Penny Dreadful

I had long wanted to see Penny Dreadful, but it was on Showtime, which I have never subscribed to. But when I saw Netflix had it I jumped with both feet and watched all three seasons. For the most part, I was transfixed.

Right up my alley, Penny Dreadful (the phrase refers to British pulp stories that told horror tales) is a mash-up of characters from 19th century fiction. Thus we have Victor Frankenstein and Dorian Gray and Dracula and Dr. Jekyll all meeting each other in 1890s London (purists will recognize that the Frankenstein story took place about a hundred years earlier).

But at the center are original characters. Vanessa Ives, played by Eva Green, is the main character. She is a pale, raven-haired woman who is sought first by Lucifer, then by Dracula (they are brothers, according to this show). The other main characters are Sir Malcolm Murray (Timothy Dalton), an explorer much in the mold of Sir Richard Burton, and Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett), a sharpshooter from a Wild West show (probably inspired by Quincy Morris from Bram Stoker's Dracula).

Through the three seasons these characters weave in and out. Dr. Frankenstein, a young man hooked on smack, has created his creature, who comes back to him asking for a mate. The interpretation of the creature character, brilliantly played by Rory Kinnear, is perhaps the best I've ever seen, and there have been hundreds of films about him. Kinnear plays him as intelligent, a lover of poetry, a romantic, who just wants love and its heartbreaking, although he isn't above killing someone if it furthers his ends. Kinnear puts on an acting clinic in an episode where he plays three different characters, but the creature is not one of them.

Meanwhile, Dalton is looking for his daughter, Mina (some of the names from Stoker's novel pop up here and there, including hers) who has been taken by some sort of vampire (the first season does not mention Dracula). Hartnett falls in love with a prostitute (Billie Piper) and it doesn't take a genius to see that she will become the Bride of Frankenstein in season two.

The second season is the best, if only because it is genuinely scary. This time it is witches who are after Green, still wanting her to pair up with Lucifer and rule the world. Her friends, including a flamboyant Egyptologist (Simon Russell Beale, hilarious) strive to save her. Frankenstein creates a mate for his creature, but he falls in love with her, and it's a bit like Pygmalion as he tries to teach her social graces. But Dorian Gray recognizes her, and takes her for his own.

Season three goes to the Wild West of America, as an Apache character is introduced, played by Wes Studi. Also, Dr. Jekyll is introduced as an old classmate of Frankenstein's, but half Asian-Indian. We don't see Mr. Hyde, though--Jekyll's serum is used to calm people down.

There are many other great characters, such as Inspector Rusk, played by Douglas Hodge, a one-armed policeman who is determined to catch the monster who has been killing people. When you hear that one character's real name is Lawrence Talbot, and if you are familiar with the Universal film The Wolf Man, you know what's going on there. Helen McCrory plays the witch in season two, a fantastic villain, and Patti LuPone plays two characters--a "cut-wife" that Green holes up with (the house constructed for her character is so perfectly a "witch house") and learns spells from, and then later an alienist, Dr. Seward (another name from the novel Dracula).

While there are many fine actors here, it's all about Green. She is an unusual beauty, with eyes that seem to take up half her face, but it's the physicality of her role that is noticeable. The poor woman is put through the wringer, as there are many seasons of her committed to an asylum, where she undergoes hydrotherapy and trepanning. I would have loved to been a fly on the wall during filming--she must have come to work ready for anything, including having sex with an invisible devil.

Penny Dreadful wrapped up after three seasons, probably a good thing, although I would have like the Dorian Gray arc to end better (we do see his portrait, but not until season two, and it's worth the wait) and to see Dr. Jekyll turn into Mr. Hyde. But it's best to leave the viewer wanting more. For fans of classic horror, it's like being a kid on Christmas morning, and the writing, much of it by series creator John Logan, is tremendous.