The Penny Dreadful pilot episode is streaming free

Haven't seen it yet but I'll probably watch it tonight.
Link

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Does this mean there won't be any nudity?

No, but in the past the free streams of cable shows have been more tame than what we get to see in later episodes.

That's the one I was thinking of. The Looking nudity got less brief as the season went on. I think Shameless also streamed their first episode last season and I don't recall any nudity in that episode which is rare for that show.

Nudity issues aside, I watched it this evening and kind of enjoyed it. Not that it matters, since I don't have Showtime, let alone cable for that matter, so I won't see any more episodes until much later after the fact when they hit Netflix.

good to see Josh Hartnett still doing stuff... that dude just disappeared for a while! i like him...

Also, I was actually surprised by the amount of nudity, but the show takes place in London in 1891. Shouldn't Frankenstein's monster have been uncircumcised? It was kind of hard to make out, but it looked like maybe he was cut which seems unlikely for the time and place.

Updated On: 5/3/14 at 09:21 PM

I mean if he was cut it seems statistically and historically inaccurate for the period. I saw enough head to be distracted by it, but I could be wrong. I have difficulty telling the difference sometimes. I need a second opinion.

Updated On: 5/2/14 at 10:18 PM

Yeah, Dorian Gray and his nipples weren't even in the pilot (nor were some of the other major characters in promos like Billie Piper.)

Frankenstein's Creature definitely looked cut to me--but as others have said, I don't think that is necessarily historically incorrect (facts placed above aside, couldn't that part of the body have come from a Jewish corpse?) but this isn't Mad Men--I'm sure they wouldn't care about historical details that much given some of the dialogue and the fact that it very much seems to be set in a fictionalized gothic London based on later pulp takes on the era. :P I kinda appreciated that Frankenstein wasn't shown with the world's best physique the way I expected for some reason - maybe simply because creator John Logan has talked in interviews about elements of it come from his own issues with his homosexuality as a teen, or something (or maybe just cuz if this were a Ryan Murphy horror show, he would have.)

I really enjoyed the show, but I suspect it will sharply divide critics. The dialogue was beyond ridiculously arch and purple and I have no doubt that that was completely on purpose, but will put off some people. It gleefully goes for every gothic horror trope (the lights going out and when they go back on the body is missing from the table, someone coincidentally watching someone else from her window just as he walks by, etc) It worked for me, because I felt that the actors, particularly Eva Green and Tim Dalton, as well as Harry Treadaway as VIctor Frankenstein who managed to deliver some especially crazy dialogue, and I felt like the camp worked much better than, again, Ryan Murphy's camp take on this past season of American Horror Story again because they, so far, seem more committed to the tone and I liked Juan Bayona's directing. I also appreciated that the pace was actually often quite deliberate, but this may just bore some people.

Does Showtime always release their episodes a week early? Anyway, episode two is online. I enjoyed it even more, though it definitely has two bizarro scenes (not saying I didn't enjoy them) particularly the seance--and the shock ending. My only gripe is for the life of me I couldn't understand half of what Billie Piper's Celtic prostitute said...

I admit, it shocked me--which is what it was meant to do (although--without spoiling much I hope, I had noticed there were two actors credited for similar sounding characters so wondered...) Kinda heartbreaking though after the scene before.

I'm still waiting for Dorian to go gay--but at least the show has shown that it seems to be pretty equal opportunity female/male nudity (if not more on the male side...)

I also find it oddly refreshing that despite how over the top the show can get, it still takes its time. One review mentioned how the seance scene was over ten minutes long--on, say, American Horror Story it woulda been edited down to like 3 minutes of quick cuts, if that.

Updated On: 5/13/14 at 03:03 AM

She really was. I'm always happy to see an actor not afraid to go all out crazy (well, when it's well done and appropriate... :P )

The article I read said it was 1.44 million for the premiere with an additional 900,000 views on demand prior to the premiere.