"THE MAN HAS PRIDE“ PENNY DREADFUL: CITY OF ANGELS, EPISODE 3

*This review contains spoilers.

After the whisper and the bang of the first episode, and the silent romance of the second episode, with its puzzling intertextuality that was an allusion, a pastiche and a riddle wrapped around a mystery, the latest episode of “City of Angels”“ asks a simple and rather straightforward question. What exactly is the value of a man, of any man? Within the context of this highly fictionalized world of Los Angeles in 1938, as in real life, each man must answer this question for himself. To do so, men need to start with a quest for identity. Only if we know who we are can we know what place we want to assume in a larger society. Value and a feeling of self-worth do not live in an empty space. They cannot exist independent of other people. Ultimately, having pride means doing things that have meaning in the world. Pride is a currency that only has value in a framework. Only when your actions, reflected through the eyes of others, get a sense of recognition, of admiration, of respect, do pride and self-actualization ever rise above the level of a self-congratulatory pat on the back. While pride may leave you in a state of “be”“, as in “I am proud”“, it“s the “do”“ that matters. Pride is no birthright. A man must earn it through action. And to do so, a man must first learn who he is. As the episode starts, we see that it should be Lewis Michener (Nathan Lane) who“s about to confront this question of identity, the “Who am I?”“ In a brutal world, such as this, in the narrative, his quest for what his true essence is, gets triggered by death. Namely, the death of two close friends. As we learned in the pilot episode, Michener is on to the secret conspiracy that is happening in Los Angeles, with Nazi agents infiltrating positions of power. In the show“s sophomore outing we found out that Michener is not only duly motivated, but that his buddies are in on the fact gathering mission, albeit less aptly suited than Michener who is a homicide detective. While Michener and the only woman on their team followed a young engineer who seemingly has ties to the Nazis, and who they trailed to the campus of the California Institute of Technology, the other half of their Scooby Gang were following Richard Goss at Michener“s behest, Goss being Hitler“s favorite architect in America. Now, the two pals of his lie on slabs in the L.A. County Morgue, both bodies burnt to a crisp. We know what the detective doesn“t yet know but is putting together. They ran afoul of Goss“s chauffeur who we understand is also a Gestapo agent, the secret police of the Third Reich. And surely enough, the coroner shows Michener the four bullets he“s recovered from the burned bodies. This is when the detective calls in a favor. Here is something nobody can know about. He takes the four bloody bullets, and once he is out of sight in a staircase, he starts to cry, and he prays in Hebrew. This is when he must decide if he is a Jew first or one of the few honest cops in this version of L.A. Like Sister Molly, who cut herself when her faith was not strong enough, when she wasn“t yet ready to find grace in herself, he tears the collar off his jacket. He knows he will have to make the call. Will he turn the other cheek, or will he be the vengeful God of the Old Testament? Pride and identity are also in the forefront once we catch up with Raul and Mateo Vega, the two brothers of our lead, Detective Tiago Vega (Daniel Zovatto), Detective Michener“s partner. The scene takes place in Raul“s room. We can tell that he“s mostly recovered from his head wound, and as the camera pans around, we also understand who Raul Vega (Adam Rodriguez) is. The house and Raul“s room feel poor, broken and lived-in, but there“s a poster from the union he belongs to. He is a man who wants to see the world changed for the better, he“s helping to build a better world, a just world. Mateo has done nothing other than that he didn“t scream when he was assaulted by Officer Reilly who wanted retribution for his partner who“d lost an eye during the violent confrontation between the residents of this Mexican-American neighborhood, who were protesting the construction of a highway that will run right through their barrio, and the police. Mateo“s heart is swelled with pride. His act of not screaming, has put the youth on the radar of a Pachuco named Fly Rico. Mateo exists now, as if for the first time. He is still flush with excitement when he relates to Raul that even Reilly and his three fellow officers did not dare to disrespect the gang-member who came to his rescue. Mateo Vega (Jonathan Nieves) is full of admiration for the young Mexican who had seen him and who had acknowledged that Mateo might be cut out to be a Pachuco himself: “The man has pride, my brother.”