- Joined
- Feb 3, 2004
- Messages
- 12,997
- Real Name
- Sam Favate
Has anyone watched this show? It just completed its second season, and the word is that it will move to HBO MAX for its third.
I've only seen the first season, on blu-ray; I confess I have never heard of Epix. The last thing I thought I needed was another show from a DC property, let alone one created by Bruno Heller, whose Gotham left me less than impressed. But I was sucked in by the time period (vaguely late 1950s to mid-1960s) and the very stylish music and opening titles.
The show is about Alfred Pennyworth - eventually to become Bruce Wayne's butler that we know so well - after his stint in the British army and as a British spy. It takes place in and around London, and involves him meeting Thomas Wayne and Martha Kane (who are not yet married). I find the cast to be excellent, and the stories to be very intriguing. They've obviously patterned Alfred after Michael Caine's version (the accent is very similar) and a bit after Sean Pertwee's (from Gotham). (This is not Jeremy Irons, Michael Gough or Alan Napier.) Jack Bannon may seem too young to have served in WWII, but that doesn't matter.
Heller loves the dark stuff, and he went overboard in Gotham, which should have been a Prince of the City-type show about Jim Gordon's one good cop in a corrupt city but instead became a Lovecraftian nightmare of horrors. Pennyworth is a bit more James Bond but still has plenty of horror too, and the violence (as well as the language) can be very graphic. As he often does, I think Heller goes too far. But the show is a lot more gripping than Gotham ever was; the characters feel more real and the stakes are more emotional. The stakes are also political, as we see the modern world reflected in two groups' struggles for power.
This is a very fine show that will hopefully gain a bigger audience if/when it comes to HBO. It's worth a look.
(Has anyone heard of season 2 coming to blu-ray? Season 1 came out about a year ago.)
I've only seen the first season, on blu-ray; I confess I have never heard of Epix. The last thing I thought I needed was another show from a DC property, let alone one created by Bruno Heller, whose Gotham left me less than impressed. But I was sucked in by the time period (vaguely late 1950s to mid-1960s) and the very stylish music and opening titles.
The show is about Alfred Pennyworth - eventually to become Bruce Wayne's butler that we know so well - after his stint in the British army and as a British spy. It takes place in and around London, and involves him meeting Thomas Wayne and Martha Kane (who are not yet married). I find the cast to be excellent, and the stories to be very intriguing. They've obviously patterned Alfred after Michael Caine's version (the accent is very similar) and a bit after Sean Pertwee's (from Gotham). (This is not Jeremy Irons, Michael Gough or Alan Napier.) Jack Bannon may seem too young to have served in WWII, but that doesn't matter.
Heller loves the dark stuff, and he went overboard in Gotham, which should have been a Prince of the City-type show about Jim Gordon's one good cop in a corrupt city but instead became a Lovecraftian nightmare of horrors. Pennyworth is a bit more James Bond but still has plenty of horror too, and the violence (as well as the language) can be very graphic. As he often does, I think Heller goes too far. But the show is a lot more gripping than Gotham ever was; the characters feel more real and the stakes are more emotional. The stakes are also political, as we see the modern world reflected in two groups' struggles for power.
This is a very fine show that will hopefully gain a bigger audience if/when it comes to HBO. It's worth a look.
(Has anyone heard of season 2 coming to blu-ray? Season 1 came out about a year ago.)
