Showtime's latest original series which takes place in the Penny Dreadful universe? Or just happens to be created by Penny Dreadful creator John Logan who is using the success of his prior series to launch this new series and create a franchise? Penny Dreadful-City of Angels has little apparent relation to its namesake former series. It takes place in Los Angeles and centers around a Latino police detective who is solving a ritual murder and finds himself divided between loyalty to his department and his neighborhood and family when a development project threatens the neighborhood he grew up in. There are two Trek cameos in the pilot, one by Brent Spiner who plays a precint captain? A second cameo is made by Ethan Peck who plays a German-American Nazi sympathizer? Was not expecting to see any Trek alumni in this.
There is also a mystical element in the form of Santa Muerte, the Angel of Death and Magda a demon. Magda is seen at the side of many characters pushing them in to violence.
True, I realized after my making my post that I omitted this detail. Santa Muerte and Magda are said to be sisters, though both are supernatural entities. Magda doesn't seem to care about humans at all, whereas S.M. seems to have some sympathy for some humans, especially those that worship her, or pray to her.
Spiner and Peck are more than just cameos, according to the cast list on Wikipedia, they are both recurring roles. I've already noticed that Spiner has popped up in the majority of trailers, and in different scenes in the trailers. And just as an FYI, the first episode is up for free on the Showtime website, so you can watch it without a subscription.
I enjoyed the first episode. I have to admit I was mostly interested in seeing Nathan Lane's turn as a grizzled old detective. Saw an interview with him a couple weeks ago where he said that he wanted a role that wasn't stereotypical for him (gay song and dance man). It's hard for me not to see him in his Birdcage role (which was amazing), but I think it will grow on me. Can't deny his acting ability. I never watched the original series, but this intrigues me. I'm looking forward to seeing it play out.
I would have enjoyed this more if it wasn't being marketed as Penny Dreadful. It just doesn't have anything that ties it to the original show in any way. Which, I suppose, makes it as much an anthology as the penny dreadfuls it's riffing on. But I'm not going to let that stop me from being annoyed by it. I loved every minute of the original, right up until the absolutely dreadful (pun intended) finale. After having one amazing series completely destroyed before it's time by this creator I have a hard time even giving him the benefit of the doubt for this. That said, this was ok. Nathan Lane was good. I wish he was the main character, as I just don't care for Tiago. Rory Kinnear surprised me with his character. An interesting way to introduce a Nazi, by humanizing him first. Nothing else really stood out. It was just kind of generic, boilerplate television. But I don't care one whit about LA, about Santa Muerte or her prophecy, or about Tiago Vega and his identity crisis. The only thing Magda has going for her is Natalie Dormer, and she isn't enough to keep me around. This has one more episode to win me over, or I'm out.
I loved the first series because it brought all the old horror characters together in wonderfully weird ways. This new show seems to want to bludgeon us over the head with lessons about racial prejudice against Mexicans (which, granted, many people need to be lectured about - just not me), and then it throws in a couple of supernatural entities. The story is good, well-written and well-acted - it's just that I'm more in the mood for the crazy escapist horror show of the first series than another morality lesson. We'll keep watching for a while, what the hell. As for the Nazis - this is 1938. Average folks in the US didn't know yet, and generally wanted to stay out of any European problems.
Loved the first season and am cautiously optimistic about this new installment. Anthology series tend to be very hit or miss for me, but at least the cast is strong and the concept is promising. Lane has been taking a lot of challenging, dramatic roles lately, on television and in the theater, that have really proven his versatility and skill as an actor. Hopefully this show will earn him some wider appreciation, because he's great.
I loved the original and while I’d have rather seen Dalton, Green etc return, I’m looking forward to this one. Shades of James Elroy but with a supernatural bent (and perhaps some of the racial politics of Watchmen). Also made me think of some of the episodes of Angel which flashbacked to 1930s to 1950s LA.
Sounds like a mix of Carnivàle and LA Confidential/Chinatown - two great tastes (grand, mythic fantasy and forgotten real-life political messes) that I'm not at all sure go together. Putting demons into a story about socio-economic repression threatens to make the serious stuff look silly, and the silly stuff no fun.
People saying that this show seems to be drawing from "Carnivale" from 15 years ago are closer than they think. Miss Adelaide, the lady whose daughter is the Preacher in the Temple the Cops went to, is played by Amy Madigan. Iris Crowe from Carnivale. Brother Justine's sister.
I finally got caught up with this. OMG there is such a Carnivale-esque vibe it’s not even fumny. I about crapped my pants when I saw Amy Madigan in almost the same exact role. I’m loving this so far.
It's just kind of sad that some folks are overreacting to this show and demanding that the first story about Eva Green just keep going on and on. It's like they have no idea what a spinoff series is. Same deal with AMC's "The Terror". It's an anthology where each season is a different tale of human terrors, but some viewers insist that the first season's story just continue when we saw it clearly end. Yet American Horror Story doesn't have this problem.
Agreed. I was almost kind of annoyed when AHS tried to tied a couple of the stories together. It was just fine with stand alone universes. Of course I say this without really having watched the first series.
I loved the dancing episode. The 'Penny Dreadful' moniker here is no more than a carrot for the first series' audience. The two series have nothing thematically in common - City of Angels is entirely its own show, with nothing to do with the first series. It's not even in the same universe. But that's okay! It's getting good, so I'll keep watching.
You an easily say the same about the various AHS series, yet no one complains the AHS name keeps getting used for each one.