'Penny Dreadful: City of Angels' Episode 1: Show's 'acclimatize or die' message is troubling, especially now
In the first episode, it is clear who Maria Vega's (Adrianna Barraza) favorite son is. Her face lights up each time she sees Detective Tiago Vega (Daniel Zovatto) and her face settles into a worried frown each time Raul (Adam Rodriguez), the older brother, walks into the frame.
According to her, Tiago is on the right path, pursuing the American Dream by becoming a detective, the first from his community to be one. Raul, her union leader son, is trouble in her eyes. She worries that he fights too much and is still stuck in the cannery and farmwork business with zero chances for upward social mobility.
However, Tiago, LAPD's first Chicano cop, doesn't say a word when his racist colleagues heckle him forcing his partner Lewis Michener (Nathan Lane) to defend him. When Tiago prissily says, "You don't have to do that, I can defend myself," Lewis snaps back, "Then please do."
Raul, on the other hand, not only stands up for his own dignity but also for his fellow community members. He organizes them through unions to fight Councilman Charlton Townsend (Michael Gladisover), the head of the City Council's Transportation Committee.
Detective Vega is the model minority citizen, who takes orders, doesn't mind when his boss says he wishes the dead bodies were Mexican rather than white rich folks and doesn't pick a fight even when provoked.
Raul represents the unruly minority, who is dangerous. Within the show, his activism and fight is a futile and pointless battle against the inevitable. As Tiago keeps telling him, "You can't stop it!" — "it" being the bulldozing of a significant portion of their entire neighborhood for a freeway.
If Detective Vega was shown to be trying to change things from within the system, it would still make sense. Instead, he stays quiet, becomes the "informant" on his own community, and takes his stand with the oppressive force pointing guns at an unarmed crowd with his own family members.
In the last scene, Tiago has to shoot down the rabid Raul who goes on a cop-killing spree, driven mad by Magda after a "race riot" erupts.
It is a troubling "acclimatize or die" message for the show to send out, especially at a time when we are seeing the positive changes coming through because people are refusing to shut up and stay down — be it the #MeToo movement or the Black Lives Matter cause.
We are now finally talking about police brutality against disadvantaged communities. And so to see police brutality and have the hero "conform" to achieve the American dream, setting him in opposition to his own community, is pretty jarring. Hopefully, the upcoming episodes will rectify this bizarre state of affairs.
Watch the 'Penny Dreadful: City of Angels' premiere episode for free on YouTube and SHO.com. The 10-episode series will officially launch this Sunday, April 26, at 10 pm ET/PT on Showtime.