Penny Dreadful (2014–2016): Season 1, Episode 6 - What Death Can Join Together - full transcript

Previously on Penny Dreadful:

- What does it say to you?
- Open your lips. Taste.

To the most mysterious thing
in London, Miss Vanessa Ives.

I need blood, you fucking devil whore!

Professor Van Helsing.
- Hematophagy, the eating of blood.

Sir Malcolm is looking for a cure
for something he doesn't understand.

- Do you?
-Intimately.

- Do what you have promised me.
- I will need supplies.

Then find them.
My bride must be beautiful.

What's going on?

You're fucking a skeleton every night.
There's no future in it for either of us.



You wanna watch me die?

The master has taught me much.

Things no one should ever know.

Save me from him. Please.

Mina needs our help.

- Will you let me in?
- How far do we go?

- There is no going back from this.
- I'm with you.

And you think
it was the creature we seek?

I would assume so. I mean,
how many of them can there be?

They do rather stand out.

I can't stay in this foul room.

- Did you sense anything last night?
- No.

- Can you try?
- I can't summon these things up.

It was in this house. In your room.



For God's sake, do something.

You don't think I'm trying?
Leave me alone.

Have you forgotten Mina?

Have you forgotten
why we're doing any of this?

I've lost my family.

I lost my family too.
Have you forgotten that?

I'll try.

Where have you been all night?

I went out with Mr. Gray.

He's a devil, that one.

I'm so sorry about last night.

I was waspish cruel outside the theatre
and for no good reason.

I deserved a lot worse. I still do.

Oh, Ethan,
will you not forgive yourself?

We've all sinned.

No one knows that better than me,
but you're a good, true man for all that.

For all that.

I love you with all my heart.

And I you.

Vanessa.

Help me.

- I don't know.
- What did you find?

It's unclear,
like an echo already passed.

But two of the cards suggested a ship
or something to do with the river trade.

And something terrible happening
on the ship.

The Port of London, do you think?

Likely so.

I'll check the shipping registry
to see what I can discover.

Sir Malcolm.

Mr. Gray, please come in.

Thank you. I've come
to make amends to Miss Ives...

...for leaving last night
without making my apologies.

Oh, that's not necessary.

In that case,
would you like to have an adventure?

You mean now?

Is there any other time?

I'm terribly sorry,
but I'm engaged currently.

Oh, by all means, you must go.

The air will do you good.

Well, then, yes, Mr. Gray,
I should like an adventure.

Let me get my coat.

I hope you don't mind
me stealing Miss Ives for a bit.

At your pleasure, sir.

She is always her own creature,
our Miss Ives.

Hello'?

Hello'?

I've never been down here.

It's like a whole different world.

Very close it is.

I've brought my blood tube.

It's getting clogged and...

I ugm...

I'll fix it for you.

You have a great many books.

Passes the time, ma'am.

You know my name.

Aren't we family here?

Yes.

- Maud Gunneson.
- Thank you.

My brother was in an accident,
you see.

Back in Newcastle.

It was a steam engine on a ship.

Exploded. He was burned.

After that happened,
he always looked away, like you do.

I missed seeing his face, my brother.

His name is Lucifer.

Yes, I know, but it's not like that.

It actually means
"bringer of the light."

Or something like that.

I don't read much,
so I don't really know.

We call him Luke in any case.

Thank you for your help.

Well, the autopsy revealed
nothing out of the ordinary...

...beyond signs of malnutrition
and incipient anaemia.

Whatever young Fenton was,
he wasn't entirely preternatural.

But he had the power
to summon the creature.

Yes. I imagine it's rather like bats
with echolocation.

Communication we cannot see
but exists.

I shall discuss it
with Professor Van Helsing.

Very good.
Let me know what you discover.

And you?

Educating myself on matters nautical.
- To what end'?

Possibly undertaking
another hunting expedition.

- When?
- You will not be required, doctor.

Good day.

I have been thinking
about your daughter.

- And?
- Say you find her...

...but say she cannot be saved.

If I find her, she will be saved.

No.

For all the blood we share,
for all the miles we have walked...

...Malcolm, we are not the same.

Where I come from, we know
some people cannot be saved.

Say your daughter is one of them.

What then?

Know what you are going to do.

This is my first time.

Oh, I envy you that.

How is it you've never
been photographed?

It's funny, actually.
I have a bit of a resistance to it.

Then why did you agree?

