Penny Dreadful: City of Angels (2020– ) User Reviews

Penny goes spin-off and political

[CarsonTrent · 4/10 · 26 April 2020]

If the original Penny Dreadful was a dark metaphysical exploration of the human condition featuring trail blazing characters ripped out of essential gothic philosophical novels (Frankenstein, The Picture of Dorian Grey, The strange case of Dr Jekyll Mr Hyde, Dracula), this spin-off features boring, played, down-to-earth characters involved in mundane class and race struggles coming directly from the imagination of John Logan set during the years before WW2.

It turns out that without the genius inspiration material he used for its predecessor, Penny COA offers little more than a pedestrian snore-fest peppered with some Nazi ideology and Santa Muerte of Mexican Christian mythology which could have elevated the series a bit but were unfortunately done bland, too.

Plus there's no substitute for the charisma of Eva Green.

The first episode is less than a triumph. But most annoyingly it points to a development of action in a "them against us" direction which doesn't interest me at all. I'm out.

I think I figured it out.

[kylenaas · 1/10 · 29 June 2020]

Ok. All ten episodes watched and I think I finally understand the message. The message was: We had a decent police thriller, panicked when no one was interested, threw in supernatural stuff, forgot all about the supernatural stuff, and here's our giant pile of "thank god we could attach the name Penny Dreadful to it." That's it. That's the show.

Has almost nothing of what made the original great.

[Astrathus · 4/10 · 26 April 2020]

How could that even happen? Isn't that the same showrunner who created the original series? The first five minutes already look strangely cheap, CGI fire from 20 years ago, artificial acting. Then this constant bloom / glare filter in almost every shot. The intense horror show atmosphere with emotional trauma, this time it is just gone.

I had to rewatch the first few minutes of the original to make sure I'm not betrayed by my memory. I wasn't. This just feels cheap and artificial, truly strange it is written by the same guy.

John Logan, what have you done?!

[S-the-Man · 2/10 · 27 April 2020]

I was looking forward to this spin-off series, because I loved the original series and found it satisfyingly dark and atmospheric. Unfortunately, I was sorely disappointed with this travesty. I understand that this is a spin-off and different from the original series, but come on, you could have at least tried to make it interesting!

This spin-off features many elements (racial problems, politics etc) that have already been handled better in other TV shows and films. And, let's face it, many of us viewers have become fed up with them and don't want to watch them anymore.

I would've loved to see this spin-off feature something truly dark, like elements taken from Edgar Allan Poe's stories and H.P. Lovecraft's magnificent cosmic horror stories (a dark and windy seaside setting with terrifying otherwordly beings and tentacles would've made my day - oh how I long to see Lovecraft filmed in an approriately dark way without happy endings). Laird Barron's dark stories also would've provided the makers with good material. But alas, we get a dash of Mexican mythology mixed up with annoying politics and racial elements.... Boring! Very boring!

One of the biggest problems in this spin-off is Natalie Dormer, because she simply can't compete with Eva Green from the original series. She does her best, but that's not enough for me. I miss Eva Green, because she was amazing and made the original what it is. I think that other viewers also miss her.

I won't be watching this show anymore, but I will watch the original series over and over again, because it was an outstanding achievement in dark fantasy/horror. Please, if you make another spin-off, let it be based on Poe and Lovecraft, and let it be truly dark!

Just dreadful

[bcahill-508-873345 · 2/10 · 3 May 2020]

Sooooooo boring!! I kept waiting for a plot, for something to make sense. Ugh. Just nothing. I don't get it. It doesn't have to like the original Penny Dreadful, but if it's going to have the name attached to it shouldn't it have some of the same flavor? God, so disappointed. I thought the original was brilliant. This is just a dull mess.

Gave up after 3 episodes

[confidential-67897 · 1/10 · 12 May 2020]

I just couldn't carry on watching this rubbish, I managed to get half way through episode 3 and I just couldn't sit through any more of this garbage. Such a shame, the original series was so good, and they have destroyed it.

