Maxance Vincent
Warning: the following article contains spoilers for episode one of The Penguin.
It’s a real Marvel vs. DC battle we have upon us in the television world for the next few weeks, as Agatha All Along and The Penguin are airing in the same window! One will end before the other (thank Marvel for doing a two-episode premiere and finale). However, it’s interesting to see a small-screen duel between the two rival comic-book studios, notably when James Gunn is now overseeing DC’s creative side. We still have to wait a few months to see the first installment in the newly refurbished DC Universe, Creature Commandos, but DC Studios is already making some strong moves this week, with the first episode of The Penguin airing on HBO and SUPER/MAN: The Christopher Reeve Story playing in theatres, the first two titles that proudly showcase the new ‘DC Studios’ logo in their branding.
While The Penguin is unrelated to what Gunn is currently cooking, it is absolutely connected to a highly-acclaimed DC feature film, Matt Reeves‘ The Batman. In fact, it’s so closely connected to that film that the first episode of The Penguin is set a week after The Riddler (Paul Dano) unleashed a flood in Gotham City, from which it is still recovering (Jayme Lawson briefly reprises her role as Mayor Bella Reál in the first or so minute of the series premiere). Of course, this also means that the city’s criminal underworld has been strongly affected by the repercussions of its flood tainting the production of Drops, leaving its operation in Gotham unstable, particularly in the wake of Carmine Falcone’s (Mark Strong, replacing John Turturro) death in The Batman.
Within this shaky environment lies Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell), who wants to take this opportunity of a weakened city and, by extension, criminal operation to make moves for himself. That’s why, at the top of the episode, titled “After Hours,” he kills Carmine’s son, Alberto Falcone (Michael Zegen), in an impulsive fit of rage after the heir apparent to the crime family mocks his aspirations. With a thrilling cut from a “fu—” to its title card, The Penguin immediately jolts our attention and makes us curious to see how this Batman-less spinoff will operate within Matt Reeves’ vision of a corrupter-than-corrupt Gotham City.
Directed by Craig Zobel, “After Hours” shows the beginning of Oz’s high ambitions to rule the criminal underworld through subtle moves that will likely pay off as he becomes a contemporary iteration of ‘The Penguin’ we know and love from the comics. It almost feels like an origin story of sorts for him, who’ll finally be able to break free from the shackles of his work with the Falcones and the Maronis. So far, the pace may be even slower than The Batman, but it’s never dull. Zobel and writer Lauren LeFranc develop an intriguing relationship between Oz and teenager Victor Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz), whom he plucks after catching him attempting to steal the rims of his car.
Victor reluctantly accepts to help him, though after being threatened by him. He’s now worried for his safety, and justifiably so – Oz posits himself as imposing and impulsive, even if his deformed leg gives him the characteristic penguin walk and weakens him physically. But his resolve is so firm that you never truly know what he’s genuinely thinking, which makes him an even more terrifying villain than what he showcases in front of Victor, Salvatore Maroni (Clancy Brown), or even Sofia Falcone (Cristin Miloti), freshly released from Arkham Asylum.
It doesn’t take long for us to know how totally unhinged Sofia is, from the minute she walks into a meeting with Oz talking to caporegime Milos Grapa (James Madio) and underboss Johnny Vitti (Michael Kelly) to her devouring her lunch in front of The Penguin with zero manners at a fine dining establishment. Something’s not truly right with her, which will likely be further developed in further episodes. As it stands, however, Miloti is a true force of nature here, already giving career-best work in a single episode. Farrell is equally solid, but Miloti completely outshines him as soon as she’s introduced. Sofia not only immediately unmasks him, knowing Oz may have something to do with her brother’s disappearance (and death, but she doesn’t know that yet), but isn’t afraid of getting her hands dirty (in public), sending her goons to beat Oz to a pulp before torturing him bare-naked, with a gun cocked in his mouth.
The Penguin also marks a drastic shift in its treatment of violence from The Batman, with the show gaining a TV-MA rating. While The Batman did push the boundaries of its PG-13 rating, it was still restricted in its depiction of intense violence. Conversely, The Penguin doesn’t hold anything back. So far, the violence is cruel and unforgiving, making you feel every ounce of punishment Oz gets while being tortured or the surprise kill of Alberto at the top of the series that sets up the events of the show in motion. It’s raw and far more unrelenting, boding well for the rest of what this crime drama has to offer.
While he is tortured, Oz taunts Sofia by framing the Maronis for the murder of Alberto. He has Victor cut off his finger from his corpse and draw PAYBACK in the back of a car, which slams into Sofia’s home. That’s where the conflict begins to boil up and will undoubtedly intensify as the show progresses. We’re left hanging with Victor and Oz discussing how this stunt was performed over a slushie, but it’s also clear that the series will discuss Oz’s upbringing and rise to power. There’s no doubt in my mind that he will be a significant player in Reeves’ The Batman – Part II, but one still wonders how he will be so.
Of course, and this being HBO, parallels will obviously be drawn to The Sopranos, and Farrell’s portrayal of Oz here seems more in line with how James Gandolfini approached subdued, often painful emotions in David Chase’s hit HBO series than an ‘authentic’ depiction of The Penguin from the comics. But with Reeves and LeFranc reclaiming The Penguin’s name from Oswald Cobblepot to Oz Cobb, we immediately know that this is a different take on the character than the caricatural exuberance of Burgess Meredith in the 1960s Batman television series and movie, or the madcap hysteria of Danny DeVito in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns.
By solely focusing on the Gandolfini comparison, audiences are missing the most important parallel to The Sopranos – Oz’s relationship with his mother, Francis (played by Deidre O’Connell), something we’ve never seen treated on screen before. Not only does it harken back to Tony and Livia, but it gives us a different sense of meaning with Oz’s personality in The Batman saga than in other DC property to date. In Batman Returns, Oswald being abandoned by his parents because of his physical deformities is a significant catalyst for his emotional state. Obviously, Francis (so far) seems to be the polar opposite of Livia scheming behind his son’s back. However, the two both had a close relationship with their sons, and the most interesting scene of The Penguin’s first episode occurs as she encourages Oz to take over Falcone’s criminal operation and topple the competition while he wants to cower and run away, for fear Sofia knows that he is responsible for Alberto’s death.
“The city is meant to be yours, sweetheart. What are you going to do to get it?”, she tells him. That’s what we’ll be finding out quite soon…
The first episode of The Penguin is now available to stream on Max.
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