Penny Dreadful: City of Angels

I didn't doubt Nathan Lane was a good actor, and I can't say I remember seeing him in a dramatic role before this, however, he was EXCELLENT in Penny Dreadful: City of Angels. A true standout performance, IMHO, made all the more noticeable by the generally uninspiring and muddled overall story. Too many characters that would be the primary or secondary focus of an episode then largely forgotten other than popping up periodically w/o further development. It's set at an interesting time and place in history, but character motivation(s) and clarity of the stakes at hand were generally fuzzy and underdeveloped. Not sure that I'd bother w/ a second season.

What made the original "Penny Dreadful" series excellent was the basis of the "Penny Dreadful" tabloids that were written during that time. Many people are familiar with classic literary characters like Dr. Frankenstein and Dorian Gray. The original "Penny Dreadful" brought those and other characters into a new light by exploring their origin stories in the psychological thriller that took place in the dark corners of Victorian London.

This new series has fell lack luster in comparison. Although it is interesting in also being a period piece, the parallels end there. This series is more comparable with a less well written "American Gods." The characters are connected in a conflict between the Mexican folklore deity, Santa Muerte, the caretaker of the dead and guide to the great beyond, and her spiritual sister, the demoness Magda, who believes mankind is inherently evil and aims to prove her point.

Forget the Penny Dreadful title. This has nothing to do with Gothic Horror, London, or the bleak literary melancholia associated with the Penny Dreadful original 19th century publications.

This shows primary flaw is the naming. Consider it as "City of Angels" as a stand alone show by the same producers as Penny Dreadful, and it holds up.

An extensive list of interconnected characters makes for intricate plot lines and a palpable build of tension.

The casting is solid. Strong performances by Dormer, Bishe, Kinnear, and Lane cover the plot holes and occasionally disingenuous writing.

Take it as a an American period thriller and it holds up. As a Penny Dreadful title; it fails

What the hell is this? That was my first reaction upon seeing the US version of "Penny Dreadful".

Aside from sharing the same name as the original it has little in common with it. Penny Dreadful was an encyclopedic trip into the world of monsters and the supernatural. A homage to a time of classic horror and Gothic writers like Stoker and Shelly.

What you get here, is yet another politicised drama with racial overtones, that I quickly found preachy, cliched and ultimately, tiresome.

The US has its own rich history of horror writing in the form of Poe and Lovecraft. These and other works could have been explored in an anthology but instead you get this tedious offering.

A missed opportunity, to say the least. 4/10.

If you came here looking for the grim, supernatural awesomeness of the original Penny Dreadful, then keep on moving. I don't know why this wasn't just sold as some 1950s gangster series. The cast is amazing, great visuals and acting, but there is almost nothing supernatural about this! Which was kind of the entire point of Penny Dreadful. Aside from some dramatic walk-ons in a gorgeous leather gown from Dormer, and some odd side characters she somehow also needs to play, the supernatural aspect is completely missing. There is SO much that could have been done with the story. Disappointed because I was a huge fan of the original PD!