“ Raul is not buying in. Instead he questions why Fly Rico did not stand with his brothers and sisters during the riot. This does annoy Mateo who thinks it“s prudent to tell him that it was their own brother Tiago who shot Raul, nearly killing him. Though it seems that Mateo is willing to give Tiago his fair shake when he recounts how Raul went mad during the riot and shot several police officers, and he was about to shoot another one, Tiago“s partner, none of which Raul can recall (acts prompted by the demon Magda, the big bad of the show), he reveals that he admires Raul for what he did. Raul took action, Tiago is the bad guy. Mateo promises: “I tell you what, if I was a Pachuco, I“d slit his throat for what he did.”“ Angrily, Raul grabs him by the neck to tell Mateo that he always ought to remember Tiago“s identity: “He“s our brother”“, and Raul makes it known, to Mateo and the viewers, that he“s aware that their brother is without a center. As a Mexican-American and a police detective Tiago is both, and none of either. New director Sergio Mimica-Gezzan isn“t in any kind of hurry to bring this exchange between the siblings across. On the contrary, he allows for enough space for each new revelation to breathe, which enables Adam Rodriguez to put in his best work on the show so far. This is also true when Mateo leaves and it is now Santiago who pays him a visit. What could have easily led to another redundant story beat (like the one series writer John Logan had inexplicably placed at the beginning of second episode, also in the second scene), Raul simply places Santiago“s hand on his chest. Through his silent acting Rodriguez lets us know that Raul understands his sibling and that he“s forgiven him for what Tiago ostensibly was forced to do. Next, we check in with Charlton Townsend (Michael Gladis), the L.A. Councilman who wants to see the parkway built in the barrio where the Vega clan lives. His assistant Alex Malone (one of the demon Magda“s many disguises), has brought him into contact with Goss who figures him as the next mayor of the city, albeit as a puppet of the Nazis. In what looks like a perfect recreation of a gym of the late 1930s, Townsend is exercising at Alex“s behest who“s also put him on a strict diet. Townsend, who found out about himself that he is an evil man, has a deep hunger not only for power it seems. His powerplay hasn“t gone unnoticed by a councilwoman who has pegged him as a fascist with the way he wants to bulldoze through a Mexican neighborhood like a bull in a China shop and with the way he manipulates the media. Townsend doesn“t take too kindly to some of the threads she is making in regard to his ambitions. He“s very angry now and very hungry. Townsend isn“t going to take her insults lying down, especially not where is weight is concerned. Though Alex tries to caution him, as she is reshaping his body as well as his mind, Townsend cannot deny his true nature.

Then there“s Sister Molly Finnister (Kerry BishÃ©), a Christian radio personality and the figurehead of the Joyful Voices Ministry. After her secret heart to heart with Detective Vega, she“s getting tired of putting on the same old act that her controlling mothers has forced her into when she was only four. Molly is a devoted Christian from all appearances, but she can certainly do without her mother“s influence, as we see her back out of a rehearsal under the pretext that she“s due for a fitting appointment. Much to the chagrin of the domineering Adelaide (Amy Madigan), Molly refuses to be driven to her tailor by her own personal watchdog who works for her mother and not her. Once Molly goes to her private quarters in the ministry“s main building, we learn two things about her. She is rich from the success she has been able to achieve under the guidance of her dominant mother; Molly doesn“t mind that, and that she has two identities. There“s the public Molly, the face of their church, then there is the woman Molly. This is quickly conveyed when we see her peek into her huge closets. There is her church attire. Then there“re the lovely, expensive looking outfits a young, stylish woman might wear in the late 1930s if she had the right kind of taste for finer things and the financial wherewithal. She is both, a spiritual person, and an individual who doesn“t seem to mind that some of the cash sent in as donations, or which comes from the sale of the records with her religious songs, goes to her personal wardrobe. Adelaide doesn“t mind either, as long as this keeps Molly performing, it“s Molly who“s her meal ticket. But the older Finnister woman does most certainly mind that Molly puts on her big girl pants because she wants to impress a man, and not any man, but Detective Vega. Meanwhile Detective Vega is at the precinct working on the case of the murdered Hazlett family. Not only is the late Mr. Hazlett connected to Townsend“s parkway via his construction business, but he was also a member of Molly“s church. Mr. Hazlett was one of their money guys, in fact. But first we have another cameo by Brent Spiner“s Captain Vanderhoff, who in this episode seems to be in search of an identity himself, though