3 out of 5

Created by: John Logan

covers season 1

It’s probably one of the most unfocused shows to have debuted in the past couple of years, but ‘Penny Dreadful’ manages to bring us back next week on vibe alone.  The actors are committed to the vibe, the production is committed to the vibe; the script is mature enough to build character and situation bit by bit, encouraging our hopes that, eventually, Plot will emerge.  And it does, about halfway through the season, but that doesn’t stop ‘Penny’ from staying on its sidestepping version of progress – a little nudge here, a little rerouting there – so, at least, you can say the questionable pacing is consistent.  Summarizing the show is either incredibly complicated or incredibly easy.  Let’s take the easy route: Vampires.  Along the way we’ll also get sharp-shooters, Pinkertons, monsters, demons, mummified remains and etc., so we’re definitely firmly entrenched in the worlds from which the show takes its name, but, yeah, we’re hunting vampires in late 1800s England.  Or Timothy Dalton is, sporting a wonderful beard, and bringing along the mysterious Ms. Ives – Eva Green – and ally / partner / servant Sembene, played by Danny Sapani.  Toss Dorian Gray, Victor Frankenstein and the American Ethan Chandler (Hartnett) into the mix to stir up trouble or assist in the chase.  It sounds like a mish-mash and it absolutely is.  For the first few episodes, you’re struggling to understand why all of these random-seeming vignettes should matter, and by the end of the season, maybe some of those questions remain.  But Dalton and Green are incredibly good in their roles – Green acts the shit out of a few episodes – and when the whirlwind stops to focus on Gray or Frankenstein, their moments are appropriately haunting or chilling, and shown to us with a patience and grace that one wouldn’t expect from such a seeming messy stew of ideas.  And appreciably, Showtime doesn’t over-indulge in cableness; this could air on a non-premium channel without too much changed, which, to me, means the show belongs to its creators and not the station, which is nice.  ‘Penny Dreadful,’ though seeming like it was jumping on the horror-TV bandwagon, slooowly emerged as an independent beast over 8 episodes.  In the season to come, it’d be nice if the show can further shape its ideas to point in a clearer direction.