Penny Dreadful, Season 3

Dr. Seward:
[to Vanessa] You're unhappy. You're isolated. You think you are the cause of this unhappiness and are unworthy of affection. So, you have few friends. Recently, you lost something that you feel very important; your lover, your faith, your family, or all three. You blame yourself for this, so it makes you neurotic. So you don't sleep and don't eat, not anything healthy anyway. You used to care about your appearance, but you've lost interest in that, so you avoid mirrors. Sunlight bothers you, so you avoid that too, for which you feel guilty. Because you think it's unhealthy and even immoral not to like the sun. You are not a woman of convention or else you wouldn't be here. But you like to pretend that you are so people don't notice you. But you like that as well, and can sometimes dress to draw the eye. But then you think that the men who look at you are fools or worse to be taken in by such an obvious outward show. So, instead, you are drawn to dark, complicated, impossible men, assuring your own unhappiness and isolation. Because, after all, you're happiest alone. But not even then because you can't stop thinking about what you have lost. Again, for which you blame yourself. So the cycle goes on. The snake eating its tail.

Kaetenay:
Are you familiar with the West?

Sir Malcolm:
Only through the newspapers.

Kaetenay:
It is not what it was. But then, what is, Sir Malcolm?

Sir Malcolm:
How do you know me?

Kaetenay:
I've been following you.

Sir Malcolm:
In Africa?

Kaetenay:
I missed you in London, so I came to this place. I awaited for your return from the anterior.

Sir Malcolm:
How did you know I'd return?

Kaetenay:
Because you can't die until you've served your purpose.

Sir Malcolm:
And what's that?

Kaetenay:
To fight the great demons of earth and sky until you are dead.

Sir Malcolm:
I'm done with that.

Kaetenay:
Better say you are done with breathing.

Victor:
I have conquered death, and created monsters... none more so than the man who sits before you.

Vanessa:
The old monsters are gone. The old curses have echoed to silence. And if my immortal soul is lost to me, something yet remains... I remain.

Bartholomew Rusk:
I will consider my duties discharged when I see Ethan Chandler hanging from the end of a rope, and not before.

Henry Jekyll:
We are all two things in a way, are we not, deep in the marrow? Angel and devil, light and dark. The pull between the two is the active verb that energizes our lives.

Kaetenay:
Hunting a man is no great thing. They are slow and predictable. They can be found always where their appetites lead them: to eat, to sleep, to fuck. Man is no great thing.

Lily:
You musn't be here. There's nothing here for you.

Victor:
Where you go, I belong.

Lily:
God help you if you follow my path, Victor. Take your romance and your memories of your most current fiction and go.

Victor:
No. I must save you from one of them. One way or another, you're my responsibility. I created you.

Lily:
I need no man to save me. And I think, in a way, I created you more than you created me. First love, Victor. You will recover. Do not come here again. You will not like what I am becoming.

Vanessa:
[to Dr. Seward] Such things have a name. They are witches, they are vampires, they are Lucifer. They are all those things that walk in your nightmares. Shall we walk together?

Henry Jekyll:
[after a patient regresses into insanity] Aye, that's the tragedy of it. The ceremony lasts a matter of hours, and then they revert.

Victor:
The beast will out.

Henry Jekyll:
And which is true? Which is the real man: the beast or the angel?

Victor:
We are both.

Henry Jekyll:
Are we?

Victor:
Good and evil braided be.

Henry Jekyll:
Oh, no. Not at all. Or at least, we can seem to be that way. So complicated, I mean. In the end, we must be that thing the world demands of us. We must take all the lust and the avarice and the ambition and bury them. All the alien and ugly things, all the things we really are! The other one, the other man, we cannot allow him!

Lily:
All men are slaves to their appetites.

Justine:
Even Dorian?

Lily:
Dorian is an exceptional creature.

Justine:
He's a man.

Lily:
But unlike all others.

Justine:
I've never known a man who didn't want to fuck me or beat me. Can you say different?

Train man #1:
[to Kaetenay] This car is for whites. Indians and niggers go back. Get your filthy ass up now!

Sir Malcolm:
This gentleman is with me.

Train man #1:
[scoffs] Gentleman? Indians travel with the livestock. That's the goddamned law, friend...

Sir Malcolm:
Before you speak another word, I ask you to consider this: How valuable is your life? Do you hold it dear? Does your wife value your company? Do you favor growing old, to one day teach your ugly, inbred children your grotesque manners? Lay hands on him, and it will be your end.

Lily:
Liberty is a bitch who must be bedded on a mattress of corpses.

