Pennyworth

Juggling more adult fare, Heller manages to make Pennyworth a compelling modern drama but adds in a darker hint of comic book ink, never letting the tone tilt too much toward the outlandish or over-the-top, but also just unhinged enough to stand out.

Intermittently murky. ... All in all, though, “Pennyworth” does the job. As the titular character, Bannon (“Medici,” “Endeavour”) is roguish and charming; his British accent reminds me of the GEICO gekko from those classic TV ads, while Corrin et al. provide solid support.

“Pennyworth” is kind of fascinating in that it looks good, the performances are solid, the design is strong … and I just never found a reason to care. Like so much modern TV, every episode is too long, and the slack pacing doesn't help an already slow writing sensibility. There's nothing overly wrong with "Pennyworth," except it never quite justifies its existence.

The stories are fairly thin, but the look of the show and the charisma of Bannon and some of the supporting players — notably the English singer Paloma Faith as Bet Sykes, a Raven Society enforcer who takes a quick dislike to both Alfred and Esme — cover for that for a while.

[Jack Bannon] is a charming, resourceful and alert performer, and his Alfred — with an aggressively pompadoured widow’s peak that embodies the nervous energy of a generation — is a consistently engaging presence at the center of the series. Bannon is well matched by Emma Corrin as Esme ... Rather than amplifying or enriching each other, the straight-ahead drama and the comic contrivances cancel each other out. It’s harder to take either one seriously in the presence of the other.

The show is as entertaining as it is frustrating, feeling sort of like an adaptation of a comic based on Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes movies (with all of the Britishness that implies). It has style. It has interesting spy intrigue and snappy acton. It has weirdly theatrical villains. It has anachronistic needle drops. And yet, every detour to explore the motivations of a side character ... feel counter to the show’s stated purpose.

There’s simply no dynamic undercurrent propping up Pennyworth. That’s a problem considering that its surface-level action is standard-issue, all frantic chases through London’s misty streets, bouts of fisticuffs against generic ruffians, and subplots involving Alfred’s army mates Dave Boy (Ryan Fletcher), who’s a wild-and-crazy drunk, and Bazza (Hainsley Lloyd Bennett), who has no discernible personality traits. ... Unsurprisingly, the most engaging elements of Pennyworth are its bad guys.