EPIX's "Pennyworth" is about to embark on its second season, once more produced by Danny "Judge Dredd" Cannon and Bruno "Gotham" Heller.
Season 1 surfaced as an ultra-violent prequel and therefore, an absorbing reworking of a significant, supporting character's genesis.
The season also presented a demented take on Lord Fogg and Penelope Peasoup from Adam West's "Batman", while giving a James Bond/John Steed/Napoleon Solo expertise to its protagonists.
Jack "Ripper Street" Bannon stars as the eponymous, destined-to-be "butler" in London's swingin' '60s, with Ben Aldridge as visiting Thomas Wayne and Emma Paetz as his fated spouse, Martha. Jason Flemyng plays Lord James Harwood, and Paloma Faith is Miss Bet Sykes, the Fogg and Peasoup surrogates.
Though Harwood and Sykes engage in shady shenanigans, they're not without identifiable merit. They're underdogs in a large land of austere antagonists and because of this, worthy of empathy, since they turn up tortured (externally and internally) more than triumphant.
I wonder if this sympathetic-villain angle will skid off the rails for Season 2. It would only go to reason with the hellbent League of Ravens and all, but I wouldn't object to more of the but-for-the-grace-of-God-go-I element for this duo. Harwood and Sykes deserve the same character progression as Pennyworth and Wayne. That, in itself, would fortify this series' historic context. Also, heroes are only ever as interesting as their villains: They must grow and complement one another to keep a saga going.
With that said, I don't expect any of the characters' developing events to toss us near Bruce's birth, but the show's harrowing espionage does allude to Batman's creation (the birth of his world) and therefore can't be dismissed in the Dark Knight shape of things.
"Pennyworth: Season 2" begins Dec 13. See ya then and there, my bodacious blokes.
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