One gauge we typical use to review a TV series is how often we’re compelled to see it through to the final episode. For the bad shows, we might get to the halfway point of a season before assuming it’s not gonna get any better. For good shows, we’re generally happy to watch the entire thing, an episode or two per day. The great ones compels us to binge it all in one sitting, making it tough to get up for work the next day.
The Penguin falls somewhere between good and great. It takes its time introducing (or re-introducing) its characters and overall story arc, which is entertaining enough, but not so addicting that the next episode can’t wait until tomorrow. However, once all the players and pieces are in place, there are eventually enough narrative curveballs, character revelations and double-crosses that I just had to see how things turn out, sleep be damned. I was rewarded with a dark and somewhat shocking resolution I didn’t see coming.
Until then, The Penguin takes the second most interesting character from 2022’s The Batman and makes him the focus of this eight episode spin-off. Taking place shortly after the Riddler’s terror attack on Gotham, the story essentially chronicles Oz Cobb’s (Colin Farrell) rise to power by pitting the city’s two most powerful crime families, the Falcones and Maronis, against each other, while outwardly maintaining his loyalty to the former (though nobody on either side really trusts him).
As presented, Cobb is fascinating. Beneath his repulsive, buffoonish bluster is a complex character who’s menacing, violent, narcissistic, and self-aggrandizing. At the same time, he displays cunning few of his enemies see until it’s too late, as well as generosity and compassion for both his invalid mother (Deidre O’Connell) and young new right-hand man Victor (Rhenzy Feliz), who just lost his entire family during the attack. One episode in particular also reveals Cobb’s disturbing past, including the fate of his brothers and his creepy relationship with Mom. As in The Batman, Farrell goes all-in with his performance, aided once again by wonderfully grotesque make-up.
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| It just ain't a campfire without 'Smores. |
Elsewhere, The Penguin features well-conceived secondary characters, as well as a level of violence you aren’t likely to ever see in a Batman movie. And speaking of which, the Caped Crusader is never part of the story, nor is he even mentioned. The show is strictly a dark and brutal crime drama that shares more DNA with old Warner Bros gangster movies than anything you’d find in a comic book. The series does open on the assumption that one is familiar with what transpired in The Batman, but by the second or third episode, that aspect of the story is left behind.
Overall, The Penguin is an entertaining extension of the universe established in The Batman, though geared more toward adult audiences with its story, tone, violence and language. But unless they come up with one helluva second story, one eight-episode mini-series is probably enough for this character, since it reveals everything that makes him tick. This three-disc 4K UHD release looks great, nicely showcasing the show’s impressive production design and occasionally seedy aesthetic.
EXTRA KIBBLES
FEATURETTES - This set comes with a bunch of short featurettes spread out over three discs: Inside Gotham (eight chapters); Introducing The Penguin; The Origin of Oz; Welcome to Gotham; Gotham Re-Envisioned; Becoming the Penguin (easily the most interesting); Who is the Hangman: Portrait of Sofia Falcone; Hearts of the Penguin; A Tale of Two Gothams; Victor Aguilar: The Making of a Henchman..png)
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