Penny Dreadful (2014–2016): Season 1, Episode 5 - Closer Than Sisters - full transcript

Resyned by xxdecoyxx

SIR MALCOLM: Previously
on Penny Dreadful...

Her gifts make her vulnerable.

They also make her desirable.

MINA: Vanessa...

(GASPS)

Help me.

ETHAN: What happened to Mina?

She became embroiled
with a creature.

Now she has become his slave,

hovering between
our world and his.



They are all about me.

And what's your
part in all this?

My part is my own.

SIR MALCOLM: I lost
a son in Africa.

VANESSA: (IN BOY'S VOICE) Father
mine, let me come with you.

I'll prove myself a
proper explorer.

Peter loves you, Father.

- (GLASS CRACKS)
- (GASPS)

VANESSA: Amunet, girl?

No, much older.

LYLE: Amunet was the
consort of Amun-Ra,

the original serpent prince.

He was sustained by feeding

on the souls of others.



I would not tell Miss Ives this.

Who wants to know they're
hunted by the devil?

(SNARLS)

VANESSA: What's happened?

SIR MALCOLM: It came after you.

I think it was all a ploy.

But it was Mina who
led me to him.

That she may be your enemy.

Can you blame her?

Where's Vanessa?

I want Mother.

Why do you want her?

Why does everyone want her?

(SCREECHING)

But for my transgression, would
any of this have occurred?

We cannot unmake the past.

We shall live with our
guilt, you and I.

VANESSA: My dearest Mina,

my darling friend.

I began these letters when I
recovered from my illness.

At first, I composed them
perhaps every month.

Then weekly and now daily.

Soon I will, no doubt, give
up all other occupation

and simply write.

The ending of one letter becoming
the beginning of the next,

an endless ribbon of words.

I write in hope that one
day you will answer me

and that everything can
again be like it was...

Though I know that can never be.

(WAVES CRASHING)

(GIGGLING)

I don't remember clouds
when we were young.

Were there any, my dearest Mina?

Just beyond the
horizon, perhaps?

Or was it all seashore
and sandcastles?

Such a thought is naive, I know.

But aren't memories always that?

Let's go in and go
terribly far out.

We mustn't. We'll
get in trouble.

You're afraid.

No, I'm not. Then
come in with me.

How far do you think
we could swim?

Far as we want. Everywhere.

And what would we do
when we got there?

Everything.

I think we should go in and
go as far out as we can see.

No, we shouldn't.

Will you always be
afraid, Mina mine?

VANESSA: Were ever two
families closer than ours?

I don't remember a day that gate
between our homes was closed.

Until the day it closed forever.

Hello, Mrs. Murray. Gorgeous
day for the homecoming.

We're all at sixes and sevens.

Children are in the solarium.

Good morning, Mr. Andrews.

Good morning.

YOUNG VANESSA: Good morning.

Good morning, Peter.

God, still at that monkey?

As much as I try,
it just looks...

- Dead.
- He's not an "it,"

he's a "he."

Give him a name.

Van, he's a stupid dead monkey.

You have to give them names

or they'll never come to life.

It's like a witch's spell.

(GIGGLES)

This is Ariel from
the Shakespeare.

YOUNG MINA: You're forever working
on things that eat other things.

I think you're bloodthirsty.

I'm bloodthirsty.
She's just ghoulish.

I think Mr. Andrews has the
most luxurious mustaches.

- I know, he's gorgeous.
- And so tall.

I'm sure I'll marry a tall man.

I couldn't love someone stunted,

it'd be too
embarrassing at balls.

- What sort of man will he be?
- Hmm...

Over 6 feet at least.

With mustaches he waxes daily

and tiny feet for dancing.

What about you?

Anything but one of father's
dreadful solicitors.

(BOTH LAUGHING)

Then, of course, you're
going to marry Peter.

Everyone says so.

I shan't be here
to marry you, Van.

Where will you be?

In Africa with father.

Are you sure you want
to be an explorer?

Well, I can't be making stuffed
monkeys my whole life.

