Penny Dreadful

:

Season 2
Season #: 3, 2, 1
User Score
8.5

Universal acclaim- based on 210 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 185 out of 210
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 210
  3. Negative: 12 out of 210
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User Reviews

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  1. magnisky
    Jul 11, 2016
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. So where should I start...Although, this is type of Victorian era, fantasy, genre is right up my alley; there are some inconsistencies in this overall OK show. Cinematography should be A++. Art direction is absolutely beautiful in this show. And editing is over all pretty good; flow of scene to scene will generally make sense. I realize just like Once Upon a Time, this show can edge on the cheesy fast if it lets it. So, I watch each scene with caution and awaited somber disappointment. Gosh, that scene where one of the witches hisses to show rage, I might as well be handing out the cheese plates. As for the main characters, they are all approved to playing their roles well enough, these actors (I imagine) are simply following the direction of their script and nothing more, right? When Sir Malcolm Murray totally gets beguiled under the witches spell knowing fully well that Penny Dreadful's world is already filled with horror and that he really shouldn't trust anybody, his character goes right ahead and joins Tinder to find some action. Next is Vanessa Ives. NOW, I want to make clear, the producers did do a great job picking her out, her face is made for such a role. And I would like to give her a standing ovation in all of her possessed scenes. However, whenever she is acting normal and not possessed, I cant distinguish her expression from disinterest or passion (it seems she might only know the Mona Lisa smile, but nothing else). The only main character that seems to be wholly acceptable is the werewolf guy (Ethan Chandler). His expressions and subtle acting make him believable and crazily relatable. The next problem i have with this series is all the over-sexualized visuals. Everybody is sleeping around with everybody, exchange of sexual partners, everyone is hot for everyone including mother, daughter, father figure, wolf, witch, cousins, etc. I get it, sex sells. So what the story line isn't completely consistent, as long as people have sex. Season 2 is better than Season 1. So in that hope, perhaps Season 3 will keep the characters relatable and consistent with the type of people they truly are. The show is beautifully grotesque but come'on don't make me use the second word of the title as a pun please.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

43
#43 Best TV Season of 2015
81
#81 Most Discussed TV Season of 2015

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 14 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 14
  3. Negative: 0 out of 14
  1. Boston Herald
    Reviewed by: Mark A. Perigard
    May 4, 2015
    75
    Things are about to get a lot worse on Penny Dreadful, and for viewers, that is a very good thing indeed.
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  2. Salon
    Reviewed by: Sonia Saraiya
    May 4, 2015
    80
    This is a sumptuously produced, beautifully executed show, and if the story doesn’t always make sense, the metaphysics always does.
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  3. Slate
    Reviewed by: Jonathan L. Fischer
    May 4, 2015
    70
    There are times when I wish Penny Dreadful were baser, lower-brow, and more exploitative than it is apparently willing to be. And yet I can’t quite dismiss it, thanks to winning, carefully modulated performances by Billie Piper—as a woman who fears the man whom she was brought back to life to wed--and Helen McCrory, whose full-bodied incantations are even scarier than Vanessa’s.
    Read full review
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