It's almost inconceivable to believe how the vast majority of the creative team involved with this absolute SHAMBLES are somehow also responsible for the creation of the original seasons of Penny Dreadful - from writer & executive producer John Logan, executive producer Mendes (who requires no introduction), cinematographer John Conroy & even the director of the final episode of S3 Paco Cabezas... All returning to gift us with this unwelcome, lacklustre heap of inadequacy like a child presenting their parent with a handful of its own excrement.
Honestly, how the mighty have fallen.
Nothing works. The visuals look cheap & akin to the aesthetic you'd usually see whilst subjecting yourself to get another generic ITV drama. The direction is really especially terrible with several questionable creative choices laden within the runtime of the episode. The editing is jarring. Abel Korzeniowski's absence becomes increasingly apparent when the music fails to make any kind of impression whatsoever. Tonally, it's incoherent, themes have all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the skull & characters are rarely emotionally consistent throughout the space of a single sequence. Even John Logan's noticeable signature skill for crafting masterful dialogue seems to have gone amiss. The performances are unfortunately appalling. Not to mention, Natalie Dormer - a formidably talented actress - is utterly wasted here, forced to partake in some genuinely ridiculous scenes (which to her credit, she does her best to work with - despite the little she's been provided in order to showcase her abilities).
If this is any indicator of the deterioration in the creator's ability to maintain quality of their work, then I'm so glad "Penny Dreadful" stopped preemptively at S3... That was bad enough but this is appalling.
