What the floating flying fuck have they done to Penny Dreadful? This keeps getting worse - and more cliche, and boring - with each episode.
I'll try to keep watching and just hope it gets at least a little bit better by the end of the season, but holy crap...
what a disappointment, Mr. Logan, sir. What a huge disappointment.
EDIT: Finished the 10th episode today.
Great photography;
Superb choreographies (the dance scenes really were amazing);
So much - and I'll repeat: SO MUCH - potential;
All the right themes/ideas were there, and they could have been dealt with in such a unique manner...
but they weren't. This was just a huge disappointment.
The ending felt rushed - if that was an ending, I'm not even sure right now -, and didn't give us anything it built up to.
Well, to keep this short... I don't want to give any spoilers, so for whoever's reading this: watch it, and have your own opinion.
Me? I'm honestly not looking forward to any new episodes.
(But I still trust Mr. Logan. I know he'll continue to give us amazing shows/films/stories. Let's just wait.)
If you're thinking about watching this because you loved or liked the original Penny Dreadful series, you might want to skip this one.
The best way to look at the 2 different Penny Dreadful seasons is to think American Horror Story except none of the actors from the first season are present in the second season. In other words, this has pretty much absolutely nothing to do with and is completely dissimilar to the original Penny Dreadful.
They would have been better off dropping Penny Dreadful from the title of this particular series and just named it City of Angels or something completely different.
As far as the show goes, it was moderately entertaining at best.
Although I did not particularly like this show, you might.
The intention of this serie is clearly to provide ideas of liberty, justice, equalitary and antiracism in accord with current US events. I appreciate that side but the story itself is disappointing, borying and inconclusive.
As current as they hit the current protests going on I cannot help but to feel bored. Very little supernatural is going on and the plot lines are hardly new. My core issue however is that I still don't get why this is unfolding. Why would the "bad" lady spend her years trying to incite a race war when she is already powerful enough to destroy the world as it is and for that to focus on this particular community (in the year 1938..)?
Admittedly, as a fan of the original who was gutted when it end, I hoped this would be some kind of continuation. However, it’s not, but it’s still in the Penny Dreadful Universe so to speak.
Despite the change in era and location, it still has the supernatural element, which surrounds those depreciated in this show.
Although fantasy, I was intrigued and read deeper about the show and the amount of historical research behind this show. A passionate subject for John Logan and I love how he’s taken reality and given all sides a voice, even although it’s cleverly interwoven with the supernatural, to make it more appealing to a broader audience.
So, I’m not at all disappointed anymore after 3 episodes; a slow start, but it’s looking to be a complex story and feel it’s going to be a big hit.
Still sad the original left our screens, it was one of my favourites.
I’m looking forward to seeing much more from John Logan.
PS. I’ve yet to rate the show, after all there’s only 3 episodes which have been screened. I will await full judgement until the season’s end.
This is a continuation of my initial thoughts on City of Angels.
Now that I've concluded watching the whole season the last few episodes picked up for me.
The supernatural thread in the show unfortunately for me alludes me not being familiar with Mexican folklore. That's fine as that isn't the be all end all of the show. It is a very complex dark story with many facets, each depicted in a way to drive home what I feel is the main purpose. More on that later.
There are some truly thought provoking scenes. The cinematography and the authenticity of CoA is really something. The characters are well portrayed and overall a good ensemble. The season finale, the last two episodes that I just finished were outstanding. The big band music the large dance house really gave an uplifting swell, it's worth watching the last episode just for that. But then that swell, turned predictably into a bubble and the high burst finding ourselves in the depths of darkness.
This is where CoA does a great job. Even though there are many story threads they are meaningful and you could skip on the surface but it is far better to get completely immersed.
If I were to nutshell it each storyline is racially driven. Each facet brings home the distasteful and shame of racism, the insatiable desire of power over one, or a community, the destruction that comes from wanton division to control and finally greed in power. There are those that try to unify them there are those that lust for destruction.
Some may even decide that this type of show cuts too close to what is happening today and may try to cancel CoA, but DON'T. This cancel culture must be cancelled itself. It is these types of shows that can help understand and reflect the errors of the past that we can learn to be better and it shows how far we've come.
There are some great life lessons in this season. Worth the watch for sure. In conclusion PD CoA has grown on me. I do hope there is a second season.
How they ever got to use the Penny Dreadful in the title is a wonder to me, since it has absolutely nothing in comen with the original. But it cheated me into seeing, so that's a win for them I guess. Whish I could get the hours back.
The original series was fantastic. At least an 8, maybe 9 out of 10. This new series is not nearly worthy of the name. It is maybe a 5.5. That being said, we will watch until the end of the season, but I predict that will be the end of it for us. Disappointing.
