A dark, hard crime drama in Gotham

When Colin Farrell first portrayed the Penguin in the 2022 DC superhero film The Batman, Warner Bros. rejected his request to have the character smoke his famous cigar. Let's just say that in The Penguinsmoking his cigar is the least offensive thing he does. This eight-part miniseries takes us back to Matt Reeves' take on Gotham. Farrell first appeared as the iconic villain alongside Robert Pattinson's Batman. Now he's in the spotlight as the protagonist of this fantastic crime series that offers a mature, hard-R look at Gotham City's criminal underworld.

This show quickly immerses us back into that world, picking up right after The Batman ended. The streets of Gotham are still flooded after the Riddler's bombing of the seawall. Oswald “Oz” Cobb is trying to gain control of organized crime after the death of crime boss Carmine Falcone. One of the highlights of The Penguin is how it takes inspiration from the classics. While The Batman was inspired by David Fincher's work in Se7en and Zodiac, The Penguin feels like a cross between The Godfather, The Sopranos, and Martin Scorsese's gangster dramas. While Marvel's superhero content has become self-deprecatingly formulaic, DC has pushed the boundaries by allowing filmmakers to deliver something fresh.

Lauren LeFranc does a phenomenal job of creating a show that uses its characters well. It was a smart decision to make this show for TV-MA, which gives it room to breathe. There are F-bombs, blood, and a harder side that we didn't fully see in the PG-13 version of The Batman. From the first scene of dialogue, we learn a lot about the kind of person Oz is through his words and actions. We know what he wants to do, and we meet his obstacle: Sofia Falcone, played by Cristin Milioti, Carmine's daughter who was recently released from Arkham Asylum.

Much like Christopher Nolan, Matt Reeves wanted to create a gritty, gritty, and grounded version of these larger-than-life comic book characters. Farrell is great in this version of the Penguin, but he's completely unrecognizable. Much of the credit goes to Farrell's spectacular performance and the makeup team who gave him a look drastically different from Farrell's. He also ditched his Irish accent and replaced it with a thick New York accent that works just as wonderfully here as it did in The Batman. And when you add in the fatsuit, even I completely forgot I was seeing Farrell.

The Penguin faced a daunting challenge. Because the show isn't about a hooded vigilante fighting crime, there is no “good guy.” Crime is at the heart of it, and almost every character on the show is a bad person who has killed people before. The risk with a premise like that is that viewers may not care about them. If everyone on your show is a terrible person, audiences may wonder, “Who am I supposed to root for?” Fortunately, the writers have taken a very nuanced approach to each character, so everyone has something to relate to.

One flaw of the series is that the story isn't as interesting as everything else around it. The world and production design are spectacular. The backstories and conflicts of the characters are incredible. The main plot, however, revolves around drugs on the streets and the feuding crime families. The drug delivery ideas aren't bad, but they're the least exciting part of the series. Sometimes you get the feeling that the series is aware of this fact, as it spends little time on the drug story and more time delving deep into the individual characters.

As a result, the first two episodes may take a while to get used to. The first episode is solid, but the second episode may leave you wondering if this show will have much value. In the third episode, we learn about Victor Aguilar, played by Rhenzy Feliz. Victor is a young man that the Penguin meets and hires in the premiere. When we learn who he was before meeting the Penguin and see a specific decision he makes, it's heartbreaking but perfect. In the fourth episode, Oz barely appears, but it's one of the show's best episodes as it explores Sofia and the lies she tells herself to feel better about everything around her.

While the show features phenomenal casting across the board, like Clancy Brown as the menacing Salvatore Maroni or Deirdre O'Connell as Oz's mentally disturbed mother (she's incredible, by the way), Milioti is the real standout. Milioti has taken on a number of comedic roles on How I Met Your Mother and a personal favorite, Palm Springs. In this role, she tackles something so menacing and yet so tragic. The more we learn about what made her who she is, the more human she becomes. Although she's the antagonist to Farrell's protagonist throughout, I found her easier to root for than Oz.

There's a strong emotional centerpiece with Oz and his relationship with his mother, where we get a glimpse into Oz's haunting past and how he always turns to her for validation. The Penguin does a wonderful job of giving each character enough screen time so that you feel the impact of certain events. Even though Oz is the protagonist, I didn't want him to win. That's a fascinating relationship to have for a show's main character, and the final two episodes make that clear. This HBO series is a fantastic addition to a DC franchise that benefits from it. The rich, layered characters drive the series forward, and each time we have more character-centric episodes, The Penguin is at its best.

RESULT: 8/10

As explained in ComingSoon's judging guidelines, a score of 8 is considered “Great.” While there are a few minor issues, this score means the artwork achieves its goal and leaves a lasting impression.

Disclosure: ComingSoon received screeners for our The Penguin review.

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