Penny Dreadful

What makes Penny click is the chemistry among the characters, especially the psychic and the gunslinger, who end up seducing the viewer with their seductive encounters. They make you forget this is an action show

Some of its mumbo jumbo may hurt your head, but the last words of Episode 2 are precisely on point. They whet the appetite for more, more.

The achievement of Penny Dreadful is that within its highly stylized, delightfully elaborate and occasionally batsh-t world, it has created complex, fascinating characters--or rather, it has begun to.

Penny Dreadful's gory moments are deployed strategically, and the adjective that best describes this show is not "bloody" but "soulful."

It's a Frankenstory made with borrowed bits and recycled parts that could evolve into its own vibrant creation.

As the season goes on, the narrative grip will (one hopes) tighten and grow as richly decadent as the surrounding production--or Eva Green. [26 May 2014, p.39]

Overall, it took Once Upon a Time a season to fall flat; Penny Dreadful does that immediately.

I had high hopes for this show, but it was crap. The writing was bad, the characters lacked motivation, the episodes were just the usual garbage thrown together with one or two dramatic moments contrived to make it seem like something was happening. I think the low-point for me was probably Frankenstein's monster. He's miscast (though I like the actor, he just lacks the brute physicality the monster needs). Then he dribbles long, self-pitying, pseudo-philosophic soliloquys before tearing somebody's liver out with his bare hands. The effect is unintentionally humorous. Then there's all the hugger-mugger and cryptic looks, the misplaced glamor, etc., etc. This show is just the usual disaster with regards to character and plot. Nothing make sense. The action scenes are mindless and intended to dazzle by their sheer speed and complexity, but are always poorly motivated.

Eva Green, Timothy Dalton, Josh Harnett, ils n’ont pas lésiné chez Showtime mais que voulez-vous, quand y a pas d’idées, y a du pétrole…Ah bah non, même pas en fait. Juste des vampires et autres monstres (Frankenstein ?! Dracula ? et puis quoi encore ?!…) dans une histoire inexistante (la grève des scénaristes, encore ?) et des personnages sans aucune épaisseur (les acteurs ont l’air de se faire **** n’est pas l’environnement de l’Angleterre de la fin du 19ème siècle qui apporte quoi que ce soit à cette nullité, bien au contraire. Une série abêtissante et crétinisante qu’on arrête très rapidement, tellement elle nous gave à fond les ballons. Nous la conspuons et la conchions !