While fans wait for the sequel to 2022’s “The Batman,” they got to revisit Gotham in the villain-centric series, “The Penguin.” Taking place after the events of the film, it followed Oswald Cobb, AKA the Penguin, as he got involved in the Falcone family’s criminal drama.
The series starred Colin Farrell as the Penguin, featuring prosthetics to make him look more like the character. His co-star was Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone, the daughter of a powerful crime family. The showrunner was Lauren LeFranc and Matt Reeves, director of “The Batman,” served as a producer.
Highs
One of the unique parts of Batman as a superhero is that his mythos can be put into genres besides superheroes, offering them unique flexibility. A popular example of this would be 2019’s “Joker” which was a psychological thriller and its recent sequel which was a musical. “The Penguin” further divorced these mythos from superheroes by creating an excellent gangster drama.
This take on the Penguin took him from a wacky villain and grounded him as a sadistic, complicated crime lord. However, it maintained a respect for the superhero genre through its styling and tone, allowing characters to be quirky and stylized.
When it comes to media starring villains as protagonists, in order to add complexity they often make said villain sympathetic. This could be seen with the films “Maleficent,” “Joker,” and the “Star Wars” prequel trilogy. No shade to those films as they had an audience and sympathetic villains can be well done, it just isn’t the only way of handling villain protagonists. What made “The Penguin” refreshing was its understanding that a villain can be gripping and have depth, while still being, well, a villain.
The show also featured a well-written, sympathetic villain in Sofia Falcone. In many ways, the show was as much hers as it was the Penguin’s. Her storyline showed how Gotham as a city could harden people into villainy. Episode four was a series highlight in this regard. She was a fascinating character that garnered both sympathy and disgust.
This excellent writing was enhanced with excellent performances from the entire cast, balancing the weirdness and darkness of their plots with pathos. The show also gave a much-needed expansion on this version of Gotham, playing into the fallout of “The Batman” with a high production value that nearly matched the film.
Lows
Eight episodes weren't enough to tell this story. Especially towards the end, the plot was a bit rushed, introducing key backstory a bit too late to have the full impact, rushing through points that would be worthy of an entire episode, or not digging deep enough into some side characters and subplots.
The show also missed out on stylizing Gotham itself more. In “The Batman,” viewers were treated to an aesthetically rich Gotham City, one befitting of these dark, gothic theatrics. “The Penguin” had a high production value, but lacked the same stylistic sensibilities.
Verdict
“The Penguin” mastered telling a Batman story without Batman or superheroics. It knew how to balance quirkiness, emotion, and darkness in the twisty world of Gotham criminals. Between “The Batman” and “The Penguin,” this adaptation of the Batman mythos is well on the way to being one of the best.
All episodes of “The Penguin” are available to stream on Max, previously HBO Max.
Rating: 9 out of 10.
Frank Remski is a film and theater reviewer for the Eastern Echo. He is majoring in media studies and journalism and minoring in public relations. He has worked for The Echo since summer of 2023 and has written both news stories and opinion pieces.
