(SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t watched the latest episode of PENNY DREADFUL, “This World Is Our Hell,” stop reading now.) This big change to Ethan, I’m not sure I like it. It’s too big an alteration for my tastes. I’m talking about his haircut. I don’t care for it. I miss the long hair. I can deal with him turning heel. Hell, if I can deal with Captain America secretly being a Nazi or half the fanbase thinking he’s really gay (check your local geek news sites if you don’t know what I’m talking about), I can accept Ethan as a bad guy—especially considering the form his personalized temptation to join the darkside has taken. Hecate Pool, as portrayed by luscious actress Sarah Greene, could potentially lead even the most saintly of men astray, I’m thinking. If evil is meant to be seductive, it succeeds big time where she is concerned. Yeah, if’n you can’t tell, I’m a big Hecate mark.
These are wrestling terms, by the way, if you don’t quite follow. Wrestling jargon is an offshoot of Carnie-speak, which I use not infrequently, as there’s a bit of the Carnie in my soul. A “mark” is a fan, a “heel” is a bad guy (as opposed to a “face,” short for “babyface,” or good guy), and when a character transitions from one to the other it is called a “turn.” I don’t for a minute believe Ethan’s heel turn to be permanent. It’s just an interesting “swerve”—another wrestling/Carnie term. And extra points to anyone who picked up on the biblical allusions in this episode, wherein Ethan’s own journey mirrors Christ’s period of forty days spent in the desert, being tempted by the devil. (Also the story of St. Anthony.) Ethan, however, wasn’t as strong-willed as they were, thus his “turn” to evil. Also, his devil of choice was a whole lot cuter.