How It Is With Brothers – Review
Penny Dreadful: City of Angels Episode 6
An almost entirely self contained episode that raises the tension and the stakes, here is our episode 6 of Penny Dreadful: City of Angels – How It Is With Brothers review.
Synopsis
Tiago (Daniel Zovatto) and Lewis (Nathan Lane) interrogate Diego (Adan Rocha), seeking a confession, while Lewis senses Tiago is hiding something from him. Adelaide (Amy Madigan) warns Molly (Kerry Bishé) about her personal desires jeopardizing the Temple’s future. Townsend (Michael Gladis) learns of Kurt’s (Dominic Sherwood) surprising past. Peter Craft (Rory Kinnear) makes a dramatic decision about his marriage with Linda (Piper Perabo). Maria (Adriana Barraza) tracks down Mateo (Johnathan Nieves) and pleads with him to come home.
In the Cooler
Almost the whole of this episode takes place in the interrogation room at the police station as Tiago and Lewis talk to Diego. Diego and Tiago know that the fourth person who was present at the murder of Officer Reilly was Mateo. Lewis doesn’t. What ensues is a dangerous game as Tiago tries to get Diego to take the rap, while avoiding Lewis finding out the truth.
Outside the room, Reilly’s squad are itching to take a crack at Diego themselves, so time is limited. Much like their Captain Vanderhoff, none of them care about finding the actual guilty party overmuch. They are content to beat a confession out of the first Mexican they can lay hands on. The tension builds both inside the room and out. Tempers flare as Tiago tries to protect his brother and defy the officers who hate him, and Diego desperately searches for a way out.
How It Is With Brothers
Each of the trio has their moment, but I think my favourite has to be Diego’s story about his “brother”. Watching Tiago vascilating between who he is and what he does is great, but we’ve seen that struggle before. Diego could just come out and tell Lewis that the individual they are searching for is Mateo. He’d land Tiago in trouble and walk away scot-free. Instead he toys with the detectives, cool and collected even knowing that there’s a squad of cops outside ready to beat him.
Lewis’s breakthrough moment, after Tiago pulls his gun on Diego, is absolutely astounding. Seeing that flare of rage and then almost immediately the cool exterior when he goes back into the room is impressive. But then the story he tells, convincing Diego to cop to all of the murders, is truly brilliant.
A Normal Life
One of the rare interludes focuses on Sister Molly and her mother having an almost normal breakfast together. Miss Amy asks if Molly ever wondered if she got lonely back when they were on the circuit. When Molly asks what she did when she was lonely, Amy says she remembered her purpose. Amy basically implies that Molly needs to choose between her feelings for Tiago, and her feelings for God. That her flock will want to know she is devoted only to them, or she will lose her power and everything that comes with it. That seems to be enough to give Molly pause for thought.
The power dynamic between these two is really interesting, with Miss Amy’s standing dependent on her daughter’s position in the church, but Molly being so cowed by her domineering mother. As yet they seem to be the only characters that neither Magda nor Santa Muerte have an influence over, but I have a feeling much is yet to be revealed.
Later in the episode Molly sings to her congregation, and if the lyrics are anything to go by, she seems to have chosen her flock. However she doesn’t seem happy with that choice.
LA Doesn’t Care…
Townsend is at the beach, watching Kurt surfing. After a Daniel Craig-esque exit from the surf they talk and we finally find out some of what the taciturn bodyguard has been concealing. Where he grew up, and how he ended up joining the Gestapo. The calculated way he talks is chilling, even in the sunshine. Townsend watches him liked a loved up puppy at first, until he hears the way Kurt talks about his neighbourhood being “taken over” and then you see his crush lose some of its lustre. Then when Townsend talks about wanting to be a dancer, that the reason he loves the city is because you can be anyone you want, it’s such a genuinely human moment, much like his dance the previous episode, that you almost forget how hateful he can be.
On a completely shallow note, this scene was an absolute gift for those, like me, who are fans of Dominic Sherwood. If you came from being a fan of Shadowhunters where he was frequently fully clothed and stalking the night, to see him in swim trunks on a golden sunlit beach is an absolute treat.
Making Moves
After his woodland romp with Elsa (Natalie Dormer) last episode, Dr Craft this week packs his poor wife off to a sanitorium “for intemperance and hysteria”. She protests, saying that her sons need a mother, and not Maria. Then realisation dawns and she lashes out at his obvious plan to move Elsa in. He shows more backbone in this scene than he has up until this point. I guess having a beautiful demon on your side makes a man a little bolder.
I am quite keen to see what happens to Linda as she is furious at this development, and rightly so. They say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, I just hope she can compete with an actual demon!
Mother’s love
Maria tracks down Mateo to where he’s hiding out with Rio and Fly Rico. She pleads with him to come home, not caring what trouble he is in, but he has chosen the Pachucos over his family. Given that moments before his mother arrived Mateo was ready to leave, to turn himself in for Reilly’s murder, it’s a sudden change. The reason is clear. Rio. And Santa Muerte seems not to be listening to the old Coyote any more.
Under Pressure
The rare moments where this episode breaks away to some of the other players are, in this reviewer’s opinion, the only flaws in this episode. They serve as a valve, releasing the pressure that has been building up during the interrogation scenes. This episode could have been a whole hour of Tiago, Lewis and Diego (with occasional clashes with the “bullnecks in the squad room”) and it would have been better for it.
That’s it for my How It Is With Brothers review. What did you think of the episode? We’d love to hear your thoughts FANdemaniacs.
