MovieChat Forums > Penny Dreadful (2014) Discussion > What an awful show....no moral character...

What an awful show....no moral character at all....


....the Frankenstein monster probably has the most morals..lol....got up to ep 5 and couldn't stand it any longer....I can see why it was cancelled....

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I've noticed British produced and ment for the UK market, more so than for the US, tend to be void of any moral compass. Torchwood is one that comes to mind especially. I had no sympathy for any of the characters, due to the complete moral bankruptcy of them all. A more recent example is Marcella ( on Netflix), no moral compass in any character except that which preserves children and law.
It's just the logical conclusion of a atheistic secular society that shows animus towards Christian beliefs.

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...a atheistic secular society that shows animus towards Christian beliefs.

The word "animus" means spirit. The word you are looking for us "animosity". How can anyone respect ignorant, ungrammatical expressions of opinion?

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I had to look that up because I am used to anima/animus from Jungian psychology. I found that animus actually also means hostility, so the quoted poster is using the word correctly. This actually fits in with Jungian psychology quite nicely, I think, due to the dual nature of one's anima/animus.

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Indeed, "a usually prejudiced and often spiteful or malevolent ill will" is in fact the very first definition of the word given by Merriam-Webster, including a quotation of such usage by academic historian Daniel J. Singal, PhD, who is undoubtedly much more qualified as a writer than lynxx55. Oxford also gives the first definition of "animus" as "Hostility or ill feeling."

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Yes, because all Christians are always so incredibly moral. I think the point of this show went right over yours and the OP's head. Perhaps you should stick to Ozzy and Harriet and the like.

Freedom of religion means ALL religions not just your own.

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hear, hear!

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Moral & Christian aren't the same thing.
You just showed why other religions disdain Christian, holier-than-thou attitudes.

Carpe Noctem!

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It's just the logical conclusion of a atheistic secular society that shows animus towards Christian beliefs.


A: Check out a dictionary sometime.

B: Come back when you guys stop molesting altar boys.

Quick! Someone help me, before I help myself.

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What makes you think they're Catholic?


And would you have a similar condemnation of teachers, coaches, parents, and professions that focus or deal with kids.




Global Warming, it's a personal decision innit? - Nigel Tufnel

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In fact, two prominent dictionaries give a primary definition of the word "animus" as "Hostility or ill feeling" and "a usually prejudiced and often spiteful or malevolent ill will." This is perfectly consistent with the usage you quoted from the other poster.

You were saying?

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Not everything is made to have a moral compass. It is entertainment. And probably there are the same percentage of British and Americans that have the same morals. British entertainment allows nudity while ours is just hidden around behind the barn. People do horrible things under the name of morality


Death lies dormant in each of us and will bloom in time. Odd Thomas

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Lol, you guys are ridiculous and whiny

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I only lasted 3 eposodes. When Josh Harnett kissed Dorian Gray in episode 3 I gave up.

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I only lasted 3 eposodes. When Josh Harnett kissed Dorian Gray in episode 3 I gave up.


I loved the show and gave it 10/10, but you're right in that I never quite understood the point of that scene (However, they were drinking the real-deal absinthe). The only other time it was referenced was for demon-vanessa to shame him in front of his friends.

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I loved the show and gave it 10/10, but you're right in that I never quite understood the point of that scene (However, they were drinking the real-deal absinthe). The only other time it was referenced was for demon-vanessa to shame him in front of his friends.


Or maybe just to show Ethan was bisexual without having a big story about it?

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"No! He is imprinted on you like a gay duckling. If you don't wean him off you slowly, he'll die."

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There IS that possibility! If it had been a female--would anyone have made a peep?

Carpe Noctem!

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There IS that possibility! If it had been a female--would anyone have made a peep?

Carpe Noctem!

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you can get real absinthe anywhere. there is nothing magical about it, it's just strong booze with heavy herbal components.