this new, much nicer Vanderhoff feels like a one-hundred-eighty from the man we remember from the previous episode. This Vanderhoff asks his new homicide detective how his brother is recovering (mind you, last we saw him, Captain Vanderhoff demanded that his detectives bring him “the head of a Mexican on a plate”“, in order to “conclude”“ the Hazlett case). He even advises Santiago that it“s better to keep some distance to the cases he“s working on, because those things tend to really mess with one“s head. If all else fails, this newer, kinder Captain Vanderhoff lets Vega know, that“s why he always has a few tabs of Seconal handy. Maybe the good Cap has discovered his paternalistic side, now that things have calmed down a bit. Still, Vanderhoff feels like the one character, Logan somehow can“t get right. A shame considering how much Spiner is champing at the bit to ham things up to eleven. Zovatta“s acting (which is especially great when he“s reacting and his character is given the time to absorb what is put in front of him) is anything but, and he is once again the standout of this episode. Whenever he“s paired up with the equally fantastic BishÃ©, this is when this show really sings, not pun intended. Molly, as it turns out, knew that he“d be leaving the precinct right at the moment when she showed up, and since Vega is the only man in L.A. who uses the bus, she walks up to him at the bus stop. And why not, it“s usually the boys who stalk the girls. Logan is also at his best when he gets to write the dialogue for his two couples on the show (more of the other one in a second). It feels believable that initially they should be somewhat reserved, after the confessions each character had made previously during their meet cute. Once you“ve allowed someone a peek at your soul, surely you will be a bit on guard, lest, there be any lingering false impressions. Still, on Sister Molly“s part her intentions are rather obvious. She“s interested to learn more about him. And she“s willing to show him yet another side of herself, hence the fashionable outfit. She lets Tiago see that she isn“t just the Molly who wears a long gown whilst performing for a live audience at their ministry and for the radio listeners at home, or the rather down to Earth home-buddy who“s helping out in the church“s soup kitchen. She“s also a woman. Still, her attire is an armor and a disguise. She knows she must reveal more to him, before this can go any further, who she really is beyond the role-play in her ever-changing wardrobe. And Molly is willing to do just that. But first Tiago must show her that he“s equally interested. When his bus arrives, Molly tells him “You should get your bus”“, but what she“s saying is, “You need to make a decision.”“ Only if Vega is ready to show her who he is, a man who is interested in her, will she continue. Otherwise, she and he can end things right there and now. It“s the perfect out for him should he want that. No awkward fumbling for words, no hurt feelings. Vega stays and he smiles at her. It“s the moment when she finally takes off her sunglasses as she says: “I don“t do this a lot”“, which is a statement that will come to haunt him in a little while, though. If nothing else, Vega is very perceptive. When she plays the “oh woe is me, I“m just a little girl with my mother making all the decision”“ card, he senses that she“s still disingenuous. This is Sister Molly talking again. He knows she isn“t yet real, but he is willing to play along a bit longer. When Tiago brings up that his Cap almost pushed a prescription sedative on him, Molly“s all business, and she lets him know that her own poison, Nembutal, is the better brand if you want to shoot yourself to Slumberland no questions asked and no nightmares to be had. While he looks at her, prompting her to let go of all the pretense, interestingly, she asks: “Do you ever wish you were someone else?”“ This is when Tiago realizes that she might have forgotten who she really is beyond the roles she keeps playing. But then, who is he? When she asks: “Do you always want to be Detective Vega”“, he has to admit that sometimes he just wants to be “Tiago”“: “As I remember he was a decent man once upon a time.”“ Molly shows him that she might like that guy, and this is when he makes the decision to take this really to the next level, to give her the opportunity “to be someone else for a day.”