'Penny Dreadful: City of Angels' Season 1 Episode 7: Fans applaud 'Mama Vega' as she stands up to Magda
Spoilers for 'Penny Dreadful: City of Angels' Season 1 Episode 7 'Maria and the Beast'
Maria Vega (Adriana Barraza) takes the spotlight this episode as she realizes that Magda (Natalie Dormer) has been targeting her family and she's not going to stand for it. This episode marks the third time Maria has stood face to face with the devil herself, and not blinked. The Old Coyote will do anything to protect her cubs and the fans are behind her 100%.
"'Maria and the Beast' is a marked improvement over the last few episodes. @bstolemyremote and I are living for Adriana Barraza's performance!" say a pair of reviewers, on Twitter, putting a finger on this episode's greatest strength. "Maria showed that she is truly powerful. Magda fears her. I'm here for this!" writes a fan. "Sra Vega is NOT taking Santa Muerte's s**t, and I'm so here for it," agrees another.
Maria is going up against some seriously powerful entities, even reserving some harsh words for Santa Muerte (Lorenza Izzo) herself. In a tense scene, she calls for Santa Muerte to answer for Magda's crimes, and find out just why Magda is targeting the Vega family. Santa Muerte has no answers for her, but after a conversation with Magda, she leaves, leaving Madga alone with Maria. Magda, a devil to the end, attempts to tempt Maria, offering a chance for the Vega family to be happily reunited under one roof. But Maria knows better than to trust her and is having none of it.
"Mama Vega calling out Magda's bullcrap!" cheers a fan. "Maria is not the slightest bit intimidated by Magda. That’s awesome," writes a viewer. "Maria is awesome and you need her," notes this tweet, simply put. That's not the only moment where Maria got to shine, however, as we see a little more focus on her life as a maid in the household of Peter Craft (Rory Kinnear), as she confronts Magda in her guise as Elsa. "If Elsa tries to hurt Mama Vega!!!" warns one fan, posting a gif that declares, "Ladies don't start fights, but they can finish them." A heart-to-heart with Craft shows that even he's on her side. "It's shocking how much Peter cares for Maria. He loves her more than his own wife," notes this tweet.
Though the series seems to have been building up Tiago Vega (Daniel Zovatto) as the lead, it's starting to look more and more like Maria Vega is the series' true hero.
The next episode of 'Penny Dreadful: City of Angels' airs on June 14 on Showtime.