Soon enough, Vanessa has enlisted Ethan to help her and her aristocratic acquaintance Sir Malcolm Murray (Timothy Dalton) with a nighttime excursion. Before you can spell “Nosferatu,” the trio are fending off a group of angry bloodsuckers in the dark catacombs of London. Their motivation for engaging such fearsome creatures? Murray’s daughter has been abducted for unknown purposes, and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to get her back. Though Ethan has his suspicions, it’s immediately clear that he’s intrigued by the prospect of a supernatural London hidden right before his eyes (Vanessa calls it the “Demimonde”).
Aside from following Murray’s quest to rescue his daughter, Penny Dreadful also introduces Victor Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway), who leaves a strong impression as as a brilliant, if arrogant, scientist. Though there’s a possibility that future episodes will simply treat Frankenstein as the Dr. Rodgers to Vanessa and Malcolm’s Benson and Stabler, the conclusion of “Night Work” teases a strong standalone plot for him, so I’m hopeful that Logan will take the time to grow him as a character independent of the main trio.
That said, it’ll be understandable if Logan simply doesn’t have room to put Frankenstein in the spotlight for long – he wisely holds back on introducing Billie Piper’s Brona Croft and Reeve Carney’s Dorian Gray in the first episode, but giving seven or eight main characters enough time to develop in just eight episodes will likely pose a significant challenge for Penny Dreadful.
As a pilot, “Night Work” is pretty effective, though it’s not flawless. Bayona directs the action scenes with a manic intensity that noticeably clashes with the grim atmosphere. Ethan almost takes a backseat in the episode’s less thrilling second half, and Hartnett’s charismatic turn makes me hope that situation is only temporary. Vanessa, on the other hand, has the potential to become frustrating if her character stays icy and remote for long; at least for now, Green is strong enough to hold the screen even when Vanessa’s dialogue is borderline baffling.
There’s a lot still unclear about the specifics of Vanessa and Malcolm’s involvement with this Demimonde, but that’s all part of the fun. The audience, like Ethan, are thrown headfirst into a version of London that’s at once familiar and fascinatingly alien. I’m really looking forward to exploring that world – whether it succeeds or fails as a series, Penny Dreadful will at least certainly never be dull.
