Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, Season 1, Episode 8 “Hide and Seek”
Air Date: Sunday, June 14, 2020 at 10PM E/P
Reviewer Rating: 4 Stars
***WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD***
“You’re a fraud, Peter. What are you going to do when everyone finds out who you really are? Next time you come, bring a lawyer, and a cow for my roommate.” – Linda Craft
Wow! So much happens in Penny Dreadful: City of Angels eighth episode, “Hide and Seek.” Confrontations, secrets, lies, and some seriously spooky shit! It’s vile, vicious, and surprising, that’s for sure!
Lewis (Nathan Lane) and Tiago (Daniel Zovatto) decide to confront Councilman Townsend (Michael Gladis) and Miss Adelaide (Amy Madigan) about their cozy dinner with a Nazi. Townsend makes a bold move in taking Kurt (Dominic Sherwood) to a secret club. Josefina (Jessica Garza) also takes drastic steps in her independence. Peter (Rory Kinnear) reveals who he truly is, and Maria (Adriana Barraza) must protect Peter’s two sons as Frank (Santino Barnard) terrorizes the Craft home.
I am warming to Councilwoman Beverly Beck (Christine Estabrook), even if she’s not the most endearing woman. She is not one to sit idly by while being threatened. Townsend confronts her about her plans to remove him from office and her reply is quite direct. “Isn’t that queer? You’re familiar with the term?” That shut Townsend up quick.
As he enters his office, sulking, he finds Detective Lewis Michener waiting for him. Townsend says he’s busy to talk right now, so Lewis asks, “Is Germany calling?” Well, I guess this is just not Townsend’s day. The interesting development is Townsend’s trusted secretary Alex (Natalie Dormer). She follows Lewis and provides some information. She also speaks to him in German so that no one will understand. Why is she playing both sides, especially now? Does she feel cornered?
Townsend feels the pressure so decides a nice evening out with his best guy Kurt is in order. He takes Kurt to a secret gay club in Los Angeles. Kind of like a speakeasy during prohibition, this club is equipped with an alarm so that if they get raided, the girls dance with guys and vice versa. I loved this scene so much, and hello, Patti Lupone guest stars as a lounge singer belting out a jaunty tune with her magnificent voice.
The other intriguing part that manifests in this scene is Kurt’s expression of “love” for Townsend. Is this real or an act to keep Townsend in line? In last week’s “Maria and the Beast,” Richard Goss (Thomas Kretschmann) told Kurt to “be the icicle” and keep his heart cold. Is Kurt gay and racist?
Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, Ep. 8 “Hide and Seek” – Secret Club Photos
(L-R): Michael Gladis as Councilman Charlton Townsend and Dominic Sherwood as Kurt in PENNY DREADFUL: CITY OF ANGELS, “Hide and Seek”. Photo Credit: Warrick Page/SHOWTIME. 
(L-R): Dominic Sherwood as Kurt and Michael Gladis as Councilman Charlton Townsend in PENNY DREADFUL: CITY OF ANGELS, “Hide and Seek”. Photo Credit: Warrick Page/SHOWTIME. 
Patti LuPone as club singer in PENNY DREADFUL: CITY OF ANGELS, “Hide and Seek”. Photo Credit: Warrick Page/SHOWTIME. 
(L-R): Dominic Sherwood as Kurt and Michael Gladis as Councilman Charlton Townsend in PENNY DREADFUL: CITY OF ANGELS, “Hide and Seek”. Photo Credit: Warrick Page/SHOWTIME.
Josefina pays a surprise visit to her mother Maria at the Craft house, but she doesn’t come with the gladdest tidings. Josefina is moving out to live full-time at the Joyful Voices temple. This obviously doesn’t sit well with Maria but now she has to deal with Elsa (Natalie Dormer).
Elsa: “And please, don’t ever let me see you speaking with Mexican people at our gate ever again. We don’t want the neighborhood talking, do we?”
Elsa, her beauty is only skin deep because her soul is vile. And her offspring, Frank, is viler and more vicious than ever.
Before we delve into the darkness of Frank, we will pay a visit to the former lady of the house, Linda Craft (Piper Perabo).
Peter goes to visit his estranged wife Linda at the sanitarium. He had her committed so that Elsa could move in. Linda is ready to fight. After telling him about her roommate from Bakersfield who apparently misses her cows more than her husband, Linda makes it known that her family’s attorney will be reviewing any papers Peter brought regarding custody of the boys and the dissolution of their marriage.
Linda spews angry sentiments and continues to remind Peter that she knows his true identity. “You’re a fraud Peter. What are you going to do when everyone finds out who you really are? Next time you come, bring a lawyer, and a cow for my roommate!”
