Against all odds, Matt Reeves crafted a surprising masterpiece with his gritty, Se7en-esque take on the caped crusader with his 2022’s flick, The Batman. A world so rich with detail ends up being the perfect fit for episodic television. The tertiary baddie of The Penguin still made a major impression in the Reeves film, and Colin Farrell returns to play Oz Cobb in this gritty crime drama. Of course, “The Penguin” has been portrayed onscreen many a time, with my personal favorite iteration being that of Danny DeVito in Tim Burton’s dark 90s sequel, Batman Returns. In The Penguin, both Oz and Farrell evolve as we have never seen before. Perfectly biding the time between mainline Batman entries, showrunner Lauren LeFranc satiates fan bloodlust with this gripping, pulpy mobster addition to the Gotham saga.
Across eight fast-paced episodes, the true backstory of Oz reveals previously hidden depths to his character. In the aftermath of Gotham Square’s sea wall exploding, looting, riots, and a surge in gang warfare have taken over the city like a plague. The mayor-elect vows to rebuild, while Penguin surveys the chaos from above. With his father gone, Alberto Falcone (Michael Zegen, Boardwalk Empire, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) is set to take over the Falcone crime family. Oz offers Alberto protection and drugs, but the situation quickly sours between them. Oz spares a thief he catches attempting to steal from him, paying Victor (Rhenzy Felix, Marvel’s The Runaways, The Tender Bar) a salary of one thousand dollars a week to be his personal driver. Every time Oz gets one step ahead, chaos ensues. In the first episode alone, Carmine’s daughter, Sophia (Christina Millioti, A to Z, Palm Springs), freshly released from Arkham, enters the fray, determined to challenge Oz. Brutal violence ensues, leaving bodies and chaos in its wake.
The Penguin surprisingly ends up being a potent character study, still carrying enough intense bursts of carnage to hold the interest of a more casual viewer. While there are plenty of Batman franchise easter eggs, the caped man himself actually never shows up at all. This allows the property breathing room for us to get intimately acquainted with Oz himself. Under the prosthetics and a completely transformative performance, Farrell ends up utterly unrecognizable in the lead role. Down to his general swagger and odd limp, Farrell goes all-in on this immersion. Earlier this week in an interview with Total Film, Farrell called into question whether he would be interested in returning at all. By the end of filming, he was so cranky that he was anxious to be rid of the makeup forever. Judging by the quality of this debut season, The Penguin should absolutely come back for seconds. Even merely off the strength of Farrell’s interactions with the rest of the cast, this series demands to be seen before continuing the franchise at large.
Victor has a stuttering tic that remains a trademark of his character throughout, and his interactions as Oz takes the kid under his wing are mesmerizing. Whether Oz is just lonely or he truly sees promise in him has no relevancy—Feliz and Farrell give performances that feel intrinsically linked to one another. Christina Milioti (A to Z, Palm Springs) as Sophia serves as the perfect opposite to Oz, initially viewing him as just her driver and nothing more. Winning over her trust will not be easy. Over the course of the series, all three of these central figures have their lives and family histories carefully etched out to form a complete picture. As Vic and Oz plot a coup to overtake the Carmine family, we observe helplessly in the hopes that something will finally work out for Oz after all. Even though he is a sleazeball, there is some kind of beating heart underneath the rugged exterior.
Tonally, The Penguin would fit right at home with Netflix’s The Defenders universe, a now-defunct but potent portfolio for MA-rated superhero hijinks. There may not be a campy villain, but Sophia still fills the quota nicely. Whatever the case, The Penguin makes for a perfect appetizer before The Batman Part II arrives in 2026. Farrell quite literally lights up the screen with his imposing figure, the series captures an identical visually-stunning world as Reeves brought to us in 2022, and its twists and turns left me craving more. Too much time spent on an apparently expandable character may frustrate. Beyond this minor caveat, The Penguin presents a major jump forward for HBO’s live action superhero-adjacent content.
Scrape the bottom of Gotham’s grimy underbelly in The Penguin, coming to HBO on Thursday, September 19th; new episodes will debut Sunday nights on both HBO and Max.