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You're thinking of today. Absinthe in that era was different. The defining ingredient is wormwood, which is poisonous in its natural state. In those days, absinthe was reputed to have narcotic or even hallucinogenic effects. Today's absinthe uses wormwood which has been processed to remove its toxicity.

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I also hated that scene or hook up. Dorian is supposed to be bisexual but it goes against a cowboy type of character like Hartnett's to just have a one night stand with a guy, much less Dorian. It was there merely to shock people but did not serve either the plot or characters whatsoever.

That scene really lowered my opinion of this show amongst others. Because it shows that they cannot be subtle and rely more on shock factor than creative writing to drive the series.




Global Warming, it's a personal decision innit? - Nigel Tufnel

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Unfortunately, I have to agree the scene served no real purpose either to develop characters or progress story. However, it was really the only blemish on all of S1 for me.

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Actually, it does serve a narrative purpose, albeit weakly. It's supposed to be misdirection.

In Season 1, Ethan was "the American" with a mysterious past. Assuming a watcher had no familiarity with the hints that were dropped, one could conclude that Ethan was trying to escape his former life because he was attracted to men.

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In Season 1, Ethan was "the American" with a mysterious past. Assuming a watcher had no familiarity with the hints that were dropped, one could conclude that Ethan was trying to escape his former life because he was attracted to men.


Perfectly well put, and 100% on point.

"No man yet found drinks his tea blacker"

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I thought that scene was supposed to portray Dorian as some sort of unresistable force of exploring all aspects of life (and at Dorian's stage of development as an immortal in this show, this seemed to be strictly limited to breaking social conventions), because I agree completely, it didn't fit with Ethan's character.

In reality, a person's sexuality can be quite different from what one assumes due to social tropes. A bisexual cowboy wouldn't raise an eyebrow where I live. However, this is fiction, where each scene should have meaning. So that was the meaning I took away from it.

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Same here, I also thought it was meant to show us that Dorian is completely irresistible and will have whoever he lusts for. Even more so since Ethan wasn't exactly at his strongest emotionally.

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That's how I interpreted the scene also.

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Right! Seen Brokeback Mountain?

Carpe Noctem!

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Right! Seen Brokeback Mountain?

Carpe Noctem!

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BM is different, it's a 20th century modern story of homosexual repressed love. Ethan is the embodiment of old Westerns from the 19th century. He is reminiscent of John Wayne and Clint Eastwood, the mysterious rugged cowboy. I imagine all of you bringing up BM have never seen any of these old Westerns which is why it goes over your heads on what he represents.

I encourage you to go back and do a marathon on Classic Westerns and not rely on BM as your representation of that genre.




Global Warming, it's a personal decision innit? - Nigel Tufnel

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I guess you must have never seen Brokeback Mountain...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-09OhQPiIg#t=85

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I looked at it as he was basically roofied and unable to resist the allure of Dorian, particularly while so emotionally vulnerable. I doubt he'd be so easily seduced had he been sober and not so emotionally thrown.

"She hasn't even read the books..." - Elliot_Alderson

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Oh my god you're like the only person in this thread who has the right idea about that scene thank you.

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👊

"She hasn't even read the books..." - Elliot_Alderson

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agreed on this -- it's a testament to Dorian's allure, and Ethan's emotional low. plus, sexuality is a spectrum...even for cowboys.

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That scene really lowered my opinion of this show amongst others. Because it shows that they cannot be subtle and rely more on shock factor than creative writing to drive the series.


Maybe you don't understand that this is a HORROR STORY and SHOCK VALUE is inherit in all horror tales. If you aren't shocked, the horror was weak.

I agree it didn't play well for the storyline, but it's not out-of-place in the series.

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Good!

Carpe Noctem!

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....the Frankenstein monster probably has the most morals..lol....got up to ep 5 and couldn't stand it any longer....I can see why it was cancelled....


Funny you should say that, Vanessa tells him he's the most human man she's ever known in another episode.