This show is purley amazing! The story, the visuals, the characters, the music, the mythics and the truth, the hardness and the kindness. I just loved it since the first scene and i didnt even watch the old penny dreadful. But this one is out of the charts. Dont even know what to write. Just watch it!
okay judging by first episode only im gonna say this was a thrill ride it might change but if so i hope its for the best there is alot of potental here for an incredible program if it keeps going like this no doubt not perfect but magnificent in its own special way
After watching the first episode the show does not convince me yet.
It certainly isn't going after the same charm that made the original great. It may yet become something good in it's own right but as of now I am not convinced.
I think that the original Penny Dreadful was the greatest series ever made. I hated the ending though like most of us. This is something new, we must treat this as a separate, new series that has a similar title to our favourite series. I loved this!!! I hated Natalie Dormer's and Santa Muerte's character, hated Sister Mary, but I absolutely loved all dance scenes, the Vega family's story, and Nathan Lane and his friends. :) I hope there will be a 2 season.
If German is your first language or you know German as a foreign language you will suffer a thousand little deaths. I wonder where they found this accent coach for the actors... They were horrible. Every single (but the only actual German) actor had a 95% French accent. :100: Really weird. Don't think even the heaviest German accent sounds anything like that.
Penny Dreadful: City of Angels is like many shows that are unfortunately cancelled before they get a chance to develop, ripe with potential that the world is deprived of. In any case, it's not the original Penny Dreadful, so don't expect that, and the story is a little slow moving as is the norm in the first season of most new shows, but it's still worth investing in for the beautiful cinematography, powerful acting and impactful story. 7/10
The new announcement of the shows cancellation is not terribly surprising.
I'm a fan of Dormers so I'm hoping to see her in something as challenging yet not as convoluted as PDCoA.
I think it was trying to do too much. Like spreading butter on bread way too thin.
Maybe a sequel of the original Penny Dreadful now be looked at a little more positively.
After being completed obsessed with the original Penny Dreadful I couldn't wait for the second season but my oh my, I don't know if the budget has been slashed or they just wanted to use the name but for me, it's awful. I have done the first two episodes out of a sense of duty and I will do number 3 but unless there's a significant improvement in this, well, it's getting the cut from me.
I'm a big fan of the original Penny Dreadful which was without a doubt brilliant.
After watching up to ep 5 so far of Penny Dreadful :City of Angels I'm finding this show, even though the show is far removed from the original, the darkness and poetics of the genre is still there.
The portrayal of Natalie Dormers' several characters emit her artistry in her craft and that being a beacon in this show is undeniable. I love watching Natalie work (yeah okay, I'm a fan and have a crush).
There are other big names in this season and there isn't a slouch in any one of them. But Natalie, so far, blitzes them.
Not being American myself seeing the show based on early Los Angeles and the racial tensions I still find interesting as the time and location for the show. I'm curious enough to continue watching this iteration of Penny Dreadful. I cannot at this stage rate the series equal to the original but having said that allow this series to stand on its own merits. That is the best way to enjoy Penny Dreadful : City of Angels.
It's good. I might watch the original.
Will give it a go, but how are they going to recreate the atmosphere of the original? I wonder if it would have been better to not associate it with the fantastic gothic atmosphere of 19th century London.
Nothing to do with the original Penny Dreadful show. It has a good start and great plots but slow in the action. I am going to wait for more episodes to give it aproper opinion.
Review by andrewb65BlockedParent2020-03-31T20:51:24Z— updated 2020-07-02T22:02:45Z
Without Eva Green's deliciously tortured Vanessa, this new evolution can't possibly be as good. But I'll give it a fair go just in case.
UPDATE 2nd July 2020
Okay, so I've finished watching the whole series now and I'm hoping they don't make a second. This wasn't a patch on the original and I found Dormer's characters rather hammy and annoying. The themes 'explored' in this series seem all too familiar right now, repeated over and over in many other shows. I suppose it ticks all the boxes for millennials, but they aren't watching anyway. What's wrong with just telling a story? On a positive note, I did enjoy the concept of Elsa and her son, Frank.
Spoiler alert:
I think it would have been more faithful to the original series if they had instead chosen to use multiple actors to play the roles inhabited by Natalie Dormer's demon, perhaps using subtle vehicles to gradually tip viewers off over the story arc until we discover the coordinated plot to expose the inherent discord, conflict and misery in humanity (do we really ever need any help with that?). We could have seen a proxy battle between good and evil played out between characters possessed by the two angels/demons. I suppose they must have decided it would be too confusing to continue with the possession theme from the original series if they spread it across multiple characters, but would we really need to know that until the lame ending anyway?