Distributor: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Episodes: 10
Duration: 60 min (per episode)
Pennyworth: Season 1 (DVD) – Series Review
We’ve seen a lot of new DC series over the course of the last few months. We were able to see how Krypton slowly crept towards its doom, while we got the meet the dysfunctional members of the Doom Patrol back on Earth. The Titans geared back in action to fight Deathstroke and now we get to see how Alfred, Bruce Wayne’s sole father figure, handled himself back in the day. This series is supposed to show how the ex-military got into the employ of the Wayne family, while also showing us Thomas Wayne and Martha Kane in their younger years.
Pennyworth introduces us to Alfred (Jack Bannon), who has come home after his years in the military as a SAS soldier. He is now looking for a new purpose in life, and tries to do it with the help of his fellow soldiers, who have also come home. Alfred, however, runs into Thomas Wayne (Ben Aldridge), who is a somewhat eccentric millionaire that requires Alfred’s help with a few cases that require his certain set of skills. They will work together a fair amount of time over the course of the ten episodes of this season.
At the same time, we also learn that in the shadows of the British monarchy there are several secret organizations at work. These organizations try to topple the current regime and seize control over everything themselves.
The flow of the series is a bit peculiar. Some episodes handle a single case or topic, and others seem to contribute solely to the main story. The series still crawls along at a slow pace and it feels very convoluted, even when having no reason to be overly complicated. This first series shows a lot, but doesn’t properly tell what is going on, and throws many different events and elements in the mix. Sadly, it also doesn’t make some of its characters believable or stand out, like making Thomas Wayne and Martha Kane (Emma Paetz) quite badass here, even though they are quite plain and boring in all the other Batman stories. Overall the pacing feels off, and the series wants to be somewhat weird and vile, just because it can.
In terms of acting performances, you’ll see many faces that are likely quite unknown to you. Jack Bannon picks up the role as the young Alfred Pennyworth, and does so in a fairly believable fashion. One could expect Alfred’s character to have a proper military background. Other than that, the other characters seem to stray a bit from their original source material and they don’t always feel right, even though the overall quality of the acting performances is still quite decent. The only bigger name you’ll actively see in this first season is that of Jason Flemyng, who plays the dubious lord Harwood.
It’s very disappointing to see that the DVD version of the first season of Pennyworth does not come with any extras at all. While a lot in the series speaks for itself, it would have been nice to see some ideas of what went on behind the scenes. We could have done with the overall reason why DC wanted a season of Alfred. The series also used a lot of gory effects, so some making-of content would have also been nice. As the world of this Alfred spinoff is also quite ‘fucked up’, there would have been plenty to discuss when it comes to this series.
Conclusion
Pennyworth: Season 1 is one of those series that can please the proper crowd, but overall proves to be a bit too rough around the edges, and somewhat bland for the general ‘superhero’ fan. The series does hold a few nifty scenes for those who enjoy a good violent fighting scene or gun battle, but other than that, the convoluted plot will not win over that many fans to their side. The story feels like it’s often going nowhere and is just being vile and gory for the sake of it. There are certainly a lot of better DC series around when it comes to this one, albeit this one feels like it tries to lure in a different crowd.
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