Age Rating: 16 – Offensive language, violence, sexual themes, drug use, sex scenes
Cast:
Colin Farrell as Oswald “Oz” Cobb / The Penguin
Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone
Rhenzy Feliz as Victor “Vic” Aguilar
Deirdre O’Connell as Francis Cobb
Clancy Brown as Salvatore “Sal” Maroni
Carmen Ejogo as Eve Karlo
Michael Zegen as Alberto Falcone
Berto Colón as Castillo
James Madio as Milos Grapa
Joshua Bitton as Mikey Stone
David H. Holmes as Nick Fuchs
Daniel J. Watts as Bruno Tess
Ben Cook as Calvin
Jayme Lawson as Bella Reál
Michael Kelly as Johnny Viti
Mark Strong as Carmine Falcone
Scott Cohen as Luca Falcone
Shohreh Aghdashloo as Nadia Maroni
Theo Rossi as Dr. Julian Rush
Creator: Lauren LeFranc

I was cautiously optimistic about The Penguin; it would be a limited series based on Colin Farrell’s Penguin, introduced in Matt Reeves’s The Batman. As much as I wanted to see a lot more of him considering that he had a small role in that film, I wasn’t certain whether he could sustain a full show. Still, it looked good from the trailers, and it ended up really delivering.

The Penguin is essentially a crime drama that happens to be set in Gotham, and following a Batman villain. It’s very much a rated R and mature show, it’s more violent, darker and crazier than The Batman. At the same time, The Penguin definitely feels that it is in the same universe as that film. With it being set in Gotham’s criminal underground, the show delves a lot further into that side and adds a lot more depth. The main purpose of the show however is to get us into The Penguin/Oz Cobb and to get to know him. Oz was very memorable and entertaining in The Batman, but his role was essentially to be one of Carmine Falcone’s goons and a red herring in its central mystery. In the show however, we get to learn about him as he rises up in the ranks. At the beginning of the show, he has enough likable qualities to have us willing to follow along and even root for him. Over the course of the show however, we see him make certain actions and learn more about his past, and by the end you are anticipating Batman going after him. Unlike most movies or shows which focus on a comic book villain, The Penguin is a rare adaptation which keeps the title character as an unambiguous villain, and they actually follow through on that. The penguin makes the most of its 8 episodes and is engaging from beginning to end with its superb writing, concluding with its bleak finale and planting the seeds for what Gotham might be like when we get The Batman Part II, and what Oz might be doing.

There was speculation and questions as to whether we get to see Robert Pattinson return as Bruce Wayne/Batman in the show. Getting it out of the way: he does not, and he isn’t even mentioned. As it turns out, this is the main (if minor) problem that hangs over the whole show. On one hand, I am glad that The Penguin is focussed enough on being its own story without feeling desperate enough to excite the audience with unnecessary cameos. At the same time, The Batman established its title character as a vigilante that all criminals in Gotham feared, and so it feels weird that he’s never mentioned. Not only that, things eventually escalate to a point that you’re constantly wondering why Batman hasn’t entered into the picture to stop everything that’s happening. I guess it’s up to The Batman Part II to come up with a suitable explanation.

Colin Farrell returns as Oswald “Oz” Cobb (renamed from Oswald Copplepot from the comics). While he was a fun supporting villain in The Batman, here he gets to be a real 3 dimensional character. There are many layers to him and we get to learn so much about him, particularly with his interactions, the way he works and his actions. His progression is great, he goes from someone we initially want to root for, before revealing himself as the irredeemable villain that he always was. The makeup and prosthetics used to transform Colin Farrell into Cobb are excellent, not only to make him unrecognizable, but also to help enhance the performance instead of just doing most of the work. Speaking of which, Farrell is fantastic at portraying all facets of this character. Definitely one of the all time best performances of a comic book villain, alongside Heath Ledger’s Joker at the very least. However, the stand out performance in the show might be Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone. She has a captivating on-screen presence, and without getting into it, her character progression and backstory were amazing to watch. Another noteworthy performance is from Rhenzy Feliz, who plays a kid who becomes Oz’s protege. This relationship between them is a key part in the show, and both actors really help to sell it with their great chemistry. Deidre O’Connell is also really good as Oz’s mother, the relationship between them is especially notable, and we see more and more layers unravelled as the show progresses. The rest of the cast including Clancy Brown are great too.

The directing is very strong throughout the whole show. The visuals definitely aren’t on the same level of Greg Frasier’s cinematography in The Batman, but it still looks really good. Most importantly, it looks similar enough to that movie that the show effortlessly looks and feels like a continuation of that story. We get to spend so much time in this gritty, grounded and grimy version of Gotham, and it just might rank amongst my favourite live action interpretations of the fictional city. Michael Giacchino composed an excellent score for The Batman and his son Mick Giacchino also created a very great and fittingly dark score for The Penguin, which manages to be similar enough to the music of the film, while being its own distinct thing.

The Penguin is an excellent and grounded crime series and intriguing character study, focused on one of Batman’s most iconic villains, with compelling writing and incredible performances from Colin Farrell and Cristin Milioti.