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That whooshing sound you hear is the point going right over your head.

They are all people who have done horrible things. They have flaws. They are not perfect bastions of morality. That doesn't mean that they have no morals.

Well, with the exception of Dorian Gray. And honestly, if you expected DORIAN GRAY to have morals, you have obviously never read a book in your life.

Geek Girl🐉

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The problem is that this show was set in Victorian England when rigidity in sexuality was at its height yet every single character was having sexual hook ups and one night stands like it was common practice.

I also hated Dorian as a character as he had no interesting storyline whatsoever. He was just some pretty boy meant to titillate and shock everyone, sleeping his way through the whole cast and not much else.



Global Warming, it's a personal decision innit? - Nigel Tufnel

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The problem is that this show was set in Victorian England when rigidity in sexuality was at its height


Which is an overtly hollow critique of the show considering the setting and characters. The protagonists are selfish and cruel, and of course, vampires, werewolves and immortals don't actually seem to exist. So while Victorian England is indeed the backdrop, it should have gone without saying that inerrant historicity wasn't exactly the producers primary concern.

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Actually Historical accuracy in character behavior and culture was a concern, a major concern. Shame on you for the dismissiveness of "It has Supernatural creatures so that alone makes it inaccurate." Most of these characters came from books of that era. Does that undo the very year in which those books and stories are set and the way that culture influences character behavior?

Hiding behind "It has supernatural characters so it's already inaccurate" is a shameful and vulgar thing to say in regard to any fantasy or supernatural horror show. It's a dismissive statement by someone who would defecate on history because it's convenient, a shallow excuse insulting to the intellects of the viewers- as if fantasy suddenly means history should not matter.



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The point, which you missed while proselytizing from your soapbox, was that one can and does take liberties with times and setting to tell a particular story. There's even a term for it: suspension of disbelief. Weird, right? As it turns out, one can take extreme liberties with existing content without doing the source material any direct harm.

If you're upset about sexuality in a fantasy set in Victorian England, you must have been beside yourself over Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Of course, for those of us back in reality, that's a silly movie and doesn't actually supplant the character of the real figure. Similarly, Penny Dreadful will not be the show that leads to rewriting the historicity of the era in which it is set. Some of us are actually capable of separating fact from entertainment and recognizing the difference.

Do you delight in obsessing over the trivial in your daily life, or just on weekends?

Edited - I'll grant you one small concession - I should have said "only" instead of "primary". My mistake. Nevertheless, I stand by my original post.

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It's not trivial, it's a major aspect of the show. Do you delight in taking something meticulous in it's historical content and claiming it's unnecessary because there are supernatural elements?

Your original post proves a complete and utter disrespect for fantasy as a genre. Don't you think Stranger Things would be a little less successful if those kids were suddenly downloading Mp3s in 1983? Your reasoning is why Hollywood spoon feeds ups anachronistic rubbish like NBC's Dracula or Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters.

If the fantasy is set in our world, no matter the time period, you should match the period. Presence of the supernatural is no excuse to throw someone out of the setting face down into the mud, shattering the illusion that this could have happened.



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Do you delight in taking something meticulous in it's historical content and claiming it's unnecessary because there are supernatural elements?


Again, you're hysterical over trivialities, and have missed the point entirely a second time, mostly because of an embarrassing adherence to a holier than thou approach to this conversation, and a bewildering compartmentalization of what you find acceptable in a given setting.

But since I'm such a nice guy, I'll say it again - suspension of disbelief.

Don't you think Stranger Things would be a little less successful if those kids were suddenly downloading Mp3s in 1983?


A bizarre comparison, since Stranger Things worked specifically because it was a love letter to the movies of that era. Were it not, it wouldn't have stood as anything other than schlock. In fact, in many respects, it was simply an amalgamation of the best of the movies that inspired it.

However, I might be inclined to suspend disbelief that MP3's are available in 1983 given an engaging context for such a thing. Something you clearly could never do.

shattering the illusion that this could have happened.


