The Penguin S1 review – The Batman villain takes flight

If you’ve got an eye for filmcraft, then the very first thing you’ll probably notice about new crime drama, and comic-inspired series, The Penguin is just how clearly you can see everything. With 2022’s The Batman, filmmaker Matt Reeves intentionally grimed up each shot with masterful lighting and focus to give his cinematic iteration of DC Comics’ Dark Knight a textured look unlike any of its overly sanitised superhero genre contemporaries. This added to the gritty, more grounded approach he was going for. With The Penguin, there’s a more traditional clarity. Violence occurs in wide open streets as opposed to dimly lit subway stations. There’s no unyielding downpour, like the city of Gotham is trying to scour itself clean in desperation. Plots and schemes, rather than vigilantes playing dress-up, lurk in the shadows here.

Don’t assume this visual metamorphosis to indicate that showrunner Lauren LeFranc – handpicked by Reeves to develop this spinoff series – is departing from the universe’s established grim tone though. Instead, across The Penguin’s eight dramatic episodes, LeFranc shines a proverbial spotlight on the criminal underbelly of Gotham, laying bare the fictional city’s ingrained ugliness for all to see. And that starts with the series’ titular lead, brought to life with criminal gusto by a wholly unrecognizable Colin Farrell, who is transformed from rakish Irish heartthrob to gnarled gangster thanks to Farrell’s absolutely committed physical performance and the Oscar-nominated make-up work of Michael Marino.

Set just one week after the events of The Batman, Farrell’s Oz Cobb (a Reeves mandated deviation from original comic book name “Oswald Cobblepott”) finds himself on the cusp of seizing power he’s long craved. Gotham is still reeling from the Riddler’s devastating attack and the killing of Oz’s longtime mob boss, Carmine Falcone, has left a power vacuum that needs to be filled. The rest of the Falcone family is scrambling to do just that, before other rivals – most notably the Maroni family, headed up by incarcerated boss Salvatore Maroni (Clancy Butler) – can seize control of the city. But when an opportunity falls into Oz’s blood-spattered lap, he seizes it with a deathly grip, stopping at nothing to achieve his goals.

What his ambitious machinations don’t account for though is the early release of Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) from Arkham Asylum. The daughter of the late Carmine, Sofia has spent a decade locked up in the infamous mental hospital for the violent murders of several women that earned her the moniker “The Hangman”. Finally released, she is looking to get into the family business, except the rest of her kin would rather see her sidelined. In a flock of black sheep, she’s the blackest of them all. Her reconnection with Oz though, who served as her loyal driver before she was locked up, sets in motion a series of events that could see both of their downtrodden stars rise… or fall.

Also adding a wrinkle in Oz’s plan is Victor Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz), a youngster from Crown Point, a poorer section of Gotham especially hard hit by the Riddler’s actions, but left to fend for themselves by the wealthy political elite. A chance encounter with Victor – brought to life with immediate likeability by Feliz – sees Oz reluctantly taking the wide-eyed, stuttering young man under his wing. Victor, like so many in Gotham, has been forgotten by the Powers-That-Be. All they need is a chance to prove themselves, even if desperation leads to that chance being less than legal.

That’s a constant thematic throughline in The Penguin: How it’s the little people who always suffer the most, ground down by the gears of society; yet they are the ones who keep those gears turning by any means necessary. In The Penguin, LeFranc delves deep into the psychology of what transforms somebody like Oz into a cutthroat creature of violence that will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Helped along by a fantastic turn by Deirdre O’Connell as his mother, Francis Cobb, we get to explore Oz’s origin story, learning that monsters don’t just spring whole from the ground. They are raised, they are nurtured, they evolve to survive in their environment. 

And LeFranc’s now-not-so-secret weapon in all of this is Cristin Milioti. It may not be Sofia Falcone’s name in the title of this show, but Milioti absolutely owns The Penguin. Sofia is a complex character, revealed over time to be much more than the scary family bogeyman the press have made her out to be. Her story, even more so than Oz’s, provides for gripping drama. We definitely get to understand him more, but we actually sympathize with Sofia, despite some of the horrific acts she performs. And it’s all due to Milioti’s mesmerizing performance, conveying streams of complex emotions with just a flicker of a look. Don’t be surprised to see her name mentioned repeatedly next awards season.

Unfortunately, not all characters shine as bright in The Penguin, due to wobbles in performance or writing. Some, like Theo Rossi’s Dr. Julian Rush, Sofia’s therapist, dip in and out of the story with odd character transitions in between. Others like Carmen Ejogo’s Eve Karlo, Oz’s main squeeze, get stunted arcs that deserve more exploration.

The most notable gap in this production though, is the Bat-shaped one. As advertised by Reeves in the press, Robert Pattinson’s Batman doesn’t show up at all in The Penguin… which is fine. He’ll get his chance in the spotlight again when Reeves delivers his follow-up film. What is odd, though, is that not a soul in the series mentions the infamous vigilante, not even when discussing the events of the preceding movie. Even stranger is that there are some major criminal activities underway in The Penguin, including a very public gang war that you’d think would draw the attention of Gotham’s no.1 costumed crimefighter. However, the Bat is nowhere to be found.

The effect of the Dark Knight’s absence, though, is the show’s grounding even further. Take The Penguin, just change up a few names, and it could be HBO or AMC’s next big original crime drama. This is much less DC Comics than it is The Sopranos or Breaking Bad. And those two prestige dramas have been chosen as examples for a reason. With Farrell’s makeup work and performance, it often feels like he’s channelling the late James Gandolfini’s Tony Soprano for Oz. Similarly, some of the biggest thrills come from watching Oz scramble, like Bryan Cranston’s Walter White, from one desperate ploy to the next. He’s constantly forced to scheme his way out of sticky situations, switching alliances on the fly and making conflicting promises. There’s a delicious anticipation in watching just how long he can keep all the proverbial plates spinning before they all inevitably come crashing down.

The result is a comic book crime drama series that ditches nearly all its comic book elements, including those of the movie that spawned it. And while it may occasionally waddle like its namesake, The Penguin takes flight and soars thanks to the dynamic performances of its leads – especially the scene-stealing Milioti – and some superb writing that’ll keep you guessing how these characters can make it out of the next mess.

In South Africa, The Penguin premieres on Showmax tomorrow, Friday, 20 September, with new episodes following weekly.