
I like it when lies are exposed. It’s always interesting to see how the lie is revealed or uncovered and how the truth affects everyone. So this week in “Memento Mori,†we see Lyle continue his deceptions on both fronts, Lily lies to the two most important men in her life: Victor and The Creature, Malcolm lies to Rusk about Ethan and Mina and Dorian punishes Angelique for what he believes is her lie, although I think we all suspect she was telling the truth.
Lily is a very interesting creature, isn’t she? I didn’t understand why she felt the need to kill at the end of last week’s “Little Scorpion,†but when she confronts John Clare, we get a reason. She’s seen how women are treated, what is expected of them and how they suffer all because of men and she’ll have no part in it. She knows who she was made for, but she wonders what kind of relationship The Creature thinks they can have. While he seems content to believe the world is something it’s not, Lily can’t. She recognizes The Creature for what he truly his — her match. He is unlike any other man and together they will wreak havoc upon this world.
Can I just say how much I love this version of Lily? God, I want her to remember her life as Brona — and part of me thinks she has to in order to feel the way she does. It would make sense that all that pent up frustration and anger with men and humankind in general, would lead to the creature she’s become. Was I imagining it, or did it actually sounds like Lily slipped into Brona’s brogue for a few moments? Whatever the case may be, I want to see what she and The Creature do together. I fear for Victor’s life, but he’s otherwise engaged at the moment and hopefully saving Vanessa’s life will keep him out of harms way for the time being.
When we met Lyle back in season 1, I had no idea how much I would come to care about him. He can be so pompous and self-important, but he does care about Vanessa Ives. He calls himself Evelyn Poole’s creature, and to an extent I think he is. He knows that there’s only so much he can decieve her, so he’s smart about what information he’ll allow himself to know or be told. While he continues to play the part Evelyn has mandated for him, he also rebels as best he can. Hecate tells him Evelyn has made promises she has no intention of keeping, but this can’t be news to Lyle. If he aligns himself with her, at least he’ll live longer.
Despite Angelique’s jealously, Dorian continues to see Lily. And it’s not like there’s much Angelique can do about it. She’s living with Dorian and I’m assuming he’s taking care of all her needs. But it’s when she’s waiting for him to return from his date night, when she discovers his secret passage. When Dorian finds her later, she’s looking at his portrait. I guess it can be considered hideous, if you compare it to Dorian’s current visage. But what one of the things I liked about Angelique was, is that she wasn’t about surface appearances. How could she be, considering the secret she was hiding? So when she tells Dorian she could love the monster, I believed her. Dorian didn’t, and killed her. I knew Dorian eventually resort to murder, because we already know his story, but I didn’t expect it to happen quite this quickly.

I’m still unsure of how Sir Malcolm managed to break Evelyn’s enchantment. She was able to control him for a short while until Sembene intervened and demanded that Malcolm remember who he is. I’m assuming the (powerful) memory of his family let him sever the hold Evelyn had on him. And it was weird to see Malcolm so happy, wasn’t it? He’s an angry man who shut his family out of his life because of his adventures in Africa and become famous for it. So when that anger returns, Malcolm’s determined to make Evelyn pay. It seems like she might have actually developed some feelings for him when she offers him eternal life, if he’ll be at her side. But Vanessa is more important to him than anything or anyone and he won’t see her sacrificed to the devil. So Evelyn leaves him to his memories, which are embodied in the corpses of his dead family.
Malcolm also seems intent on protecting Ethan Chandler. When Rusk visits, he’s armed with quite a bit of information. He knows Malcolm become a sort of regular at Scotland Yard the year prior when he was looking into Mina’s disappearance. But he soon stopped visiting altogether and many months later, Mina was buried. Malcolm doesn’t seem repentent for breaking the law — entitled men rarely are — or keeping the truth from Rusk. But Rusk has proven his tenaciousness, so I know we haven’t seen the last of him. I wonder how he thinks he’ll catch Ethan, though. The only thing I can think is that he’ll see Ethan as the Wolfman. But I doubt he’ll survive to tell the tale that encounter.
