Not at all Dreadful

You guys, you guys – are you watching “Penny Dreadful?” You’re not? YOU’RE NOT?? Oh, girl, you should. Because the Showtime gothic thriller is the most unexpectedly, delightfully queer show of the summer. How gay? Well, Josh Harnett just totally got it one with a dude in the last episode. (Dorian Gray, no less.) So, you know, pretty damn gay. The series is part horror, part mystery, all scary and totally good. Granted, there are far too many SPIDERS for my liking. But, still, if you can get past the creepy and crawly, it’s totally worth it.

Two Sentence Synopsis: A British aristocrat teams with a mysterious woman, American gunslinger and Dr. Frankenstein to find his daughter, who just might be under the thrall of Dracula. Yeah, really.

Part of the reason the show is so good is because it comes from veteran Oscar-nominated screenwriter John Logan. His previous credits include “The Aviator,” “Gladiator,” “Hugo” and many others. The first-time TV creator and showrunner is also an out gay man. So that may account for the refreshing equality of male and female nudity in the series. I mean, I’m pretty sure we’ve seen more dude butts than female breasts and we’re half way through the season.

The other reason the show is so good is because of Eva Green. The French actress has always had an other-worldly look – that pale skin, those big eyes, that chiseled face. And in “Penny Dreadful,” every inch of her facial real estate is explored and appreciated. As the mysterious woman, Vanessa Ives, she is the enigmatic figure in black with a strange connection to the darker side of life. She is, quite simply, very good in this.

(Billie Piper is also in the series, and she ain’t bad either. Not bad at all.)



While the series has given us full-on male-on-male sexual fluidity, it has yet to deliver on the ladies side. But there is a sliver of subtext to be scrounged from Vanessa’s past relationship with the missing daughter, Mina (above). Yes, Mina - a lot of these names are going to sound pretty familiar.

At times, I’ll be honest, I have really no idea what’s happening. But it’s that clever unfurling of the story, with touchstones of iconic horror figures interspersed, that makes it so thrilling. Also, Victorian gothic horror stories are just cool. So there’s that.