Josh Hartnett is having something of a moment these days. Back in the public eye thanks to roles in movies like Oppenheimer and a particularly disturbing turn on a darker-than-average episode (“Beyond the Sea”) of Black Mirror, he’s making the most of this career renaissance. Now his new drama Below is dominating the Netflix streaming charts, thanks to its atmospheric (and spooky season-appropriate) troubled small-town vibes, and the fact that hit series Widows’ Bay has made creepy maritime horror a thing again.
But while Below’s brisk pace makes for an easy and satisfying binge, those who really want to see Hartnett’s range as an actor need to make time for one of his earlier (and least well-known) roles: Penny Dreadful‘s Ethan Chandler.
‘Penny Dreadful’ Is an Underrated Masterpiece
An indulgent, atmospheric Gothic horror series that was never afraid to swing for the fences, Penny Dreadful premiered in 2014 and ran for three seasons on Showtime before suddenly and very purposefully concluding its story on its own terms. Translation: It shock-dropped a finale episode that no one saw coming at the time. And while it never really received the widespread acclaim it deserved while airing, the show has become something of a cult classic in the years since its finale in 2016, but it’s still wildly underrated considering how good it is. And with shows like Below and Widow’s Bay making waves (both literally and figuratively speaking), it’s past time to give this excellent drama another look. And Hartnett’s performance is a big part of the reason why.
Four franchises, four completely different ways of getting underneath
your skin. This is the one built out of your particular fear, why it works so well on you, and what
it would leave behind.
Your nightmare does not wait outside the door. It waits for you
to close your eyes, which you are going to have to do eventually, because nobody has ever
won that particular argument.
- Freddy is horror’s cruellest idea: a threat that lives in the one place you cannot
guard, cannot lock, and cannot avoid forever. - You are the one who is fine during the film and wide awake at two in the morning. Your
own head is where this does its damage. - These films understood exhaustion as a horror engine. The kids on Elm Street do not lose
because they are weak. They lose because they are tired. - You can lock every door in the house. You still have to sleep.
Your nightmare is not really the doll. It is the face of the
person you tell, and the way they decide, very kindly, that you have imagined all of it.
- Chucky works precisely because he is absurd. That is the trap: the more accurately you
describe him, the less anybody is going to believe you. - You are the one shouting at the screen because the characters are not listening. You
know that feeling from real life too. - The franchise is at its best when the adults in the room are the real obstacle, and you
have met those adults. - By the time somebody finally believes you, you will have handled most of it on your own.
Your nightmare has your number, knows your name, and has almost
certainly been inside your house before. The worst part is that you already know them.
- Scream is the only one of these where the killer takes the mask off and turns out to be
somebody who was at the party. - You are the person who calls the twist out loud before it lands. You watch people the
same way you watch films. - The franchise made the rules of horror part of the plot, which means the survivors are
the ones paying attention. You would be paying attention. - Everybody is a suspect, including the person who just offered to walk you home.
Your nightmare is not really about you. It is about the people
asleep down the hall, and the feeling that whatever is here is not interested in leaving.
- The Conjuring films are domestic horror. The house, the family, the perfectly ordinary
room that quietly stops feeling ordinary. - Your instinct is to get everybody into one room. Your fear is protective rather than
personal, which is rarer than it sounds. - This is the one franchise where belief is the weapon. The people who come through it are
the ones who are not alone and refuse to be. - Whatever is here did not come for you. It came for the household, and you are the one
standing in the hallway.
Penny Dreadful features an absolutely stacked cast of talented performers, from Eva Green‘s blockbuster turn as a tortured clairvoyant constantly battling her own internal darkness to Billie Piper‘s fascinating and furious take on a version of the Bride of Frankenstein, who’s fully in charge of her own power. Next to such showcase roles, Hartnett’s turn as Ethan, an American sharpshooter with a dark past of his own, can feel a bit understated. But this performance is not just some of the best work of his career; it’s also the show’s quiet heart.
‘Penny Dreadful’s Gunslinging Ethan Chandler Isn’t What He Seems
Image via Showtime
Image via Showtime
Image via Max
Image via Showtime
Image via Showtime
Image via Showtime
Image via Showtime
Image via Max
Image via Showtime
Image via ShowtimeMysterious, charming, sexy, and occasionally sinister by turns, Hartnett’s Ethan is initially introduced as he joins forces with the aforementioned clairvoyant Vanessa Ives (Green) and retired explorer Sir Malcolm Murray (Timothy Dalton) to track a dangerous creature and a missing girl. At first glance, the character seems as though he will be little more than a cliché American cowboy, a stereotype that will undoubtedly end up as the butt of many jokes. But that’s not at all what happens.
Ethan’s story ultimately evolves into something much creepier and more complicated, a reinterpretation of the Wolf Man that goes beyond a simple monster movie trope, incorporating everything from Native American history to Jack the Ripper lore. (And while the show doesn’t explicitly reference it, the jokes about An American Werewolf in London basically write themselves.)
A figure of quiet intensity despite his over-the-top public persona, it’s obvious from fairly early on in the show’s run that there’s more to Ethan than meets the eye. Underneath all the gunslinging confidence and swaggering bravado is a man full of genuine suffering, plagued by the curse he carries and the endless guilt that comes along with it. Or, as he puts it: “There are such sins at my back it would kill me to turn around.”
Josh Hartnett’s Layered Performance Grounds ‘Penny Dreadful’s Intense World
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Unlike some of the other things that go bump in the night which inhabit this fictional universe, Ethan has little control over his violent nature. Also, unlike many of the others, he feels deep remorse and guilt over what he has done (or, perhaps more correctly, over the people he failed to save). And who doesn’t love a tortured hero — or at least a tortured antihero who wishes he was something different? Plus, he’s surprisingly romantic, a trait which allows Hartnett to put his years as a heartthrob-style leading man to excellent and swoon-worthy use.
His tragic relationship with the consumptive (read: doomed) Brona (Piper) is genuinely moving, but it’s Ethan’s star-crossed romance with Vanessa that powers much of the series’ three seasons. The pair’s profound connection, born of a shared understanding of isolation and inner darkness, is rich and moving, and they’re as compelling when they’re flirting as they are when one is begging the other to kill them. Though — like so much else in this story — these two are obviously not destined for a happy ending, their ability to accept (and, eventually, love) the absolute worst parts of each other is why they’re so easy to root for.
Yes, Penny Dreadful is dark and genuinely disturbing in places. But it’s also deeply romantic and emotionally moving, representing exactly the sort of moody richness we need more of on our TVs right now, not less. There’s never been a better time to step into its satisfying darkness.
Penny Dreadful
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