John Logan explains Vanessa's act which symbolizes her renouncing of God and teases what happens next to the characters after they're separated.
- Jul 6, 2015
AceShowbiz - No war is won without a sacrifice and that's what happened on "Penny Dreadful" season 2 finale. [SPOILER ALERT!] Vanessa (Eva Green) and Ethan (Josh Hartnett) eventually took down the big baddie, Evelyn (Helen McCrory) and her master, but the battle cost the life of Sembene (Danny Sapani) who died in the hand of Ethan as a werewolf.
Following their victory, Ethan turned himself over to Scotland Yard for his massacre but he's extradited back to the United States. Malcolm (Timothy Dalton) left to bury Sembene in Africa, while Vanessa burnt her cross.
Explaining what Vanessa's action meant, series creator John Logan tells The Hollywood Reporter, "The first two seasons of 'Penny Dreadful' were about getting a woman to burn a cross. While not usually in the show, we filter our religion but our lead character is deeply religious and she holds her catholic beliefs very close. Over the last two seasons, she's been so battered that she finally gives up. She loses her faith. Either she steps away from God or God steps away from her, in an incredibly traumatic event." He adds that "Vanessa no longer has the comfort of religion" and she realized "that she has to live without God."
Moreover, Vanessa begins to accept her dark part as the scorpion, which has been her sign of protection, melted into her. "What the scorpion suggests to me is that she is being powered by this dark, frightening thing within her," Logan addresses the said scene. "When it melts into her hand, this isn't a gross shocking thing; this is her accepting the dark part of herself. She knows from the minute she accepts this scorpion and it gently melts into her, her destiny is set to that cross burning. Vanessa has accepted the complexity and duality of who she is. She is partly angel and partly monster, as are we all. And that finally is what the series is about."
Now that the characters were separated, the question is whether there is an event that will bring them back together. Logan coyly replies to the question, "If indeed they do come back together. Season three is a real change of pace for us, which is good. We can get out of the alleys and cobblestone bars of Victorian London and see a bit more of the world. Essentially there's a pull bringing these characters together and it's supernatural, partly romantic, partly shared destiny."
As for a possibility of a romance between Vanessa and Ethan, Logan tells Entertainment Weekly, "Well there's always hope, isn't there? I would hate to think there's not hope for love in this world!"