You seem a man born
to overcome resistance.

There are native tribes
who believe you give away...

...something of your soul
when you're photographed.

Perhaps you do.

And what will you do
with this bit of my soul?

Protect it.

And you,
have you been photographed much'?

I prefer paintings.

Photographs
are so ironically impermanent.

They capture one moment in time
to perfection.

A painting can capture eternity.

I've never been painted.
I couldn't say.

But you do understand eternity.

I know that.

The workings of time.

All right, ma'am,
please hold very still.

There'll be a flash of the powder.
Try not to react.

You may look at the camera
or look away, ma'am. It's up to you.

It is for eternity after all.

Your choice.

Hello, darling.

- What's that?
- I think a love token.

Do I have a rival?

Hardly.

Thank you
for the most unexpected afternoon.

My pleasure. And how will you spend
the rest of your day?

Ruminating.

Well, good afternoon then.

Mr. Gray.

Do you have plans for dinner?

Not anymore.

My young friend.

Professor Van Helsing.

Thank you for coming.

Oh, I have known my great love.

My Hannah, God bless her. And you?

I was cursed with poetry very young.

It creates extremely
unrealistic expectations.

It will happen.
You cannot live only in your work.

My work is preoccupying.

I was much the same.

Never looking up from the cadaver.

I imagined that I was content.

And then one day, I'm having lunch.

Bent over my anatomy books,
I looked up...

...and there she was.

Pale blue dress...

...with embroidered flowers.

So look up, my friend.

Our work cannot control us.
We must control it.

If only we could.

There are times
when we are compelled.

And what compels you?

Do you believe in fate?

- Deeply.
- I don't mean justice.

I mean retribution.

I mean facing the consequences
of your actions...

...that have produced catastrophe.

A sin that is everlasting.

One that you have made immortal.

There is a...

A line from Shelley that haunts me.

A single line from "Adonais."

I cannot get it out of my head.

No more let life divide

What death can join together

Will you tell me your story?

One day, my good friend.

One day.

Go on, show us the whole picture.

You look beautiful.

Thank you.

- And what are your plans?
- I'm bound to the ledger, I'm afraid.

The Geographic Society
is becoming concerned...

...about the cost of the expedition.

Enjoy your evening, my dear.

It's not too...

It's perfect.

You sleep.

How am I to sleep with you running
around God knows where every evening?

Don't worry about me.

I've been through worse.
Why, back in America--

"I used to fight ten redskins
before breakfast." I know.

I know, you great heroic man, you.

Stay there for a moment.
Let me look at you.

Best you didn't kiss me anymore.

Keep a safe distance.

Too late for that.

- And if you get sick?
- Then you'll take care of me.

The medal around my neck.

Would you wear it for me tonight?

St. Jude.

Patron saint
of causes long since lost.

For me.

- Thank you for meeting us.
- Where's Miss Ives?

- She's not with us tonight.
- And why is that?

Another time.

- Come, we have a distance to walk.
- Wait.

- First, tell me what we're doing here.
- We're going to explore a plague ship.

Come this way.

You asked me once if Sir Malcolm knew
what he was seeking.

He does not.

Not fully.

God grant that he shall never know.

Of what I am about to tell you,
we cannot enlighten him.

Why not?

Because the truth is unendurable.

My late wife, Hannah...

...she of the pale blue dress
with the embroidered flowers...

...she did not succumb
to a disease precisely.

Of what did she succumb?

I drove a stake through her heart
and cut off her head.

You're brooding, Mr. Chandler.

It's Miss Croft.

She's not well.

Have you considered an institution?

I went to take a look at one.

It was a prison
with people in big rooms waiting to die.

Do you hold out hope for her end?

I hold out dignity.

I would pay for a private asylum
in the country.

I appreciate that.

We'll stay at home.

She will need opiates before long
for the pain.

She will cease being who she is.

Then I'll love who she becomes.

Berth 17 is ahead.

Why this ship?

It came from Cairo four months ago
and has been in quarantine since...

for what they're vaguely describing as
"typhus or an unknown foreign disease."

You recall the hieroglyphic tattoos
we discovered?

Those were Egyptian.

That, and the fact the ship's
in quarantine, is suggestive.

Of what'?

Chicanery.

I'll serve.

I'm jealous of your company.

I fell under the sway of the Fabians
for a period.

Only ate vegetables. It was hell.

And their philosophy?

