HBO’s ‘The Penguin’ is a spin-off of DC Comics’ latest Batman movie (The Batman, 2022) that follows popular Batman villain and titular character, The Penguin, A.K.A Oswald Cobblepot (renamed Oswald Cob for this show).Â
As an extension of the Gotham presented in ‘The Batman’, the series takes a dark, gritty tone as it roams the streets of Gotham and explores the city’s criminal underworld through the eyes of Oswald Cobb as he attempts to take what he feels he deserves.
Between the fact that this is a HBO show (which basically guarantees quality) and the fact that it builds off of the Gotham that Matt Reeves created for The Batman (which I loved), my expectations were high to say the very least.
The series follows immediately after the events of The Batman, where Gotham’s underworld has been left destabilised, leaving the small-time criminal Oswald Cob to seize what he feels he deserves: everything.
With a series of strategic, ballsy, and ruthless plays, Os wages war against some of Gotham’s most powerful crime families in an attempt to claw and scrape his way to the top.
Like any good mob story, the series explores themes of power, ambition, loyalty, and family through the lens of Os’ blood-soaked rise (or descent) through the underworld ranks.
Farrell’s Oswald Cob is defined by the fact that he’s constantly overlooked, resulting in his rabid ambition. But despite some sympathetic traits, both Farrell & this show go out of their way to make it clear that at his core, Os is not a good guy.
The Penguin features a whole cast of complex, well-written and well-developed characters, the most notable of which being Os’ adversary, Sofia Falcone, and his plucky young sidekick, Victor. While both of them are certainly characters in their own right, they’re used expertly to explore Os and help the viewer truly understand him as both a friend, and a foe.Â
The final piece to the puzzle of Os is his mother who plays one of the most significant roles in shaping him into the man he is.
Through a series of flashbacks and moments set in the present, the viewer is taken on a chilling journey of Os past that spans the whole series, and each piece of the past we uncover shows us a deeper level of the character, culminating with several explosive revelations at the tail-end of the series that leave the viewer with a detailed picture of Os that we won’t soon forget.
Collin Farrell’s performance as Oswald Cob is nothing short of award-worthy. The way he totally disappears into this character needs to be studied. While the makeup and prosthetics are incredible, it’s Farrell’s voicework, his mannerisms, his accent, even the trademark Penguin walk and the way he sells it that make his performance so captivating.
The supporting cast all deliver equally stellar performances, with those closest to Os (Sofia, Victor, and Os’ mother) all standing out for their outstanding contributions to the story, our understanding of Os, and to building out the tapestry of Gotham city.
The show’s visual style matches perfectly with that of the 2022 movie its spun-off from. The noir-inspired, dreary aesthetic feels perfectly suited to the iconic and lawless city of Gotham that so many of us have gotten to know over the years. Each set feels real and adds a layer of depth and authenticity to the idea of Gotham that the viewer holds in their mind.
Both Os & Sofia’s wardrobe’s reflect important stages of their character development and it’s that level of detail that makes the show work so well, with even the visuals contributing to the overall story.
The writing and dialogue are some of the show’s strongest aspects. The story is beautifully paced, leading the viewer on a flawlessly crafter journey of character exploration that takes the viewer exactly where it means to every time.
The writing allows the story to build gradually towards an explosive and incredibly well-done finale that’s sure to leave viewers desperate to see Os’ scarred face again. The dialogue is one of the key elements used to help us understand Os and what’s going on in his head, which leads to a much deeper understanding of what drives his character.
Farrell does an incredible job maintaining the same performance from The Batman, so Os feels like exactly the same guy we met in the movie, but the series does an incredible job of adding depth to the character, more so than I’ve ever seen for the character in any other Batman adaptation.Â
In a world of anti-heroes and bad-guys turned good guys, The Penguin allows Os to stand in his villainous light and truly earn his reputation, and the result is breath-taking.
While it’s been reported that there will be no second season of The Penguin, I think it goes without saying that similar shows should be created for Batman’s entire rogues gallery (Batman villains)! If they could do so much with a character as frequently overlooked as The Penguin, I for one would love to see what this team could do with some of Batman’s more notable enemies.
As well as continuing to fill out the Reeves-verse, continuing to do shows like this could also send a strong message to Hollywood about the value of letting villains be villains! Shows like this also get audiences excited about movies, which is exactly the formula that Marvel used (well at the beginning, not so well recently) to find such success.
I think there’s a real market for this kind of storytelling to come from the much darker, more mature DC universe (relative to the light-hearted MCU).
Overall, this show is incredible from every aspect. The writing, the acting, and the production are all flawlessly executed. If there were to be one thing I’d complain about, it’d be a lack of comic book Easter eggs. I love and appreciate the gritty realistic take of the Reeves-verse, but this is still a comic book property and it’s always fun to be able to pick out and explore little Easter eggs in these kinds of shows, but there are very few to be found here.
Outside of that, this show is near-perfect. This is a must-watch for anyone who’s a fan of mob stories, good writing, and Batman in general, purely to appreciate the calibre of work that was put into this character. Definitely one of my favourites and one of the best shows of the year.
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