I have no illusions about such things. I have no reason to believe Hobbits existed, or that they actually ever reached a location called Mount Doom to dispose of a ring that through its destruction would kill an evil sorcerer. Moreover, I happen to know a thing or two about science, so I recognize that movies like the Core, Armageddon and the Day After Tomorrow are completely ridiculous. I like them anyway, purely because it's occasionally entertaining to watch the world explode. I happen to like the Walking Dead, but even the idea of zombies as they are portrayed in popular media falls flat on its face if you happen to have the slightest knowledge of human anatomy.

Your lack of self awareness on this topic is staggering. Your position is a text book contradiction. You're outright stating that something that is for all intents and purposes impossible in reality is perfectly acceptable on the one hand, but it's unfathomable to stretch the limits of credulity regarding some other aspect of reality on the other.

I said nothing about the sexuality.


You're quite correct, you didn't. As we've discovered, your own position was far more tenuous than the one I was initially responding to.

My comments were strictly in regard to someone saying that the show doesn't need to be historically accurate because it's fantasy.


It doesn't, not entirely. That's exactly what makes it fantasy.

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But since I'm such a nice guy, I'll say it again - suspension of disbelief.


Yes, and let us look at Stranger Things, set in the early 1980s in Suburban America. It has an alternate reality, a monster, an evil government organization and psychic powers but don't you think it would hurt that suspension of disbelief that this happened to some kids in 1983 if "Let it go" sung by Idina Menzel started to play on the radio?


A bizarre comparison, since Stranger Things worked specifically because it was a love letter to the movies of that era. Were it not, it wouldn't have stood as anything other than schlock. In fact, in many respects, it was simply an amalgamation of the best of the movies that inspired it.

However, I might be inclined to suspend disbelief that MP3's are available in 1983 given an engaging context for such a thing. Something you clearly could never do.


I think you're deliberately being obtuse. Stranger Things was a love letter to films of the era but you don't realize Penny Dreadful was a love letter to the literature of the Victorian era, that was the major selling point of the show. It too, was a love letter to the fictions of it's era.



I have no illusions about such things. I have no reason to believe Hobbits existed, or that they actually ever reached a location called Mount Doom to dispose of a ring that through its destruction would kill an evil sorcerer. Moreover, I happen to know a thing or two about science, so I recognize that movies like the Core, Armageddon and the Day After Tomorrow are completely ridiculous. I like them anyway, purely because it's occasionally entertaining to watch the world explode. I happen to like the Walking Dead, but even the idea of zombies as they are portrayed in popular media falls flat on its face if you happen to have the slightest knowledge of human anatomy.

Your lack of self awareness on this topic is staggering. Your position is a text book contradiction. You're outright stating that something that is for all intents and purposes impossible in reality is perfectly acceptable on the one hand, but it's unfathomable to stretch the limits of credulity regarding some other aspect of reality on the other.


You clearly have no real love or respect for the genre. And you have no idea what it is all about when you confuse the presence of anachronisms to zombies. That's supernatural element vs. anachronism.

"This is set in 1966" is easy to accept. "This is set in 1966 with supernatural creatures" all right, a ripple in reality but you accept it. But if you abruptly go from "This is set in 1966 and supernatural creatures are real... Oh, and everyone has smart phones" that last part might be the thing that finally pulls the audience out of the story. Why even bother have it set in 1966 at that point? You might as well just make up your own noir reality like the one used for Tim Burton's Batman movies. If you already know the reality is not meant to be a real specific time period it makes all that easier to accept but once you claim it is 1966 but with supernatural beings running around that most people don't know about, that's what the viewer intends to see. It should feel like the thing was actually made in 1966- be it film or novel. And this is also true with a story set in 1891 England.

Why are you defending this great insult to Penny Dreadful- which the creators PRIDED themselves on for it's historical content? Have you seen the book they published talking about the painstaking detail that went into the historical inaccuracies? You're defending something that would have ruined the show for most viewers.

