Penny Dreadful Season 1 Review

Penny Dreadful (2014-2016)
Season 1 - 8 Episodes (2014)

Penny Dreadful Season 1

Watch Penny Dreadful on Netflix
Created by: John Logan
Starring:  Josh Hartnett, Timothy Dalton, Eva Green, Rory Kinnear, Billie Piper
Rating: TV-MA 

Plot: 
Supernatural myths and legends converge in Victorian, London, with vampires, Dr. Frankenstein, Dorian Gray, Van Helsing, and more.

Verdict
Any one of these idea or characters isolated could become stale, but throwing them together makes this a lot of fun. It picks the best ideas and scenes from the horror genre and mixes them with 1800s London. That's a great thing. The show relies heavily on setting and premise, and that is not a complaint.
The cast does a great job and the production values are top notch. This never feels less than period accurate. The music is notable and the shots look perfect.
It's a short season at only eight episodes, but even still the last half  had a fair amount of filler, even adding a flashback episode to pad the count.
Watch it.

Review
This is such a fun premise, and it definitely picked the right setting. Famed explorer Sir Malcolm Murray (Timothy Dalton) now hunts vampires as he tries to find his missing daughter. He's aided by Vanessa Ives (Eva Green) a spiritual medium and gun slinger Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett). This cast is absolutely fantastic.

The first episode was exactly what  I wanted as they attack a vampire nest. The second episode was even better with Vanessa becoming possessed during a seance and Dr. Frankenstein bringing a body back to life. Both scenes are underscored by great music. The episode ends with a stinger that will compel you to watch the next episode.

With this many characters, it helps keep the pacing quick and the stories intriguing with plenty of material to explore. I was hoping we'd see a werewolf or even Jack the Ripper. It's a dark show ripe with possibility, but I suppose they have to leave something for future seasons.

It's dark and brooding from the music to the sets to the characters. It captures the mood and feel perfectly, aided by a great score. This is the type of show that succeeds when it gives you what you want.

Episode five was a disappointment. It's not a bad episode, but it's a flashback that reveals the relationship between Vanessa and Murray's daughter. When the entire episode is a flashback, it halt story progression and momentum. It brings the season to a stand still, and while it's relevant it doesn't provide any information that  I couldn't have done without. It was filler mainly included to torture Eva Green's character.

Episodes six and seven were too static, with Vanessa's possession slowing the plot. No one even goes anywhere as she is chained to a bed. Finally that plot culminates in a great exorcism scene with superb acting by Green and Hartnett. That scene alone is enough to make episode seven my favorite. With that the plot can proceed to rescuing Murray's daughter from vampires.

Episode eight of course is the big battle and the culmination to this season's plot. Sir Malcolm Murray finally finds his daughter. We're teased by a big twist with Ethan Chandler, and there's certainly plenty of  story fodder for season two.

Shortened to just six episodes this season would have been almost perfect. This isn't a story heavy show, but the characters have a certain amount of depth and the mythology is rich. It does so many things right, that if you're a fan of the horror genre done right you have to see this.