What the heck happened?!

[mnovello_00 · 1/10 · 11 May 2020]

I was so excited to hear about the show after the original, and although I didn't expect the second to be as superb as the first, I never expected it to be just plain awful. The episodes, storyline and characters are so boring it is painful to get through a full hour of just one. The only thing that brings life into the show is Nathan Lane. What an incredible disappointment this was.

Just Dreadful

[rpsugar · 2/10 · 28 June 2020]

I tortured myself to watch the whole season. I won't be watching the second, if there is one. Halfway through, I was no longer looking forward to watch it, but did so anyway just to see if it would ever get out of the political mishmash it seemed more to be about, than some dark supernatural fantasy story. So slow and boring. Nothing captured my interest to make me want to like it.

What is this?

[neldar001 · 2/10 · 16 May 2020]

I have never given a review. I watched the original Penny Dreadful. This is nothing like the original. They could have just left the "Penny Dreadful" title out if this and named it something else. I am 3 episodes in and I'm done with it.

Not Penny Dreadful just Dreadful

[klpd-38307 · 1/10 · 27 April 2020]

The teenagers at the New Wave studios have not met a UK nor EU series they could not turn into a comic book travesty. We have veteran tough-as-nails LA cops (Nathan Lane???) who has to show how tough he really is by constructing every sentence with f-bombs at beginning, middle and end of every utterance, Sometimes in all three places when he is really acting. We have very cheap FX field burns. We have condescending depictions of "foreigners" We have a complete catalogue of NRA approved vintage correct guns. Naturally, the cops have the guns & the Mexicans have sticks/clubs/stones, ensuring a good massacre plenty of bloodshed Surprisingly there were no T & A displays but one can be sure there shall be many in future episodes. Usual count every other episode, complete with women being thrown against any horizontal furniture and ravished. It is a known fact women love to have the edges of furniture rammed into their stomachs during sex! Ms Dormer and/or her agent must have mortgage/car payments due for her to appear in this drivel. If you wish to see Penny Dreadful the original, download it S01 & S02 Don't waste time & bandwidth watching this rubbish.

A missed opportunity......

[s3276169 · 4/10 · 27 April 2020]

What the hell is this? That was my first reaction upon seeing the US version of "Penny Dreadful".

Aside from sharing the same name as the original it has little in common with it. Penny Dreadful was an encyclopedic trip into the world of monsters and the supernatural. A homage to a time of classic horror and Gothic writers like Stoker and Shelly.

What you get here, is yet another politicised drama with racial overtones, that I quickly found preachy, cliched and ultimately, tiresome.

The US has its own rich history of horror writing in the form of Poe and Lovecraft. These and other works could have been explored in an anthology but instead you get this tedious offering.

A missed opportunity, to say the least. 4/10.

What a disappointment!

[M2M4E · 2/10 · 28 April 2020]

There have been moments when I've been severely disappointed in TV series and movies, and this is definitely one of those moments. This spin-off is the biggest disappointment I've experienced since watching the final and horribly bad season of Game of Thrones.

I knew that this spin-off would be different from the original series and was looking forward to it, because I thought it might be good and compelling. Unfortunately, it's anything but good or compelling, because the script seems to rely too much on mediocre politics and racial issues. The fantasy elements in this spin-off are not as strong or intriguing as they were in the original series and lack darkness. They feel lame and leave the viewer unsatisfied and angry.

The actors are pretty good, although some of the perfomances border on the line of being silly and slightly annoying. I agree with those who say that nobody can replace Eva Green, because I feel that Natalie Dormer lacks Eva Green's strong charisma (Eva Green's powerful performance as tormented Vanessa Ives was one of the reasons why I loved the original show). Natalie Dormer is a good actress, but she is clearly not in the same league as Eva Green who fully throws herself into her roles and delivers amazing performances.

The weakest thing about this new show is the writer's attempt at trying to mesmerise viewers with something new, which in this case means political and racial issues that have been spiced with fantasy elements. I honestly couldn't care less about these issues, because I've seen way too many TV shows and movies about them. I understand the writer has tried to do something new, but he doesn't succeed in his attempt. He only manages to make the viewer angry and frustrated.