- (CHUCKLES)
- (BELL RINGING)

(ALL GASPING)

(INDISTINCT TALKING OUTSIDE)

(DOOR OPENING)

- (DOOR CLOSING)
- MAN: Be careful with those bags.

- Father!
- Hello, Peter.

Father!

- And there's my girl.
- (GIGGLES)

Hello!

You're so thin.

I can feel your ribs this time.
(LAUGHS)

And you haven't worn your hat.

Oh, you've caught me out.

That was the first thing I lost.

- YOUNG VANESSA: What was the second?
- My way.

(ALL LAUGHING)

Hello, Gladys.

(SOBBING)

None of that, dear.

What did you bring me?

Well, let's see...

What have we got here?

Now...

Ugh.

- What is it?
- It's a serval.

Genus Leptailurus from the
shores of Lake Tanganyika.

- How gorgeous.
- Thank you, Father.

Now, I'm as hungry
as a crocodile.

(GIRLS GIGGLING)

Have you put on a proper feast?

(INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS)

Excuse me?

VANESSA: Those festive
homecomings I remember most.

They were our true holidays.

My mother and father were always
welcome company at your table.

Your father would return to us
with rare gifts and a sunburn.

Now, would anyone like to hear about
my encounter with the cannibals?

- (ALL EXCLAIMING)
- Yes? Good.

VANESSA: But rarest of all
were his tales of adventure,

I'm sure much edited
for our ears.

SIR MALCOLM: When we
suddenly heard a cry...

Nyame.

VANESSA: Peter's
eyes would light up.

Such a marvelous future he
imagined alongside his father.

SIR MALCOLM: Before we
knew it we were tangled up

in ropes and nets,
and there they were.

Shouting, waving their spears,
chanting, "Nyame! Nyame! Nyame!"

- Nyame means "meat."
- Oh!

- Flesh. Food. Us.
- (ALL LAUGHING)

WOMAN: That's just awful.

Shall we begin?

VANESSA: But for all
our kinship, my Mina,

we were not completely alike.

The mysteries of
my Catholic church

were alien to you
and your family.

Had I been older, I
would have seen more.

Beneath the laughter,

beneath that great, easy
outpouring of conversation,

it wasn't tension
exactly, was it?

Not amongst two such
congenial families.

No.

It was more a tremor
of something.

Like words hollered
down a bottomless pit

that come back occluded
and more complex.

Adulthood, maybe.

And on that terrible night,
that night it happened,

did anything particularly
important happen at the dinner?

No, not that I recall.

(WOMAN LAUGHING)

Honestly, I thought I was going to find
you and Peter around the next corner,

playing some trick on me.

(WOMAN BREATHING HEAVILY)

(MOANING)

My mother.

Your father.

More than the shock,

the sinfulness, the
forbidden act,

there was this.

I enjoyed it.

Something whispered.

I listened.

Perhaps it has always
been there, this thing,

this demon inside me.

Or behind my back, waiting
for me to turn around.

(DEMONIC VOICE WHISPERING)

(SHUDDERING)

(PRAYING SOFTLY)

VANESSA: I didn't
tell you what I saw.

How could I?

There was no need for
you to grow up so fast.

- Tomorrow, we should go into town.
- Yes.

You could not have endured it.
Or so I told myself.

Perhaps I was just cherishing the
secrecy of it as a hidden sin.

But in me, there was a change.

I marked it from that
night in the hedge maze.

Perhaps it was always there.

Little acts of wickedness.

Harmless, of course.
Something any girl would do.

I told myself it was
no more than mischief.

But I knew it was more.

Of course I did.

? Cold blows the wind ?

? To my true love ?

? And gently drops the rain ?

? I have never had ?
? but one true love ?

? And in Greenwood ?
? he lies slain ?

VANESSA: And as we grew up,
and you grew lovelier,

it was no wonder to me that
you met your gentleman first.

Or that he had
luxurious mustaches.

Such a gallant young officer.

What a handsome couple you were.

Found you.

(BOTH GIGGLING)

(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)

Thank you.

VANESSA: It was the season
of Peter's inadequate beard,

I watched your courtship with
Captain Branson flourish.

All the stratagems of
advance and retreat.

I always thought of myself
as the stronger one.