Lord of the Rings = High fantasy. This means it's a whole made up world and all things are possible within the logic of that reality as dictated by the author.

The Dresdne Files = Urban fantasy. Despite the presence of the supernatural such as wizards, dragons, fae, ect... the general reality is the world as we know it today. The general public does not know about the supernatural. This is standard in high fantasy.

Steam Punk = Victorian era with modern elements and sometimes fantastical elements, and not at all historically accurate.

Historical urban fantasy / Historical fantasy = The general public does not know about the supernatural and the setting historically accurate save for the presence of magick and or supernatural beings existing in secret. This is what you get with Penny Dreadful or Stranger Things or Let the Right one In or Woman in Black.

Alternate history = A drastic change is made to the real world continuity of our pop culture or history as we know it. Example: Ano Dracula, a world where Dracula married Queen Victoria.

It doesn't, not entirely. That's exactly what makes it fantasy.


No, that is NOT what makes it a fantasy. There are several kinds of fantasy. It's an historical fantasy meaning the time period is exactly what Victorian England is like. This is an historical urban fantasy meaning the era is exactly as it should be aside from the fantastical / supernatural elements. It's not Steampunk. It's not "Alternate history." It's fantasy set in an historical setting so the historical part of it is meant to be in tact, in fact the show's creators PRIDED themselves on this fact so what you are defending is a deep insult to the show, not a defense of it. If you don't know the genre, don't define it.

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if "Let it go" sung by Idina Menzel started to play on the radio?


I already answered this. Quit asking the same question in increasingly absurd ways.

Stranger Things was a love letter to films of the era but you don't realize Penny Dreadful was a love letter to the literature of the Victorian era


If you think the thing that makes Stranger Things interesting is remotely similar to the thing that draws people to Penny Dreadful, we know who's actually being deliberately obtuse. Anything set in a specific time does not immediately qualify as being a love letter to it's era. Penny Dreadful doesn't fit this category any more than the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen does.

Yes, even if "they prided themselves on XYZ", that isn't at all similar to Stranger Things. There is no comparison to be made here. At all.

That's supernatural element vs. anachronism.


Your problem becomes more frivolous with every post. Now it's simply "I don't like anachronisms, and anyone that does doesn't respect fantasy."

There are several kinds of fantasy.


As long as you say it is, you mean.

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If you're upset about sexuality in a fantasy set in Victorian England


What exactly are you talking about? I said nothing about the sexuality. In fact Victorian England was extremely deviant in regard to sexuality (behind closed doors). Have you ever READ Carmilla? That was an 1870s vampire novel with Lesbians and breast biting. And let us not forget the subtle content of The Picture of Dorian Gray.

My comments were strictly in regard to someone saying that the show doesn't need to be historically accurate because it's fantasy. Actually the sexual content is surprisingly accurate. Just because people didn't talk about it doesn't mean it wasn't happening.

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Syphilis (and other STIs) ran rampant all thru that time, as well as before and after. Don't kid yourself.
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Stick with 30 minute comedy shows, then.

I'm not sure why anyone would think a show named "Penny Dreadful" would be filled with rainbows, kittens and people who waited until marriage.



If I gave a *beep* what loose acquaintances or strangers thought about me, I'd have wilted long ago.

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My thoughts exactly. I think people just like to complain. This was a show where the "good" guys are at best anti-heroes. Somewhat good people doing bad things teaming up to fight the ultimate darkness. Now darkness is in every part of each of them, that's the only way they have survived in the evil world they are in.

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yup. good summary.

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Thankyou!

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Yes because all tv shows should live up to YOUR particular moral standards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-09OhQPiIg#t=85

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Did you know that moral standards are for everyone - that's why they call moral. Not the rules.

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lol I have no idea what you are driving at but thanks for playing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-09OhQPiIg#t=85

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Good for you. This is 2016! Why did you even start?

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