The Penguin

I don't think I'm the first person to say that I'm rather sick of all the spin-off TV shows we have going on right now. Oh, of course we have to tell the story of Agatha Harkness. There's so much we don't know about Obi-Wan Kenobi chilling in a desert. Just because we've not seen literally everything there is to see of a franchise doesn't mean audiences should see it. There's something to be said for the mysticism of some universes and worlds, and when I sat down to watch The Penguin, I feared for Matt Reeves' vision for Gotham. A dark, grungy place where Nirvana accompanies you everywhere you go, it didn't feel like somewhere we should see too often, lest we grow tired of it.

Some of the time spent in The Penguin does feel as though it lets a bit too much daylight in on the magic of Gotham. Literally, in some cases, as some scenes feel a tad overexposed when it comes to the lighting, especially when you look at any daylight scene from The Batman. However, for the most part, The Penguin proves to be a very good show, serving to establish the underworld of Gotham and Colin Farrell's quest to control it.

Once again, Farrell proves unrecognisable as The Penguin. He is amusing to see and listen to, as he is in The Batman, but a great weight has been placed on his shoulders in this series. He's not just here for us to gawk at the prosthetics that have turned him into Oswald Cobb and give Batman some much-needed lessons on Spanish grammar. Instead, he must carry us through his own adventure. He is our protagonist, but something I liked about The Penguin was that Cobb is never our hero.

"What if the Penguin had a heart of gold?" wasn't the question anyone wanted answering in this series. As this review is a little late (sorry about that) I have had the chance to see some other impressions on the show after deciding on my own take. I've seen people draw comparisons to Walter White, Tony Soprano with the character of Oswald Cobb, and while I don't think Farrell's performance comes anywhere close, I do think it's an interesting contrast because of how something like Breaking Bad is written compared to The Penguin. In Breaking Bad, we do end up rooting for Walter to win, because in all honesty the other characters out there are just as bad if not worse than him. He's also smarter, more tactile. However, in The Penguin, Cobb is simply the luckiest idiot alive. He makes some clever plays early on, but he's ruled by his emotions, which are a massive bag weighing him down, akin to the clubfoot he carries. Oswald Cobb is also a mean-spirited, horrible person at his core, which makes it difficult to ever feel like you're rooting for him, but still can't look away.

The person who I grew most attached to was Cristin Milioti's Sofia Falcone or The Hangman. There are few memorable performances from the antagonists of comic book shows, but Milioti just throws her absolute all into becoming Sofia Falcone, and her short but substantial evolution throughout the show makes for a great watch. There are plenty of strong performances in the supporting cast, too, like Clancy Brown as Salvatore Maroni and Rhenzy Feliz as Victor Aguilar. No one quite comes close to knocking Farrell off his pedestal as the stand-out performance of the series, but The Penguin doesn't sit nearly as well without this cast.

The story itself is straightforward, though not without the odd twist and turn. The first three episodes are tremendously strong, as Cobb plays a game of cat-and-mouse with people he's forced closer and closer to. Then, we get a dose of Sofia's backstory, which proves equally tragic and intriguing, before there's a bit of a stall within episodes five and six. They're not exactly dull and have strong moments sprinkled within, but it does make me feel as though the story could have been trimmed more precisely in places. Focus on what does matter. Cobb's sick, twisted relationship with his mother, that is honestly both of their faults. Victor's will to survive in a city that doesn't want him to. Sofia's unending search for revenge as the wrongs against her continue to pile up. These are the things that The Penguin does well, and so it feels a shame whenever we're pulled away from them.

The series also doesn't ever truly pull itself out of the shadow of the bat. The Batman both hangs in the air like a bad smell and is seemingly forgotten by the cast, except for the flood caused by the Riddler. It makes for a strange feeling, where you think you're watching a prequel set before Pattinson put on his cape and eye make-up, but you know he's there, somewhere, just watching a massive gang war unfold without really doing anything about it. Beyond simple logic points, The Penguin doesn't fully solidify itself as a show worth existing. It doesn't add much more to The Batman universe that can't be explained in a line of dialogue or two, and while it is very, very interesting to get to know Farrell's version of the Penguin, I'm not sure we're doing much here besides setting him up for a role similar to that which he played in The Batman. It's a strange space that comic book spin-off shows exist in, because if they matter too much you're forcing someone to watch an eight-hour series before they can understand a sequel to a movie, but if they matter too little you wonder why we're here.

But, if you're here for a return to Gotham, and a well-written show that doesn't outstay its welcome, then The Penguin is solid viewing. Consistently good, sometimes great, but never exceptional, it's a series that promises a better future for comic book shows, and I just hope the future of Marvel and DC's television projects can live up to that promise.