TV Show Reviews

Penny Dreadful: City of Angels Episode One Review

Before I venture off into the review for Penny Dreadful: City of Angels’ premiere episode, let me state a disclaimer. I have not watched the original Penny Dreadful. It’s been on my list of shows to get to, but I just haven’t yet. Therefore, I am not sure how City of Angels compares and how fans of the original series will approach this “sequel”, which feels like it’s a sequel in name only, based on limited knowledge and one pilot episode.

Slight Spoilers

City of Angels takes place in the 1930s and a race war is brewing. Automatically, you can see that Penny Dreadful: City of Angels is an outlet for the writers to comment on today’s politics, with using an era of America that was, indeed; very, very prejudiced to anyone who wasn’t white. There are many sentiments presented in the show that you can feel like you’ve read from a 2020 headline. Hell, a Nazi character even says “America first” in the pilot episode. Everything is amplified and at times, it feels like the setting of the thirties is a way to make a more cartoonish version of today’s troubles. Granted, I don’t doubt it was like this in the 1930s and certainly, it’s troubling to see so many correlations between today and yesterday – have we truly not progressed?

City of Angels’ first episode deals with racial tensions, a highway being built in the middle of a Hispanic town (not unlike the Keystone pipeline), the Nazi party before World War II, and of course, supernatural mysteries. While everyone in the show feels so strongly, it’s clear that all of it is truly the “devil’s playground”. Does any of it really matter or was it all orchestrated to feed Magda’s (Natalie Dormer) insatiable appetite for death and destruction? Magda doesn’t take sides, she wants everyone to burn. Dormer does do a really good job in her role and admittedly, she’s right now the most interesting character.

On top of everything else, there is a murder mystery afoot.

It’s only the first episode, so I’m definitely going to keep watching it. Episode one ended with a bang and I am interested in witnessing Tiago Vega’s (Daniel Zovatto) story, as he is truly stuck between a rock and a hard place. Nathan Lane is usually a phenomenal actor, so I am waiting for some of that juice to come to the surface. And, I can’t wait to see Kerry Bishe make an appearance.

Rating: 3/5

Penny Dreadful: City of Angels has the graphical feel of the first season of American Gods and might truly be as weird. It also is going to use its platform to strongly make observations on today’s politics with the freedom of chalking it up the era the show takes place in. I believe fans of HBO’s Watchmen will enjoy the direction this show goes in.

Will it feel anything like the original Penny Dreadful so that fans can be excited? I’m not sure. The show does pose one question: do the deities we pray to even care about us? All I know, is I can’t wait to see Dormer cause more destruction.

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