Fairly quickly after Penny Dreadful: City of Angels came to Showtime, it was cancelled. The truth was, even with big names like Natalie Dormier, Nathan Lane, and Brent Spiner, the draw just wasn’t there. This might have been in part due to the rather sudden end of it’s predecessor, Penny Dreadful. Still, Penny Dreadful: City of Angels did not deserve to go out like that and I’m hoping that folks will give it a chance now that it’s on disc.
While the original Penny Dreadful put monsters front and center, City of Angels made their focus evil of racism and the evil that men due out of greed and fear. With a city already set to tear itself apart due to things like a highway being built through the middle of a highly populated Chicano area, regular raids on clubs that play Spanish-language music, and the rise of Nazism in America, Los Angeles is just the right setting for a demon named Magda making a bet with her sister, Santa Muerte. We are shown around by the first Chicano Detective for the Los Angeles Police Department, Tiago Vega (Daniel Zovatto), who just so happens to be partnered up with Lewis Michener (Nathan Lane). The two come across a crime scene using Dia de Muertos imagery and immediately suspicion falls on the local Chicano community. However, the victims also happen to belong to…well, a cult. Tiago’s family is affected directly by an impending expressway, set to be built right through their home. During a shootout between LAPD and the locals, Tiago’s brother is shot.
The show is designed to make you uncomfortable, just like the Victorian setting of the first Penny Dreadful. There are race and class conflicts; There’s explorations of sexuality; There is so much sexism. Then again, there’s also costumes that you spent the who episode pausing because now you’re going to have to make an exact replica for when Conventions open up again. The show is designed to make you think about things that are still active today.
Let’s talk Natalie Dormier. Tatiana Maslany from Orphan Black is really the only other actress I’ve seen have to pull off this many roles in one TV show. Dormier plays Magda, a shape shifting demon. In that regards she plays a German woman abused by her non-existent husband, a gender queer Pachucho, a mousy assistant to a man trying to become the next Mayor of Los Angeles, and several others depending on the need. Magda’s whole role is to stir up trouble which basically just seems like the Dormier acting special at this point. Daniel Zovatto also really holds his own through the whole show.
Frankly, this show got a bad rap and rewatching the box set I’m not really sure why. The costume work was on point. Nathan Lane made a pretty great hard-boiled detective down on his luck, and we even had a religious cult. It was the Perry Mason remake before the Perry Mason remake. I think it probably just managed to hit Showtime at the wrong point. Sometimes the accents and dialogue move off course, and yes you can often see modern Los Angeles in what is supposed to be the 1930’s (you try filming at UCLA), but for the most part the story highlights class and race struggles, as well as our fascination with death and the practices of other cultures. It’s not perfect, but it is enjoyable. It also made me homesick for a city I haven’t been in in almost 5 years.
Penny Dreadful: City of Angels is now available on DVD from Showtime.
