Children of the Royal Sun Review – Penny Dreadful: City of Angels
We’re back in 1930s Los Angeles for our Penny Dreadful: City of Angels – Children of the Royal Sun Review. Incendiary speeches, nifty moves, more revelations and the cracks begin to show. If you haven’t seen the episode yet you might prefer to check out our Spoiler Free Preview instead.
Synopsis
Mateo (Johnathan Nieves) grapples with the aftermath of his actions. Josefina (Jessica Garza) confides in Sister Molly (Kerry Bishé), who’s shocked to discover Josefina is Tiago’s sister. Tiago (Daniel Zovatto) and Lewis (Nathan Lane)’s investigation takes them from the Sonoratown slums to the Vega House. Dottie (Lin Shaye) befriends Brian (Kyle McArthur) as Alex (Natalie Dormer) lectures Townsend (Michael Gladis) about his personal life. Peter (Rory Kinnear) receives an alarming phone call from Elsa and Tiago confronts Mateo.
Children of the Royal Sun
This episode opens with Magda and then Elsa stalking through a jazz club. She spots a man who approaches and asks her to dance, she says she thinks he’d rather take her home and hurt her. Extremely out of character for this incarnation of Magda, this scene seemed very out of place until later in the episode. I did love the way that everyone else in the club, and the club itself, were in shades of sepia and then there’s Elsa in emerald green, a jewel that catches the eye.
From there we turn to Mateo, still reeling from the brutal murder of Reilly at his own hands. Rio is there, however, and her honeyed words soothe him. In fact she soothes him out of his bloody clothes and right into bed. I kinda expected that, since it’s becoming more and more clear that Magda’s manipulations use sex to cement her control (Elsa and Peter last week, Alex having Kurt sleep with Townsend). What I didn’t expect, but was entirely here for, was Fly Rico (Sebastian Chacon) busting in and joining them.
Mateo truly seems to have abandoned the Vega family for his Pachuco one. We see this clearly at the end of the episode when Tiago chases and confronts him. He admits to the murder of officer Reilly and is proud, making it seem like he did it to be part of the Pachucos. Had he told Tiago why he did it, for Josefina, his brother could have helped him but he burnt that bridge. I just hope that when Rio turns her back on him like she is surely going to once she gets her way, that his mother and siblings will still welcome him home.
Two sides to every story…but not usually from one person
Contrasting with this flaming hot trio are Tiago and Sister Molly. After their argument in the previous episode, where she told him she never wanted to see him again, they consumate their relationship at the beach house she shared with Haslitt. She tells him a story about her lowest point when she and her mother were on the road with their travelling ministry. That their tent was destroyed in stormy weather in Florida and they were saved by a group of local men. Even though this is a private, intimate moment between her and Tiago, she still talks like she’s preaching to her congregation.
In return she asks about Tiago’s scar and he tells her the story, leaving out the Santa Muerte part. She tells him it’s a blessing, something he apparently still doesn’t believe.
Later in the episode, Molly meets with Josefina in private. After hearing what happened to Josefina Molly tells her the same story as before, but with a more sinister twist. She implies that the men who took her and her mother in did not do so without taking something in return. It’s impossible to know which version of the story is true, or even if either are. It’s hard to know at this point if these stories are part of Molly’s persona.
At the Joyful Voices ministry Randolph reports back to Miss Adelaide (Amy Madigan) about Molly and Tiago’s liason. Miss Adelaide’s cryptic “we know how this is going to end” line has me wondering if maybe she had something to do with the deaths of Haslitt and his family after all.
Cracks are showing
Lewis is waiting outside Tiago’s rooming house when squad cars appear from all directions and officers start arresting everyone. Tiago arrives (not from his rooms) and asks what’s going on, he has no idea about Reilly’s murder. Tiago is keeping tight-lipped regarding his whereabouts the previous night, forcing Lewis to ask him outright if he is responsible for Reilly’s death. Tiago denies it, says he hopes it wasn’t Mexicans. Lewis asks what he’ll do if it was. Tiago says he’ll do his job, but I’m starting to doubt that. The two sides of Tiago’s life are starting to pull him apart.
In Sonoratown Lewis and Tiago question Reilly’s favourite “honey”. Tiago realises from her description that Mateo was present when Reilly was murdered. That sets him on a path home to speak to Raul.
My second favourite moment of the entire episode comes when Maria Vega (Adriana Barraza) introduces Lewis to Santa Muerte. After explaining the different versions of the spirit, she presses a small black Santa Muerte figure into his hand, for protection. She wants to protect him, so he will continue to guide and protect her son. I loved this interaction between the two guiding forces in Tiago’s life. I hope we see more of them together in upcoming episodes.
Tiago’s discussion with Raul leads them to a Miss Romero. She backtalks the two detectives and suddenly we see a very different side of Tiago. He threatens to take her child away and have her deported. He’s so riled up even Lewis thinks he’s gone too far, later referring to Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. He’s worried about his young partner (and with good reason), and concerned for himself that Tiago won’t be focused when they go after Fly Rico and his accomplices.
Rockets
Lewis’s friend Dottie befriends the Cal-Tech student in a diner. It’s a great moment that gives us a bit more of Dottie’s story. The moment where she tells Brian that she learned to wire explosives with the anarchist was so understatedly badass it was awesome. Unbeknownst to them, Kurt (Dominic Sherwood) is watching the boy. He makes a call to Goss. It’s subtle but this gives us more information on Kurt. That he understands German for one, even if he doesn’t necessarily speak it, as Goss gives him instructions.
It also gives us a glimpse at what else Goss has planned, as we see him looking over a model of LA criss-crossed by far more than just the Arroyo-Seco motorway.
Townsend and Alex discuss his personal life and suddenly there’s a glimmer of a more human side to the Councilman. He’s still a dreadful person, but his burgeoning relationship with the assassin has revealed a new side to him. This is never more clear than later in the episode when we see him tap dancing in his home. This was my absolute favourite moment of the episode. It seems I’m a sucker for dancing because Tiago and Maria’s sidewalk dance in episode 1 was a favourite moment, and the sequence at the Crimson Cat in episode 3 blew me away. This rates right along side them.
Burying the Truth
The Craft family are enjoying quality time when the phone rings, it’s Elsa summoning Peter to her home. She says something terrible has happened and he leaves his furious wife and bewildered boys at home. Suddenly her trip to the jazz club makes sense. Since there isn’t really a Mr Branson she needed a victim for the next part of her plan. Craft is now fully trapped in her web as he helps her dispose of the body of what he believes is her husband.
That’s it for my Children of the Royal Sun review. What did you think of the episode you Dreadful FANdemaniacs? Has Townsend soft-shoe shuffled his way into your heart? Did Rio’s speech make you want to don a Zoot Suit and join the Pachucos down at the Crimson Cat? Is Sister Molly really as innocent as she makes it seem?
Penny Dreadful: City of Angels episode 5 – Children of the Royal Sun is streaming now on the SHOWTIME website. We’ll be back at the end of this week with a spoiler free preview of the next episode.
