Penny Dreadful

telford

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Saw the first episode. Wow!!! This makes Dracula look like Kindergarten Cop. Early days, but this could (I hope, I hope) have the makings of a classic. (Unless they screw it up). Watching episode 2 tonight. Fingers, and toes crossed.
 

Smeasking

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Crazy with the Frankenstein thing. I missed the first part with the vamps though, but my family said it was wicked neato!
 

Night_Writer

It's all symbolic.
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Oooh, great new show. I'd seen some advertising on Showtime before it premiered, and it looked really promising. And I'm not disappointed. Great arty, literary, Victorian horror.

Also nice to see Josh Hartnett :drool:
 

Max Vaehling

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Still on the fence, myself. It moves a little slow, and some of the tropes are a little predictable, without any of the fun I had spotting them in American Horror Story. Great production, though, and the cast is amazing, especially Eva Green.
 

Filigree

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I'm regarding it as an amped-up 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen', and having fun with the tropes. My housemates and I are waiting for Lovecraft to show up.

Spoiler below.

















In ep. 2, I sniffled when Victor lost Proteus. And the seance *rocked*.
 

Sam Argent

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My response to second episode. *Spoliers below*
Awww, Proteus is so adorable with his fairy lights and-Oh crap no! You pooheads! Wow, that was a smoldering look the first monster had when he told Frankenstein to give him what he wants. If I get angry hot sex between those two, I might forgive the show for Proteus's demise(?). My only problem with the show is that it's not making me care about the vampire storyline at all. I'm rooting for Hartnett to be a werewolf so I can call him an American werewolf in London.
 

JohnnyGottaKeyboard

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The end of Epi 2 (and Proteus) was so sad...and took me completely by surprise! So I loved it even while I was hating it.

I hope they don't expect us to hold all questions til the end. I'd like a few answers doled out along the way. My theories: the "spell" the translator mentioned involves Eva Green's character hooking up with Dorien Grey...That part seemed pretty obvious, she as an avatar of the consort goddess and he as an avatar of the great god. But is she always possessed? Is she carrying the demon around inside her. Is that the "friend" she mentioned in episode 1?

I'm also thinking Hartnett is a werewolf.
 

Jehhillenberg

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Also nice to see Josh Hartnett :drool:

Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes. :drool


Still on the fence, myself. It moves a little slow, and some of the tropes are a little predictable, without any of the fun I had spotting them in American Horror Story. Great production, though, and the cast is amazing, especially Eva Green.

Yeah, I heard about it when Hartnett appeared on Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show. Gothic horror and suspense and all that thriller stuff rocks my boat in the best way, so I checked it out.

It does indeed move a little TOO slow for my taste. I probably missed some info in the first episode because I tuned in and out. But I'll watch the second episode on-demand more carefully. It looks like it could be a good show. Just the concept alone, penny dreadful, has great potential.
 

Night_Writer

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I guess it does move a little slow, but I don't mind. It gives me time to soak up all that goth atmosphere, and wallow in the whole dreadfulness of it all.

One thing I like about the show is the fortune-telling aspect of it. Tarot cards, séances. All that stuff. I even found a website that sells the tarot deck they use on the show. It's not that great, though. But it would still be a cool item to own.
 

JohnnyGottaKeyboard

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My only problem with the show is that it's not making me care about the vampire storyline at all. I'm rooting for Hartnett to be a werewolf so I can call him an American werewolf in London.
I think episode 4 will focus more on the vamps since that one they captured appears to have pulled a Renfield at the sanatorium and invited "The Master" in.

I also suppose (Now, after episode 3) that Harnett is a werewolf.
 

rugcat

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I quite like this show. There are parts of it that are really creepy on a very visceral level. The same time, it's having a lot of fun with all the various tropes.

In a weird way (no pun intended) it reminds me of Deadwood. Partly, I guess, the dense literary language that somehow fits perfectly, bus also the look and the general tenor of the show.

I also like that this is a limited run – eight episodes I believe. So I won't have to watch it inevitably go downhill when they try to cram in 20 episodes a season year after year.
 