But here, you were so valiant.

How could he not be conquered?

I think you set your
future at that table.

He spoke of India and
suddenly I saw you going.

When would I see you again?

Isn't India so
terribly far away?

What would I do?

Marry Peter?

God, how I envied you.

Perhaps I even hated you.

How was it possible that you,
always so meek and obliging,

were to have this greatest
of adventures before me?

You would know love, you
would know a man's touch,

while I, the courageous
one, knew nothing of life.

Mina, my dear.

(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)

Of course, he's a fine man.
I've no doubt of that.

He'll make a proper husband.

But I hate to think
of her out in India

with all that heat and
those filthy wogs.

What do you think
Africa will be like?

Oh, God, Van. Don't
mention that.

Every time I try and talk with
father about it, he shies away.

Maybe you shouldn't ask anymore.

It's all I've ever dreamed about.
You know that.

My father and I off
on an adventure,

blazing some daring new trail.

Perhaps...

What?

Perhaps then, I wouldn't be
such a disappointment to him.

I was never the son he wanted.

Always ill, never good at games.

A disappointment.

He needed someone more like...

Me?

(CHUCKLES)

You'll be all alone when I go.

Mina in India, me with Father.

That'll be sad for you.

But I suppose...

(MUFFLED GASPING)

(GRUNTS)

The minister's coming at seven
and mother wants us there.

You know how she is about time.

(SIGHS)

VANESSA: If I could
only go back now,

I would run after him and say,

"Don't go. Don't go to Africa."

"You'll never survive,
you're too weak."

"You're beautifully
weak, Peter."

"I love you for your weakness."

For at that moment, Mina, I
saw the future crystal clear.

(PRAYING IN LATIN)

(SOBBING)

I tried to pray that night.
God didn't answer me.

But another did.

DEMONIC VOICE: Soon, child.

What games we will have.

(INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS)

VANESSA: You were never
happier than that weekend.

On the following morning
you would be married.

One more night as
Miss Mina Murray

before you became Mrs.
Charles Branson.

All right.

Bye-bye.

VANESSA: You didn't seem
to mind this loss of self.

Perhaps I minded it for you.

(LIGHTNING CRACKLING)

(CHUCKLES)

You've found me out.

Last night of freedom, eh?

Would you like to see
something interesting?

No.

My Mina?

Your Mina.

Although you'll be
relieved to know

she only worked with the
most pacific of animals.

- This is her squirrel.
- (BRANSON SCOFFS)

Which are yours?

Not the docile ones.

That doesn't surprise me.

I've always felt you
have to name a thing

before it comes to life,

like a witch's spell.

His name is Ariel.

The most challenging
bit is the eyes.

They're glass, of course,

so by nature are dead and dull.

But that wouldn't do
for my great predator.

So I put mirrors behind the glass
eyes, so they would spark.

You see?

It's like they're alive.

They are.

I would put mirrors

behind the entire
world if I could.

- (CLATTERING)
- (MOANING)

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

(BOTH GRUNTING)

(MOANING)

(GRUNTING)

(NEIGHING)

(SOBBING)

There, there.

Vanessa!

Vanessa, come back!

- This is obscene! You mustn't!
- How can I not?

Have you no shame?

Get upstairs this instant!

How dare you speak
to me of shame?

Get upstairs yourself and
make amends to my father.

I have to see her.

To do what?

Make this right.

I always thought my traveling
would kill my family.

Being away so long.

My thoughtlessness...

I never imagined it would
be a cruel little girl.

VANESSA: When the illness
came, it was absolute.

I was aware of almost nothing.

The doctors were at a
loss to explain it.

Because, you see, it
was inexplicable.

(GRUNTING)

(GAGGING)

Thank you. Thank you.

I... I have her. I have her.

(GAGGING)

You must eat.

(SIGHS)

They don't think it's
epilepsy anymore.

Did I tell you that?

Dr. Kingston doesn't
know what to think.

Ridiculous little man.

They fear...

They fear that, perhaps,
it's your brain...

Something inside you.

What else...
(SNIFFLES)

What else? Um, Mina's gone.

She didn't want to stay here.

