Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Natalie Dormer, Daniel Zovatto, Nathan Lane, Kerry Bishe, Adriana Barraza, Jessica Garza, Michael Gladis, Jonathan Nieves, Rory Kinnear, Dominic Sherwood, Julian Hilliard, Santino Barnard, Sebastian Chacon, Adam Rodriguez, Hudson West, Amy Madigan, Thomas Kretschmann, Kyle McArthur, Piper Perabo, Adam Rocha, Lin Shaye, Brent Spiner, Stephanie Arcila, Scott Beehner, Christine Estabrook, Lorenza Izzo, Rod McLachlan, David Figlioli, Brad Garrett, Ethan Peck, Richard Kind.
The City of Angels is well named, and yet underneath that glitzy, shining exterior, is a sewer of history that is born out war, appropriation and manipulation; the edge of the Pacific Ocean may be the physical end of the country, but for some Los Angeles is the place where dreams become nightmares, where old traditions and beliefs have been forced out, side-lined, made extinct by the expansion of a culture that was not intended to set foot on the soil of ancestors or angels with their own values and ethnicity under threat.
Following on in the keeping of the lurid fascination that was at the heart of its sister show, Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, blends, and merges history with that of the supernatural. By bringing the story to the Pacific state of California, the ability to infer Nazi collusion in the expansion of the infrastructure of the city, to expose the corruption at the heart of authority which has been infiltrated by racism and supremacist leanings, and bring it into direct confrontation with the myths and folklore of the Hispanic and Mexican people, is what makes this particular series, one filled with a superb upbeat Jazz score and excellent performances, one in which to delight in.
Whilst Los Angeles is its own star, perhaps the only rival to New York’s dominance in the minds of travellers as they plan their ultimate vacation, it also holds a history to which many have downplayed, forgotten, the treatment of the local indigenous people at the hands of constant development is one aspect that is crucially played with, it is to the mix of well written characters who exemplify the role played by politics and belief in the dark days of 1930s upheaval.
Certainly, Natalie Dormer, who performs superbly in the many faces of the supernatural demon Magda, with such ease and devilish intent deserves to be praised for her contribution to the ten episodes. However, the series as a whole would arguably not have carried the same enigmatic drama without Nathan Lane as Detective Lewis Michener, Daniel Zovatto as his work partner Tiago Vega, Adriana Barraza as Tiago’s devout mother Maria and housekeeper to Rory Kinnear’s Peter Craft.
It is the delicately woven story which takes on many faces, which deals with repression, extortion, fear and the existence of the unnatural, as well as holding up a mirror to the same issues blinding humanity today, that makes Penny Dreadful: City of Angels a drama worth investing in.
The bright lights of Los Angeles are a pleasure to witness, but like all cities, all towns and villages, you have to look deeper to see just how much dirt and muck the sewer’s hold and the memories they wash out to sea.
Ian D. Hall