“ Vega takes her out on a date to the Santa Monica Pier. He figures that when he is open and honest with her and he tells her about that day he spent here with his folks when he was a child, it“ll help her to rediscover her true identity. During the same time, his partner is learning an important lesson about himself. After he“s lured the engineer, he and his female friend followed the other day, into his car under false pretenses, he drives the guy to the same spot where his other two friends were murdered by Goss“s henchmen. And this is where Lewis Michener becomes the avenging angel he needs to be, to get retribution and to unravel the mystery in front of him. He brutally beats Goss“s associate until the young man relents and is willing to tell him all he knows. This is no longer the Detective Michener who is ready to look the other way for a partner he hardly knows or who has objections to hauling in an innocent man under trumped up charges. Michener realizes that he“s exactly the guy who will beat a confession out of a man if this gets him the information he“s looking for. We then catch up with the other couple at the center of the show. Dr. Peter Craft (Rory Kinnear), a German immigrant and father of two boys who is trapped in an unhappy marriage, and Elsa, the mother of one of his young patients. Little does he suspect that the woman, who is German as well, and who is also unhappy in her marriage, is not who she claims to be. Nothing she has told him is real. Her son doesn“t exist either. She“s another role played by the demon Magda (Natalie Dormer). Once he tries to kiss her, she friendzones him for the time being because that behooves Magda“s scheme. Magda knows how to look into the hearts of men to know that keeping a man at bay will make him even more compliant than to give him what he wants. This way, she can make a man beg and take his pride away, a little more with each encounter, and Peter has already invited Elsa and Frank to the birthday party of one of his sons. So, there is no need for Elsa or evil Magda, to rush things at this junction. However, it“s another man“s pride, or more precisely, the pride of three men, who get in the way of her other carefully laid plans. The first one is Councilman Townsend who is having dinner with his benefactor Richard Goss. But things to not go the way Magda (in her Alex persona) or Goss had hoped they would. Townsend is already pissed from his encounter with the councilwoman, and at dinner, Alex denies him a small bread roll. When he demands to know how Goss is going to funnel funds from Germany into his campaign in his bid to run for mayor, and the Nazi operative remains vague, this ticks him off only further. Goss has his own pride to deal with and soon Townsend and the Nazi, again portrayed excellently with downright chilling precision by the sole German actor on the show (Thomas Kretschmann), enter into a wild pissing contest. But once Goss alludes to Townsend“s weight, this is when he really casts Alex“s warnings to the wind and throws down the gauntlet. He challenges Goss to kill the councilwoman, because, isn“t killing people what Nazis are supposed to do? Goss doesn“t take to the idea or the charge all too kindly, since he views himself as a refined man, and he isn“t going to take any orders from a man who only has some courage now that Alex has showed him that he has it in him like the Wizard did with the Lion. Townsend actually seems blissfully unaware of this fact to a degree, still this doesn“t keep him from using a Wizard of Oz reference as a jab against Goss“s henchman; again, as with “Beau Geste”“ in the previous episode, a film only released a year later. Unlike Shakespeare“s Henry V who felt wronged by the French Dauphin and who consequently barked his response to his cousin“s royal messenger Montjoy, Richard Goss does not raise his voice when he replies, not even when Townsend resorts to crass language and insults. He even offers Townsend the opportunity to “re-phrase”“ his statement, because that is was a civilized man will do. In his warped mind, even a Nazis such as he should always keep a sense of decorum and there“s a certain code of conduct to be followed. Still, when Townsend doesn“t take the hint, the Nazi is as quiet as he“s direct. To them, Townsend is a “sack of meat”“. With his tail between his legs, the chastised man runs from Goss“s house, but Goss is also not without a master, and his name is not Hitler. Before Alex follows her boss to the car, she gives the Nazis a piece of her own mind: “You know what? You fuckers aren“t as smart as you think.”“ When Townsend rejects Alex“s offer to have a drink to get over it, and he heads off into the night, with his assistant very well aware of something we don“t yet know about him, we get the idea how angry she is. When she changes into her more comfortable faux leather dress and her beautiful, yet evil form while she“s walking down the street, there is a certain irony in the fact that director Sergio Mimica-Gezzan should choose to pay homage to one of the most famous sequences of the original “Twilight Zone”“. Namely, the Charles Beaumont penned “The Howling Man”“, where we see a man who has just been freed from a prison change into the devil, thus being able to bring about The Second World War. That disgraced director Bryan Singer referenced this scene in his second X-Men film, adds this additional layer, if intended by the makers of “City of Angels”“ or not. Intertextuality works in mysterious ways, and so does Magda, who now has to contend with another unruly male pawn of hers.

