Distributor: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Episodes: 10
Duration: 50 min (per episode)
Pennyworth: Season 2 (DVD) – Series Review
It has been slightly over a year since we reviewed the first season of Pennyworth. We found the series to have a very slow and somewhat bland start, and this didn’t improve as the show continued to struggle with its pacing throughout the ten first episodes. We also had the feeling that the series didn’t really know what direction it wanted to go in, creating a somewhat convoluted mess. Now, with the second season releasing on DVD, we weren’t that eager to dive back into the experience, as we expected more of the same. After only one episode into the second season, we were proven very wrong.
This second season picks up where the first one left off, with the war in England raging on. The Raven Union, under the command of Lord Harwood (Jason Flemyng), is still vying for control over the country, but the League is currently still defending London. Alfred (Jack Bannon) now manages a bar in the neutral zone, and is always looking for more and more lucrative deals, hoping he can buy plane tickets to go to America. Sadly, it seems that these are nearly unaffordable, and thus he has to get his hands dirty if he wants to make money at a faster rate. Little does he know that the Raven Union is actually planning on using chemical warfare to achieve its goals.
The flow and pacing of these ten episodes are a lot better than those of the first season. It feels as if Pennyworth has found its focal point and starts working towards it. We get a more coherent storyline in this second season, and there’s a healthy mix of action and story content, making sure the viewers are entertained at all times. The overall character development is also very nicely handled here, even if we have to say that Alfred, the show’s lead, is sometimes very unlikable. We find that they might have made him a bit too violent and loose with women, ruining that picture-perfect image we have always had of Bruce Wayne’s iconic butler.
We see a lot of familiar faces in this second season, as the cast has not significantly changed for these next ten episodes. We do have a few newcomers on the block such as Edward Hogg, who plays the very dastardly villain John Salt. Edward plays his role perfectly and even makes it so that his character sometimes borderlines the behavior of a cartoon villain, which adds a lot of viewing pleasure. Simon Manyonda plays a fairly young Lucious Fox, and does so with a lot of realism and grace. Even though we didn’t care that much about Paloma Faith’s character, Bet, in the first season, she won us over with her performance during the second season. Her character truly blossoms in these episodes and we have grown quite fond of her.
Sadly, just like the first season, this second season comes with absolutely no extras. Again, most of what is shown during the episodes is quite clear, but we would have loved to learn a bit more about this world and what is going on. As the series progresses, it’s clear that it diverges more and more from the normal ‘Batman’ universe as we know it, and some extra thoughts behind this would have been appreciated. Some basic extras, such as deleted scenes, commentaries, or a gag reel, could also add some extra value to justify buying a physical copy of the series.
Conclusion
After a somewhat disappointing first season, Pennyworth finds its footing in an oversaturated market of superhero shows. The show finally managed to captivate us from start to finish throughout these ten new episodes, and we can’t wait to see what happens next. Those who were on the fence to watch this one, we can now wholeheartedly advise giving this one a shot. This season is very story-heavy, with a lot of action, without ever resorting to adding filler content to the mix.
Pennyworth: Season 2 (DVD) – Series Review,
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