Batman... The Only Show D.C. Knows How to Do Well

Blurb

In 1960s London, Bruce Wayne’s legendary butler, Alfred Pennyworth, forms a security company and goes to work with Thomas Wayne, Bruce’s billionaire father.

---

This, of course, occurs before Batman and the birth of Bruce Wayne. Thomas Wayne and Martha Kane have met but are not romantically involved yet. But we get to see the beginnings of the Bat computer and all the side characters involved in Bruce Wayne's life. ​

First, I'd like to say that the gallery and live streaming on the epix website is wonderful. Go here to watch it on the internet webz: https://www.epix.com/series/pennyworth. ​​

---

Main Character

Alfred Pennyworth

Alfred Pennyworth is a boyishly handsome and charming young man from London.

As he was a special forces soldier in WWII, Alfred doesn't know how to reconcile the kindhearted boy he used to be with the calculated killer he was forced to become. 

He is instantly likeable with his respectful manner, polite overtone with a toughness that is often underestimated. 

---

Love Interest

Esme

Alfred's love interest is a beautiful, theatrical, and clever dancer with an upper-class flair. She's a determined, skittish spirit with a bohemian air.

She's an everyday Jane with a confident air that is not haughty that makes me relate to her in the first episode.

---

Allies

Bazza

​Bazza was in the same corps as Alfred and they are lifelong friends.

Highly proficient at logistics, he's a valued member of Alfred's team. He often is the "realistic one" of the three man group of Alfred's security company. 

I would say he's the most stable of them all with what they've all had to endure during their time in war. 

​He's also a dashing dresser, I might ad, and I gravitate to his calm demeanor. 

Dave Boy

Dave Boy is a wiry, haggard, Highland Scotsman. An unpredictable force of nature and a bit trigger happy, he's a close ally of Alfred and Bazza.

He's also very strong and can handle himself in a fight (as expected by a Highlander). His first answer to problems is usually violence but I see him as lonely and having the hardest time reconciling with his time with the special forces. 

---

Associates

Thomas Wayne

​Thomas Wayne is a clean-cut, east coast, aristocrat billionaire. He's imperious but honorable and impeccably polite. 

Martha Kane

​Martha Kane is a resourceful, sometimes lucky, American spy who is searching for and end to an underground war before it is brought out into the open.  

---

Antagonists

Lord Harwood

​Lord Harwood is an upper-class Englishman. Cultured, urbane, brilliant, a little mad and supremely sure of himself.

In Jason Flemyng's words, the character he plays is an aristocratic, arrogant, wealthy, pain in the ass, head of the Raven Society and far-right lunatic. Believing England for the English.

He believes in his cause and that it is just. 

Bet Sykes

​Bet Sykes is a wonderfully wicked and sadistic villainess. She most definitely has a screw loose.

​She doesn't seem to have a conscious or thinks about things very differently than most anyone else. 

---

My Review

My first impression of the show was the language.

I love the accents and the words they use for the everyday language. I have no idea if it's accurate for 1960, but I love it all the same. It's very different and yet completely understandable─not just "getting the jest of it" speech but presents new words and a new way of speaking (at least to me).

What did make my noodle twirl was the setting. I couldn't tell if this was after WWII, before, or if there ever had been one. There were horse drawn carriages AND cars (not horseless carriages but actual 1930's type cars) so I didn't know this was supposed to be the 1960s until I found the blurb. 

Still, I carried on and enjoyed the action, adventure and the ♥ story!

Arguably, Batman is the only successful show and movies D.C. knows how to do. 

Smallville was an exception.

Don't think so? Fuming and naming off shows that you love from D.C.? Well, in light of the cancellation of Swamp Thing, I'm going to stand by my argument that Batman is the only successful superhero D.C. can do.

Mind I say successful as it seems more movies and shows in the D.C. world are not as successful as Marvel. 

Aquaman you say?

Two words. 

Jason Momoa.

You have to be a hardcore bun-hating blind man not to love that guy. Srsly. D.C. done good when they cast him. He's perfect.

As The Dark Knight is what D.C. does best, Pennyworth came up on my radar and I said, "Batman? Hell yeah!"

But I reserved dissatisfaction because─D.C.

After watching the first episode, I knew they had a winner. Each hour of Pennyworth is a mini movie. Jammed with hardcore fighting, brutal realism, death-defying rescues, gruesome torture, all surrounding a love story makes every breath with Pennyworth swoon worthy.

Seeing the life of Bruce Wayne's loyal butler, Alfred Pennyworth, with the kind of heart-wrenching action makes one forget there is romance within the story.

So yes, D.C. still "gets" Batman. ​​​

I Would Recommend This to Fans of:

Batman

D.C. Comics

Action Drama

Origin Stories

Secret Societies

Conspiracy Stories

Historical Fantasy

To see more reviews on shows I'd recommend, click on "WHAT I'M WATCHING" under Categories in the side bar.