Top Reasons Why You Should be Watching ‘Penny Dreadful’

If you’ve been watching any sort of television recently or have even just been clicking around online, you have probably heard of a series called ‘Penny Dreadful‘. Since the second last episode of the first season airs this evening, I wanted to do a short post as to why you should all be watching it.

(If you are not already.)

Starting first, it has the lovely Eva Green as Vanessa Ives, who is not only fabulous but is mysterious, and has some demons she’s fighting. Literally.

Second up on the character list, Dorian Gray is played by Reeve Carney. I may be a tad biased because I always really enjoyed The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, and I have to say that Carney pulls it off wonderfully. (He’s also really, really pretty.)

Billie Piper is in this show as well which was an absolutely fantastic surprise for myself, and anyone else who is always (still) watching Doctor Who. Whovians might want to watch this show just for that alone! She plays Brona Croft, who despite having the consumption and a ridiculous accent; She’s still amazing.

Harry Treadaway is Victor Frankenstein, and a character who I always really enjoyed (Most of this list, actually. I always had a love for fiction and monsters, who doesn’t?) Frankenstein’s part in the show so far has been a bit mysterious, but I’m sure that we’ll find out more as it continues.

Timothy Dalton is in this cast listing as Sir Malcolm and I still have mixed feelings as to whether he is actually fighting for the good of things or will wind up being a bad guy in some way. We’ll have to wait!

Josh Hartnett is here as well, playing Ethan Chandler. Who might be a werewolf or some sort of Jekyll/Hyde. I’m genuinely not sure yet. But the acting is fabulous and while I truthfully didn’t like his character at first, he’s grown on me. For a first season of a show with lots of characters, the development pacing and depth is wonderful.

There are a lot of other characters to name and it would be too long of a list to properly convey my thoughts in a way that is befitting intelligent conversation without resorting to simply fangirling on how much I love this show. It’s wonderfully done, which is something I very much appreciate for a TV series these days. The aesthetics of the times, the sets, the wardrobes…It all is gorgeous and well worth the watch. The storyline has gone into directions I hadn’t guessed and is visually intense.

It’s essentially a sort of giant gothic novel wrapped up into a beautiful TV show that doesn’t hold anything back. Thank you, Showtime.

(While I’m typing this information to you about wonderful fictional history, fellow readers: If you enjoy Penny Dreadful, this new novel series is also entirely up your alley. I have to mention it while it fits! You should go read The Ouroboros Cycle novels written by G.D. Falksen. It is in the category of ‘A new series you absolutely need to be following’. There are vampires that will never sparkle, rich aesthetics, history, and of course intelligently written characters. With sass. It has everything and is well worth the read.)

Now go marathon all the episodes if you haven’t started yet, and catch up before next weeks season finale! You won’t regret it!