Lyle Completes the Story
We finally learn the end of this story and it turns out the Vampire Master and Lucifer are brothers. They were both cast out of heaven by God, the vampire to earth and Lucifer to hell. Both of them feed on lost souls and were seeking out the mother who would allow one to return to heaven and cast God out, bringing about the apocalypse.
Lyle: “Apparently Lucifer isn’t an only child and like may brothers, they don’t get along.”
The vampire tried and failed to use Mina to lure Vanessa to him and Lucifer tried and failed to posses her soul. Now Lucifer has turned to the watches to do his bidding. But why Vanessa? She’s a “chosen minister of evil.†No one else will do. Of course, the mystery guest to the party is the wolf of God. This figure is a threat to the demon’s plans.
So it seems like it was written in the stars — or the heavens — that Vanessa and Ethan were meant to meet and care for each other. It’s Ethan who can thwart Lucifer’s plans, but how and will it destroy him? I know he’d give his life for Vanessa, but I hope he won’t have to.
Penny Dreadful airs Sundays at 10/9c on Showtime.
Related posts
Classics
George R. Olson, Tim Rozon, and Sarah Levy Talk the SurrealEstate S2 Finale
[Spoilers for the SurrealEstate Season 2 finale.] How’s everyone doing after the finale? As we close out the second season of SurrealEstate, some of our merry band of misfits are scattering to the winds–Zooey to law school, Phil to the Vatican, and Augie back to his think tank with Rochelle,…
Previewing SurrealEstate Season 2 Finale + Revisiting the Season with George R. Olson
[Warning; General spoilers ahead.] Strap in, SurrealEstate fam, because we’ve arrived at the Season 2 finale, and it’s a doozy. As we saw in the closing moments of last week’s episode, Susan is back. But because we have one more episode left, it’s not as simple as all that, as…
Tyler Hynes Talks Through His Eight-Film Hallmark Holiday Library
Things you realize when you have to re-record your shows on a new DVR – just how many Hallmark movies your people have done. Fan favorite – and one of ours – Tyler Hynes has done eight Christmas movies for Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries since 2018. Alongside…
Spencer Creaghan Talks About Creating SurrealEstate’s Signature Sound
SurrealEstate is winding down its second season, with two episodes left, and just as in Season 1, Spencer Creaghan’s music continues to be a character unto itself. And every week, he shares tidbits with the fans via his s social media channels, something he started to help give them an…
Andrew Walker Talks Christmas Island and the Magical Hallmark Community
[Warning: Spoilers for Christmas Island.] Now that the Screen Actors Guild strike has been resolved, we’re able to resume regularly scheduled programming and interview our favorites and yours. Up first, earlier today, I spoke with Andrew Walker about Christmas Island, which premiered last weekend and encores tonight and through the…
George Olson and Danishka Esterhazy Talk SurrealEstate “I Put a Spell on You”
[Warning: Spoilers for the episode.] Tonight’s fun new SurrealEstate found Luke caught up in an especially bewitching woman, Kay, played by Tara Yelland, Susan trapped in her house, and Zooey learning the ropes. In the next part of my conversation with showrunner George R. Olson and producing director Danishka Esterhazy,…
Danishka Esterhazy Talks SurrealEstate: “The Butler Didn’t”
[Warning: General spoilers for the episode]. Tonight’s new SurrealEstate, “The Butler Didn’t,” follows the team as they investigate the years-earlier mysterious death of a woman whose ghost now reenacts her hanging by dropping over the banister from the second floor to terrify anyone on the landing or at the bottom…
Scott McCord and Elizabeth Saunders Talk the From Season 2 finale
[Warning: Spoilers for the season finale.] How’s everyone doing after that finale? While we wait and wonder and hope for a third season announcement, soon, here’s what Scott McCord and Elizabeth Saunders had to say about their parts of the finale, and where they hope they get to go next….
