I was one of many people who binge-watched Penny Dreadful. The show was dark, edgy, angsty, and set in the Victorian Era — it sounded like it had everything that my little goth heart desired. But what I didn’t know is that Penny Dreadful would fulfill my budding need for queer media as well. So when I heard that there was a spin-off series set in Los Angeles in the 1930s, I knew I had to revisit the original.
There will be SPOILERS ahead, so proceed at your own risk. We’re going to be discussing bi representation here and rating it on our very own Unicorn Scale, learn more about that here.
The show itself centers on a woman called Vanessa Ives who is being hunted by the forces of evil that want her to become the mother of all evil and bring about the end of the world. With the help of her allies — adventurer Malcolm Murray (Timothy Dalton), American gunslinger Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett), scientist Victor Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway), and others — she fights to save herself and the world from these evil forces.
What I Liked:
What I liked about this series is the large quantity and variation of the queer characters presented. The show gives us a variety of bi characters (Dorian Grey, Ethan Chandler, Lily Frankenstein, and Justine), one gay character (Mr. Lyle), and one gender-nonconforming character (Angelique). I also like that while none of the characters are portrayed as “good”, they do exist on different points on a moral spectrum.
The character who is purest of heart is probably Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett). The fourth episode of the very first season firmly establishes that both Ethan and Dorian (Reeve Carney) are quite comfortable with their attraction to one another.
The characters are complex, which keeps the story interesting. I also like that the show depicts a variety of feminist views. From Vanessa and other headstrong women to Lily’s radical ideology, Penny Dreadful, gives us many strong and capable women in a variety of roles — good, bad, and in between. It’s also remarkable that there is an equal focus on both male and female bisexuality, which is refreshing, as male bisexuality is rarely portrayed, and even more rarely well portrayed, in the media.
The writers did a great job weaving classic horror and science fiction characters into one narrative while remaining true to the characters’ original depictions. This includes characters like Dorian Grey, Van Helsing (David Warner), Victor Frankenstein, and of course Frankenstein’s creation (Rory Kinnear). It was also refreshing to see Dr. Jekyll (Shazad Latif) cast as a person of color, adding more depth and richness to his backstory. The racial prejudice that he faces also provides context for Jekyll’s rage.
What I Didn’t Like:
Why did they have to kill the one gender-nonconforming character? Angelique (Jonny Beauchamp) ends up being killed by Dorian Grey. It was nice that she wasn't killed because she was gender-nonconforming, but it still seemed like her death was utterly unnecessary. Honestly, this is the only real complaint I have about the show’s queer representation.
Penny Dreadful does not use the word bisexual or otherwise have characters describe the fact that they date people of multiple genders at any point in the show. In their defense, the world bisexual wasn’t exactly popular in Victorian England and the characters are shown having relationships with people of different genders and not feeling too angsty about the whole thing. Also, given the setting and mood of the show, it makes more sense that their sexuality would be shown rather than verbally expressed.
While it does manage to depict of variety of sexual encounters, it isn’t actually very sex-positive. Sex is closely associated with evil. Nearly every time that Vanessa has sex, it is something that moves her closer to the “dark side”. Although there isn’t a huge judgement on who she has sex with, the fact that sex is associated with evil is not great.
The Rating:
All in all, this is a pretty good show and I have high hopes for the representation in Penny Dreadful: City of Angels.
Penny Dreadful gets 3.5 unicorns. There are four, count them four, bi characters. That’s a lot of bi characters for any show. Of those bi characters, two are men! That almost never happens. These bi characters have different personalities, some are better behaved than others, and they explore different types of relationships. In fact, they are whole characters who just happen to be bi, being bi is not their whole story. It would have been nice to hear the word bi, and I would have appreciated it if the whole series could have been a little more sex-positive.
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