By
Kristin Battestella
The
2017 six episode Second Season of The Frankenstein Chronicles
picks up three years after the
twisted events of its Debut Series as Sean Bean's supposedly dead
Inspector John Marlott pursues Lord Hervey (Ed Stoppard) for his
monstrous science while Sergeant Joseph Nightingale (Richie Campbell)
investigates the gruesome murders of several parish officials as new
mad machinations and corrupt officials collide.
It's
1830 and disturbed flashes of what has transpired match the Bedlam
catatonic in “Prodigal Son.” Jailers think this case is hopeless,
for the angry, rattling chains can't tell of the heartbeats, fires,
agony, and horrors. Silent screams, gory garrotings, and escapes lead
to the abandoned laboratory with cracked mirrors, empty bottles, and
lingering phantoms. The
Frankenstein Chronicles refreshes
the audience whilst the characters themselves struggle with the
previous experiments, former pain, and fresh dilemmas as a murdered
archdeacon sends fear through the local parish. The poor cannot feed
their families on faith alone, but the Dean maintains his luxury by
hampering the police with jurisdiction technicalities.
New cemetery bills don't stop grave robbing schemes, and cruel high
versus kind lows are firmly established in the multi-layered
mysteries and investigations. Despite a sophisticated period mood,
church fires, eviscerating shocks, and eerie figures with lone
candles always remind viewers of the morose horror drama. London is
run amok with slicing and dicing nobles on The
Frankenstein Chronicles, and
there's no solace for
“Not John Marlott” as more bloody crimes begat missing organs,
epidemics, and piled bodies. Creepy dreams and laughing visions add
to the on edge, ghosts approach former friends, and headlines say the
escaped lunatic is responsible for these unholy murders. Local parish
watchmen rebuff inspectors, and back alley deals lead to corpse
bearer job opportunities and intriguing new characters. Desecrated
bodies are dug up and moved to pits – clearing the graveyards for
people who can pay more for sacred ground. Mirrors and reflections
create more soulful questions as the dead man walking sees the naked,
animalistic internal monster. Shrouds, vaults, torches, and coffins
keep The Frankenstein
Chronicles on
the morbid move in “Seeing the Dead.”
Our former detective has his own underground investigation amid the
church bells, empty steeples, and plague ridden alongside tender
moments and a real life famous name or two. Dead children abound, and
families that can't afford consecrated burials paint crosses on their
doors to honor the deceased while a carnival caravan arrives with
freaks and re-enactments of Frankenstein.
Politicians argue about burial taxes, and motives for the murders
include selling off church properties, twisted science, and blaming
the devil. Who's clearing the slums and pocketing the money? It isn't
God who's brought this pestilence, but men of science playing with
God's power. Black horses, night owls playing the piano by
candlelight, and men talking of the final nail in the coffin add
symbolic subtext while dreams, monster memories, and ghosts provide
clues. Superstitious
fears and wrongful medicine clash thanks to sewers, sailors, on stage
within within Frankenstein
horrors,
and knife fights behind the curtain. Autopsies,
methodical precision, and poisoned pumps hone in on the contaminated
truth – revelations perhaps made more disturbing by the water
crises happening in America today.
Old
inspectors and suspicious aristocrats meet face to face in “Little
Boy Lost” amid fancy balls and false sermons waxing on demons and
souls. Unfortunately, the truth is blasphemy, and quarantined ships
send the sick to die in abandoned buildings behind chained doors –
making for some silently terrifying scenes of garish dead haunting
the corridors. Messengers from religious officials come baring knives
in the back, leading to bloody struggles and gurgling groans. The
innocent must flee in chases through the streets and leaps across
rooftops, contrasting the footmen and tête-à-têtes
on the ballroom balcony. Lifelike machines and automaton displays
escalate the mad science amidst more grief, twists about who is real
or phantom, and dead babies in jars. Thanks to town mobs and
persecutions, circus folk with cut out tongues are arrested just
because they fit the description of monsters, but ominous staircases
descend to bright laboratories, creepy equipment, and shocking
revelations with touching supernatural moments linking our
characters. Politicians using the poor and too good to be true health
plans in “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell” again mirror the
contemporary political climate as scary ideologies hide in plain
sight. Be it illness or slit throats, people in this era don't live
very long, and officials double cross each other to fill the void
left by the dying King. Likewise, constables and the press are at
odds over evidence and thin leads as all roads point to monstrous men
throwing their own to the dogs if it suits their toys, tears, and
conspiracies. Blocks of ice are used to store organs alongside secret
formulas, memento mori,
psychic
encounters, and plans to escape to the continent. Chilling
confrontations trap the unwilling in the choice to be reborn, for
more things are possible than what God can do according to our
seemingly sacrosanct gentleman. Stone towers contain romantic rooms
draped in white soon to host some serious butchery, transformations,
and abominations. Why wait to rekindle what one's lost in God's time
when life's mysteries can come full circle now? Wounds and spirited
intervention culminate in “Bride of Frankenstein” as lies, gags,
and convulsions reunite our first born with the reanimation process.
