The Penguin Is Already The Best Batman Spin-Off In DC History
Over the last decade, Warner Bros has tried everything possible to make a Batman series without Batman, from Gotham’s focus on Officer Jim Gordon to Pennyworth, the story of Batman’s butler, but finally, the code has been cracked as The Penguin is now on Max. The Colin Farrell series follows the rise of Oswald “Oz” Cobb in Gotham’s criminal underworld following the events of The Batman, and even if you had no interest in comic books, this is a solid prestige crime drama. It’s also the type of show Disney and Marvel are too scared to ever make.
The Opening Of A Tarantino Film
The Penguin’s first episode opens up by establishing the new status quo in Gotham, with Alberto Falcone (Michael Zegen), the late Carmine’s alcoholic son, taking over as the new head of The Family. Within minutes, we get the first sit down between Penguin and Alberto, and it’s the type of intense discussion, with the threat of violence boiling just underneath the surface, that feels like it came right out of a Tarantino movie. And yet, the breakout star of the episode, and likely, the series, doesn’t even appear until nearly 30 minutes in.
The Unexpected Villain
After Oswald gets called in to meet with the acting head of The Family, Johnny Viti (Michael Kelly), we meet Carmine’s daughter, Sofia Falcone, played perfectly by Cristin Milloti, the Mother from How I Met Your Mother. In the comic Batman: Dark Victory, Sofia turns out to be the serial killer, The Hangman, and thankfully, in The Penguin, she brings up that nickname and her stay in Arkham Asylum. Alberto isn’t the villain standing in the way of Penguin’s rise to power; it’s Sofia, and the series is all the better for it.
Taking On A Sidekick
Roped into the cat-and-mouse game between the Penguin and Sofia is a character created specifically for the show, Victor (Rhenzy Feliz), a young man from the poor side of Gotham who tries to jack the wrong car and winds up working for Oswald. The unlikely pairing is already developing into a friendship by the end of the episode, and I’m excited to see where it ends up because I don’t think Victor will make it out of the limited series alive.
Scheming To The Top
As a huge fan of Boardwalk Empire and The Sopranos, I was eating up the scenes of Oswald dealing with other criminals, including Sal Maroni (Clancy Brown), the incarcerated former Boss of Gotham. In all of them, Colin Farrell is able to portray the wheels turning in the Penguin’s head as he schemes ways to turn every single encounter to his advantage. By the end of the episode, we know how he plans to take over the underworld, and amazingly, you can’t help but root for him.
Fighting For What Is His
In an echo of the early seasons of The Sopranos, when Tony is dealing with his ailing mother, Oswald takes Victor to see his mom, Francis (Deirdre O’Connell), as she’s slipping into dementia. There are a few teases of his troubled childhood, including one line about what happened to his dad that explains a whole lot about the Batman villain, but most importantly, is how his mom sums up the entire series. She encourages her son to stay in Gotham, to fight, to take what he deserves, and asks him how far he will go for it.
The Best Comic Book Show In Years
REVIEW SCORE
We don’t know yet how far Oswald is going to go, but Matt Reeves has made it clear that The Penguin is setting up The Batman 2, so it’s safe to assume that Gotham will have a new kingpin. DC and Warner Bros, even though this is an Elseworlds series and not part of James Gunn’s revised DC slate, are taking a risk with this show, which feels very different from your usual comic book streaming series. Marvel has become homogenized and risk-averse, which is why it’s so refreshing that at least one company is willing to go all-in on something that looks different, feels different, and dares to subvert viewer expectations.
For now, The Penguin is already the best comic show on television.
The Penguin is now streaming on Max, with new episodes arriving every Sunday, starting with Episode 2 on September 29.
