The season finale for Showtime's Penny Dreadful aired last night, setting the stage for when the show returns next year while at the same time bringing closure to a major story arc.

Penny Dreadful Is Changing The Face Of TV Horror

The search for Mina Harker finally came to an end last night, with Sir Malcolm (Timothy Dalton) and company raiding a vampyr "nest" and killing the leader only to discover that Mina had already turned to the dark side, and there was no coming back. Realizing his daughter could not be saved, Sir Malcolm chose to kill Mina in order to save the life of Vanessa Ives (Eva Green). The decision startled everyone, most notably Miss Ives herself.

Brona Croft (Billie Piper) also met her end during the season finale, though it seems that, in this case, death is only the beginning. As she lay dying the devoted Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett) fetched Dr. Victor Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway) to examine her. In an unnerving turn of events, Frankenstein smothered Brona with a pillow so that he could collect her body to create Caliban's (Rory Kinnear) immortal bride. The repercussions of this act are bound to come back to him next season.

Penny Dreadful Season Finale Rumors

Perhaps one of the most satisfying aspects of the finale was the reveal of one of television's worst kept secrets this year. Ethan finally, after much speculation, revealed himself to be a werewolf, changing during a full moon and subsequently killing the men hired to bring him back to America.

With all the blood, carnage, and emotional turmoil, the episode ended on a rather haunting note. During a sequence that cuts together footage of all the primary characters, Miss Ives enters a church for the first time in presumably years. She has entered for the purpose of obtaining an exorcism to rid herself of the demon inside of her, but when asked if she is certain that she wants to be ordinary, Vanessa takes a long, mysterious pause. Before she answers, the screen cuts to black, and the Victorian drama's first season has come to a close.

With Frankenstein's betrayal of Ethan, Brona's life beyond death, and Sir Malcolm's newfound commitment to Miss Ives, the series has plenty of ground to cover next season. Then, of course, there is always the fact that Miss Ives is being hunted by a demon who intends to make her his bride and the mother of unspeakable evil.

Indeed, the show will not be lacking in new twists and turns when it returns next year:

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Penny Dreadful, Showtime, Television