Penny Dreadful (TV Series)

[theamerican]

Just binged watched the show today. I have to say I'm really impressed and intrigued.

Basically it's sort of like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen but instead of an action series it's a horror mystery plot mainly focusing on Gothic Victorian characters like Frankenstein and his monster, Mina Murray, Dorian Gray, and even Van Helsing who's played by Ra's-er David Warner.

The story begins when Mina Murray (it's implied the Dracula incident already happen) is kidnapped. Her father who seems like he's modeled after Quartermain enlists the help of an American sharpshooter from Buffalo Bills show with a haunted past and Vanessa Ives a spiritualist with a sketchy connection to Mina and her fathers past. They clear out a local vampire nest in the gutters of London thinking Mina was taken only to discover darker forces are at work. They enlist the help of Frankenstein (who is taking on jobs to fund his experiments) to do an autopsy of a vampire body only to discover the body is covered with Egyptian hieroglyphics which hint at apocalyptic consequences and Vanessa is some how the key. Meanwhile the American begins a tryst with a spunky Irish immigrant dying of consumption (played wonderfully by Billie Piper) and Dorian Gray leading his hedonistic lifestyle crosses paths with most of the cast. Lastly Frankenstein's finds past mistakes from earlier experiments coming back to haunt him. All of the characters are connected to each other as the mystery gets further explored while more skeletons are coming out of all their closets.

The show is well caster, specifically Timothy Dalton as Mina Murray's father, Billie Piper as the spunky Irish low class worker, and Eva Green as Vanessa. Seriously Eva Green is the real star of the show, she owns the performance. The characters are all well acted and do spark off each other.

The plot itself is intriguing but does seem to tease a lot and leave some unanswered questions like the TV show Lost but they do use flashbacks to answer some questions. There are still some elements that seem frustrating like when is Dorian Gray going to become relevant to the mystery besides just pretty much fucking everyone and there's this weird gay bisexual love triangle that doesn't fit the plot and seems forced but other than that you still get quite a juicy mystery.

Lastly I got to give a special shoutout to the Frankenstein subplot mainly because as a fan of the original Shelly novel the subplot so far has been a well adaptation of the original themes and characters from the novel, specifically with the monster.

It's a good short cable show I recommend it to anyone a fan of Victorian gothic novels, or a good horror mystery story drama.

[Grendle1853]

Yeah that thing between him and Dorian Gray seemed not to fit either of them. Also, just my own theory at this point, but I'm fairly sure that the sharpshooter is a werewolf. Not putting that in a spoiler tag, because it is just my personal theory and the show has barely touched on it if its true, but thats what I think is going on with him.

[theamerican]

Shit you may be right Grendle. My theory is Bona Crofts gonna die and become the bride of Frankenstein. I do hope all these different subplots end up connecting and overlapping in the end

[theamerican]

Spoiler: Show

Well it appears we were both right Grendle

[Grendle1853]

Yep.