While the scene is brief, it’s significant. Mateo (Jonathan Nieves) grows restless and unsure of himself. When he tries to leave to go back home, Rio (Natalie Dormer) tells him he is the future of the Pachucos. She seems so desperate to keep Mateo with her. Why? Why does Rio want to keep Mateo so close? Her explanation may provide a sinister answer. “You give them [Pachucos] hope so they will die for you.” Well, that’s not good. It’s another piece of the puzzle in Magda’s (Natalie Dormer) plan to destroy mankind.
In another love story, Tiago must pay an official visit to his girlfriend Molly’s (Kerry Bishé) “dragon mother” Miss Adelaide about her dinner with Richard Goss and Councilman Townsend. Tiago finds out a lot of things about Molly and the secrets she’s keeping including the fact that she has been helping his little sister Josefina.
Of course, you know Adelaide is more than aware of this fact but insists on showing Tiago around the Joyful Voices campus. She makes sure to take him to the pool room where where Molly is baptizing Josefina. The thing that kills me is how disrespectful Adelaide is when speaking of her own daughter. She tells Tiago that she’s had many lovers before him and will have many after him. “My daughter likes to keep her secrets, and she has so many, doesn’t she Tiago?” With a mother like that, who needs enemies?
Back to Peter and Elsa. They are out at a dinner where the German-American Bund discuss matters of German business. Herman Ackermann (Ethan Peck) is quite vocal about keeping the ways of Hitler alive in America but Peter disagrees. Of course, Elsa, despite agreeing with Herman and everyone else saying “Heil Hitler,” she stands up for Peter commenting on the fact that Hitler wasn’t German, “he was Austrian.” Needless to say, the car ride home is filled with tension.
Elsa confronts Peter accusing him of not having pride in being German. She questions his ability to protect her and Frank. Um, did you forget he buried a big man that you claimed was your abusive husband for you? Then Peter divulges a secret. In Germany, Peter’s family owned a munitions factory that created weapons and tanks for Hitler’s army. “My name is not Peter Craft. I am peter Krupp.” But Peter didn’t want to continue in the family business and have his hands soiled in the blood of the innocent. He wanted to create a new life in America.
Inside the Craft home, an entirely different war unfolds – the war between good and evil. The scenes that take hold of me the most in “Hide and Seek” involve Elsa’s spawn, because we don’t even know if Frank is a real boy or not. If you recall in the series premiere, once she left the doctor’s office, she absorbed Frank into her abdomen. Frank begins to show his true colors to Maria, and she fears for Peter’s two young sons.
As Maria washes dishes, the remnants of a bloody steak spill into the water, and she gets a vision. Trevor (Hudson West) and Tom (Julian Hilliard) yell for Maria as Frank corners the two boys in the living room. Frank seems fearful of the small coyote figurine Tom clutches around his neck. “What is that?”
Maria had given Tom a figurine of a coyote to help protect him after he buried his hamster (R.I.P. Friar Tuck). When Tom opens his hand and shows the little coyote, Frank gives Maria an evil look and then the all the lights in the house go out.
As Maria gets a flashlight, she searches the house for the boys. They yell out for her and you can feel the tension rise in the air as evil lurks. Maria gets locked Tom and Frank’s room and her dead husband appears to her. He warns her about staying but she knows something is wrong.
Maria: “Let me tell you what I know. Not a lot. And old woman should know more, but two things I know; that my husband would never tell me to run away and the beast can take many forms.”
The Beast: “Old Coyote, do you know how your husband screamed when I killed him?”
As the man burns and screams, Maria snaps out of her vision when the tea kettle blows. Then Frank comes in the kitchen, knocks the kettle to floor and puts his hand on the fiery burner at the exact moment when Elsa and Peter walk in the door. How convenient?
Peter knows that the mishap is an accident, but Elsa argues and wants to fire Maria immediately. But Peter refuses. The next thing she says, “Will you be the strong man I need or will you let an old Mexican woman be the master in this house? I don’t need Peter Craft. I need Peter Krupp!”
When Elsa prevents Maria from leaving saying they need to talk to her, Peter does something Elsa didn’t anticipate.
“Ah Maria, well, you’ve worked so hard for this family and, uh, for so long. But we have decided …that you shall have a raise. Five dollars more a week, shall we say? This family could not do without you. Now, go home and see your children, ja?” Maria leaves, giving Elsa a look of ‘take that bitch.’ Then Peter looks at Elsa, “You want Peter Krupp? Here he is.”
In the final scenes, Lewis goes to Tiago’s apartment and finds Molly there in bed. Lewis wants to know “Does Molly know about her mother and the Nazis?” Tiago doesn’t know the answer then suddenly, shots ring out – someone is trying to kill Lewis and Tiago with a machine gun.
Only one episode before the season finale and things are heating up in more ways than one.
Tune into Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, Sundays at 10PM E/P on Showtime.
For more, go to https://www.sho.com/penny-dreadful-city-of-angels
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Judy Manning
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