Life giving elixirs, breathing apparatus, and unique tissues lead to
coastal visions and life or death limbo. Our murder victims got in
the way of political ambitions so now their bodies are being put to
good use. There's no need to make apologies when sacrificing for
science! Once again The
Frankenstein Chronicles builds
its crimes and mysteries before escalating to full on horror. Raids,
arrests, and eponymous resurrections mean nothing when death is not
the end for men who live forever in a world without God. However
loose ends must be tied up, and another corpse on the church steps
leads to confessions, ironic justice, and science preventing the dead
from staying deceased in an excellent denouement of amoral horrors.
He's
angry, doesn't know his own strength, and vows revenge, yet Sean
Bean's former inspector John Marlott remains haunted by his past.
Initially he doesn't speak much, only “I was abandoned by God,”–
which sums up The Frankenstein Chronicles quite
well. Marlott insists he isn't who he was, for whether he was a man
of kindness and justice or not, he received neither. Marlott feels
forsaken since his family has gone on without him, yet he finds
solace and a clean bed in a church and recognizes psalms of mercy
when he hears them. Unfortunately, he can't look himself in the
mirror, and any peace is quickly ruined by tragedy. Marlott moves on,
pushing away the living because everyone around him winds up dead.
He becomes a corpse bearer and calls himself Jack Martins,
revisiting places he once frequented to prove his innocence despite
nightmares that seem to indicate otherwise. Marlott is disturbed by
all the death he sees and talks to
ghostly guests from Series One, but he's more upset that he
cannot see the spirits of his own wife and daughter. Marlott gives
his coins to orphans and poor families so they can bury their dead
properly and helps the sick households by doing their cleaning and
hard labor, becoming the ironic hero of Pye Street roaming the slums
at night – a foreboding grim reaper silhouette escorting a wagon of
the dead to their mass grave. He tells people to flee the plague but
ultimately ends up communing with their lingering spirits in superbly
haunting moments. He cannot help the ghosts who torment him, but
Marlott is deeply sorry for all the souls he seemingly damned.
Forgiveness, however, may be found in the darkest places, and Marlott
comes to accept he can live to do good even if he is not blessed. The
Frankenstein Chronicles provides
fascinating winks at Bean's walking spoiler onscreen image amid
chilling declarations, strong demands for vengeance, and tearful
displays. Granted I am biased – and I still think Marlott is
Sharpe – but Sean
Bean seems to have become a better, more seasoned actor with age, and
it is a pity The Frankenstein Chronicles received
no awards notice for his excellent performance.
Though
now a sergeant, Richie Campbell's Joseph Nightingale is assigned to a
seemingly routine escape from Bedlam rather than a murder higher up
officials want forgotten. He's a lot like Marlott, actually, getting
praised for his initiative, punished for his insistence, and
circumventing orders to find out about Marlott's surprise
reappearance. Joe must still deal with racism from above and below
and knows he's being stonewalled once victims' bodies are removed
before he can inspect them – leaving Nightingale no choice but to
get the truth at a terrible price. Ryan Sampson's fast talking Boz is
still a reporter for the chronicle, chastised by Nightingale for
writing outlandish reports to scare the public but shocked when the
dead Marlott comes to see him. He wants Marlott's surely fantastic
story, and remains unfettered in his outrageous reporting, because
the truth that victims are having their hearts cut out is supposed to
scare people less? Although grossed out by the autopsy reports, he's
reluctant to give up his sources until their differing private exams
prove they want him to print lies. Boz believes Marlott when he tells
him there is a poisoning scheme in the works, but says he should do
the talking when they poke around at the inquest. Charles Dickens
ends up bombing around London with Frankenstein's Monster – one of
many fascinating what ifs on The Frankenstein Chronicles.
Laurence Fox's (Lewis) Mr. Dipple, meanwhile, is a creepy,
reclusive aristocrat overly concerned with weird marionettes, music
boxes, machine models, and masks. He's become enamored with
contraptions because he is afraid to live, seemingly tender or
sensitive but suspect when he asks guests to keep an open mind about
what they see. The character embodies several contemporary ills
viewers will recognize – saying one thing but doing another for his
own purpose , which is to have power over death and grief. Sadly,
Maeve Dermody (Carnival Row) as kind, widowed seamstress
Esther Rose is unknowingly caught in the middle when taking in
Marlott while commissioned to make dresses for Dipple's dolls. She
buys clothes off the dead to re-sell to poor, not so particular
customers and gives Marlott back his own effects. There's not much
difference between her craft and stitching him up when he's injured,
either. She's glad to have him protect her shop, for Esther thinks
she is weak, afraid to live, and too nervous when invited to a ball
showcasing her work. She's glad when Dipple calls her designs
exquisite and doesn't believe he has ulterior motives despite
Marlott's warnings. However, Esther insists she is not part of
Dipple's collection, vowing to be no man's property despite her
loneliness.