Scott McCord and Elizabeth Saunders Talk From Season 2 + A Season Finale Preview
[Warning: General spoilers ahead.] It all comes down this, #FROMily. As Sunday’s episode wraps up Season 2, we begin with the aftermath of the terrifying onset of seemingly simultaneous attacks on Julie, Marielle, and Randall, which accelerate the “We gotta get out of this place” of it all. Sara comes…
Alison Sweeney Talks About What’s Next for Hannah and Mike After Carrot Cake Murder: A Hannah Swensen Mystery
[Warning: Spoilers for Carrot Cake Murder.] Everybody OK after that Hannah Swensen Mystery twist? Thankfully, our favorite crime-solving couple is still on speaking term, even if they’re on a break (hopefully not that kind of break). Most importantly, we already know this isn’t the last film in the series. No…
What They Said: Three Revealing Conversations from Survivor’s Remorse “Closure”
WARNING: Spoilers for Survivor’s Remorse “Closure” The latest episode of Starz’s Survivor’s Remorse featured conversations that showed characters really digging deep into their thoughts, emotions and motivations.
Two Takes: The Catch “The Knock-Off”
Who can you trust? If this episode of The Catch was any indication, the answer is just about nobody. Betrayal was running rampant as Felicity (Shivani Ghai) arose from the dead to seduce-con Margot, Gretchen (Maria Thayer, Gotham, The Mindy Project) played gold-hearted Alice 2.0 before swindling Ethan, Tessa jumped…
What They Said: Top 3 Quotable Moments from Preacher “El Valero”
Both Quincannon and Jesse refuse to give up on what they each think is rightfully theirs. While Jesse is struggling to face the consequences of his actions, Quincannon has laid his past demons to rest and is hellbent on moving forward and putting Annville on the map again. Despite a…
What They Said: Favorite Quotes from Supergirl “Worlds Finest”
Oh, Supergirl. That ending was cold. But I can’t hate on you because the latest episode has quickly become one of my favorites.
What They Said: Top 4 Quotable Moments from Black Sails “XXIII”
The dialogue in “XXIII” is phenomenal. It’s always a fun ride when Black Sails carries its viewers along without giving them the chance to catch their breath. When an episode moves at this unforgiving pace, there is no chance for a breather nor is there a respite from the information…
What Lucifer Said: Favorite quotes from Supernatural “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”
Supernatural episodes are almost always funny but thanks to the dialogue and a certain man speaking said dialogue, I laughed a lot during “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” You know, when I wasn’t busy fearing for Sam’s life or wondering what in the world was going on with Dean and…
What They Said: The Flash, “Legends Of Today” and Arrow, “Legends Of Yesterday”
Two nights of Arrow + The Flash = what more could we ask for?! I don’t know what it is about blending these shows, but I can’t help but feel that every time they come together, they somehow become greater than the sum of their parts. And that’s saying a lot…
What they Said: Top 4 Quotable Moments from Graceland “Little Bo Bleep”
Shoot outs. Fake outs. And long-awaited revelations. “Little Bo Bleep” was a jam-packed episode that wrapped up some loose ends and totally frayed others. Â It finally gave us one Sarkissian in jail and pulled back the curtain on Briggs’ master plan, but it also set up Jakes for a world…
What They Said: Favorite Quotes from Poldark “Part 4”
“What have I told you, I don’t require my wife to crochet and sip tea, but I do require her to remember she’s not a beast of burden.†No, I’m not talking about The Rolling Stones! I have to admit though, just for a second, the lyrics popped into my…
3 Moments of Goodness from Brooklyn Nine-Nine “Johnny and Dora”
The most satisfying part of this season’s finale has to the Jake and Amy kiss. Well, they kiss three times but the last one is the best one — and it means something. The Charles and Rosa dynamic was also great. I love how she’s convinced he doesn’t know anything…