Vanessa:
[about her straitjacket] How long do I have to wear this?

Orderly:
Until Dr. Banning decides.

Vanessa:
Decides what?

Orderly:
If you're dangerous.

Vanessa:
I am. Don't you think I'm dangerous?

Orderly:
I think you're ill.

Vanessa:
I'm not ill!

Orderly:
Then what are you?

Orderly:
It's not torture, what they're doing. It's science. It's meant to make you better.

Vanessa:
It's meant to make me normal, like all the other women you know. Compliant. Obedient. A cog in an intricate social machine. No more.

Orderly:
I couldn't say, miss.

Vanessa:
Couldn't you?

Orderly:
Not all the women I know are cogs.

Vanessa:
Then they're freaks.

Orderly:
My wife's not a freak and she's not a cog. You should think better of your sex.

Lucifer:
[while possessing the orderly] Oh, my dear, we have so much to catch up on, do we not?

Orderly:
Miss Ives, if you don't start showing signs of improvement, he'll turn to surgery.

Vanessa:
Let him.

Orderly:
You don't know what you're saying.

Vanessa:
I'll sing as he cuts me open.

Orderly:
Listen to me! They'll start by cutting your hair off and shaving your head. Then they'll sedate you. Then they'll strap you to a table. Then he'll use a drill to open up your skull. It's not a medical thing - it's a drill for woodworking. Then he'll put a clamp on your skull and crack it open. Then he'll start cutting things out. I see the results. That's where my job starts again. You'll have lost the ability to control your body. You'll shit and piss yourself, and I'll clean it up. If you're lucky, that part will come back to you, but not much else, if I'm honest. Sometimes, they can't open their eyes or hear. It varies. Do you know what they are, all of them? A broken thing. Not a tiger, not a flower, not a clump of earth, not even a blade of grass. Miss Ives, you have to get better! [she shakes her head] Then pretend! Be like everyone else. Do what he wants you to do!

Vanessa:
I've tried.

Orderly:
Is it that important to be different? To have such specialness inside you?

Vanessa:
Would you want your son to be anything but what he is?

Orderly:
I want him to be happy.

Vanessa:
What if he's not? Would you want him to pretend?

Orderly:
[pause] No.

Vanessa:
Then don't ask it of me.

Dracula:
[while possessing the orderly] Give me your flesh. Give me your blood. Be my bride, and then all light will end and the world will be in darkness. The very air will be pestilence to mankind. And then our brethren, the night creatures, will emerge, and feed. Such is our power. Such is our kingdom. Such is my kiss.

Vanessa:
[entranced] Yes.

Dracula:
One kiss, and you're free of all this. In this mortal world, you'll always be shunned for your uniqueness, but not with me. They will lock you away in rooms like this. They'll brand you a freak and a sorceress, but I won't. I love you for who you are, Vanessa.

Vanessa:
And what name do I whisper to you, beloved?

Dracula:
I am the demon. I am the dragon. My name is Dracula!

Hecate Poole:
Such guilt you carry. The shame, it hangs around your neck.

Ethan:
The only decent thing about me is the shame I feel.

Hecate Poole:
Spoken like a true servant of God. This God, that would anoint you Lupus Dei, that would make you a glorious monster and have you hate yourself for being so monstrous. He tortures you with guilt, and in return offers you what?

Ethan:
Forgiveness.

Hecate Poole:
Do you feel forgiven? There is only one way to be free of guilt - embrace your sins.

Victor:
After all... it is our memories which make us monsters, is it not?

Hecate Poole:
Whatever you did in the Army, whatever the Indians made you do, know this: God watched it all unfold, and laughed.

Ethan:
Let him die here. He ain't worth the bullet.

Jarod Talbot:
[showing Sir Malcom a portrait of a mountain lion] This is by Audubon. Some folks think he only did birds, but no such thing. He did the bloodthirsty beasts as well. It fits here; this is a bloodthirsty land. When I first came to this place, it was infested with those red-handed devils, the Apache. More animal than human. Not human at all, in truth. I blazed my way through the darkness. Through iron will and violent force, and the glory of God, are empires born. There are mountains named after me.

Sir Malcom:
And at what cost? Your home's empty. Your son hates you. Your vainglorious pursuits have led to nothing but bloodshed and heartache. But you're right, the whiskey is very fine. And what do you want from me?

Jarod Talbot:
I want to know why you were riding with that Apache filth.

Sir Malcom:
I was riding alongside a man.

Jarod Talbot:
Ah. Tell me, Malcom, when you were in Africa, how many "men" did you slaughter?

