When Matt Reeves announced his DCEU-adjacent take on Batman in January 2020, the internet quickly zeroed in on a peculiar casting choice: Colin Ferrell as Oswald Cobblepott (later changed to Oz Cobb), a low-level gangster that would become Gotham crime kingpin The Penguin. The conventionally attractive Irish actor seemed like an odd fit for the deformed bird-themed character, but critics were impressed with both the makeup and prosthetics used to transform Ferrell physically and Ferrell’s scene-stealing performance of the Jersey-accented trash-talking gangster.
Still, out of all the potential TV series that could spin off from The Batman, focusing on the Penguin, who was a smaller supporting role in the film, seemed like a potential misfire, especially as the popularity of both superhero films and streaming series has been on the steep decline. However, HBO’s The Penguin (which released the last of its eight episodes on November 10 and is streaming on Max) is one of the best shows of the year, comic-inspired or otherwise, and proves that the superhero genre isn’t dead yet.
The Penguin takes place immediately after the 2022 film—Gotham City has been rocked by the murder of crime boss Carmine Falcone, the mayoral election of progressive candidate Bella Real, and the massive flooding after the destruction of the levees by The Riddler. Oz Cobb, the man in charge of the Falcone drug operation, finds himself out of a job when Carmine’s son Alberto takes over the Gotham mafia. Alberto has developed a new drug called bliss that will give the Falcones enough money to rebuild their crime empire, but Alberto doesn’t trust Oz to distribute it since Oz was instrumental in getting his sister Sophia committed to Arkham State Mental Hospital.
This upsets Oz who, in the first fifteen minutes of the show, kills Alberto in cold blood. This sets into motion the events of the series: to survive the new status quo in the city, Oz needs to control the distribution of bliss while eliminating his criminal rivals and hiding his murder of Alberto from the new head of the family and a recently released Sophia. Only one other person knows that Oz killed Alberto—a poor kid named Victor Aguilar who tries to steal Oz’s rims while Oz is moving Alberto’s body—and in a moment of compassion, Oz employs him (under threat of death) as his driver and bagman.
Rounding out the main cast are Francis Cobb, Oz’s domineering and senile mother; Salvatore Maroni, the head of Gotham’s other major crime family looking to eliminate the Falcones (played by Mr. Krabbs himself, Clancy Brown); Johnny Vitti, the Falcone underboss who wants to see both Oz and Sophia gone; Eve Karlo, Oz’s girlfriend and madam of his underground gentleman’s club; and Dr. Julian Rush, Sophia’s psychiatrist turned lover from Arkham.
The breakout star of the show is undoubtedly Christin Milioti as Sophia Falcone/Gigante. Known for years as The Mother from the sitcom How I Met Your Mother, Milioti delivers a jaw-dropping performance that supersedes any of her previous work (including her solid performances in Palm Springs and Fargo). Milioti has the range to portray both a larger-than-life mafia queen and a fragile, scared victim in the same episode. She steals every scene she’s in, and while she’s not a hero by any definition of the word (the story introduces her as a serial killer named The Hangman before she has one word of dialogue), she is most relatable and least wicked character.
Rhenzy Feliz also makes quite the impression as Victor Aguilar, an original character that acts as a Robin to Penguin’s Dark Knight. Vic is endearing from the minute he’s revealed in the first episode with his stutter, and Oz’s pity for a fellow sufferer of a physical impairment does much to humanize Penguin. Feliz also does a great job of developing a hidden dark side to Vic—it’s implied with the small things he says and does in the first episode, but it is nurtured by Oz into a full criminal persona by his last episode. Unlike Sophia, who becomes more humanized over the course of the series, Vic becomes more hardened and tragic.
