re: Penny Dreadful

Well, i think GoT was much worse about that. GoT seemed gratuitous and completely disconnected from the story. In penny dreadful, there's one scene in season one where two characters kiss and Dorian greys character is seen with a bunch of shirtless dudes in sensuous imagery but at least that fits the story. If you know the story of Dorian very, you know he's a degenerate unable to say no to any lust and he has a power over people.

As for the story, a man is looking for his child and he needs help form an assortment of strange characters to help him. A somewhat accurate description I heard of the show recently was league of extraordinary gentleman as a horror show instead of an action comic.