Sir Malcom does not answer, looking ashamed.

Jarod Talbot:
[smug] It is like looking in a mirror.

Sir Malcom:
We are not the same.

Jarod Talbot:
You're right. I still have one child to save. "Bring the fattened calf and kill it. For this son of mine was lost, and now is found." Ethan will live out his days on this land. And you will help me in this. [makes to leave]

Sir Malcom:
And if I am unable to assist you?

Jarod Talbot:
[stops at the door] What would you do to someone who became between you and your child?

Jarod Talbot:
You will repent, or I will send you to Hell myself!

Ethan:
I'm done repenting, and I belong in Hell.

Lily:
We are not women who crawl. We are not women who kneel. And for this, we will be branded radicals. Revolutionists. Women who are strong and refuse to be degraded and who choose to protect themselves are called monsters. That is the world's crime, not ours.

Catriona Hartdegan:
Do you fence?

Vanessa:
Alas, no.

Catriona:
Oh, you should. It's wonderful for the mind. Every decision reduced to back and forth, thrust or parry. A clarity forms during it that the rest of the world is sadly lacking in. Life and death, without the death... most of the time.

Ethan:
Our Father, who art in Heaven, cursed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be spited, on Earth, as it is in Hell.

Jarod:
That's enough!

Ethan:
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us not our trespasses...

Jarod:
I said that's enough!

Ethan:
... as we will never forgive those who trespass against us!

Jarod:
You will shut your mouth!

Ethan:
Lead us into temptation, and deliver us to evil, for Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory.

Hecate Poole:
For a few hours longer.

Ethan:
Amen.

Hecate Poole:
Amen.

Sir Malcolm:
[to Kaetenay] I knew you were too mean to die.

Vanessa:
You were very kind to me once, and I loved you for it. The man I knew deserved to be loved.

John Clare:
And the man you see?

Vanessa:
[smiles] No less.

Ethan:
You may want to fight on until the sun falls from the sky, the last fucking Apache, and more power to you, pal. But I'm done.

Kaetenay:
You may be done with Hell, but it is not done with you.

John Clare:
I've done cruel things. I've been unworthy, and hurt those who didn't deserve it. A kind of madness, call it, and bottomless rage. The sun will never shine as brightly for me, now that I've walked in darkness. I cannot be the man I was.

Marjorie:
You were lost. Now, you are home.

Justine:
Ever so charming, aren't you? All charm, and nothing but. There may come a day when that ain't enough.

Dorian:
And are you to choose that day?

Justine:
You wanted a killer. You got one. Can't go back now.

Dorian:
Listen, child. I can toss you out like the baggage you are whenever it pleases me. And don't think for one moment your tiresome Sapphic escapades shock me. You think you're bold? You think you know sin? You're still learning the language. I wrote the bloody book. [grabs her by the throat] You want to play with me, kitten? Then show me your claws!

Vanessa:
I'm no witch. You know nothing of me.

Kaetenay:
You are a great, fertile bitch of evil, and I love you for your fertility and your power. You are the woman of all our dreams and all our night terrors.

Dracula:
We have been shunned in our time, Vanessa. The world turns away in horror - why? Because we're different. Ugly. Exceptional. We are the lonely night creatures, are we not? The bat, the fox, the spider, the rat...

Vanessa:
The scorpion.

Dracula:
The broken things.

Vanessa:
The unloved.

Dracula:
There's one monster who loves you for who you really are, and here he stands. I don't want to make you good, I don't want you to be normal. You don't need to be anything but who you truly are. You have tried for so long to be what everyone wants you to be, what you thought you ought to be, what your church and your family and your doctors said you must be. Why not be who you are instead?

Vanessa:
Myself...

Dracula:
You will never be alone again. I will love you until time has lost all meaning.

Vanessa:
Yes...

Dracula:
Do you accept me?

Vanessa:
I accept... myself...

[she bares her throat to him, and he begins drinking her blood]

Vanessa:
[voiceover] And then all light will end, and the world will live in darkness. The very air will be pestilence to mankind. And our brethren, the night creatures, will emerge and feed. Such is our power. Such is our kingdom. Such is my kiss.

Catriona:
Mr. Chandler, you will need a mask, something to filter the air.

Ethan:
I can handle the fog.

Catriona:
That is not fog. That's what we all thought at first: an especially dense fog mixing with the chlorine gases from the factories. And then people started to die. First by the dozens, then by the hundreds. Last week, 7,000 people died in London. It is not a fog, Mr. Chandler. It is a plague.

