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‘Penny Dreadful’: ‘Good and Evil Braided Be’ Is Effectively Just

By Joey Click

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Now three episodes into the third season of Showtime’s’ Penny Dreadful’, the Gothic saga delivers one of the season’s best episodes in terms of plot.

This review contains minor spoilers. You Fright Fans will not be disturbed by getting down with the Gothic.

Every since I started watching Penny Dreadful, I’ve always has a hard time getting in the beautifully shot show. While I can respect what the Showtime series has to offer, with its great acting and breathtaking visuals, it’s always been a little too unfocused for me storytelling wise.

This week’s episode, Good and Evil Braided Be, is more of the same only more highly executed in what it’s doing. Gone are the action scenes, which we got two of in each of the last two Penny Dreadful outings, The Day Tennyson Died and Predators Far and Near. In its place is the season’s best acting and overall movement of the many plots the show seemingly juggles on a weekly bases.

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If you’re quite familiar with the Showtime show based on a plethora of long-established, extremely iconic, literary horror characters, you’ll no doubt know the series often is handling many plots going on all at once. They, mostly ,are related somewhat  but are often so thinly connected it can become almost laughable to call this storytelling. It’s a highly well-made Gothic soap opera.

But if that’s your thing, there’re many things that Penny Dreadful does well in its quest to entertain the masses.

In Good and Evil Braided Be, the acting is as good as it’s ever been with three performers standing out.

Eva Green, playing Vanessa Ives, is particularly great in the scenes with Dr. Seward (especially in their first scene). Shazad Latif is also doing great work as Dr. Henry Jekyll‘ in the eventual two-sided doctor’s only scene, delivering the actor’s best moment thus far in the season. And lastly, Timothy Dalton does amazing work in a scene on a train that’s arguably the best moment in the episode. His scene can only be describe as bad ass.

Courtesy of Showtime

Also, while Good and Evil Braided Be features the most story threads going on in all three episodes of Season 3 thus far, Ives’ story is pushed the further than any other in the episode. Her situation with Dr.Sweet is without a doubt the most important, and most interesting, story going in the Showtime show.

Which is no surprise seeing as Vanessa Ives is Penny Dreadful’s main character. Even though there’re  probably five different stories going on, the Ives and Sweet’s stuff is the most tasty in the Good and Evil Braided Be (BIG pun intended).

Further more, Penny Dreadful’s newest outing is pretty decently directed as well . Directed by Damon Thomas, who also directed the previous two episodes, Good and Evil Braided Be features great shots in spurts and moves locations faster than a franchise KFC in Texas (This means there are many different locations in the episode); This is the episode that features the most locations.

Next: ‘Penny Dreadful’: Meet Season 3’s Renfield and Dr. Seward

So, will Dr. Sweet reveal his true self to Ives? Will Ethan Chandler finally get to where he’s going? Will Dr. Jekyll finally make progress with his experiments? You’ll have to head over to England to find out Horror Heads.

THE VERDICT:

Damon Thomas’ s Good and Evil Braided Be is Penny Dreadful arguably at its best. Whereas the previous two episodes featured more action, Dreadful’s third episode of Season 3 moves the plot the most this season. It’s an episode that pushes the Ives/Dracula stuff farther and is beginning to set the stage for the rest of the season. See you next time Soldiers of Springwood.

THE GRADE: B+

Check out a preview of next week’s episode, A Blade of Grass, courtesy of Showtime:

Love Penny Dreadful? Didn’t or did enjoy what Good and Evil Braided Be had to offer? Don’t forget to let us know in the comment section below and remember to tune into Penny Dreadful, every Sunday at 10 pm ET/PT, only on Showtime.

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