The original show was all about loss, regret, redemption and losing oneself to darkness, but this series seems to be none of those things. This show is way too clean and uninteresting to captivate me. It should be much darker and more terrifying, but it isn't. I couldn't get enough of the original show, but I can see myself forgetting the existence of this spin-off pretty quickly, unless I remember it as a cautionary example of how not to make a spin-off series. (It's possible that there are those who will love this spin-off and find it interesting, but I'm not one of them.)

I have a few of questions:

1) Why couldn't John Logan base this show on something much darker than Mexican mythology? I would've loved to see a dark and atmospheric show, but all I got was a series where the sun shines all the time and more or less boring political issues happen in the city. Is this all that viewers are going to get out of this show: sunny landscapes and politics? Where's the darkness and alluringly threatening atmosphere that was always present in the original series?

2) Why is this show called Penny Dreadful? Viewers will automatically expect to see something as dark and amazing as the original show when they see the name. Instead, they will be sorely disappointed by the blandness and mediocrity of the show.

3) Could we get a second spin-off which would be darker and more satisfying?

If you want to watch something good and dark, please watch the original Penny Dreadful, because it will satisfy and hook you with its dark story. You shouldn't waste your time on this dreadful spin-off.

Stop americanising every good show.

[larshermans · 4/10 · 29 April 2020]

Based on the premiere of course: Might change rating if I'm positively surprised.

I don't bother with the politics of the show. I'm not here with an agenda or to accuse the showrunners like many seem to be.

My main gripe is the same as with The Terror: Infamy, where a popular European/international concept for some reason has to be twisted and adjusted to become American. Why? Most shows on Earth are set in the US and revolve around American issues. Penny Dreadful the original was such a breath of fresh air with its Gothic London setting and supernatural themes. A main problem with Season 3 was specifically the American portion that felt out of place and just bad. Season 1 and 2 were perfectly created with some of the most atmospheric sets I've ever witnessed. London is its own character I'd say.

Can we have nothing to ourselves? Was it really necessary to use the Penny Dreadful name to make yet another show set in America? The tone is off, the acting is good but undercut by the jarring atmosphere. It's not the political statements that bother me as much as the fact that it takes place in LA at all. I'm sick and tired of americanising. It's just a boring profit-grab on a series that used to be unique and great.

Yeah, it's dreadful.

[aprilgregh · 3/10 · 10 May 2020]

Okay, so I have probably watched the three seasons of Showtime's Penny Dreadful a dozen times or more - with the exception of a few slow episodes sprinkled over the three seasons collectively, it's nearly unimpeachable in my mind. I thought I would give City of Angels a shot, hoping that if it was even half as good, it would be worth a view. I just finished the third episode, and it's boring and disappointing. Ultimately, even though it doesn't have any of the advantages of the original Penny Dreadful series (ie, the characters all tied together from different historical literary worlds, etc...), this could still have been an engrossing series, but this series doesn't even seem to know what it is. I can't figure out what sort of psuedo-mexi-catholic mysticism it is trying to tie back to, and watching Natalie Dormer try to inhabit multiple characters gets annoying - or boring - very quickly. Rather than finishing an episode and looking forward to the next one, I am just checking my watch, hoping it's almost over. It's honestly bad enough that I really doubt I bother with another episode after the third.

Is it really necessary?

[Official_MNAA · 26 April 2020]

I mean come on! If you compare with original Penny Dreadful - this 2020 spin off is just political messed up drama. I'm out... lost my interest already.

This Is Not Penny Dreadful...

[frankie-08908 · 1/10 · 6 May 2020]

No matter what the title says or what those who never seen Penny Dreadful, this is not. If they just gave it a different title the reviews may have been a bit better.

