'Penny Dreadful: City of Angels' Episode 8 Preview: Demonic child Frank ups supernatural quotient this week
Maria Vega (Adriana Barraza) might have banished Magda (Natalie Dormer) from her own home, but how will she deal with 'The Beast' in the Craft household? Magda, disguised as Elsa Branson, has already tried to get Maria fired. But Peter Craft (Rory Kinnear) depends on her too much to do this.
So it is up to Frank Branson (Santino Barnard), the demonic child manifested by Magda, to drive her away. The official synopsis of the upcoming episode 8 states that Frank terrorizes Tom Craft (Julian Hilliard) and Trevor Craft (Hudson West) as Maria (Adriana Barraza) fights to protect them. The series is finally incorporating some strong supernatural elements into the show -- something that has been largely missing till now.
On the more mundane side, Lewis Michener (Nathan Lane) confronts Councilman Townsend (Michael Gladis) in his office. This will probably backfire because Michael loves asking the Nazis to kill his enemies, be it Councilwoman Beck and now Lewis and Tiago Vega (Daniel Zovatto). The promo trailer for the episode shows the detective duo does get involved in a pretty intense gunfight with the Nazis. But Lewis is also close to figuring out their gameplan.
Tiago will also now no longer be able to deny that Sister Molly has too many secrets. But as the trailer shows, he still won't be able to keep away from her. In the upcoming episode, Tiago will also confront Adelaide (Amy Madigan) and discover that Josefina (Jessica Garza) has become a full-fledged member of Sister Molly’s congregation. Just like Maria, he too will not like Josephina's involvement with the Temple.
Josephina's conversion will be mirrored by Mateo (Johnathan Nieves) capitulating to Magda, disguised as Rio. In last week's episode, we saw how Mateo reached out to Josephina who is so full of God-talk, that Mateo feels like he can no longer talk to anyone in his family. In his vulnerable state, he is ripe for the picking, as we see Rio fire him up with words of rebellion, trying to fashion him as a leader of the Pachucos. She will implore him to forget his old family and embrace her and the Pachucos instead.
Peter Craft (Rory Kinnear) will also find opposition from a person he thought he had cleanly evicted from his life -- his own wife Linda (Piper Perabo). In order to make Elsa his new partner, he had Linda committed to an asylum. In this week's episode, when he goes to visit her, he will find her ready for war. And who can blame her? Despite being an alcoholic, she still loves her sons and won't be taking her separation from them lying down. Peter will also argue with members of the German-American Bund and since Elsa's plans for Peter are still murky, the upcoming episode might give us a clue about how she plans to use Peter's influence in the Bund..
In between all his politicking, Townsend will have time to take his lover, Kurt (Dominic Sherwood), to what looks like an underground gay club in the trailer. When Kurt asks him if it is dangerous, Michael replies, "Always." In the show, every character knows what risks he is taking but takes it anyway. As Lewis puts it, they are only trying to "survive LA".
'Penny Dreadful: City of Angels' airs at 10/9c on June 14.