It will be unholy slaughter.

Here is our review of Penny Dreadful season 2, episode 9.

Everything I laid out that I was hoping to see in that first review came to fruition tonight.

A murder before the first credit?

That doesnt bode well for Vanessa and Ethan, but its great for us.

The grounded detectives intuition tells him he is in the midst of something not quite real but completely true.

I jumped and clicked my heels though I was only wearing socks.

Chandler, the hunted hunter, has a special bond with Sambene (Danny Sapani).

They both have a past to live down.

Sambene was a slave trader.

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The creature masquerading as Mr. Clair is inordinately contemplative.

Rory Kinnear is sublime.

Every kindness registers on his face like a depth charge, energizing him from within and spreading outwards.

But the betrayals he keeps close to the vest.

Hes not even disappointed, really.

He sees something inevitable and feels something familiar.

The Bride of Frankenstein is in the artists den.

Dorian Gray has had balls, as you know.

Hes also gotten his share of pussy, but Brona is no purring kitten.

Dorian Grays (Reeve Carney) smirk as he gets down on his knees was a wonderfully ambiguous gesture.

The acting is so consistently interesting.

I occasionally overlook the special effects.

Her transformation into the witch was sensuality hung on its head.

A junkie with a pistol what could go wrong?

Dr. Frankenstein repairs to the lair of nods with Sir Malcolm.

What a fittingly gilded cage for the monster scientist.

There is obviously some kind of dark enchantment on the room.

Like a drug that causes hallucinations of the things that matter most.

It is a family room most of all, but the families are at their most guilt-ridden and punishing.

The concepts behind the scenes are every bit as tingle-provoking as the scenes themselves.

Watching Dalton cower in the corners of the room was also discomforting.

He used to be James Bond, you know, the master of cool.

The witches divide their foe on the precipice of conquest.

Most are cordoned off in pairs, some cannibalistic.

Vanessa also watched, helpless, as Evelyn Pooles (Helen McCrory) sister, the Cut-Wife, burned.

I want to live in the witches castle.

A perfect setting for an unholy slaughter.

And Hell Itself My Only Foe was written by John Logan and directed by Brian Kirk.

Rating:

4.5 out of 5