This movie is about LA in the 30's which Of course historically had tension among Mexican Americans and White Americans. So there's lots of bigotry and prejudice with a murder in the middle that needs solving. The two lead detectives are wait for it...an old white veteran, and the other a young Mexican rookie detective. While trying to do their duty and investigate, they're surrounded by bigotry on both sides. Then they sprinkle a bit of Nazi German sympathizers and spies. Sure Hollywood has a deep history of Communism, (Just look no further than current Hollywood). It's nothing to further the storyline other than a head scratcher. And after that, they then give the viewer an extremely small taste of two mysterious sisters of the after life. One takes the souls of those who pass and the other whispers to the living with evil intent.

It's literally a mess. It would be better as a straight forward 30's murder mystery. Beautiful scenery with good detective work from two good guys who are dealing with the ignorant bigots and prejudice of the times. As they form a bond, solving murders and bridging two worlds together with a beautiful LA as the backdrop. Instead we get a confused, extremely sloooow mess with absolutely no Penny Dreadful. And that's the other downside, the pace of the story is so slow it's like something you put on to fall asleep to.

I don't know, maybe with time they will improve.

Pretty Dreadful Ep01

[themwntl · 1/10 · 29 April 2020]

Penny Dreadful, City of Angles. Is it a cop show with psychotic serial killers? Is it an ethnic group relationship show with labor activists, familia, and cops? Is it a ghostly thriller with Mexican supernatural Death gods? Why call it Penny Dreadful when it has no clear relationship to the first show? Penny Dreadfuls were cheap popular serial literature produced during the nineteenth century in the United Kingdom and have nothing to do with Los Angles. Is Nathan Lane horribly miscast here? Why does every scene look like it is shot in a façade of a set? LA1930 doesn't look like LA 2020. Need Atmosphere? show the concrete LA River, old cars and those bridges. BTW, that concrete pour in the river was not started until 1938. John Logan is a great writer, but city of angles is just mediocre at best. The PD#1 2014-16 was brilliant because it created a world in which all the fictional "monsters" (gothic, Victorian, film) that are cultural icons, co-existed in one fashion or another in a complex, yet focused plot. Bravo. City of Angles is just a plot disaster, stilted dialogue unfolding in cos-play, yet dares to associate itself with the good Penny Dreadful?

Penny Dreadful was Eva Green and Timothy Dalton for me

[throbert · 1/10 · 27 April 2020]

I was disappointed when PD got the axe. I did not understand the rush ending, the sudden stop, but I thought maybe in the future there will be an onset. I though probably the creators ran out of ideas - now it seem the don't.

I really liked the first run, even though some of the threads were not so interesting. And the best of all those threads was the main, with Eva Green and Timothy Dalton. I'm sorry, but I don't want a surrogate with Nathalie Dormer. I just don't care and seeing other reviews: neither the others. 6.9? Really? Was it worth it?

The only mistake was the name....

[nanciabutt · 9/10 · 3 May 2020]

Amazing show.... Amazing story... The only mistake is people are comparing it to the it's predecessor... They should not have named it after penny dreadful... It is an own show in it's own regard... See this show as city of angels only... Forget penny dreadful... Very promising...

No Penny Dreadful here!

[matthewdimarino · 2/10 · 5 May 2020]

As soon as an old lady becomes a witch whisperer for Mexican mythical characters that the city needs to help get over a prejudice murder storyline, you see that the story is thin. Then you mix in natzi storyline to add in another layer on top of the mean city councilor that wants to construct a bridge in the Mexican holly land, wow, that is even more horrific right? Far from Penny Dreadful and just a period piece with mythical voodoo sprinkled in, someone made a bad choice to green light this show and attach the PD name, nice try but false advertising.

Dreadful accents

[tekon-28549 · 3/10 · 29 June 2020]

The only thing dreadful in Penny Dreadful:CoA are the accents. My ears are still bleeding after suffering through this abomination these "actors" call german accent. If i have to hear Dormer one more time saying this stupid Ja forcefully injected in every second sentence i jump in front of the next train.

