Review – The Penguin (Season 1)

The Penguin is an American television miniseries based on the DC comic book character created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. It is a direct sequel to the 2022 film The Batman, directed by Matt Reeves. The show is produced by DC Studios in partnership with Warner Brothers Television, with Lauren LeFranc as the series Executive Producer and Showrunner. Matt Reeves also Executive Produces the show, which is exclusive to HBO and HBO Max.

In the fall of 2021, the development of a spin-off series set in the world of Matt Reeves’s Batman film began. Warner Brothers and DC Studios were committed to expanding the Reeves-Verse even before The Batman was released in theaters. The expansion of this universe was to be separate from the theatrical DC Extended Universe (DCEU) and focus on more grounded and gritty stories and characters. This first spin-off series focuses on Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin and his rise to power as Gotham’s notorious criminal kingpin. Reeves featured The Penguin in his Batman film, but the character was still a low-level criminal.

Reeves pushed the studios to explore The Penguin character further in a feature film; however, DC Studios and Warner Bros. decided to explore the character in a long-format series to allow for in-depth storytelling and character development. DC Studios hired Lauren LeFranc, whose credits include being Executive Producer of YouTube’s Original Series Impulse, Producer of ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and writer of the fan-favorite Chuck, as the series head writer and Showrunner, with Reeves and Dylan Clark returning as Executive Producers. Colin Farrell, coming off his stellar performance as The Penguin in Reeves’s film, also returns as the series’ main character. The series also added Made for Love’s Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone, The Runaways’ Rhenzy Feliz as Victor Aguilar, and film and television icon Clancy Brown as Salvatore Maroni to round out the cast.

DC Studios charged Craig Zobel, whose credits include directing HBO’s Mare of Easttown, 2020’s film The Hunt, and HBO’s The Leftovers, to set the series’ tone by directing the first three episodes. Principal photography began in March 2023 in New York City but was halted by the SAG strike in June 2023. After the studios and SAG reached a contract agreement, production of The Penguin resumed in February 2024. Although the series suffered delays due to contract negotiations, The Penguin was able to meet its premiere date set for the fall of 2024.

The Penguin premiered on HBO and HBO Max on September 19, 2024, to rave reviews. The series captured the same tone and realism as its theatrical predecessor and received critical acclaim. The series earned an impressive 94% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 91% audience score. Additionally, the series garnered a 72 out of 100 Metacritic score. However, not every outlet shares the same sentiment, as IGN rated the series with a mediocre 5, citing “it fails to build a compelling mob drama.” Although the series is not universally favored, the majority of critics and fans have found their new favorite crime drama.

Content Guide

Spiritual Content: There is no spiritual content in the series.

Violence: The series explores the criminal underbelly of Gotham City and heavily features graphic violence, including but not limited to shootings, stabbings, strangulations, mass murder, and explosions. The show also features human incineration, torture, drowning, and adolescent murder, accompanied by blood and gore. The images of violence are presented at the forefront of the series.

Language/Crude Humor: Foul language is prevalent throughout the entire show. Words such as “b***h”, “a**”, “f**k”, and “s**t” are present and heavily used.

Sexual Content: Nudity is not heavily featured in the show; however, several women practice prostitution and wear revealing clothing. Oz is shown partially nude while strapped to a chair.

Drug/Alcohol Use: The Penguin features multiple characters engaging in smoking and drinking in almost every episode. The series also heavily features drug use, drug dealing, and trafficking.

Other Negative Themes: The series also acknowledges and features the extremely poor conditions and mistreatment psychiatric patients often experience when admitted to live-in behavioral health institutions.

Story

The Penguin is set one week after the events of Matt Reeves’ The Batman. Gotham City is still suffering from the aftermath of the flooding caused when the city’s sea walls were destroyed, leading to catastrophe in many of the city’s lower-income neighborhoods. Along with the city shaken by the terror attack, one of Gotham’s major crime bosses was assassinated, creating a power vacuum.

Oz Cob, also known as The Penguin, was a low-level member of the Falcone mob. Now, with the head of the family gone, Oz starts to make moves to gain power and influence. While rummaging through Falcone’s office looking for valuables, Oz is caught by Falcone’s son. Oz, using his talent for manipulation, convinces Alberto (played by Michael Zegen from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) that he is there to protect his father’s property.

Alberto and Oz sit and share a drink, reminiscing about Alberto’s father. As Alberto begins to feel the effects of the alcohol, he starts to open up to Oz and shares his plan to revolutionize the Falcone drug operation by introducing a new euphoric drug onto the city’s streets.

Oz, in turn, shares a memory from when he was young of a neighborhood mobster who took care of the people in his community. He opens up about his own aspirations to be a respected mobster, just like Alberto’s father and the mobster from his childhood. Alberto begins to mock Oz, calling him “The Penguin” as a reference to his walk and beak-like nose. In a moment of impulse, Oz shoots Alberto dead.

Using Alberto’s death as an opportunity, Oz begins to set in motion his plans to gain power.

During his attempt to dispose of Alberto’s body, Oz encounters a group of thugs trying to steal his car. After scaring the teens off with gunfire, Oz meets and recruits Victor Aguilar (played by Rhenzy Feliz), a stuttering wannabe street thug. Meanwhile, Alberto’s sister (played by Cristin Milioti) is released from Arkham Asylum after serving a ten-year sentence for the murder of several women. She then learns her brother is missing.

Oz visits Salvatore Maroni (played by Clancy Brown) in prison and offers to partner with him on the new drug operation. Later, Oz and Sofia cross paths, and he shares his knowledge of Alberto’s drug plans. Sofia suspects Oz’s involvement in her brother’s disappearance and later captures and tortures him for information on the whereabouts of Alberto.

