assistance with the "Ripper" case, proclaiming that they should be looking for a beast, not a man. Ethan befriends Brona Croft, a sickly prostitute, who later has an erotic encounter with the seductive and charming Dorian Gray. Vanessa and Sir Malcolm attend Ferdinand Lyle's party. There, Vanessa meets Dorian, and the two are deeply drawn to one another. The guests take part in a séance led by a spiritualist known as Madame Kali, where Vanessa is possessed by an evil entity, who accuse Sir Malcolm of leaving his son to die. The next day, Ferdinand studies the other photographed hieroglyphics and discovers that they are a resurrection spell invoking Amunet and Amun-Ra, who will bring about the apocalypse if united. He concludes that Vanessa is being hunted by them. Victor's newly animated creation chooses a name – Proteus. They become close friends, but their time together is cut short when Proteus is murdered by Victor's "firstborn", Caliban, an earlier creation. | ||||||
| 3 | 3 | "Resurrection" | Dearbhla Walsh | John Logan | May 25, 2014 | 0.734 |
| Victor is forced to listen to the story of his first creation. Caliban was abandoned by Victor after he was created, and wandered the streets until an actor took pity on him and gave him a job in the Grand Guignol theatre. Lonely, the creature demands that Victor make him a mate. Ethan joins Vanessa and Sir Malcolm's company once again. Vanessa's visions of Mina lead the group to the London Zoo, where they encounter and capture Fenton, a vampire thrall. Sir Malcolm reveals his suspicion that Mina is being used as bait to lure a greater prize, to wit, Vanessa. | ||||||
| 4 | 4 | "Demimonde" | Dearbhla Walsh | John Logan | June 1, 2014 | 0.730 |
| Vanessa grows increasingly infatuated with Dorian. Victor and Professor Van Helsing study Fenton's blood, hoping to manufacture a cure. Sir Malcolm and Victor come face to face with a vampire; Fenton is killed in the ensuing conflict. Concluding that Fenton had allowed himself to be captured, Sir Malcolm and Vanessa discuss the probability that Mina is too far gone to save. Unnerved at seeing Ethan so comfortable around Dorian and Vanessa, Brona ends her relationship with him, citing her terminal illness. Heartbroken, Ethan drowns his sorrows with Dorian, culminating in a sexual encounter. | ||||||
| 5 | 5 | "Closer Than Sisters" | Coky Giedroyc | John Logan | June 8, 2014 | 0.797 |
| Vanessa, through a letter to Mina, relates their backstory. The Ives and Murray families were neighbours and friends, to the point where Vanessa and Mina were considered as close as sisters, and it was accepted as a foregone conclusion that Vanessa would marry Mina's frail brother, Peter. As a young girl, Vanessa caught Sir Malcolm and her mother having an affair. Although she kept it a secret, she says the experience led her to embrace her dark side, culminating in seducing Mina's fiancé the night before their wedding. The families severed ties after this, the strain of which caused Vanessa's clairvoyance and mediumship to manifest. She was committed to an asylum, an experience which left her mostly catatonic. Vanessa recovered with the assistance of an evil spirit that took Sir Malcolm's form. Some time later, Vanessa encountered Mina, who forgave her for her transgression, but revealed that she had already been kidnapped by the master vampire. This inspired Vanessa to seek out Sir Malcolm and begin their search. | ||||||
| 6 | 6 | "What Death Can Join Together" | Coky Giedroyc | John Logan | June 15, 2014 | 0.681 |
| Sir Malcolm, Ethan and Sembene track the vampires to a quarantined ship and learn that Mina is closer than they thought. Not trusting Vanessa, Sir Malcolm encourages her to spend the evening with Dorian. During sexual intercourse with Dorian, Vanessa hears a dark voice greeting her, causing her to leave in a hurry. Brona reconciles with Ethan, but her condition worsens. Van Helsing attempts to pass on to Frankenstein what he knows of vampires, but is murdered by Caliban, who intends to continue killing those close to his creator until his mate is made. | ||||||
| 7 | 7 | "Possession" | James Hawes | John Logan | June 22, 2014 | 0.799 |
| Vanessa's evening with Dorian allows a demon to possess her. Sir Malcolm engages the help of Ethan, Victor and Sembene to restrain her, but her condition worsens as time passes. Sir Malcolm, having hoped that Vanessa could contact Mina while under the influence of the possession, finally allows a Catholic priest into the house to administer last rites, but when Vanessa attacks the priest as he begins, Ethan manages to perform an exorcism on Vanessa by himself. Vanessa collapses, but emerges from her room later. She informs Sir Malcolm that she now knows where Mina is. | ||||||
| 8 | 8 | "Grand Guignol" | James Hawes | John Logan | June 29, 2014 | 0.856 |
| Vanessa rejects Dorian's further advances, noting that he is not good for her. Caliban's first love ends poorly, and he is forced to leave the theatre, returning to Victor's lodgings. Victor initially tries to kill his creation, but takes pity on him instead. Brona's consumption nears its end. Unbeknownst to Ethan, Victor smothers her and uses her body to create a mate for Caliban. When Sir Malcolm's team find Mina in the Grand Guignol theatre, she captures Vanessa, intending to make her her master's bride. Sir Malcolm kills Mina to save Vanessa. While mourning over Brona's death, Ethan is approached by two Pinkerton detectives determined to return him to America and to his father. He transforms into a werewolf and attacks them. Vanessa requests an exorcism from a priest, who asks her if she truly wants to be normal. | ||||||
[edit] Season 2 (2015)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title Directed by | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | U.S. viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
[edit] Season 3 (2016)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title Directed by | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | U.S. viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
