After the critical and commercial success of “The Batman,” the 2022 reboot starring Robert Pattinson as the caped crusader, director Matt Reeves is back with the production of the spin-off show “The Penguin.”
The series’ first season recently finished up its nine-episode run on Max and follows Colin Farrell’s interpretation of the classic Batman rogue who is capable of being both entertaining and menacing. Despite being a secondary antagonist in the film, Penguin proves to be more than capable of carrying a storyline filled with complex characters and a thoroughly engaging story.
With Gotham City still reeling from the disastrous flood featured in “The Batman,” Oz “Penguin” Cobb tries to establish himself as a prominent figure in the city’s underworld, which itself is experiencing power shifts. With the help of a talented but aimless young man named Vic Aguilera, Oz makes powerful enemies and stops at nothing to gain the respect of everyone around him, including mafia heiress Sofia Falcone.
“The Penguin” is a crime drama show with characters who are almost wholly irredeemable. Oz himself, despite being the protagonist, is a petty and deceitful character, following no consistent moral code. To get what he wants, he is willing to betray people, dishonor deals and even let the people he loves get harmed. Small glimpses of his humanity are present, making it all the more devastating when he inevitably stoops to a new low.
A far more sympathetic character is the series antagonist Sofia Falcone. Without going too deep into her backstory, she is a deeply tragic character who has been the victim of countless horrific acts throughout her life. Even though she performs some truly horrible actions, she ends up eliciting a response of pity due to all the pain the audience has seen her endure.
Taking place in the already relatively grounded world of “The Batman,” this show takes a step further into reality. No supercomputers or high-tech weaponry are present— the untrained viewer may not even recognize it as a comic book show. Though it has been proven that there is nothing wrong with a mainstream superhero series that leans heavily into the expected tropes of the genre, grounded realism is a commitment Reeves makes to an admirable degree.
The story, on paper, is a fairly standard prestige television plot about mob tensions and drug deals. Technically speaking, it didn’t have to be about the Penguin. The ties to the source material aren’t apparent at first glance but reside just below the surface.
Gotham City has always been overrun with criminals, from the costumed clowns to the more grounded Falcone crime family. “The Penguin” takes an uncomfortably close look at these criminals and their inner workings, with the titular Penguin at the center of it all. Having been bullied his entire life due to physical deformities, Oz wants nothing more than respect. This aspect of the character has been a part of him in other media such as comics and animated series, but has not been explored this deeply before.
That is where the story thrives as an adaptation. The Penguin has never been the criminal kingpin that villains like Joker are known for being. He’s not a kingpin in the show either. Oz is a pathetic small man with no moral backbone who just wants to be recognized for the greatness he sees in himself. He’s no Tony Soprano or Michael Corleone. He can’t command respect through presence alone. He has to rely on trickery and underhanded tactics to achieve his goals.
“The Penguin” is gripping and thrilling from beginning to end. For fans of the Batman franchise or simply of crime television, it is an easy show to recommend. If this show is any indication of the future of media based on DC comics, the future is bright.
