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Recap: <i>Penny Dreadful: City of Angels</i> Ep. 5 “Children of the Royal Sun” – Declaration of War

Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, Season 1, Episode 5 –  “Children of the Sun”

Air Date: Sunday, May 24, 2020 at 10PM E/P on Showtime

Reviewer Rating: 4 Stars ★★★★★

***WARNING: Spoilers Ahead***

“It’s time to purge. Goodbye to the blood of your enemy; to hiding your pride and power; goodbye to your weak and worthless Gods…”

– Rio

In the opening scene of Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, episode five “Children of the Royal Sun,” Elsa (Natalie Dormer) goes into what I can only imagine a singles bar where men and women alike seek the pleasure of one another’s company, among other things. Elsa, as beautiful as she is, finds a man who seems to fit the description of her yet to be seen husband, Mr. Branson.

Her statement is quite telling, “I think you want to take me home…and I think you want to hurt me.” And with a Cheshire cat grin, the stage is set.

Mateo and the Aftermath of Officer Reilly’s Murder

(L-R): Johnathan Nieves as Mateo Vega and Natalie Dormer as Rio in PENNY DREADFUL: CITY OF ANGELS, “Children of the Royal Sun”. Photo Credit: Warrick Page/SHOWTIME.

Mateo (Johnathan Nieves) stands weeping, his hands in front of him, covered in the blood of Officer Reilly (Rod McLachlan). Of course, it was vengeance for Reilly’s malicious violation of Mateo’s younger sister Josefina (Jessica Garza) in “Josefina and the Holy Spirit.” But leaving Reilly’s lifeless and butchered body in front of the police station is exactly as Det. Lewis Michener (Nathan Lane) calls it, “a declaration of war” against LAPD.

Rio (Natalie Dormer) begins to talk to Mateo while stripping him of his blood-stained clothes. As Mateo stands naked, Rio begins to measure him for a suit while encouraging him to relinquish his former self and give in to the new way of life, the Pachuco life. When she says “say goodbye to your weak and worthless Gods” as she rips Mateo’s cross from his neck, it’s symbolic. She is some form of deity, albeit evil, and any reverence to an angelic God must irritate her since she’s more a destroyer.

And of course, when one person is naked, there will be sex. I almost feel sorry for Mateo because Rio is more mature than he is, and when Fly Rico (Sebastian Chacon) bursts in, I thought that switchblade was going somewhere else. Instead, a twosome quickly becomes a threesome. That’s Penny Dreadful for you.

Tiago and Molly…and Josefina?

It’s not what you think, but I did mention storylines intersecting, and now they are intertwining.

(L-R): Jessica Garza as Josefina Vega and Kerry Bishé as Sister Molly in PENNY DREADFUL: CITY OF ANGELS, “Children of the Royal Sun.” Photo Credit: Warrick Page/SHOWTIME.

Mateo isn’t the only Vega brother getting lucky tonight. Even after Molly Finnister (Kerry Bishé) told Det. Santiago “Tiago” Vega (Daniel Zovatto) she never wanted to see him again, these two can’t stay away from each other.

And while there was no threesome with Molly, Tiago, and his sister, the next day, Molly councils Josefina after meeting her at Joyful Voices Ministry. During their conversation, Josefina recounts her traumatic experience with Officer Reilly.

Molly then tells a story, one that sounds very similar to tale she told Tiago about the time she and her mother, Adelaide (Amy Madigan), were stuck in Florida during a hurricane in which some nice kind strangers helped them. The only difference is in Molly’s retelling to Josefina, the men weren’t so kind this time. Which is the true story? The sweet one Molly told Tiago or the nightmare she tells Josefina?

Miss Adelaide and Her Right Arm

You know Adelaide has her daughter followed and when Randolph (David Figlioli) returns with news about Molly and Tiago’s night together, what she says next doesn’t strike me as surprising. “We know how this is going to end, don’t we Randolph.” His silence is deafening. As Adelaide dismisses Randolph for the afternoon, she says something that gives me chills, “You are my good right arm.”  

I have had my suspicions about Adelaide’s involvement in the Hazlet family murders. As revealed in episode three, “Wicked Old World,” we found out Molly was having an affair with Mr. Hazlet (uncredited), who also happened to be a Deacon at Joyful Ministries. Did Adelaide, with Randolph’s help, kill the Hazlet family? Why kill them all if only Mr. Hazlet was the one sleeping with Molly and embezzling money from the church?

Detectives Vega and Michener Are on the Case

(L-R): Veronica Ocasio as Sofia, Daniel Zovatto as Tiago Vega and Nathan Lane as Lewis Michener in PENNY DREADFUL: CITY OF ANGELS, “Children of the Royal Sun.” Photo Credit: Warrick Page/SHOWTIME.

