First Impressions: The Penguin
This show is both a success and a failure.
It succeeds in being a truly excellent gangster drama. The series takes place in The Batman movie setting, at the end of which, the seawall surrounding Gotham City was broken (just accept it) and the city had been flooded. That’s just background setting and continuity. More important so far as this show is concerned, Gotham’s Godfather, Carmine Falcone is dead. Shot down in the street.
The new head of the Falone family is his POS son Alberto. Bertie is the kind of king that has to keep telling everyone “I am the king!” You name it he’s addicted to it. Oswald Cobb, Oz to his friends, crew, and people who respect him, “Penguin” to people who don’t, was Carmine’s right hand man. With the death of the Godfather, Oz has been demoted quite a few steps. While Alberto is officially the head of the family, his uncle Luca Falcone is the guy running things and the one who demoted Oz.
The show starts with Penguin going to a hideout of Carmine’s and retrieving his stash of blackmail information. Alberto catches him. Penguin talks his way out of a bullet to the head but then Alberto disrespects Oz to his face and he wastes the kid. This is kind of a big deal. Bertie was officially (if in no other way) the boss, and this was an unsanctioned hit. Penguin has to cover this up fast.
Some kids are trying to steal his car while he’s trying to dump the body. Oz impresses one of them into his service but rather than kill the kid, he takes him on as teenage protege. An anti-Robin.
Uncle Luca is now officially the head of the Falcone family. However, he appears to be comparable to Paul Castellano. A guy who was running the financial side of things and isn’t generally respected by the street bosses. And will likely meet the same fate as Castellano.
The third Falcone is Sofia, Carmine’s daughter and the (now) late Alberto’s twin sister. She was recently released from Arkham and has what mobsters use to call, “The Bloody Mouth.” She’s a ruthless, hair-trigger killer but a highly cunning one. She should probably be the boss but she’s a woman.
There is clearly a power vacuum in Gotham’s organized crime and people are ready to step into that vacuum. Penguin is highest on that list. He’s using the rival Maroni crime family as his stalking horse as he positions himself to take over everything.
I’m not going into spoilers. There really isn’t any need to, it’s mostly standard boilerplate mobster drama. But it is exceedingly well done. The writing is sharp and crisp. Colin Farrell is killing it as Oswald Cobb. He’s going to be in the running for a primetime Emmy for this one. The fifty pound bodysuit and the hours spent getting into makeup are the kind of thing award committees eat up like candy. He’s fantastic as the ambitious and frustrated underling who has been kept too long in the shadows because of his infirmity. He’s clever and ruthless in pursuing his goals.
A surprise standout has been Christin Miloti’s turn as Sofia Falcone. She can drip menace with a glance. One of her best scenes is when she’s at her brother’s funeral and a female cousin comes up to her and starts chatting, all very friendly. Sofia is enjoying the encounter. Then her cousin’s 8-year-old daughter runs up and the mother clearly frightened to have her anywhere near Crazy Sofia, pushes the kid in back of her. The way Sofia kneels down and fixes the child’s barrett, smoothing her hair into place is absolutely chilling.
Showrunner Lauren Lefranc has demonstrated that if there is one thing Warner Brothers can still do it’s deliver a top notch, compelling TV drama. The Penguin is classic HBO material.
So why is it a failure?
Because Batman has absolutely no place in it.
This is a very hard, gritty, drag you across broken concrete kind of show. These are gangsters who will torture the fuck out of a man with a wire saw to get what they want, then put a bullet in his head and dump the body in a ditch. Getting beaten up is just the price of doing business for these people. Some nutcase with a bat-fetish and bunch of fancy toys is going to be nothing but a joke to them.
Any of their buddies who gets clobbered by the Bat is going to be a laughing stock. Batman brings nothing to the party that they fear. What he does to them is nothing compared to what they do to each other. He’s a nuisance and the guys in this show just wouldn’t huddle under the bed at the mention of his name. This is a story that takes place in The Batman’s universe but if he ever shows up it will just ruin it.
If you like gangster dramas then this is unquestionably your cup of tea. If you want to see something to do with Batman, then you’re going to have to wait and see what James Gunn comes up with.