Ethan:
I'll take my chances. He needs a doctor. I need to find Miss Ives.

Catriona:
We all need to find Miss Ives. If I'm correct, she is the only one who can stop all this.

Ethan:
And what is "all this"?

Catriona:
The End of Days.

Dorian:
In my time, I have seen a thousand Lilys. Beating their breasts, burning too bright and too wild. I understand she dazzled you, but she's gone now. Trust me when I tell you, you are lucky. You have glimpsed liberty, and that is more than most ever know. Go back to your short little life, or build a new one. I don't care in the slightest.

Justine:
I can't go back. I can't live that way again.

Dorian:
You will be surprised with what one can live with.

Justine:
I won't go back.

Dorian:
The choice isn't yours to make, child.

Justine:
But it is. I would rather die here on my feet than live a lifetime on my knees.

Dorian:
Do you mean that? As you wish.

[he takes her face in his hands, kisses her, and breaks her neck]

Catriona:
Why is it that men always resist doing what's best for them if they think it makes them look weak, especially when the advice is advocated by a member of the opposite sex?

Sir Malcolm:
I suppose we're just proud.

Catriona:
I'm all for pride, but there are limits.

Sir Malcolm:
I've never known them.

Catriona:
Then you'll learn.

Sir Malcolm:
Are you going to teach me?

Catriona:
You could do worse, though I've a firm hand, Sir M.

Lily:
There are some wounds that can never heal. There are scars that make us who we are - without them, we don't exist.

Vanessa:
What do you fear?

Dracula:
I don't know what you mean.

Vanessa:
I can smell it on you.

Dracula:
He's coming - your Mr. Chandler. I have reason to fear him. He is foretold as my singular enemy.

Vanessa:
Fear not all prophecies. We defy them. We make our own Heaven, and our own Hell. Let him come. He and I shall write the ending in blood, as it was always going to be.

Kaetenay:
A vision was sent to me of a man with a true heart - a son - and only then did I understand my true purpose. It was not to save my people. It was to give you the power to save all people.

Ethan:
You did this to me? You made this monster!

Kaetenay:
I claimed you from God.

[enraged, Ethan slams him against the wall]

Ethan:
Do you how many people I've murdered? How many have suffered? This blood is on my soul! You poisoned my heart!

Kaetenay:
I have given you the power to save her. [pause] Graves will overflow. The rivers will run red with blood, and darkness will consume the Earth. Only one man can stop this. I alone understand the sins you have committed, the pain you carry. But all your life, you have run from this pain. You ran from your father. You ran from your tribe. Tonight, you stop running. Tonight you accept the destiny that God has given you.

Dorian:
Do you not yet comprehend the wicked secret of the immortal? All age and die, save you. All rot and fall to dust, save you. Any child you bear becomes a crone and perishes before your eyes. Any lover withers and shrinks into incontinence and bent, toothless senility, while you, only you, never age, never die, never fade - alone. But after a time you'll lose the desire for passion entirely, for connection with anyone, like a muscle that atrophies from lack of use. [glances at the portraits] And one day you will realize that you have become like them - beautiful and dead. You have become a perfect portrait of yourself.

Lily:
An eternity without passion, without affection, caring for nobody...

Dorian:
[smiles] A small price to pay for such immortal perfection, don't you think?

Lily:
Goodbye, Dorian. I hope they watch over you.

[she leaves]

Dorian:
You'll be back, and I'll be here. [pause] I'll always be here.

Sir Malcolm:
Before we go, answer me one question. My daughter, Mina... it was you who turned her.

Dracula:
Yes.

Sir Malcolm:
Why?

Dracula:
She was meant to bring Vanessa to me.

Sir Malcolm:
My daughter's life meant no more than that?

Dracula:
No more than that. [smiles cruelly] Although, her flesh was sweet... and I enjoyed her.

[Sir Malcolm stares at Dracula and his brood for a moment, and then turns to the others]

Sir Malcolm:
You should go.

Victor:
Not a chance.

Sir Malcolm:
We are all doomed in this place.

Catriona:
Makes a change for a Tuesday, though.

Dr. Seward:
Fuck him.

Sir Malcolm:
[smiles] I die proudly alongside all of you.

Vanessa:
Let it end. With a kiss.

Ethan:
With a kiss. With love.

Vanessa:
With love.

[Ethan kisses Vanessa, then begins to recite the Lord's Prayer. Vanessa joins in and finishes the prayer. Ethan shoots her and catches her as she falls]

Vanessa:
[dying] Oh Ethan! I see our Lord. [dies peacefully]