As it turns out, the show hasn“t forgotten about Mateo Vega nor has he forgotten about the offer from Fly Rico to find him at a place called “The Cat”“. And when we follow the conflicted youngster, lo, we are in a Pachuco“s paradise. The club is alive with the driving, yet simple and honest sounds that are a mix of jazz, swing and Cuban mambo and on the dancefloor there“s a swirl of men and women in Zoot suits, the preferred style of any self-respecting Chicano, suits that come in vibrant colors with broad shoulders for their over-long jackets, cinched at the waist, and long pants that tapered at the ankles. Fly Rico is as fly as his name would suggest. He dances with two women, then with Mateo, whilst there“s a feeling of anything goes in the air, which also holds true for how you define gender identity and who you want to pick as your mating partner. At the center of this cosmos is their queen, a suit and suspenders wearing, red-haired, light-skinned beauty who answers to the name Rio. This is Magda in yet another disguise, a role Dormer clearly enjoys herself more in than when portraying the drab Alex Malone or the very tragic Elsa. Lest there“s any outcry, the producers smartly sidestep the fatal error of having their lead actress appear in “brown face”“ or of being accused of cultural appropriation with casting the Caucasian Dormer in a Hispanic role. There is historical precedent. Rio is a “Dago”“, which means she“s of South European heritage, with her ethnicity further rooted in the community when the demon claims that she was born in Mexico. Though Fly Rico is her henchman, Mateo interests her. But as it turns out, in this hedonistic world of sweat, music and promiscuity sans judgment, as a Pachuco, you must know how to dance and how to enjoy life without any bourgeois restraints. Hence, Mateo must prove himself to her by dancing with her. Once again, without words, the younger Vega brother manages to assert himself. Here is one more opportunity for him to learn who he is. While he achieves a sense of self-accomplishment, it“s his old nemesis Officer Reilly and cadre of police officers who ruin the party. There“s a new curfew imposed, and he and his brothers, intent to haul these night revelers to the nearest station. Rio is not impressed. She punches Reilly right in the kisser, then she and the two youths make a break for it. This is when she launches into her war speech, while Fly Rico observes that the cops brought razors to slash their jackets with, hence, to rob them of their identity. Ironically, and much to Rio“s (and thus Magda“s) chagrin, Rico (Sebastian Chacon) is the fly in her ointment. Chacon gives a very good performance when he tells her that all he“s ever known, is that this world only holds tiny scraps for him. This didn“t even change when he got his identity from one of the OG Pachucos. He did get a fancy gang tattoo, though. Mateo on the other hand, is ready to go to war. As far as Rico is concerned, who knows this will be madness, Rio asks him a simple question that“s as much about his identity as it“s about his manliness: “Where“s our pride?”“ Earlier, on the promenade of the Santa Monica Pier, Tiago and Molly have begun to discover that they have a joined identity. With baring his soul to her, Molly“s been able to grow more relaxed and natural, and to become more actualized in regard to her desires and self-fulfillment. She knows that to be with somebody in a way that is meaningful, she was be a genuine person first. This is the grace Molly needs to find in her heart, not for Santiago or any man, but for herself. After they“ve spent the entire afternoon and evening together, she is halfway there. He“s won a Popeye doll for her at a shooting gallery. When the time has come for them to say their say goodbyes, she hands it to him. Logan gives her a monologue in which what she is talking about is not what she“s really saying, though the subtext is so obvious that Tiago knows he can“t let this stand, or Molly will be lost to him, though he delivers his answer not with a whisper or a bang but in silence. As she hands the doll to him, she says: “I can“t bring him home, Tiago. And someone so jaunty has no place in my house. Please take him. Now you make sure he“s always got lots of spinach, and he“s got plenty of tobacco for his pipe.”