Should we not talk of Mina?

I don't know.

I don't know.

We don't talk to the
Murrays, or they to us.

I tried going over there.

I was not welcome.

Sir Mal... Sir Malcolm...

They don't know what's
wrong with you, darling.

(SNIFFLES)

The seizures...

The seizures are so terrible.

We shall be consulting a
specialist in London.

(CHUCKLES)
You always liked London.

So, perhaps the change...

(SIGHS)

We've booked rooms
at the Strand.

There's a...

There's a clinic nearby
that are well known

for treating women's disorders.

An asylum.

I am not mad, Mother.

I am not unhappy.

You should let me die.

(SOBBING)

Vanessa,

do you understand
what I've said?

I think it best if you
stepped outside, Mrs. Ives.

I'll stay.

I must speak frankly
to your husband.

I'd like to stay.

This form of catatonia
is not unknown to me.

The unusual physical exertions
are manifestations of...

They were not exertions.

She was being tormented.

I have seen epileptic seizures

that have broken bones, Mrs.
Ives.

None of this
impossible, just rare.

Hysteria of a psychosexual
nature can be treated.

The treatments involve narcotics

and escalating hydrotherapy.

Cold water reduces
circulation to the brain,

thereby reducing the
metabolism and motor activity.

The agitation and
mental trauma will slow

and then cease.

I've seen it work, Mr. Ives,
you can have no doubt.

MRS. IVES: And what
if it doesn't work?

DR. BANNING: If we
see no improvement,

there are surgical
options open to us.

Yes.

Let's do that.

Mr. and Mrs. Ives, please
leave the room immediately.

(DOOR CLOSES)

It is very good to hear
your voice, Vanessa.

I'm Dr. Christopher Banning
and I hope to help you.

Your parents have...

I want to be out there.

You will be.

We have a lovely garden that...

I prefer the ocean.

Have you seen someone
who's drowned?

(EXHALING)

I have.

Not a dog or a cat.

Not enough soul in
a dog or a cat.

I mean a man.

A hundred men.

A slave ship.

Yes. More than anything.

Pulled right down, with
the men still chained.

Souls in torment who now find
themselves in greater torment.

Have you seen that, Dr.
Christopher Matthew Banning?

(BELL RINGING)

Vanessa, it's very important
to me that you sit down now.

Who's Vanessa?

(SNARLING)

(SHOUTING IN OTHER LANGUAGE)

(WHIMPERING)

(SCREAMING)

(SCREAMING GIBBERISH)

(TALKING GIBBERISH)

(SYRINGE CLATTERS)

(SCREAMING IN DISTANCE)

(SIGHS)

(SCISSORS SNIPPING)

(TIGHTENING)

(GRUNTS)

(BELL RINGING)

(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)

(DOOR OPENING)

(DOOR CLOSING)

Mrs. Ives, may I step in?

Of course.

Mr. Ives.

Peter.

I've come to say goodbye.

I'm, um, off to Africa
with my father.

- May I see her?
- MR. IVES: I...

- Yes.
- don't think...

Stay here.

You...

You mustn't be shocked.

She's much changed.

(BREATHING RAGGEDLY)

Van...

Oh, Van...

Will she die?

If there is a God.

Is she always like this?

No.

There are episodes of activity.

May I sit with her?

Yes. Of course.

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

Does she know me?

We don't know.

But talk to her,
it's meant to help.

Hello, Van.

It's Peter.

Closer, I'm afraid.

It's Peter.

I'm off to Africa.

Can you believe it?

Finally having that
adventure we talked about.

(BREATHING DEEPLY)

Very excited.

I walked by the shore yesterday

where we used to swim.

(WHISPERING)

You should have kissed me.

Will you kiss me now?

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

(WHEEZING)

You're going to die there.

You're going to die there.

(INHALING RAGGEDLY)

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

MRS. IVES: Peter.

Good luck on your trip.

And thank you for coming.

Of course.

(SOBBING)
Peter,

what did she say to you?

I couldn't make her out.

(SNORING)

SIR MALCOLM: Do you know Keats?

The poet, I mean,
Keats, the poet.

I can't speak.

