Penny Dreadful: Think of me only when you dance [spoilers through season 3]

[Channel4s-JonSnow]

Should probably give my final thoughts on season 3 and the show as a whole.

I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised by the ending of the show, I think I might have been prepared for something a lot worse looking at some of the comments on here. Of course the show had a lot of potential and the way it ended was a little abrupt and lacking in scale, but at the same time it was melancholic and tender and gave enough of a farewell to all the main characters that I didn't feel short changed by any of it.

I still preferred S3 to S2 however shortened it might have been. It had a connection to the first season in a way that the second season didn't, and many of the character moments seemed to come genuinely from the characters themselves and not just from attempts by the writers to push two people together for the sake of it or to make the show more risque. I enjoyed the little trip to the Wild West via north africa, the images of dark vampire ridden London were eerie and haunting, and i had a little bit of a tear in my eye at the end of the show as well.

All in all it was a success, but i can imagine the show it could have become maybe had it been more popular.

[Ramsay B.]

Better than nothing, I guess.

 

[HexMachina]

You know this has been out for some time, right? Volume I of the sequel comics I mean (my understanding is it will continue beyond Vol. I)

[Ramsay B.]

2 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

You know this has been out for some time, right? Volume I of the sequel comics I mean (my understanding is it will continue beyond Vol. I)

Hmmm. I knew they had a comic out during the show's run but didn't realize they continued to show the events after it ended. Are they decent at least?

[DMC]

2 hours ago, Ramsay B. said:

Hmmm. I knew they had a comic out during the show's run but didn't realize they continued to show the events after it ended. Are they decent at least?

I did not know any of this, so yeah I suck.  I give most of the credit for how much I loved the show to Logan (and Green's portrayal of course).  Sounds like he's not involved, so maybe I'll read em when I'm bored, but eh.  Like the Walking Dead comics - which reminds me a new one should be out this month.  So...thanks!

[HexMachina]

8 hours ago, Ramsay B. said:

Hmmm. I knew they had a comic out during the show's run but didn't realize they continued to show the events after it ended. Are they decent at least?

 

5 hours ago, dmc515 said:

I did not know any of this, so yeah I suck.  I give most of the credit for how much I loved the show to Logan (and Green's portrayal of course).  Sounds like he's not involved, so maybe I'll read em when I'm bored, but eh.  Like the Walking Dead comics - which reminds me a new one should be out this month.  So...thanks!

Chris King is involved, who was a producer (I think?) on the show. They're okay, although I liked the prequel comic better. Don't think I'll continue with them though, like dmc it was Logan's writing and the fantastic cast that drew me to the series. That isn't really present in the comics imo. Though it does give pay-off to some of the things mentioned in season 3 that people thought would become relevant (e.g. Mr. Lyle...)

I think a series like this lends itself more to a novel than a comic though, it needs some nice gothic prose to make it work and you just don't get that's in the comic. Plus the characters, which were always one of the highlights of this series, aren't nearly as well crafted in the comics as in the show.

 now I miss the show all over again  

 

eta: just to add that I may be a bit biased in my viewpoint because I really don't read comics except for these and have always struggled trying to get engaged with the comic book format. So maybe they'll be better if you enjoy comics and are more accustomed to reading them

[Ramsay B.]

I'm not that into comics either but I really do wanna see what happens to Mr.Lyle...and actually see Mr.Hyde. Fuck that ending pisses me off. Ughh 

[RedEyedGhost]

20 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

I think a series like this lends itself more to a novel than a comic though,

But aren't comics the modern penny dreadfuls?  

[Knight of Ashes]

25 minutes ago, RedEyedGhost said:

But aren't comics the modern penny dreadfuls?  

They're anything but a penny

 

[HexMachina]

8 hours ago, Ramsay B. said:

I'm not that into comics either but I really do wanna see what happens to Mr.Lyle...and actually see Mr.Hyde. Fuck that ending pisses me off. Ughh 

The ending itself - I.e. Vanessa's death, Malcom and co. trying to come to terms with life without her - I thought was really great, I just needed one or two more episodes before we got to that point to flesh some storylines out. And, as you mention, some actual pay off for Dr. Jekyll would have been nice. But I like the ending well enough

2 hours ago, RedEyedGhost said:

But aren't comics the modern penny dreadfuls?  

Well played.  

[Ser Quork]

8 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

The ending itself - I.e. Vanessa's death, Malcom and co. trying to come to terms with life without her - I thought was really great, I just needed one or two more episodes before we got to that point to flesh some storylines out. And, as you mention, some actual pay off for Dr. Jekyll would have been nice. But I like the ending well enough

 

I agree.  Suddenly, hell on earth and Vanessa's breaking happened "off-screen" and - and then that ending seemed so rushed.  It was really wasted for me. 

[Theda Baratheon]

I would have been more than happy with one more short season or a few more episodes to flesh things out more. 

[Martini Sigil]

This show made me as frustrated as anything I watched... It should have been great... it had its moments... Eva Green was brilliant... but out of nowhere it was "Oh, Vanessa's dead.... show's over." 

