WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, Episode 4, "Josefina and the Holy Spirit."
Penny Dreadful: City of Angels has pushed LA detective Lewis (Nathan Lane) to his limit, as he's slowly unearthed a major conspiracy. Along with his partner, Tiago (Daniel Zovatto), he's discovered a white supremacist plot involving Nazis gunning to take over the city and eliminate minorities. It's all political, tied to contracts and infrastructure, as the Third Reich wants to use business as its new tool of war.
In the latest episode, "Josefina and the Holy Spirit," right after Lewis lost some Jewish allies to the Nazis, he makes a big play to hire a new group of Nazi-hunters to take down Hitler's secret society in America. Unfortunately, Lewis comes to realize they might not be heroes after all and it's one of the most dangerous mistakes he could have made.
Lewis tells Tiago he's taking time off and instructs him to follow the Joyful Voices Ministry as this church cult seems to be helping the Nazis. Little does he know Tiago's entangled in an affair with Sister Molly (Kerry Bishé), and while he doesn't disclose what he's going to do, he has a very direct plan of attack in mind. He buries a couple of the old Nazi hunters he hired for the last mission after the hitman Kurt (Dominic Sherwood) murdered them, and now Lewis is after revenge.
At the cemetery, he meets with a Jewish gangster by the name of Benny Berman (Brad Garrett) who seems to be a nod to Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel. Lewis is desperate for an army and believes Benny's boss, Meyer Lansky, has the resources and firepower to take the cause up. Now, Benny's reluctant, because even their own Jewish community treats them like outcasts for their criminal activities but that doesn't mean they're heartless and don't understand solidarity. When Lewis indicates his dead friends never made it to Palestine and achieved the dream all Jewish people have, he tugs at the right sentimental heartstrings and Benny tears up.
Benny says he'll get back to Lewis and leaves, only for the cop to be kidnapped in the night. It turns out it's actually Benny's guys, who want discretion and to scare Lewis a bit. The dark twist comes when they hand Lewis a gun and want to indoctrinate him, telling him he has to kill a guy at point blank range. They're in a slaughterhouse and strung up is a guy named Leonard Schiff, indicating it's not a joke. Benny reveals they thought Leonard was one of theirs, but greed got the best of him and he sold out the location of a shipment of guns the Jewish people tried to send to Palestine. It was routed from America through Mexico, but in the opening sequence of this episode, Nazis arrive, killing everyone at the bar. They stole the guns and Leonard got money for the betrayal. But it seems nothing can be kept secret from Benny and his boss.
Lewis is insulted, leading to Benny blowing Leonard's brains out before leaving happily. Lewis knows that with or without him, they're undertaking this holy war and turning it into business. Benny ran the Italians out of LA and to New York through violence, and it's clear Meyer wants another similar sort of purge. Lewis doesn't mind Nazis being killed, but these dogs of war he just unleashed might take everyone else out, including the Mexicans that Lewis wants to help. It's all about filling a power vacuum, and Lewis believes Benny's bad batch might be the same as the monsters he wants removed.
Created, written and executive produced by John Logan, Penny Dreadful: City of Angels stars Daniel Zovatto, Natalie Dormer, Nathan Lane, Jessica Garza, Kerry Bishé, Ethan Peck, Adriana Barraza, Michael Gladis, Dominic Sherwood and Johnathan Nieves, as well as Piper Perabo, Amy Madigan, Brent Spiner, Lorenza Izzo, Lin Shaye and Adam Rodriguez in recurring roles. The series airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Showtime.