I'm too weak.

No, you're not.

You are not here.

And yet...

(BREATHING RAGGEDLY)

Who are you?

You are not Sir Malcolm.

You have to name a thing to
make it live, don't you?

And shall I name you?

Only if you want me to live.

Serpent.

Is that what you mean?

Enchanter, Deceiver, Prince of
Darkness, Devil of the Pit?

Have you such contempt
for your old friend?

So, the Keats...

Four lines from Ode
to a Nightingale

have always struck
a chord with me.

Keats was dying
when he wrote them,

and he knew he was dying,

which adds to the piquancy,
don't you think?

Would you like to hear them?

Do I have a choice?

Vanessa, please.

You've always had a choice.

You allowed all this to happen.

Hell, you sought it
out and fucked it.

You could have shut
the door at any time.

You still can.

Right now. Will you?

Yes.

And give up everything
we could have together?

The true knowledge of man's
virtue, as well as his sin.

The power.

The sight beyond this world.

I want nothing
beyond this world.

Don't lie to me.

You've always been drawn
to the deep ocean,

to the dark whisper,

a mirror behind the glass eyes.

To life at its fullest.

Will you close that door now?

So, the Keats.

The lines from Keats.

Yes.

"Darkling, I listen"

"and, for many a time I have been
half in love with easeful Death."

"Call'd him soft names
in many a mused rhyme."

"To take into the air
my quiet breath."

(MOANS)

So the darkness spoke.

Yes.

But you listened.

(CLATTERING)

(VANESSA MOANING)

(GRUNTING)

PRIEST: May the
soul of Claire Ives

and the souls of
all the faithful

departed through
the mercy of God

rest in peace.

- Amen.
- ALL: Amen.

(WAVES CRASHING)

(WIND WHOOSHING)

Sister.

I do not blame you.

Whatever sin,

it has been forgiven
in your suffering.

So much suffering.

It is more than I deserve,

but I can't forgive myself.

There's so much to say.

Or so little.

I'm married now.

Can you imagine that?

He's a lawyer,

in the employ of Mr.
Hawkins of Essex.

He doesn't have a mustache

like my gallant Captain Branson,

but Mr. Harker's a good
man and he loves me.

I'm happy for you.

And our poor Peter.

I'm so sorry.

If only you had run after
him that day in the maze,

and held him tight, and
told him not to go

and that you loved him
for his weakness.

How do you know about that?

I know about many
things now, Vanessa.

The master has taught me much.

Things no one should ever know.

Help me.

Save me from him.

Please.

(SCREAMING)

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)

(SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

(SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

(CHAIR CREAKS)

Mina needs our help.

Will you let me in?

SIR MALCOLM: And
there's nothing more?

No.

You believe you can
reach out to her again?

VANESSA: Or she to me.

I know you do not credit it.

You know nothing of me.

Do you know how many
men I've killed?

In Africa we walked
in blood every step.

There was a time I would
gladly have killed you.

There may come a time
when I gladly shall.

But for now, I can
make use of you.

- And no more?
- What else?

Forgiveness?

Go to your Roman church for
that, you'll find none here.

Have you imagined for one moment

what this has been for me?

An unforgivable transgression
that has marked me for life.

You think you've suffered.

You think you know blood.

You think you've
walked on corpses.

Spread them from here to the
horizon and I have walked further!

You weak, foul, lustful,
vainglorious man.

How dare you presume to
speak to me of death?

Then we shall speak
of it together.

Yes.

We will follow it to Mina.

Yes.

And then?

You will be done.

I will walk on.

I'll have Sembene
prepare a room.

This is your home now.

VANESSA: There is no
exculpation I expect of you.

My guilt is my own and
that I carry with me.

It is my present and my future.

It has damned me well beyond
this short life of mine.

(SNIFFLES)

But I will not rest
until you are safe.

There is no other
purpose in my life.

I shall love you always.

Your dearest friend, Vanessa.

(SNIFFLES)

Postscript.

Your father loves you very much

and would do anything
to save you.

But I love you in
a different way.

(WAVES CRASHING)

I love you enough

to kill you.

(GIGGLING)

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