When it was first introduced that Colin Farrell would reprise his position as Oswald Cobblepot from 2022’s The Batman in a streaming collection, it was a scary proposition. In spite of everything, we have seen what occurs when a preferred superhero film franchise continues its story on TV. All of us noticed how Marvel’s Brokers of SHIELD was not in any method a correct extension of the MCU. And do not even get us began about Inhumans. HBO’s The Penguin, although, is nearly a precise reverse of these reveals, with a stellar solid and story that really feel as if they have been ripped straight from the world of The Batman, versus tacked on after the very fact.
With The Penguin, showrunner Lauren LeFranc and govt producer Matt Reeves have crafted a real extension of the world inbuilt The Batman. The collection additionally really brings Gotham Metropolis to life in methods the film would not be capable to. With eight episodes in Penguin’s restricted run, viewers not solely study extra about Cobblepott–now named merely Oswald “Oz” Cobb for some unexplained reason–and what motivates him, however about Gotham, as an entire, within the aftermath of The Riddler’s bombing of the seawall gates on the climax of the movie.
This Gotham is struggling, as seemingly everybody however the rich elite has seen their lives destroyed by explosions and devastating flooding by the hands of Paul Dano’s Riddler–who, like Batman, would not seem within the collection. And it is in that house that the characters we meet (or already know, within the case of Oz) thrive.
The setup for The Penguin is straightforward. Within the aftermath of Riddler’s destruction of Gotham and the loss of life of Carmine Falcone in The Batman, life and crime is in a tailspin. Oz, full with Farrell’s fats swimsuit and difficult man wannabe mob boss accent, sees the chance to put in himself as essentially the most highly effective man in Gotham’s underworld.
Enter Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti), Carmine’s daughter. She’s a serial killer recent out of Arkham, the place she was dubbed Hangman as a result of how she dispatched her victims with a noose. She needs to avoid wasting what’s left of the Falcone household and, in flip, discover herself in command of town’s felony enterprises.
I can’t overstate how unbelievable Milioti is in The Penguin. She is, by far, the most important standout on the present, even topping a wonderful efficiency from Farrell himself. She’s devious, demented, and violent, whereas spending most of her time on the present maintaining her most-graphic tendencies hidden behind steely, chilly eyes. There is a rage effervescent beneath the floor that the actress is taking part in so effectively which you could’t assist look ahead to when the dam lastly breaks and all hell is let free.
That is what’s taking place right here. No matter who trusts who at any given moment–which is one thing that is regularly shifting all through the series–it’s painfully evident from the bounce that none of it will finish effectively for anybody. The battle for energy in Gotham additionally consists of the Falcone household’s chief adversaries, the Maronis. That household, led by Clancy Brown’s imprisoned Salvatore, additionally sees the facility vacuum left by the loss of life of Carmine Falcone as a method to make a play for their very own supremacy. To say way more could be a spoiler, however very similar to with The Batman, the supporting solid brings the most effective they’ve to supply. Brown’s portrayal of Sal is commonly a research in quiet rage and manipulation, whereas his spouse Nadia (Shohreh Aghdashloo) is extra open about her hatred of Oz, the Falcones, and anybody who stands in her household’s method. Within the moments the 2 share on-screen, they’re magnetic. At their base, they’re very comparable humans–lustful for energy and vengeance, prepared to do no matter they want. It is refreshing, although, to see the patriarch of the household be the one conditioned to cover his emotions extra, whereas the matriarch makes no bones about saying how badly she needs you gutted for being in her method.
After all, it is arduous to speak about The Penguin with out discussing Farrell’s reprisal of the position. Whereas he was a standout in The Batman, he is even higher right here with the time to flesh out the character and get to the center of what makes him tick. Finally, it is Oz’s love of his mom Frances (Deirdre O’Connell) that, at the very least in his thoughts, drives him to crave energy. Whether or not that is true or not is one thing the viewer can resolve.
