I let my own son watch it when he was 10 or so; he loves scary films too, so the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, I guess. He loved it, but then I guess he was predisposed to like films such as The Haunting; I'd been reading him classic ghost stories (M.R. James, H.R. Wakefield, Conan Doyle) for a long time by…

When Sneak Previews began airing in 1975 I was 12 and just starting to love movies and wanting to know more about them, and find out what was worth seeing. So for as long as I've loved films, I had Siskel and Ebert - but especially Ebert - there to guide me. Over the years, as I learned more about movies, and writing,…

When I think of my mom and films, it's her taking me to see things like Jaws and The Shining and Halloween when I was a kid, because she loved scary films and my dad hated them (he was a cop, so I guess he saw enough horror in real life); since I liked that sort of film too, it worked out okay. Once, when dad was away…

No word that I know of, but the phrase 'hoist by (or with) one's own petard' is to fall into one's own trap or deceit that was meant to catch another. I suppose it could be applied to an argument where the speaker's words, or poor argument, are used against him or her to prove they're wrong.

The look of this show is top-notch; the riverside scene with Victor and Proteus watching the ships was beautiful, and one of several in the episode that looked as if someone is familiar with the work of Victorian artist Atkinson Grimshaw, who specialised in moonlit country houses and misty laneways (http://tinyurl.com/…

Timothy Dalton didn't have as great an outing tonight as in the first episode, but holy crap, Eva Green is a force of nature. And Alex Price as Proteus was outstanding, conveying so much in so little time. I love British TV shows (or at least British-cast ones) because the bench is so deep; no matter how far down the…

The gin undoubtedly helped.

Yes, I thought that would be him too, but try as I might I just couldn't see Rory Kinnear there; and he's not the only credited actor who didn't appear in episode one (Reeve Carney - Dorian Gray - is another). It appears this was Alex Price as 'Proteus'; Rory Kinnear as 'the Creature' has yet to appear. And all power…

I thought that too; but I think Kinnear has yet to appear. That was Alex Price (brilliant) as Proteus.

Maybe he should be playing Dorian Gray?

No, none of the works cited are Penny Dreadfuls, in the way that, say, Varney the Vampire is (Dorian Gray came about from the same meeting that produced Arthur Conan Doyle's second Holmes novel, The Sign of the Four, when both authors were wooed by the editor of Lippincott's Magazine, which was pretty highbrow). That…

Episode MVP tonight has to be Liam Cummingham. Let’s face it, Stannis: when the chips are down, the Onion Knight trumps the Red Witch.

When I first heard about Penny Dreadful I thought it could go one of two ways: be a hot mess, or something genuinely original and intelligent. Given the pedigree of all involved I suspected the latter; and on the evidence of this episode I was right. Logan obviously knows his monsters, melodrama, and Gothic; he also…

Three people can keep a secret, if two of them are dead.

That was pretty damn cool, I have to say. Match that, GoT.

Not much, no. Midsomer Murders is more like it, and last time I checked in with that show there weren't too many swords through the mouth (maybe I just look in at the wrong time, but I somehow doubt it).

It was more that, as a casual viewer, he wasn't expecting quite that level of graphic violence (despite years of watching Hockey Night in Canada). Hence the 'He better not watch Spartacus, then' comment.

Oh, I dunno, Aiden Gillen's pretty hot, and . . . (trails off)

"A sword through the mouth! A sword through the mouth. Yes."

I'd watch the hell out of Can't Tywin 'Em all (especially if Diana Rigg as the Queen of Thornes could be brought in as a regular).