Hemlock Grove - What Peter Can Live Without

As the first season of Hemlock Grove draws closer to the first season finale, Peter dedicates himself to finding the vargulf that has been tearing apart teenage girls as the full moon approaches. Peter doesn’t want Letha to be the next victim, worried sick about it. At the beginning of What Peter Can Live Without, he and Letha are having passionate sex in his bed. Although quite pregnant, Letha sort of initiated this and Peter was more than willing to accommodate. Even before the angel impregnated her, Letha was immediately attracted to Peter (and vice versa) so that next step (physical contact out of sexual attraction) always had potential. But it has evolved out of just the physical attraction and pleasures of wanton activity. Both of them care about each other. Letha’s well-being on the night of the full moon is necessary enough to Peter he goes to his (perhaps) one true nemesis: Dr. Clementine Chasseur. Chasseur has all sorts of photographs of Peter as he is tied to her overall investigation into the vargulf attacks. She promises Peter the vargulf will be killed and no other victims come from it. When Peter insists that Letha go home and stay there, ordering her to not leave or accept visitors she wasn’t so keen to do so. Letha obviously wondered what would happen to him. Letha tells her father earlier in the episode that she’s in love with him, and in a car ride when school bullies beat the shit out of Peter, Olivia notices all too well just how her niece dotes on him with great concern. Hemlock Grove perceptively posits that Peter’s arrival with mom, Lydia, into town has introduced either a killer or salvation. Which will be the case is that mystery that serves as the penetrating question through the entire first season.

The increasing tension between Dr. Norman Godfrey and his wife, Marie (Laurie Fortier), continues to bleed through the fractured cracks in their relationship/marriage more or less brought about by Norman’s affair with Olivia and the pregnancy of Letha. Olivia is shown early on receiving cunnilingus from Norman as a brief moment of affection out of it is coldly rejected, once again stalling anything more substantial than just sex and thus keeping the two of them from any steps further. Marie confronts Norman about Letha’s fucking Peter, having read her phone texts and correspondence with the new lover. Norman obviously isn’t as opposed necessarily as Marie, and later the awkward evening dinner might explain a bit why. While Olivia is a bit more cultured and extravagant, Marie was the daughter of a blue collar laborer who worked for Norman. Much to the surprise of Letha and Peter (trying to be sociable and not too off-putting), Marie becomes a bit bothered by Norman’s tone when it comes to her father and she leaves the table. This encourages Norman to get a drink and share with his daughter and her boyfriend. Then at an auto shop, while Olivia is seeing about her son’s car, in arrives Marie to have a brief chat. Marie and her family praying for comatose Roman and hoping he recovers, while Olivia icily thanks her…this is one of those quick passage of words where more is left unsaid (but spoken with eyes and demeanor) yet quite physically spoken.

Destiny (Kaniehtiio Horn) has seen some good supporting character involvement as seemingly a clairvoyant, holistic perhaps and also offering sexual services, visited by Dr. Chasseur in regards to her relative, Peter. Instead, Destiny looks into Chasseur’s torment when holding her hands, offering her a path to “re-connect to God”. That comes with a Sapphic interlude that leaves Chasseur walking away less than “fixed” as Destiny seems to indicate that the sex was the whole point not recovering any lack of faith perhaps lost. Right back to the bottle goes Clementine, promising God that once she’s found the vargulf, their association is done.

Shelley has often been jeered by bullies at school for her towering height, hidden face, and inability to speak. But the kindness of others hasn’t been remiss of her. Her brother, Roman, was of great support, and Peter, upon arrival, has been affectionate and attentive to her. Even as Olivia fails to connect with her daughter, Norman has been a sounding board for her, with a line of comforting communication between them. When Peter sees Shelley’s face later on when Olivia offers her home to him--telling Lydia that it would probably be less “hairy” if he was somewhere else, considering his treatment at school--he just smiles with a friendly warmth so lacking by others. The bullies really did a number on Peter despite his attempts to get away from them. Lydia can see how Letha feels about him, encouraging her to be with him as he heals before going to Liv’s manor. Seeing Shelley’s face at Liv’s home and just treating her as if nothing’s changed provides a sense of relief to her. It seems Peter doesn’t see the supposed “ugly” that others might. Like Shelley’s face or Letha’s pregnancy. To him, a wandering gypsy with few stopping places and no affiliations to the norms of social expectation what is viewed irregular is normal.