Penny Dreadful Season 3 Episode 1 “The Day Tennyson Died” Let’s get it out of the way: Dracula has arrived. Penny Dreadful started out as a strange, Gothic adventure, throwing audiences right into the world of vampires, Egyptian magic and a collection of characters from Gothic and Victorian literature, or at least those that fit […]
Penny Dreadful Season Two Finale Review
S2E09 “And Hell Itself My Only Foe” “And Hell Itself My Only Foe” served as an epic set up for a season finale, filling itself with developments and cliffhangers, with the right pacing to keep the story moving forward. It also showed a marked improvement in John Logan’s pacing compared to season one. Although both […]
Penny Dreadful S2E08 “Memento Mori” Review
A tip of the hat to creator and writer John Logan. Beyond the occasional pacing issue, he’s kept Penny Dreadful a rich and smart show, but most of all treated the audience with respect. He’s avoided drawing out plots that could easily become frustrating — Hecate (Sarah Greene) attempting to seduce and distract Ethan (Josh […]
Penny Dreadful S2E07 “Little Scorpion” Review
The ties that bind in Penny Dreadful are a strange thread. The company of heroes isn’t full of nice people — Vanessa Ives has committed selfish actions that doomed others, Ethan Chandler took part in the genocide of Native Americans, Sir Malcolm Murray killed and abused his way across Africa in the name of “exploration,” […]
Penny Dreadful S2E5 “Above the Vaulted Sky” Review
Only Penny Dreadful could make a breather episode so intense and fraught with developments. “Above the Vaulted Sky” features some big developments, but they are developments that set up the second half of the season and trouble to come. But best of all, the episode gives two storylines — Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett) and Victor […]