Penny Dreadful: City of Angels – Josefina and the Holy Spirit Review
A little later than usual, it’s time for our Josefina and the Holy Spirit review. This was an episode of eye-popping revelations and disturbing images, and the first time I truly felt like City of Angels was picking up the mantle of Penny Dreadful.
Synopsis
Tiago (Daniel Zovatto) scours Sister Molly (Kerry Bishé)’s beach house for clues, leading to disquieting revelations. Councilwoman Beck (Christine Estabrook) proposes an alternate route for the Arroyo-Seco motorway, infuriating Townsend (Michael Gladis). Peter Craft (Rory Kinnear) invites Elsa (Natalie Dormer) to a party at his home, inflaming the suspicions of his wife Linda (Piper Perabo). Lewis (Nathan Lane) asks the gangster Benny Berman (Guest star Brad Garrett) to help battle the growing Nazi menace in LA. And after Josefina Vega (Jessica Garza) has a harrowing encounter with the police, Mateo (Johnathan Nieves) seeks retribution with his new Pachuco friends as Josefina pursues spiritual enlightenment with Sister Molly.
Show, don’t tell.
One of the things this episode, and the show in general, did so very well was “show, don’t tell.” So often in shows these days everything is spelled out for the audience, but Penny Dreadful: City of Angels is more restrained. Case in point – the scene with Tiago at Sister Molly’s beach house. He’s there on his own, investigating, so it wouldn’t make sense for him to speak. We watch as he picks up on little signs around the house that Molly was indeed having an affair with Haslitt. Likewise the opening scene which seems so out of place and unconnected until the very end of the episode. We aren’t led by the hand, we are allowed to work things out for ourselves.
Likewise the looks on Dr Craft’s wife’s face as she watches Elsa with Peter and his friends. Her expressions say more than words could possibly in that scene.
Look to the young.
It’s the younger actors that really stole this episode for me, especially Jessica Garza as Josefina. My heart broke for Josefina over and over in this episode, and so much of her performance is again conveyed in her posture and facial expressions. From her suffering at the hands of Officer Reilly, through her family drama, to the moment Sister Molly touches her face and we see hope again. That moment where Molly touches her, you can almost see as powerful a faith as that her mother has in Santa Muerte be born.
I’m also seriously impressed with Johnathan Nieves as Mateo in this episode. From the very start he’s been an absolute firecracker, full of barely held on to anger. In this episode though it all comes to the surface, culminating in him taking his bloody revenge on the officer who assaulted him and his sister. I really feel like these two actors are going to be ones to watch in the future.
The scene with the boys at the sleepover telling ghost stories was fantastic and creepy as hell. We all remember doing that right? Well hopefully none of us had the same repercussions as poor Tom, who wakes in the night to the bloody torso of the young girl from Frank’s true story sitting on his bed. I also loved that the story Frank (Santino Barnard) tells of Florence Moore is the case Vanderhoff told Tiago about in episode 3. Also, can whatever Jullian Hilliard (Tom Craft) stars in next please be filled with puppies and rainbows because between this, The Conjuring 3 and The Haunting of Hill House I think he’s had more than enough horror for one so young!
Top or Bottom.
After the revelation about Townsend at the end of the previous episode speculation was rife in certain areas and it turned out their suspicions were confirmed. In this episode we saw Goss’s bodyguard/hitman Kurt (Dominic Sherwood) kill the rent boy that Townsend had been with before dragging the Councilman out to his car. He drove out to a secluded motel where after a very brief exchange they had sex.
I admit I was surprised at first. The original Penny Dreadful was never shy about its sex scenes, so the cut-away to Alex watching as the encounter is recorded on film raised an eyebrow. Of course I should not have second guessed, since the recording is shown later anyway as Alex and Goss discuss keeping Townsend in line.
Full circle.
The final few minutes of this episode bring us back full circle both on Lewis’s dealings with the gangster Berman and Mateo’s with Reilly. The contrast between these two is what really stood out to me in these final moments. When Berman tells Lewis to kill the arms dealer who was responsible for the slaughter at the start of the episode, even knowing that the man sold guns to the Nazis Lewis refuses. Compare that to Mateo and his Pachuco friends with Reilly. When Rico hands Mateo a razor he takes it and unleashes all his rage on the cop.
So that’s the end of our Josefina and the Holy Spirit review. What did you think of the episode?
Episodes 1-5 are available to stream now on the SHOWTIME website and app.
