Penny Dreadful: City of Angels – Santa Muerte Spoiler Free Preview
It is almost time for Penny Dreadful: City of Angels to premiere, although if you know where to look the first episode is already out there. That’s how I’m able to bring you this Spoiler Free Preview of Santa Muerte. Well, as spoiler free as possible anyway.
Synopsis
Los Angeles, 1938. Detectives Tiago Vega (Daniel Zovatto) and Lewis Michener (Nathan Lane) investigate a murder. Tiago’s brother Raul (Adam Rodriguez) battles Councilman Charlton Townsend (Michael Gladis) over California’s first freeway. Tiago’s mother Maria (Adriana Barraza) pleads with Santa Muerte.
First of all, if you haven’t watched the original Penny Dreadful series do not fret. This is a stand alone show set in a different place and time, and with a whole new cast of characters. Prime among those is Santa Muerte, the Mexican Angel of Holy Death (played by Lorenza Izzo), and her demon sister Magda (Game of Thrones‘ Natalie Dormer). The new place is Los Angeles, and the time is 1938.
There’s a prophecy…
For a series premiere Santa Muerte has some work to do, introducing major players and setting up important plot elements. It does it well, weaving a fairly tangled web right from the outset. There are a lot of interconnected threads, and you can see how some things are being set up already. Although given the twists and turns of its predecessor, there are no guarantees that it’ll work out the way you think it’s going to.
It’s also jaw droppingly beautiful.
From the first scene between Magda and Santa Muerte you will probably be picking up your jaw. There’s a scene about halfway through where Tiago’s mother is visited by Santa Muerte that absolutely floored me. And put me in mind of an artist I love. Look at the image above and then go check out Cam Rackam on instagram (nsfw). I hope you’ll see what I mean.
You may have seen images of Magda in a black gown with a form fitted bodice and flowing skirts. It’s one of my favourite things about this episode. The way Magda moves in that dress, she’s like a flowing oil slick of evil that taints what it touches. Dormer in this one episode alone plays 3 different “characters”; Magda, Alex and Elsa. Each one is completely distinct and has a scheme in play. The most interesting being “Alex” who works for the Councilman building the first freeway. She engineers a meeting with businessman Richard Goss (Thomas Kretschmann) that has ramifications I can see affecting everyone.
Multi-faceted
If there was one thing that the original PD did incredibly well it was creating character who were much more than they first appeared. Whether it was a hidden dark past for the seemingly honourable Sir Malcolm, or the monster with a heart John Clare (played by Rory Kinnear who appears in City of Angels). I can’t wait to see if that’s also the case in Penny Dreadful: City of Angels. Several characters who were introduced in this first episode seem, at least on the surface, to be pretty plainly evil.
Given the time period, there are multiple references to Hitler and the Nazi Party. Several characters are quite blatant about their allegiances. I know it sounds insane to say but I wonder if any of these characters will have hidden layers that make them more relatable. It’s not totally impossible though.
The age old trope of the rookie detective and his weary old partner has been done to death but PD:CoA finds ways to make it fresh again. That’s almost entirely down Daniel Zovatto who shines throughout. I loved that we got such an insight into his background right from the beginning.
Mystery Man
Now I know a lot of our readers were Shadowhunters fans, and you’re probably reading this going “but what about Dom Sherwood?”. He is in this first episode, but not for long. It’s basically what you saw in the promo pictures, Kurt looking brooding and mean leaning on the hood of his car. I know in a recent interview he said that his story really picks up from episode 2 onwards. So we shall wait and see what next week brings.
Overall I found the first episode to be brilliantly paced, with just enough set up of the major plot points to be interesting but not overwhelming. Due to timezones we won’t be live-tweeting the episode, but will be back with a more detailed review of the episode next week.