However, Victor and Oz have set plans in motion to implicate the Maroni mob in Alberto’s disappearance, pitting the two families against each other. Oz has successfully initiated plans to take over as the new crime boss of Gotham.

Review

The Penguin is yet another stellar outing for HBO and their streaming service Max. The series fits perfectly among the network’s premium drama series, such as Game of Thrones, The Wire, and The Sopranos. What all these shows have in common are the incredible performances of their casts, and The Penguin not only holds its own but stands side by side with the aforementioned modern classics. HBO’s latest drama is one of the best shows of the year. The series showcases a masterclass in directing, writing, film craftsmanship, and world-building. Where the series truly shines is in the incredible performances of its cast.

Colin Farrell, most known for his theatrical career, can be seen lending his talents to films such as The Lobster, S.W.A.T., and, most recently, in 2022’s The Banshees of Inisherin, where he won a Golden Globe and received an Oscar nomination. Although he has had a long career full of awards and nominations, his performance in The Penguin may be his greatest achievement yet. Farrell’s portrayal of the portly Batman villain is simply brilliant. His performance is at the center of what makes this show so enjoyable to watch. Colin Farrell is so good in this series that one would be forgiven for forgetting it’s him. Farrell’s disappearance into the role has been the series’ most appealing characteristic. This transformative performance allows the audience to forget that this is merely an actor pretending to be the character of Oz Cobblepot, but Farrell’s performance is so high-level that the Oz Cobblepot character feels remarkably real.

The other disciplines in filmmaking and television production create a canvas that allows Farrell to paint his masterpiece. The tone established by Matt Reeves in The Batman is continued through the amazing direction of Craig Zobel. The series’ style, its environment, and the incredible makeup and costume design all contribute to making Oz Cobblepot feel like an actual person. Farrell uses this space to incorporate transformative qualities such as his body language, accent, and vocal tone. In his interpretation of the character, Farrell makes perfect acting choices consistent with both an understanding of the character’s qualities and the context of how he became who he is. This is Farrell and the creative team working together to bring the character to life. But Farrell takes his performance to a whole other level. His small, detailed acting choices truly make the character feel real through his actions, reactions, and line delivery.

Lauren LeFranc’s writing rounds out the perfection of the production in this series. This iteration of The Penguin presents a complex, layered character shaped by his environment. LeFranc consistently has the character traverse every emotion, allowing for a balanced portrayal of the gritty, ambitious criminal. Colin, with support from the series director and impeccable writing from LeFranc, is allowed to flourish in every scene. In every episode, Farrell displays an almost gymnastic performance of emotions, using the smallest of gestures, eye movements, and smirks. In one small moment, Farrell portrays feelings of excitement, enjoyment, sinister joy, anger, and disappointment. He uses these subtle yet lived-in moments to showcase many of Oz’s defining characteristics. He is not just committed to this life of crime; he enjoys it and revels in the satisfaction of conquering his enemies.

Farrell uses every tool in his toolbox to bring this complicated, multi-layered character to life. The combination of directing, writing, and performance leads to the perfect balance of realism and honesty in the series. Audiences won’t feel like they are watching an actor act out scenes from a script, but rather real people in real scenarios with real consequences. The writing of the series is just as masterful. The story and dialogue set up the world, allowing the space for Farrell to build the character of the Penguin. No actor could extract the depth and complexity from a scene if it were not first written on the page.

Although Colin Farrell is the main attraction of the series, with the incomparable makeup effects and performance choices, Cristin Milioti’s portrayal of Sofia Falcone is just as captivating. This is by far Milioti’s best work of her career. Cristin brings a larger-than-life presence into every scene she walks into. Milioti’s performance is not only genuinely frightening, but it also urges you to sympathize with her. Her micro-movements, coupled with her intense gazes, leave the viewer with a sense of unpredictability and dread, never knowing what she will do next. When Farrell and Milioti share scenes, it becomes a powerhouse of incredible and dynamic performances, filled with sheer entertainment, dread, and terror.

Conclusion

The Penguin is a stunning interpretation of a gritty, realistic, lived-in Gotham City, one that is undergoing the recent pain and trauma of terrorism. The series feels real and lived-in. This is the factor that makes shows like The Sopranos, The Wire, and now The Penguin so accepted and loved by audiences. The show walks the fine line between displaying bad people doing bad things while also allowing us to care for them.

The realism of the series is truly frightening. We are invited into the characters’ lives and urged to root for these individuals, despite their heinous and violent acts. As viewers, we may forget these are not good people, yet the stellar writing, directing, and performances compel us to sympathize with them — specifically through Colin Farrell’s portrayal. The show’s portrayal of the Penguin, led by Farrell’s remarkable performance, is on par with James Gandolfini’s portrayal of the crime boss Tony Soprano, with both actors creating characters who feel uncomfortably real in the real world.

There are not enough words in the English language to describe how incredible Farrell’s performance is in this series. We saw flashes of greatness in 2022’s The Batman, but nothing could have prepared viewers for this outstanding execution. Though the impeccable makeup and prosthetics cover his Hollywood good looks, it’s Farrell’s entire characterization of the villain that truly allows him to disappear into the role.

This is not hyperbole — Colin Farrell is nowhere to be seen in the Oz Cobblepot character. With his limp, his heavy New York/New Jersey accent, and some of the best makeup work seen in years, Farrell is completely engulfed in the role. Without the reminder of his name in the credits, viewers would be forgiven for forgetting Farrell was even in the show at all. He continues to remind us Oz may be a product of his environment, but he also enjoys the life of crime he is surrounded by. The Penguin’s realism and amazing performances may well lead it to become the best comic book series ever.