Many, including myself, would love to see Green get nominated for an Emmy, though I fear that Dreadful's specific genre is something that's largely ignored come award season. A range that would be pushed to the absolute limit in both 'Closer Than Sisters' and 'Possession,' which hit us with a no-holds-barred, anti-vanity performance for the ages. Here, starting with the episode 'Séance,' I was able to see the tip of the iceberg with regards to her actual range. Camelot's Morgan being the more diabolical of the two, though both deceptive. And in both cases she more or less played a sort of dry, sly woman with secrets. Truth be told, I hadn't really seen much of her work outside of Casino Royale and Starz' short-lived Camelot. Timothy Dalton and Eva Green in Penny Dreadful.Eva Green, not to mince words, was freakin' fantastic. In fact, save for the more rudimentary elements to the season finale itself, the show didn't really go anywhere I thought it would go from episode to episode. And many questions still do linger, as the show is not the sort that gives us what we expect when we expect it. And even though eight episodes (which is still considered a very short first season) wasn't a tight enough run to stop us from predicting more than a few of the show's eventual twists (Ethan being a wolfman, Brona becoming Caliban's bride), the journey was haunting and hypnotic enough to forgive us our over analytical tendencies. So the challenge, about halfway through the season, became the juggling of all the different elements together. And then I didn't want to go back to Caliban just yet because I was so enraptured with Vanessa's battle for her soul. In fact, it got to the point where I didn't want to readily return to the vampire hunt because I was so invested in Caliban. From Malcolm's slaughter of vampires, to Victor's creation of Proteus (and brutal reveal of Caliban), to Vanessa's Satanic possession - they each worked to build the show into a larger creation, expanding the Victorian horror tapestry. And, in a rare move, each new element that was presented became the most interesting part of the series. The wonderful restraint and style that Penny Dreadful displayed with its storytelling this year led to a grand, layering effect for the viewer.

Proteus penny dreadful