Night_Writer

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I loved the part about the Grand Guignol Theatre. It was so perfect for this show.

Except that the Grand Guignol is in France, and Penny Dreadful is happening in England. So I'm a little up in the air about that.

ETA: Just did a little research and I found out that another Grand Guignol did indeed open up in London. But it was in the early 1920s.
 
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JohnnyGottaKeyboard

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I won five bucks tonight predicting the absinthe seduction.
I read your post before watching the episode and as soon as I saw the green being poured I was like, "Wait, these two?"

I'm torn about the LOOONG flashback episode. Apparently the critics liked it, but I thought they spent an inordinate amount of time leading up to Van's betrayal of Mina and then rushed through the consequences (madness, demon possession, demon détente?). The bit with the demon disguised as Mal was just silly; why on earth would it pick that form to appear to her as? I was also really looking forward to seeing how Van and Mal came back together after all the bad that separated their families, and they really just tossed that bit off with very little explanation at all!
 
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asyouwish

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I watched the first two episodes, but for some reason really couldn't get into it even though it's pretty much everything I love (horror, Victorian setting, Eva Green, etc).

I was bored tonight, so decided to watch the newest episode and I actually quite liked it. I'm even looking forward to the next episode now.
 

telford

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Pretty much what Johnny said. After the promise of the earlier episodes this was disappointing.
 

J.S.F.

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I watched the first couple of episodes to satisfy myself that it wasn't just another retread of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen as Filligree so astutely pointed out previously.

It, to me, is, except there more sex and madness. The production values are good, the cast is attractive...and I found it curiously uninteresting. JMO...
 

Sam Argent

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I like Penny Dreadful and will be around for the second season but it does drag. I'm good with slow moving shows but in those cases, I pay more attention to dialogue and the conversations in Penny Dreadful become repetitive at times. One misstep is the surprise with Frankenstein's creature. The second one was more interesting, and the first one just comes off as whiny. Dude had a job and a guy who understood him, but waaaah, he needs a girlfriend. I might feel a little sympathy for him if they hadn't made him 'Hollywood' ugly. While I do hate that they play coy for too long, *spoiler* Yes, I get my American werewolf in London!
 

soho-syndrome

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I checked this out mainly because I am a big Eva Green fan. To me this is like a Once Upon A Time but using popular Victorian novel characters. I agree that pacing is rather slow but *spoiler* I'm looking forward to Brona Croft's character as Frankenstein's latest creation :)
 

Manuel Royal

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Hadn't watched this before (don't get Showtime; waited for the DVDs). Interesting. I'm seven episodes in.

As noted, we're on well-traveled ground. A lot of writers have combined public-domain characters from fantastical works of the 19th century. Most notable in recent years being Kim Newman and Alan Moore. (Moore kinda goes nuts with it.)

At first I didn't like moving Victor Frankenstein up by a century (not to mention making him English rather than Swiss). But, they've made him an interesting character. Proteus' was a startling way to introduce his predecessor.

And, apparently Abraham Van Helsing is English, too. (Maybe David Warner couldn't do a Dutch accent, I dunno. Good to see him, anyway.) It was a pleasure to have Van Helsing in conversation with Victor Frankenstein -- though his abrupt exit was showed unexpected consequences of forcing two completely distinct fictional worlds into intersection. (It reminded me of a scene in one of Kim Newman's books, where Doctors Jekyll and Moreau are arguing about human nature.)

One thing that puzzles me -- in the world of the show, the source of the Nile is somehow still unknown, in 1891. Surely that can't just be a mistake on the part of the writers. (It would be like setting a series in 1991, and having the characters speculate on whether we'll be able to put a man into orbit.) I'll wait to see if there's an explanation that ties into the themes and storylines of the show.

Anyway, definitely a handsome and atmospheric production.

ETA: It occurs to me, belatedly, that the presence of "resurrection men", illegally providing corpses for medical students, is a far greater anachronism. I think that was all over by the middle of the century. But, it makes for a good scene.
 
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