Penny Dreadful drops the ghastliest twist of all: It suddenly ends.
10 reasons to binge-watch the literary horror series
The Binge
Jessica Zafra
FOR THREE SEASONS the fans of Showtime’s Victorian drama Penny Dreadful have reveled in its sumptuous gothic atmosphere, its bloodsoaked storylines and its never-ending struggle against demons without and within. We’ve seen things you wouldn’t believe; we do not terrify easily. But when the words “The End” appeared at the close of Season 3, Episode 9, we greeted it with shrieks of terror. It’s over? Without warning?
The series created by John Logan careened to an end, leaving many plot lines dangling, abandoning its new characters before they’d done anything, and assigning a particularly cruel fate, capped by a corny last line, to its most fearless character. Logan, whose screen credits include Gladiator and the last two Bond movies, said that this was how he’d always envisioned the series. With a supposedly triumphant resolution that not only feels like a big buzzkill, but nullifies the rationale of the entire show? I suspect not.
The third season began with two of the major characters leaving gloomy, claustrophobic London for the wide open spaces of the old American West. I don’t care for sunshine myself, but I’m all for the series expanding its scope. And then everyone decides to hurry back to London as if the studio had announced it was turning off the lights, and before they can unpack their luggage it’s the final battle. Remember the outrage over the third Alien movie where, after everything Ripley had endured and overcome in the two previous movies, she dives into the furnace? I mentioned Alien 3 because Logan is the writer of the forthcoming Alien Covenant. Also, that ending was poetic justice compared to Penny Dreadful’s.
What do we do when we are not satisfied with the outcome of a TV series? We could circulate a petition for its resurrection: a show that has Dr. Frankenstein and various dark powers in its cast has as many means of bringing back the dead as Game of Thrones. We could write fan fiction with an alternate ending. Or we could binge-watch the entire series (Third season optional) and relive the many pleasures of our favorite Victorian Gothic entertainment.
• Penny Dreadful is a literary horror compendium featuring famous public domain characters such as Frankenstein, Dracula, Dorian Gray and Dr. Jekyll. When I reviewed the series last year I called it the Avengers Assembly of monsters, an oversimplification for which I apologize. It is very similar in concept to Alan Moore’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Penny Dreadful is steeped in literature, beginning with its title, which refers to sensationalist 19th century serials. It has a special fondness for the Romantic poets, especially Wordsworth and John Clare, whom you may find yourself reading along with Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley. Then again, you don’t have to have a literary bone in your body to enjoy a show that ravishes your senses then scares the bejeezus out of you.
• Eva Green is spectacular as the protagonist Vanessa Ives, a woman hounded by evil. Basically evil wants to marry her, which makes perfect sense because she is formidable, not to mention gorgeous, intelligent, and absolutely committed to the role. She is a special effect unto herself. Periodically the writers do a Vanessa-centered episode to demonstrate that she can carry a show all by herself. Perfect people are not sympathetic, so Vanessa has one flaw that makes us root for her even more: her terrible taste in men. Among her amours are a werewolf and a vampire — kind of like the heroine of Twilight, except that we never call her an idiot.
• The return of Josh Hartnett. The late 1990s heartthrob turned down the roles of Superman, Batman and Spider-Man, and then disappeared from the screen. He resurrects his career as Ethan Chandler, an American sharpshooter in a Wild West touring company. Of course he has a secret, and the chemistry between Chandler and Ives generates such heat that it must be thwarted regularly in order to keep us watching. Hartnett used to be a very pretty boy, now he’s a beautiful man who comes across as both rugged and courtly.
• The cast is brilliant. How old is Timothy Dalton again? The former James Bond is a commanding Sir Malcolm Murray, explorer, father to the ill-fated Mina Harker, and representative of upper class masculine privilege. Rory Kinnear is heartbreaking as Frankenstein’s Creature, who plumbs the depths of rage and loneliness and discovers his own humanity. Victor Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway) is an arrogant genius obsessed with piercing the veil between life and death. He makes a bride for his Creature, then promptly falls in love with her. Patti LuPone, star of Broadway and screen, is so unforgettable as the ornery cut-wife in Season 2 that the producers bring her back as a completely different character in Season 3. As Dr. Seward the alienist, she gets to deliver the New Yorkiest dismissal of the fearsome Dracula: “Fuck you.”