“ This is when Tiago kisses her and she kisses him. She touches his face tenderly, then she slowly backs away, as composer John Paesano is channeling every romance movie you associate with such a sweet scene, while DP John Conroy keeps both of them slightly off-focus, and shot against the setting sun and the rolling waves of the Pacific. Yet all is not well with our star-crossed lovers. When Molly comes home, her mother waits for her in the dark room. She turns on one light and begins to sing the first lines of the lyrics to the Popeye the Sailor song. Not only is this really creepy, and a great pay-off to the plant of having Molly“s bodyguard at the pier as well, he kept his distance the entire time, but since Adelaide is a really crappy singer, there is a weird dissonance to her rendition of what is basically the theme song to a cartoon for kids. However, there“s a symmetry to the older Finnister woman“s singing. The episode closes with a coda that is a quick montage of several scenes, and as everything around our characters begins to fall apart, we hear Molly“s beautiful version of “Let“s Face the Music”“, only nobody“s in the mood. Right before we enter this sequence, there“s a bit of devastating news for Tiago. His partner Michener, who“s unaware of his budding romance, throws a cold shower all over it. He“s discovered evidence that strongly suggests that the late James Hazlett and Molly had an affair. It“s the oldest story in the world, Michener explains to his rookie partner, and hence we get the title for the episode, “Wicked Old World”“. Michener is taking a few days off, for his revenge mission we suspect, and thus he thrusts the damning evidence onto Tiago like Molly did with the Popeye doll he won for her. And as a dejected Tiago sifts through the documents his partner obtained from the Joyful Voices Ministry, the doll looks back at him. But on Molly side, there“s some victory to be had. She is in her room which is locked, with her mother banging on the door. A woman who knows her influence is slipping away, which is further confirmed by the voice we hear. Now it“s Molly who“s singing and who is in control. Like in any abusive relationship, it“s the abused who can leave. The abuser can never leave. There is also abuse going on in the new pairing of Mateo and Rio, and this abuse is also of the emotional kind. Being the older person in this association (and a demon as such), Rio knows perfectly well how to wield an unduly influence over the impressionable teenager. While she encourages him, and Rico looks on, Mateo is getting his first gang tattoo. Rico, who seems all in now, too, hands him a bottle of mescal. Thus, what has started as a quest to get some pride, is leading Mateo down a dark path to a new identify which he doesn“t forge for himself, based on his values and belief system, with its own moral compass. Instead, as he“s getting tattooed, he“s being branded by a woman who“s ready to use and to abuse him. Abusers are trapped in a world they can never escape without help. Thus, ultimately, the most abusive relationships are those in which the abuser and the abused are the same person. It is who Councilman Townsend is. After his confrontation with Goss, he goes to a place that could offer him joy, pleasure, a bit of comfort even. But it is a joyless place, like the Joyful Voices Ministry. Where Townsend goes, he“s among those who have no room in this city, or this society, at least not openly and during daylight, not if you are white and you want influence and power. He has come to this refuge for the refuse, the men who aren“t accepted, and he“s come for his self-punishment. This is Townsend slashing at his wrists like Molly once did when the pain got too much and she couldn“t find grace in herself. It“s a site where he“s not a councilman, where he is not even Charlton Townsend. Here he“s nameless, a client, and he“s come to swallow all pride in anger and with self-loathing, while he again learns what he is and who he is other than an evil person. He“s a man who hates others because he hates himself. In this “Wicked Old World”“, what he desires makes him feel shame and ashamed of himself. What he desires, what“s deemed wrong in his world, makes him feel bad about who he is. Still, he goes down on his knees in front of a stranger.

Rating for the episode: 4 out of 5.

Photo Credit: Justin Lubin/SHOWTIME

Author Profile

Chris Buse (RIP)

A comic book reader since 1972. When he is not reading or writing about the books he loves or is listening to The Twilight Sad, you can find Chris at his consulting company in Germany... drinking damn good coffee. Also a proud member of the ICC (International Comics Collective) Podcast with Al Mega and Dave Elliott.