Lily
Lesser as (Wolf Hall) Ada Byron, Lord Byron's mathematician
daughter, also dislikes Dipple's obsession with “toys.” She's
interested in automatons for the future and power for women, debating
Dipple about whether a man building machines means he has power over
God. Men's power pollutes what it touches, demanding obedience and
stifling genius – leading to slavery and humans as the automaton.
Although at times the character seems too modern, her progressive
ideals aren't wrong, and it would have been intriguing to see more of
her. Corpse bearer Francis Magee (Game of Thrones) knows
Marlott is too shrewd for this job, but then again so is he. Spence
is a former priest who criticized the Dean for his greed, and now he
fears he is in danger. Nonetheless, he does his gruesome job and
stands by his convictions, returning to his Bible even to his own
detriment. Unfortunately, Kerrie Hayes (Lilies) as Dipple's
orphan maid Queenie is also scared of her employer, his contraptions,
and the locked doors deep inside his manor. She and Nightingale grew
up in the foundling home together, and she clearly has a crush on
him, telling him not to be consumed by blaming Marlott. Queenie wants
to help Joe's investigation, but her curiosity gets the better of
her. She knows the police won't believe what she's seen, but
eventually, Queenie finds tell tale tokens as proof for the police.
Locating Ed Stoppard's rumored to be dead Lord Hervey, however, isn't
so easy. He's as in pursuit of his creation as Marlott is, but is he
truly connected to the current crimes or is Marlott's wishful seeking
of justice involving the not so good doctor? Hervey is said to be
here or there, off in the carriage, or just missed him – pinning
his gruesome actions on others as it suits his plans. He's happy to
offer the choice of transformation to those who want it, developing a
sick delight in what he does. For Hervey, there is no such thing as
God's will, only indifferent science. Sir Robert Peele, however,
wants to build new closed burials and give the poor the right to a
Christian interment, but Tom Ward's Home Secretary has to move fast
on his reforms before losing the ailing George IV's favor. Peele
seeks cleaner cities where nearby decomposition isn't going back into
the water and objects to the circumvention of his authority, for Guy
Henry's (Rogue One) Dean of Westminster lords over everyone
with his stranglehold on the police as well as the church. He
squashes murder investigations, pockets burial fees, and uses Martin
McCann (The Pacific) as parish coroner Renquist to do away
with the bodies privately. For his dirty deeds, Renquist rightfully
fears he's going to be the fall guy, just another of many corrupt
officials on The Frankenstein Chronicles.
Fallen
leaves and overcast skies create a perpetual autumn feeling for The
Frankenstein Chronicles while
barren coasts invoke a bleak limbo. Storms, mud, moors, and fog
contrast the carriages, top hats, walking sticks, and frock coats.
Careful editing, silence, and natural sounds parallel the horror
realizations amid dank cells, chains, spooky lanterns, and autopsies.
There are fancy stone manors and slum streets, but the graveyards and
churches are somewhere in between – grand, old, but empty cloisters
despite the cross's symbolic shelter and arched windows providing
rare light. Wax seals, lockets, quills, waist coats, and cravats
birth mechanical innovations, clockworks, masks, and uncanny valley
eyes, layering the creepy science what ifs alongside the innocent
flowers, lace, and painstaking embroidery attention to detail. Fair
fiddles and carnival acts provide morbid bemusement, yet our star is
often alone in the center of the camera frame or on the outside
looking in at the action through doorways or arches. Then again,
golden sconces and grand libraries can't compare to decomposing
bodies as the gasps and covering mouths provide shock and stench for
the audience. Sometimes the blue and night time drab are too dark,
however, firelight adds a realistic touch so often missing from
overly saturated shows. Oil lamps and disturbing harpsichord music
accent syringes, hissing gears, leeches in jars, elixirs, tubes,
catalysts, and beakers. The candlelit laboratory almost has an
enchanting glow, but who knew blocks of ice could be
so..well...chilling? Oddly,
neither director Benjamin Ross nor writer Barry Langford are involved
in Season Two – all new writers join director Alex Gabassi (The
ABC Murders).
With previouslies and credits, these episodes are also slightly
shorter at forty-five minutes, however it is more annoying that
Netflix wants to skip both with seconds to spare. The
Frankenstein Chronicles Season
Two doesn't use Mary Shelley as a character or the William Blake
interconnected themes from the First Season, either. Fortunately, the
personal morals, monsters dilemmas, and new mad science elements
expand the drama and performances. Although this year ends well, it's
a pity there is no word on a Third Season for The
Frankenstein Chronicles. There's
still time and the series deserves more. In reviewing, I must
multi-task, pause, and take notes. The Frankenstein Chronicles, however,
is a can't look away parable that's easy to marathon and superbly
blends period piece
aesthetics, mystery, and horror.
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