Anybody who has tracked the Penguin character over the past a number of a long time is aware of his relationship together with his mom is core to who he’s. In The Penguin, it has a little bit of a unique spin, as do his total origins. This Oz has spent most of his life as the one particular person his mom needed to depend on. Now, although, she’s older and battling Lewy physique dementia. You see the toll it takes on Oz as he tries to persuade himself his mom will likely be okay and the issues he is executed to supply for her will likely be value it ultimately.
O’Connell, who beforehand performed Foggy Nelson’s mom on Netflix’s Daredevil, is hauntingly lovely in her position. As her psychological and bodily well being declines and he or she slips out and in of lucidity, we see the toll it takes on her and the confusion it brings. She would not totally perceive what’s taking place more often than not, and when she does, she’s both impressed by her son’s ruthlessness or trying to push him additional.
There’s clearly a deeper challenge between them to discover, however Oz’s fixation on giving his mom every thing she might ever need, whilst she reached a degree of typically not recognizing he is within the room, is heartbreaking. It additionally explains a bit as to why Penguin takes a younger man, Vincent (Rhenzy Feliz), below his–ahem–wing. He views the younger man with no connection to the crime households as somebody he can mould into the right right-hand man, whether or not it is serving to him take care of Frances or doing any variety of menial unlawful duties to slowly immerse the younger man into the lifetime of crime.
And it is these varieties of tales that may be almost unimaginable to inform in a film like The Batman. These are the tales longer-form storytelling like this was made for. Popping out of The Batman, I knew little or no about Oz besides that he was a foul man craving extra energy (and assumptions based mostly on previous incarnations of the character). With this present, although, he is a completely drawn-out character who, ought to he return in The Batman 2, ought to be much more participating than he was within the preliminary movie.
Whereas this collection is a large inventive and storytelling success, it is not with out its faults. One in every of them is little question one thing you have heard about: Robert Pattinson is nowhere to be seen in The Penguin, as Bruce Wayne or Batman. Actually, I consider the character was solely referenced twice throughout eight episodes supplied for overview.
Whereas it is not a shock he is lacking from the story, as The Batman director and Penguin govt producer Matt Reeves has been very vocal about it, his absence is a wierd one. Per week after Batman fought The Riddler and tried to avoid wasting so many Gotham residents from the following flooding, he is simply mysteriously absent whereas gangs take to the streets committing an extended checklist of crimes–and leaving an untold quantity of useless our bodies within the wake.
That is the precise type of factor virtually anyone who has learn a Batman comedian or seen a Batman film would anticipate to result in the arrival of the Darkish Knight simply in time to avoid wasting the day. As an alternative, criminals do their enterprise with little or no interloping from the legislation. Explaining Pattinson’s absence might have been so simple as a information report saying Bruce Wayne was lacking within the aftermath of the assault on town. As an alternative, I used to be left questioning greater than as soon as what was maintaining Batman so busy whereas issues have been actually exploding.
The opposite knock towards this present comes within the type of one of many new characters. Theo Rossi, who was very good on Sons of Anarchy and Marvel’s Luke Cage, stars right here as Sofia’s physician, Julian Rush, and serves nearly no function. He pops up every so often to assist Sofia remedy an issue, putting in himself in her life, after which type of disappears throughout the climax of the collection. It is not that Rossi is not good within the position; he is participating sufficient. As an alternative, it is a character who might simply be plucked out of the collection with out actually altering a lot of something. Whereas the inventive group might definitely discover a method to observe up on the character sooner or later, whether or not in The Batman 2 or perhaps a potential second season of The Penguin, his addition appears principally pointless.
These weaker factors of the present nonetheless do not take away from how a lot of a hit The Penguin is. On the finish of eight episodes, you perceive who Oz is and who he needs to turn out to be. Furthermore, you in some way take care of him and hate him for his selections concurrently. And, maybe most significantly, you take care of Gotham Metropolis as an entire. To see town battle below the burden of its felony oppressors, the place it is clear that even darker instances are forward, Gotham is the true sufferer on this and each Batman story, and your coronary heart breaks for it again and again.
The Penguin premieres on Sunday, September 19, on HBO. Episodes can even stream on Max.