Yet the series is called The Penguin for a reason: Colin Ferrell gives an astounding performance as Oz Cobb. The makeup is great, but it’s so much more than makeup. While anyone who saw The Batman knows how well Ferrell can disappear into his villainous role, it’s quite a different challenge to embody that character over eight hours of television. Ferrell’s performance is a masterstroke as he brings a sleezy charm to Oz Cobb that makes him a compelling protagonist without being a good guy. By the end of the series, Oz Cobb is not only a character the audience will love to hate but perhaps one of the most vile villains put to screen this decade.
Rounding out the main cast is Deirdre O’Connell as Oz’s mother Frances. Damaged men start as damaged boys, and both comics and their adaptations are rife with the overbearing and controlling mother that dominates her horrible son. Frances turns this on its head, however—she encourages Oz with his every exploit, telling him that he will rule the city and defending her son from others with the ferocity as brutal as any of the Falcones. Frances also presents Oz with a ticking clock: she is succumbing to Lewy Body dementia, driving Oz to take over the criminal syndicates of Gotham and make his mother proud before she completely slips away. Eventually, a flashback shows the audience what Frances’ mind can no longer express, and she easily becomes the most tragic figure in the series… and for this show, that’s saying a lot.
One character that notably doesn’t show up is Batman himself. While this isn’t very surprising since DC has prevented Batman from appearing in other TV projects like Gotham, Smallville, Birds of Prey, Batwoman, Gotham Knights, and Arrow, what is surprising is that not a single one of the criminals that inhabit the screen over the eight-hour runtime mention Batman at all. Mob bosses are dying, a new drug is flooding the streets, and a massive gang war occurs… and Batman sits it all out? Though the miniseries is deeply tied to The Batman film, the complete lack of mention is odd.
But odd isn’t bad. This series works completely well without Batman, and any physical intrusion by him would have seemed out of place (with two exceptions regarding very public disasters with a high body count and mysterious circumstances). The show was instead focused on setting up the city of Gotham and how it’s a place of brutal survival. The visual composition of the city is just as striking as the film, and the setting feels heavy with bleakness by the end. This is a place that could both create and need a Batman, and while it doesn’t do much of anything to set up the next film, it sets up the human stakes that were only hinted at toward the end of the first film.
Perhaps the best quality of this show is that it doesn’t forget what it is. Instead of embracing the goofiness inherent to comic-based properties like Marvel or trying to remove them as much as possible like the Nolan Batman films, The Penguin feels like a perfect fit into the comic world and the history of that character. While nothing is silly in the show (despite the surprising amount of wry humor), the show does go over the top like comics do. Oz has a bright purple car, just like in the comics and old Adam West Batman show. At different points, Oz wears the top hat, tuxedo, and umbrella that make up Penguin’s iconic look. The show even sets up Oz’s next goal—to go legit and be mayor of Gotham City—which is a storyline that has been portrayed by every live-action version of the Penguin, from Burgess Meredith to Danny DeVito to Robin Lord Taylor. The show has respect for its characters and keeps their defining qualities while also sticking to realism.
The most defining quality of the Penguin, and that of this show, is that he is a villain. Too many recent villain-central projects have turned comic villains like Loki, Agatha Harkness, Venom, Harley Quinn, Morbius, Madame Web, Black Adam, and Kraven the Hunter into antiheroes the audience can root for and say, “Oh, they’re not so bad.” Well, Penguin is bad. He does terrible, unforgivable things, and while the audience may understand his reasons behind his actions and may empathize with how he feels, the audience is never allowed to forget that Oz Cobb is vile. While other supervillains have gotten more toothless, Oz Cobb chills the viewer’s blood by the final minutes of the series.
The Penguin is the best comic-based project this year and one of the best miniseries in HBO’s history. This series will surely be a contender for several Emmys and Golden Globes, and is a crime series that rivals Breaking Bad and The Sopranos on its character complexity and performance. While it helps to have seen The Batman before watching this film, it’s not necessary—the show gives you 98% of the context needed to understand the show. The Penguin has set a new standard for comic adaptations that anyone old enough to handle the violence and language can enjoy.
