Penny Dreadful

Mum?

Mum?

Mum?

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum.

Benedicta tu in mulieribus,

et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Lesus.

Sancta Maria, mater Dei,

ora pro nobis peccatoribus,

nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum.

Benedicta tu in...

Soon, child, soon.

I'm hungry...

__

Just about then...

I seen big old Crazy Horse himself,

riding up with his band of bloodthirsty Sioux killers.

Applaud the man!

General Custer gave the word,

his blond hair flapping in the breeze

like something from myth.

Says he: "Stand here and fight, boys, fight for your very lives!"

And so fight I did.

One of the few survivors who lived

to bring you this tale of pluck and daring.

Thanks for coming out today

and I hope that I have found some favor among you

estimable gentlemen...and ladies.

Yeah!

Yeah!

Will I see you again?

No.

Would that I could. Show's heading off to Paris.

So many details to attend to... You understand.

The life of a theatrical gentleman is peripatetic, darlin'.

But I was under...

Just know that you have made my visit here truly memorable.

I shall never forget you.

Perhaps you'd like to know my name then.

__

You didn't tell the truth.

By my reckoning, you were a boy when General Custer died

and 'tis well known there were no survivors.

What we call a tall tale, darlin'.

Exceedingly tall.

Vice of my nation. We're storytellers.

Join me, won't you?

You saw my exhibition?

Highly impressive, especially your finale.

Well, you gotta leave them wanting more,

as we say in show business.

And what might I do for you?

- I have a need for some night work. - Oh, honey, don't we all?

I have a need for a gentleman who's comfortable with firearms

and not hesitant to engage in dangerous endeavors

or was all that a tall tale as well?

What do you think?

Expensive watch, but threadbare jacket.

Sentimental about the money you used to have.

Your eye is steady, but your left hand tremors.

That's the drink,

so you keep it below the table, hoping I won't notice.

You have a contusion healing on your other hand,

the result of a recent brawl with a jealous husband, no doubt.

Your boots are good quality leather, but have been resoled more than once.

I see a man who's been accustomed to wealth,

but has given himself to excess

and the unbridled pleasures of youth.

A man much more complicated

than he likes to appear.

So, it's a job, this "night work?"

Yes.

Something of a criminal setup?

Would it matter?

- Not at all. - Then why ask?

Show's heading off to Paris, pretty soon.

The job's tonight.

- Is it a murder? - Would it matter?

One smile and I say yes.

Meet me at this address at eleven o'clock.

- I don't know London. - Then ask a policeman.

You have a name?

Yes.

Clear off, Johnny!

Mr. Chandler.

I didn't expect you to be on time.

Oh, I never keep a lady waiting.

Very wise. This way please.

- This is the individual? - Yes.

Did you bring your weapons?

One-one minute.

What're we doing here?

We're looking for someone.

More than that, you don't need to know.

Do not be amazed at anything you see

and don't hesitate.

Who exactly are we looking for?

Someone very dear to me who's been taken.

That which you serve, we seek.

Where is she?

Little girls shouldn't play with toys like that.

Where is your master?

Closer than you think.

Would you like to meet him?

It's not her.

Agghhh!

She's not here.

There must be another.

Another creature?

Is there another?

Is there another creature like that?

Jesus Christ!

Don't move, Mr. Chandler. This night's not over.

Help us, please.

What is this place?

Where the resurrection men ply their trade.

The surgeons must supply their students with ample subjects.

When the legal channels are exhausted,

they're forced to resort to other means.

I'm in need of your services, sir.

Tisn't from the river?

They're useless once them fishes got 'em.

Not the river, no.

Well, that's a blessing.

Bring it round the back and see if my assistant can take you.

Your master said you might assist us.

I have no master.

The proprietor out front, I mean.

- Go away. - I'll pay you for your time.

- You'd not afford it. - You're very proud.

Take it to a slaughterhouse. I'm not a medical practitioner.

I'm engaged in research.

You're a man with a bloody knife like everybody else out there,

so stop putting on airs.

American?

You are clever.

Do you know anything about electrical currents?

Your country is making such strides

as we labor in the dark ages of coal and peat.

Have you any experience with the principles

and applications of galvanism?

Oh, the usual.

Sir, I have urgent need of an necropsy. Will you assist us?

I am occupied solely in research.

I will not bore myself with explanations

you could not possibly understand.

Now, kindly, stop wasting my time and get out!

My God.

Lividity, null.

Rigor mortis, null.

Notable ocular hyperemia.

Ocular reaction, null.

Dental malformation,

not naturally occurring due to the isotropy.

Nature's rarely so neat.

Nature abhors symmetry.

Trauma and penetration of the chest cavity

through the manubrium seems the likely cause of death,

but I expect you know that.

Age of the subject is impossible to determine.

The teeth seem barely used, which seems unlikely given the...

muscular development.

The dermis is unusual.

Seems to lack the normal cutaneous eccrine pores.

Hand me that.

Well, I know why the skin seems peculiar.

Why?

Forceps.

Because it isn't skin.

Not as we know it.

It's more like a...

tensile exoskeleton,

along the lines of an insect or crustacean.

He must have been a hearty devil.

You're not kidding.

Hold on, what's this?

Fascinating.

Hieroglyphics.

Egyptian?

Undoubtedly.

Well, it would appear

you have an Egyptian man of no particular age,

who, at some point in his indeterminate lifespan,

decided to sharpen his teeth, cover himself in hieroglyphics

and grow an exoskeleton.

Or you have something else altogether.

Who the fuck are you people?

Do you know Grandage Place in Westminster?

I can find it.

Number eight. Come at noon tomorrow.

Unless you'd rather spend the rest of your life

shooting clay targets and telling lies.

No, no, she's gone!

Says she heard something last night.

Really?

But she didn't see nothing.

Carnage.

Sir?

It's like a battlefield.

You want it all?