Tiago and Lewis are on the Reilly murder case. They track down one of Reilly’s “Sonora town honeys” named Sofia (Veronica Ocasio) who happened to be there when Rio, Fly Rico, Mateo, and another Pachuco Diego (Adan Roche) barged in on her and Reilly. Sofia provides a key piece of evidence about one of the guys, the one with a bandage on his hand. If you recall, Mateo just got his Pachuco tattoo in episode four “Josefina and the Holy Spirit,” and it triggers Tiago’s defenses.

Tiago sends Sofia off and urges Michener to let it go. Tiago mentions he needs to talk to his brother Raul (Adam Rodriguez). I love Lane’s comedic timing when talking about Tiago’s brother. “This would the one you shot in the head, the one who tried to kill me? Can’t wait.”

(L-R): Adriana Barraza as Maria Vega and Nathan Lane as Lewis Michener in PENNY DREADFUL: CITY OF ANGELS, “Children of the Royal Sun.” Photo Credit: Warrick Page/SHOWTIME.

Lewis gets introduced to Santa Muerte by Tiago’s mother Maria (Adriana Barraza). The immense shrine to the deity of many colors (gold, white, green, red, and black) doesn’t seem to scare Lewis off, and once again Lane’s comedic timing is spot on. “Wait, let me guess; you’re not actually Jewish.” And Maria gifts Lewis with a small figurine – a black Santa Muerte – for protection.

Lewis senses that Tiago is not being truthful about everything which makes him very nervous.

The Doctor and His German Princess

It’s family game night at the Craft house. Dr. Peter Craft (Rory Kinnear), his wife Linda (Piper Perabo), and their two sons, Trevor (Hudson West) and Tom (Julian Hilliard) are playing the board game “Sorry.”

Then the phone rings. It’s Elsa.

At the beginning of the episode, we saw Elsa with the large gentleman. And now we see him again, yet he’s lying in a large pool of his own blood and Elsa sitting, shaking, with blood on her hands. This ruse is quite elaborate, to say the least, but I guess it had to be done for Peter to believe Elsa’s stories about her abusive husband.

Digging a grave and burying a man for a woman shows not only his conviction to want to be with her, but also a side of Dr. Peter Craft I hadn’t expected to see. Remember when Linda said to Elsa at the birthday party, “Ask him about Essen; he’s not who he pretends to be…” I’m very curious about Peter’s past life in Germany and how close he may have been to the Third Reich.

And of course, there’s nothing like digging a grave to work up the libido. Having sex on the freshly covered grave though seems a bit crass. I guess what they say about sex at funerals is true, although, this is a stretching it a tad.

The Detective and His Brother

(L-R): Johnathan Nieves as Mateo Vega and Daniel Zovatto as Tiago Vega in PENNY DREADFUL: CITY OF ANGELS, ÒChildren of the Royal SunÓ. Photo Credit: Warrick Page/SHOWTIME.

The moment of truth arrives when Tigao and Lewis raid Fly Rico’s room. Everyone tries to run, and Tiago goes after Mateo. After running down a dead end, Tiago confronts Mateo, “Did you kill Reilly!?” And the answer is not something Tiago wanted to hear. “With these two hands. If he was here now, I’d do it again, Esse.”

As sirens wail in the background, Tiago has a choice, take his brother down or let him go. “RUN!”

Other Important Moments

Councilman Townsend (Michael Gladis) is in a cheery mood as picks out a lovely blue tie (because they go better with his eyes). But things sour after he asks his trusted secretary Alex (Natalie Dormer) about Richard Goss’ (Thomas Kretschmann) driver Kurt (Dominic Sherwood). Of course, we know what happened between these two. But homosexuality is frowned upon, especially since he’s the Chairman of the LA City Council.

Kurt follows the young man Brian Koenig (Kyle McArthur) from Cal Tech, the kid Lewis kicked in the face. Kurt overhears Brian and Lewis’ friend Dottie (Lin Shaye) talking about “crazy rockets.”

Richard Goss has a large, 3D rendering of the Arroyo-Seco Parkway in his office. It feels very ominous in this particular scene as the camera pans out to show the massive layout. Why is this parkway so vital to Goss? What does it have to do with the Third Reich and rockets?

The plot thickens.

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

Dream chaser extraordinaire! Judy tends to be a tad sarcastic and kind of goofy! She is an avid admirer of all things supernatural, paranormal, celestial and mystical. She loves to read, write, and watches way too much TV. She enjoys many genres of film and music (and let's be honest, most music from the 80s). She also has a wicked sweet tooth. Cupcakes beware.

Judy Manning

Dream chaser extraordinaire! Judy tends to be a tad sarcastic and kind of goofy! She is an avid admirer of all things supernatural, paranormal, celestial and mystical. She loves to read, write, and watches way too much TV. She enjoys many genres of film and music (and let's be honest, most music from the 80s). She also has a wicked sweet tooth. Cupcakes beware.