• The writing. “All sad people like poetry. Happy people like songs,” Vanessa says in Season 2, taking a short break from reciting the Verbus Diablo, the language of the fallen angels. That plot line involves deciphering the scrawlings of a mad medieval monk who, being locked away without paper, scrawled on shards, dead butterflies, and whatever came to hand. Ancient evil, mysterious codes — Penny Dreadful breathes the stuff. For a show crawling with monsters, its real achievement is portraying human relationships. At the start of Season 1, Sir Malcolm treats Vanessa as bait to attract the vampire; by season’s end she is his true daughter, but their relationship remains disturbing. The “Will they or won’t they?” attraction between Vanessa and Ethan comes to a head in Season 2, in a scene I call The Last Temptation of Vanessa Ives. “The Master” offers to give her what she wants, which turns out to be a normal life. It’s heart-rending because sitting across the parlor from each other reading the papers is never going to be an option for them.
• The production. The opening theme by Abel Korzeniowski sounds like spiders scuttling around inside your head. The production design is a goth’s fever dream. Consider Dorian Gray’s house, where the walls are lined from ceiling to floor with portraits. Except for one, which is locked in a vault. And look at those costumes. Vanessa’s gowns are elegant, but those corsets are hell on your respiration. Check out the knitwear she and Ethan are sporting in Season 2 when they hide out in the country: Thomas Hardy cosplay. Granted, those two would look wonderful in burlap sacks and duct tape.
• Secondary characters who could have their own series. Sembene (Danny Sapani), Sir Malcolm’s manservant with ritual scars on his face — handy with a sword when battling vampires, and handy in the kitchen when he bakes buttercream torte. Brona Croft (Billie Piper), the consumptive Irish prostitute who is reanimated as Frankenstein’s “cousin” Lily and becomes a vengeful radical feminist. And most of all, Ferdinand Lyle (Simon Russell Beale) the flamboyant Egyptologist who becomes an ally to these Victorian Scoobies (referring to Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s gang). When things become too grim, Lyle is there to liven things up with a head toss and a line. “Never underestimate the power of a queen with lovely hair, my dear.” I was going to say “camp it up” except that Penny Dreadful is by definition camp.
• The breathtaking imagery. A horde of vampires skittering like insects to feed on a corpse hanging from a meat hook. Vanessa and the witch Hecate (Sarah Green) seeing each other across a crowded floor and approaching each other like gunfighters. A montage of people having sex. Witches emerging from the wallpaper. Blood raining down on the guests at a ball — like in Blade, but as tasteful as a bloodsoaked dance can be.
• Unapologetic sexuality. The writers never figured out a way to make the immortal Dorian Gray (Reeve Carney, who looks the part) integral to the plot, but they let him explore his sexuality to the fullest. A partial list of his conquests includes Brona, Vanessa, Ethan, Lily, and a transwoman named Angelique who takes it all off. Lily’s continuing transformation from Brona the victim to righteous avenger is the strongest part of the third season.
• The world is a scary and confusing place, what with elections, “Brexit,” and Trump. It seems counter-intuitive to watch a horror series when real-life fears abound, but fictional horrors help inoculate us from the factual ones. They provide perspective. Yes, Trump’s hair is scary, but what about Madame Kali (Helen McCrory) eviscerating an infant while dolls with disturbingly lifelike eyes look on? Me, I prefer my monsters to be Gothic.
Contact the author at TVatemyday@gmail.com. Read her work every week at BusinessWorld, every day at JessicaRulestheUniverse.com.
Jessica Zafra will be going on hiatus in July. The Binge will return in August.