Showtime often runs otherwise  decent shows into the ground with many more seasons that they should have,,, (Dexter, shameless, Homeland)... but this one they killed just as it was starting to peak

[DMC]

Just finished re-watching the entire series, and wanted to bump simply to express how much I adore this show.  Its poetry truly holds a special place in my heart.  One substantive thing I noticed on the rewatch - sorry if this was discussed at length in these threads but I didn't really come around here when the show was airing:

During the seance in the second episode of the series (appropriately titled Seance), the witch we come to know as Evelyn Poole begins by appearing to be possessed by an entity that "speaks for the dead."  Then, Poole appears to come out of the trance, and says "there's another here" a couple times, followed by being..re-tranced, saying "know your master, your lover," then Vanessa is possessed and goes on to freak Malcolm out and ruin the party.  

Now, obviously, the viewer is led to assume "the another" that's here is Vanessa.  But knowing the eventual Lucifer/Dracula brother mythos revealed in Season 3's A Blade of Grass episode, I think you could interpret the above exchange to Lucifer possessing Poole (as the one who speaks for dead), then Dracula being the "another here" and possessing Vanessa.  I dunno maybe I'm looking way too into it, but thought that was really cool.  

[AncalagonTheBlack]

Good news for Eva Green fans .She has a new show coming up next year from the BBC.

Quote

BBC Two has announced that leading actresses Eve Hewson (Robin Hood, The Knick, Bridge of Spies) and Eva Green (Casino Royale, Penny Dreadful, Sin City, A dame to Kill For) will join the cast of six-part drama series, The Luminaries.

Eve, will play Anna Wetherell together with Eva, who will play Lydia Wells. New Zealand actor Marton Csokas (The Equalizer, Lord of the Rings, Into the Badlands) also joins as Francis Carver.

The series is an adaptation of the Man-Booker Prize winning novel of the same name and will be coming soon to BBC Two in the UK and TVNZ1 in New Zealand. Produced by Working Title Television, it is being adapted for the screen by novelist Eleanor Catton and director Claire McCarthy (Ophelia, The Waiting City).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2018/the-luminaries-casting

 

[Theda Baratheon]

On 3/8/2018 at 4:22 AM, DMC said:

Just finished re-watching the entire series, and wanted to bump simply to express how much I adore this show.  Its poetry truly holds a special place in my heart.  One substantive thing I noticed on the rewatch - sorry if this was discussed at length in these threads but I didn't really come around here when the show was airing:

During the seance in the second episode of the series (appropriately titled Seance), the witch we come to know as Evelyn Poole begins by appearing to be possessed by an entity that "speaks for the dead."  Then, Poole appears to come out of the trance, and says "there's another here" a couple times, followed by being..re-tranced, saying "know your master, your lover," then Vanessa is possessed and goes on to freak Malcolm out and ruin the party.  

Now, obviously, the viewer is led to assume "the another" that's here is Vanessa.  But knowing the eventual Lucifer/Dracula brother mythos revealed in Season 3's A Blade of Grass episode, I think you could interpret the above exchange to Lucifer possessing Poole (as the one who speaks for dead), then Dracula being the "another here" and possessing Vanessa.  I dunno maybe I'm looking way too into it, but thought that was really cool.  

Glad it held up on a rewatch - I love this show so much. It's special to me. I'm still sad it ended. 

[Cas Stark]

2 hours ago, Theda Baratheon said:

Glad it held up on a rewatch - I love this show so much. It's special to me. I'm still sad it ended. 

Yes, I still don't see how it failed to find an audience.

[HexMachina]

14 hours ago, AncalagonTheBlack said:

Good news for Eva Green fans .She has a new show coming up next year from the BBC.

 

EXcellent, I’m happy to see anything she stars in. Though she has the unfortunate habit of being in a whole lot of stuff that’s is awful or meh. She always is a highlights though

[DMC]

Just rewatched the series.  About to rewatch the last two episodes just because.  I love this show so much, and I will necro this thread as long as I or this forum am/is around.  Consider this a placeholder.  It's my birthday and I'm not in the best state, but I do have new observations to say on the show.  Can't quite articulate them right now.

[HexMachina]

Necro away. I do love to rewatch this show. I had a bit of a solitary sad act one year where i would rewatch an episode each week in a dark room, with my black penny dreadful candle burning, drinking from my penny dreadful coffee mug...

There are so many great episodes in the show but i think the episode each season which is essentially a flashback (closer than sisters, the cutwife, The white room) is always particularly brilliant.

And the acting is very strong across the board. I don’t feel like anyone ever put in a poor performance.

Oh and the score! Ramin Djawadi is rightly praised for his work right now but i thought Korzeniowski’s work on PD was phenomenal. Its a treat when one of the tracks comes up in my shuffled playlist. Really powerful and memorable, i can always match each track to specific scenes in the show and they’ll start playing through my head as i’m listening. Let it End always gets me emotional. They even have the gunshot effect in 

 

Eta: lol, and now i’m remembering how hard loads of us wanted Ethan and Vanessa to get their happy ending together but they were always denied. Tragic.  

And the season two scene where everyone gets to have sex in a haunting montage while Ethan and Vanessa get...a lingering look on the staircase

speaking of that scene, Glady’s death was chilling. I think Season 2 really did some excellent work on the horror side of things. The scene where Hecate stalks the young couple and their baby jumps to mind. I distinctly remember the warning before that part of the episode on sky atlantic that there was a very disturbing scene coming up.

 

i’ll stop there or i will ramble on for pages at this rate