Penny Dreadful

The show is using many metaphors to point out the hidden or dual nature of the main characters. One of them is shooting scenes in reflective surfaces like mirrors. Most notably though is the dark versus light depiction of Vanessa and Mina.

Spanish directors Paco Cabezas y Juan Antonio Bayona direct four and two episodes each one.

Penny Dreadful is an old term used during the nineteenth century to refer to cheap popular serial literature, and it could be interchangeable with penny blood, penny awful or penny horrible. It means a story published in weekly parts, with the cost of one (old) penny. The main plot of these stories were typically sensational, focusing on the adventures of detectives, criminals, or supernatural entities.