Anybody else watching Pennyworth on HBO Max?

My wife and I are up to Season 1, Episode 5 and are quite enjoying it.

How does it compare to Gotham?

I tried to get into Gotham, but gave up partway into the 2nd season.

(Which is a saying quite a bit, considering I've been a Batman fan for several decades.)

It's completely different from Gotham. (My wife and I enjoyed that, too.)

This about the life of Alfred Pennyworth, pre-Gotham. How he came to be who he was.

Alfred is one hardcore dude. Ranks very high on the "Do not mess with" scale.

People gripe about anachronisms and such in the show's timeline. Please bear in mind that this show takes place in a universe where a man will later come along dressed as a bat to terrify evildoers, superpowered aliens show up, and an Amazonian demi god is already wandering around somewhere. It's not "our" Earth or timeline.

I never really got into Gotham, but I'm enjoying Pennyworth quite a bit.

It took me a minute to figure out what was up with the gibbets. LOL

Those are stocks, not gibbets. Gibbeting

Or is there giggeting shown, too, and I've missed it? I've only seen people in stocks.

Yeah, there are gibbets. Couple of the street scenes in the early episodes had them. I was like "WTF?!?!" LOL

quote:

Originally posted by AllenInWV:
Yeah, there are gibbets. Couple of the street scenes in the early episodes had them. I was like "WTF?!?!" LOL

Oh yeah... now that I think of it: There were gibbet cages in a couple scenes. Y'all are right.

I watched the first season, and it was darker than I expected. It wasn't half bad. I took issue with some of the implied political commentaries.

Enough of an issue that I don't give two shits about season 2.

Ugh. Now I don’t know if I want to give it a shot. I’ll watch a couple of episodes but sounds like another series where I’ll bail early.

ETA: Finished. Generally liked it. Some irritating aspects. But a decent watch. I didn’t know what to expect but the underlying story didn’t enter my mind. I think I was picturing more of save Sandra types of missions. One offs. But I suppose that would get boring quick.

And there are many aspects to the final episode I didn’t understand. Motivations, decisions, mechanics; out of character stuff. Just taking it at face value.

I don’t understand how he transitions from this life to the Wayne butler.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: konata88, February 12, 2022 10:14 PM

enjoying it so far,

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
And there are many aspects to the final episode I didn’t understand. Motivations, decisions, mechanics; out of character stuff. Just taking it at face value.

We're two or three episodes from the end of Season 2, but it is apparent several characters are evolving--changing their perspectives, thus their behavior, as they experience life.

It makes the series more fascinating, because you can't necessarily predict exactly what a particular character might do when confronted with a given challenge.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
I don’t understand how he transitions from this life to the Wayne butler.

I rather expected we wouldn't see that until the end of the series?

What I am curious about is whether they'll end the series with Pennyworth still in England, or after he becomes Thomas Wayne's butler in America?

(I cannot imagine that last is any kind of spoiler. Surely everybody on the planet knows Alfred Pennyworth is destined to be Wayne's butler.)

No, what I mean is - he's SAS, he's been in combat, he knows the Queen, he's saved England.

And then he settles for the pedestrian, pastoral life of a butler? Never mind that, despite his father, he has no real background in being butler.

That's an transition that is not intuitive.

BTW, Mr. and Mrs. Wayne are both combat trained but eventually die at the hands of a mugger (assassinated but still it's not like it was a situation more dangerous than any other)? Seems like they could have handled the 'mugging' with ease between the two of them.

I have to try again. We both slept through the first one.

watched S1:E4 last night,

Gang of 4 playing in the bar scene in the beginning ,,,


impressive, most folks have never heard of them,

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
And then he settles for the pedestrian, pastoral life of a butler? Never mind that, despite his father, he has no real background in being butler.

I'm not authority on Batman, but haven't there been versions that kinda had Wayne bringing Pennyworth on as a favor, and not just as a butler but a bodyguard?

quote:

BTW, Mr. and Mrs. Wayne are both combat trained but eventually die at the hands of a mugger (assassinated but still it's not like it was a situation more dangerous than any other)? Seems like they could have handled the 'mugging' with ease between the two of them.

Maybe they'd been "out of the game" long enough to get soft? Got married, had a kid, settled down, yadda yadda yadda.

Finished Season 2 last night. It's gone a bit off the rails in a couple respects, IMO, but still enjoyable. Looking forward to the next season.