Penny Painful

[SimonSaysSmallScreen · 2/10 · 12 May 2020]

OMG, Dormer's "German" accent! Just shoot me. And the amateur-hour dubbing of Bishe's singing voice, the WHOLE SONG with all those tight shots. So unnecessary! Not to mention the indignant shock at bigotry against Mexican-Americans while pigeon-holing "evil" Germans with oblivious gusto. Cynical commercialism at its American best. But the real sin is screening such poor production value.

This is not Penny Dreadful

[sarahpenbridge · 6/10 · 17 May 2020]

If you came here looking for the grim, supernatural awesomeness of the original Penny Dreadful, then keep on moving. I don't know why this wasn't just sold as some 1950s gangster series. The cast is amazing, great visuals and acting, but there is almost nothing supernatural about this! Which was kind of the entire point of Penny Dreadful. Aside from some dramatic walk-ons in a gorgeous leather gown from Dormer, and some odd side characters she somehow also needs to play, the supernatural aspect is completely missing. There is SO much that could have been done with the story. Disappointed because I was a huge fan of the original PD!

Absolutely awful. Just embarrassing.

[yoyopa · 1/10 · 4 May 2020]

I knew... I KNEW! From the trailer alone that this was going to bomb hard. Like all of you I loved the original Penny series. I've always been fascinated and admittedly freaked out by the Victorian Era. It was just such a dark and bizarre time especially when you think about medicine in that time.

So the setting was perfect. The storytelling was as dark and bizarre as the era it was set in, performances were wonderful, operatic and moving. The writing of the original stumbled at times(billie piper's neverending angry feminist monologues) but mostly it was fantastic.

Eva Green is completely irreplaceable in every role she plays. She is simply perfect. Hartnett, Dalton, Treadaway and Kinnear are brilliant in their respective roles.

With all of that being said when I heard about a new Penny Dreadful I set aside expectations and kept an open mind... then I saw the trailer and my face unconsciously twisted up like an old man had just crop dusted me in the grocery store.

I think Natalie Dormer is a skilled and gifted actress. She's had more then her fair share of memorable roles. My favorite being Anne Boleyn in The Tudors. But the second I saw her do that sexy dangerous catwalk toward the camera I knew we were in trouble.

The teaser itself wreaked of over stylized empty rubbish. Then the setting... could anything be more over stylized but completely devoid of character than Los Angeles? The 1930's... ugh. Mexican ghouls and goblins, double ugh. Now add 2019/2020 woke politics and agenda and folks we have ourselves a trainwreck.

The original(and only) Penny Dreadful is still on Netflix... at least there's that.

Confusing and Nothing like the Original

[Garabage · 2/10 · 28 April 2020]

This show is baffling in how different it is from the original Penny Dreadful, to the point I was confused throughout as to what the connection was supposed to be.

To start, the genre has completely changed. The original Penny Dreadful was a dark, gothic horror centering around characters of popular literature from the Victorian era. Even if the characters were original, they still fit in nicely with the other characters and the universe.

Now this show is wildly different in concept, theme, and style. I struggle to say it's more realistic, as a couple of the characters are cartoonish and one-dimensional, so instead I will say it's less stylistic and attempts to be more centered in the reality of the 1930's. Again, they fail to do this because the characters are too one-dimensional for that.

This show also has zero horror aspects whatsoever. There is absolutely nothing even remotely scary in this show other than the whiplash it gave me when I first watched it. It is a political drama focusing on race issues in America and during the time period. This could've been an interesting concept, had it been done in a similar style as Penny Dreadful and not done in the exact same way as many other much better shows.

I also have quite an issue with Natalie Dormer's character. For a show trying to shed light on racism in the 1930's, blaming some of the bad actions that take place on a demon is rather strange. There are a few instances where her character influences other characters to do certain things and it left the message the show was trying to send confusing. It gave me some mixed messages that I don't feel like trying to decipher.

In conclusion, if you're a Penny Dreadful fan, do not expect to watch a show related to the original you liked as this mess is different in every sense of the word. I personally would not recommend it.