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Re: Penny Dreadful
Anyone watch this?
I was binge watching season 3 when the words The End popped up, then proceeded to google it.
It was a good show even if it was predictable at times, but that ending wow... it was like a shaggy dogs tale. Only one character Vanessa got resolution (and that's a stretch tbh). The rest just wondered London going no where.
No pay off to most of the storylines. Dracula that they introduced 1/2 way through the season survives, Ethan never encountered Lilly after season 1, the creature just went around in circles for most of the show, the Dorian thing went no where (I guess they just wanted a gay character), the Mr. Hyde thing never went anywhere ect.
For people who watch Game of Thrones, this is the equivalent of Danny staying in Essos, Arya heading back to Westros and deciding to become a baker, Bran never showing up again after he reached the tree, Jon deciding to re-join the Night's Watch, Theon deciding Ramsay isn't so bad after all and Sansa I guess randomly killing herself, just because?
It's almost as bad as the ending of Dexter.
- elevendayempire
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Re: Penny Dreadful
I got really annoyed by Penny Dreadful way back in Season 1, when it became clear they were merrily disregarding the source material. Examples: Frankenstein was written in 1818, Dracula was written in 1897, but the series writers just went, "eh, stick 'em both together in a generic 19th Century setting." But Frankenstein was about the concerns of the early 19th Century, Dracula's themes were all rooted in the late 19th Century (little-known fact: Dracula's actually not set in the year of its publication, it's set in a "near-future" a few years from the now).
But worse than that, far worse, was the fact that they made Mina Murray's dad a knight. The whole point of Dracula is that it's about Victorian class structures; clerk Jonathan Harker and governess/teacher Mina Murray are the solid middle-class figures, Arthur Holmwood and Lucy Westenra are the landed gentry, Dr Seward represents the professional class, and Quincy's the colonial. Dracula's the Other, coming from overseas to disrupt society (it's basically a fear-of-the-immigrants narrative, with the swarthy foreigner coming here to variously Take Our Women and Steal Our Land). Anyway, the point of all this is that Mina's dad is not a fucking knight of the realm. But the gormless Yankee writer (no offence, guys) took a surface-level look at the material and went, "Mina, English, sounds posh, probably upper-class."
Re: Penny Dreadful
I just think it's unforgivable to introduce so many plot elements not to pay any of them off. I think the show runner tried to spin it as the intended ending.
It literally went no where. Even if let's say you excluded The Creature/Frankenstein from the show, would it really have effected anything? The same went for various other characters, it's just don't include characters if you have no idea what you're going to do with them past the first season.
The production values of the show and cast they hired that were willing to go the extra mile is great, but their was no script/direction/endgame. It's just random encounters characters have with others each season with a sub plot about a villain (that's only real purpose ever seemed to be was for a group of protagonists to band together in each season finale with little consequence like other teen shows ala *Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel/Smallville ect). It was a show of wasted potential.
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