Fiorello
La Guardia never whined in the media about Italianophobia. Instead, he was
louder than anyone criticizing Mussolini. He even recorded propaganda radio broadcasts
in Italian that were transmitted into the fascist country. Frankly, there
really isn’t anyone notably following his example with respect to Islamic terrorism
today, except Ayaan Hirsi Alli. La Guardia is also the reason why National
Socialist agents of influence are operating in Los Angeles instead of New York,
at least according to Lewis Michener, a cynical anti-fascist cop. He and his
new Hispanic partner must investigate a racially-fraught murder case that has
been further complicated by an evil supernatural entity in the first season of Penny
Dreadful: City of Angels, which starts Sunday night on Showtime.
We
silly mortals do not realize all our strife is really caused by the shape-shifting
demon Magda to expose all of humanity’s hatred and pettiness to her rival, the
crypto-Catholic cult deity Santa Muerte. The problem is Santa Muerte isn’t
willing to help play defense. Instead, she is content to merely collect the souls
murdered in Magda’s wake.
It
starts when Michener and freshly promoted Mexican-American Detective Tiago Vega
are assigned to the case of a rich Beverly Hills family ostensibly murdered by
a Mexican cult. However, the flatfoots quickly deduce the over-the-top
face-painting was really to draw suspicion away from the real killer. That
leads Michener and Vega to the victim’s employer, a massive Evangelical
ministry fronted by Sister Molly, an Aimee Semple McPherson-like figure.
Unfortunately,
their investigation will be interrupted by a riot orchestrated by Magda, right
in Vega’s back yard. Local activists were there to protest the motorway
closeted Nazi-sympathizing Councilman Charlton Townsend rammed through the
neighborhood. Much to his horror, Vega is forced to shoot his own trade
unionist brother, after Magda possesses his body. To make matters worse, their
youngest brother Mateo sees him do it. That drives the junior Vega into the
arms of a Pachuco gang led by one of Magda’s personas.
Meanwhile,
Michener pursues an active off-duty investigation of German agents with his old
kvetching cronies. They are definitely outmanned and outgunned, so the cop will
forge a risky alliance with Benny Berman, Meyer Lansky’s top lieutenant in LA.
Dentist and local German-American Bund leader Dr. Peter Craft is not even on
their radar yet, but Magda is playing with him big-time, in the guise of an
abused German war-wife, whose plight fans his anti-Semitism.
City
of Angels is
a follow-up in-name-only to the original Penny Dreadful, which was dramatically
better in nearly every respect. To start with, the tropes of gothic horror are
always going to be more fun than race wars and identity politics. More
problematically, none of the supernatural business involving Magda and Santa
Muerte is scary at all. Instead, it is just lame.
What
works is Nathan Lane’s wise-cracking portrayal of Michener and his dogged pursuit
of Nazi agents. His riveting interrogation work in episode six (1-6 were provided
to reviewers) is really awards-worthy. Lane and Daniel Zovatto also bicker and
banter effectively as the odd couple partners, but the latter looks
understandably listless during scenes of Vega family drama.
As
an added genre bonus, the great Lin Shaye brings the attitude as Michener’s fellow
volunteer spy-chaser, Dottie Minter. Despite City of Angels’ heavy-handedness,
Brent Spiner depicts police Captain Ned Vanderhoff with subtlety and
complexity, making him more interesting as the show progresses. Unfortunately,
the opposite is true of Rory Kinnear (the only cast-member of the original Penny
Dreadful returning in a new role) as the cringe-inducing Craft. Natalie
Dormer is badly miscast (and frequently flat-out boring) as Magda and her human
guises. However, Brad Garrett nearly redeems the whole mess with his sly,
shark-like turn as Berman.
For
what it’s worth, City of Angels gets better as it goes along. However,
there is no getting around the fact the show is built on elements that just don’t
work. It is also too preachy and weirdly disinterested in the hardboiled noir
tradition it is supposedly paying homage to. Despite the merits of Lane,
Garrett, Spiner, and Shaye, Penny Dreadful: City of Angels is not recommended
when it premieres Sunday night (4/26) on Showtime.