It was diverting,
but I've been through so many.

Transcendentalism...

...Utilitarianism, Aestheticism...

...Ludditism, Taoism...

...Socialism.

That didn't stick.

Seeking what? Happiness?

They all made me equally happy.

Meaning, they all left you
equally unhappy.

And religion?

You mean God?

For the sake of argument,
let's say I do.

I like the ritual of church, I suppose.

Especially Catholicism.

And you?

I have a complicated history
with the Almighty.

I think, Mr. Gray, there are...

tremors around us.

Like the vibrations
of a note of music.

Hidden music.

Some might be more attuned to them
than others.

What do those people do,
those who have been chosen?

They endure uniqueness.

To be alien.

To be disenfranchised
from those around you.

Is that not a dreadful curse?

To be different. To be powerful.

Is that not a divine gift?

To be alone.

- To be seeking.
- What'?

Another.

Like you.

Who shares your rarity.

Then you are no longer unique.

Nor are you alone.

Do you know the word "vampire"?

No.

It is not familiar to you in some way?

- I don't believe so.
- Nor to many others.

Aside from a small percentage
of the reading public...

...with a taste
in a certain kind of literature.

- A penny dreadful?
- One in particular.

As literature, it is uninspiring.

But as folklore
from the Balkans popularised...

...it is not without merit.

Mr. Rymer missed the facts,
but he caught the truth.

There is, on this earth,
a creature that exceeds...

...what is commonly known
as the limits of life and death.

This creature feeds
on the blood of the living...

...and can have transformative effects
on those upon which it preys.

When you are marked
by this creature...

...there is only death,
a walking death...

...or a somnolent obeisance.

Are they not unnerving?
Always looking at you.

- I like to be looked at.
- Not I.

Yet you wear that dress.

That was for your eyes.

All portraits.

- I'm sorry?
- They're all portraits.

You have no landscapes
or still lives.

Are not people
the most mysterious things?

I wish they were more so
sometimes.

Glance that gives away the game.

Change in body posture.

And what do I give away?

Nothing.

What sort of music would you like?

Meaning, who do I want to be
at this moment?

Dorian Gray...

...who do you want to be?

Myself, without limits.

Then put on music for dancing.

You have exceptional composure.

Do I?

- Poise, I mean.
- Control.

Yes.

What if you were to abandon it?

- I couldn't.
- Why?

There are things within us all
that can never be unleashed.

And what would happen
if they were?

They would consume us.

We would cease to be...

...and another would exist in our place
without control.

Without limits.

May I kiss your neck?

Don't ask permission.

If you want to do a thing,
do it because it is your desire...

...not my allowance.

You must risk rejection.

You have experience
with such a monster?

You know I do.

They move in a pack like wolves.

Never staying in the same place long
for fear of discovery.

When we come close, they are gone.

To what end?

You mean their goal?

I don't know.

What is any animal's goal?

Survival, propagation, conquest.

- Conquest?
- Who can say?

When we get near, they slip away,
taking our most beloved with them...

...too fast to comprehend motive.

For the dead travel fast.

It's not her.

She must be here somewhere.

Why have you told me this?

Because you would have come
to the same place without me.

- And then?
- You would have pursued it.

And that I would have had to prevent.

If I had a son...

...I would wish him
a long and easy life.

I think your life will not be easy,
but it should be long.

Mine is practically over.

If I seek demons,
and in the chase am destroyed...

...no harm will come to mankind.

You could yet astonish the world.

I'm tired of your temporising, demon.

Do what you have promised me.

So it shall be to all those near you.

Look upon him, Frankenstein.

Look upon your work.

Do not weep.

I have learned that skill.

It brings no solace.

None of these are Mina.
She's not here.

- Father!
- Mina!

No!

- Father!
- Mina!

Hello, my child.

I've been waiting,.

What games we will have now.

We'll find her again.

Will we?

- At least you know she's alive.
- Is that what you call it?

Let me tell you something, pal.

You're pretty sure you know
what's going on all the time.

My father's the same.

He just stands above everything
and moves all the toy soldiers around.

Touched as I am by your childhood
recollections, what's your point?

There are things you can't control.

There are battles you lose.

At the end of the day, the only thing
we have is the people we trust.

Like Miss Ives.

- And you trust her?
- I do.

And you better start doing the same,
or get ready to lose a lot of battles.

Vanessa, I have a lot to tell you.

I haven't been honest with you
about it.