Raul Vega lies on the brink of death, Tiago meets radio evangelist Sister Molly Finnister. and Councilman Townsend furthers his political goals.

An awful lot of world building happened in the first episode of this Penny Dreadful spin-off, and so it’s something of a relief that we only get one major new character introduced this week. In fact, if anything, things slow down so much that this instalment lacks any great urgency or set pieces to encourage a return.

Casualties are counted in the aftermath of the motorway massacre, Tiego’s brother Raul being left on a ventilator. There’s still the outstanding matter of ritualistic murders to conclude (as opposed to actually solve) with Brent Spiner’s racist police captain putting pressure on his detectives to bring him the head of a Mexican to conclude matters. Yes, racial tensions are escalating, not just between the LAPD and Latinos, but the Jewish community and the Nazis.

Natalie Dormer’s demonic Magda continues to exploit her two alter egos to get the ear of their respective victims – Peter Craft and Councilman Townsend – the latter starting to imagine her while making love to his wife. By controlling these two key figures, the demon can push society towards her planned damnation.

Tiego spends time with radio evangelist Sister Molly (Kerry Bishe) and her controlling mother, giving us the opportunity to get up to speed with her story courtesy of a healthy exposition dump. Nathan Lane’s Detective Michener is keeping tabs on the growing Nazi threat in LA, engaging a group of fellow Jews to help him with surveillance but with tragic results.

Verdict: The attention to period detail and overall pedigree of this show is not in any doubt, but its pacing feels languorous so early in the run. 6/10

Nick Joy