The first thing you need to know about The Penguin is that this isn’t the kind of Batman villain you’re expecting. Colin Farrell’s Oz Cobb—né Oswald Cobblepot—has the iconic villain’s waddle down, for sure. Maybe the best I’ve ever seen! But this Penguin isn’t the trick-umbrella wielding, monocle-wearing, wank wank wank-laughing cretin that fans know from Batman’s campy rogues’ gallery. Farrell’s Penguin is more like filling your extra-large soda with every flavor in the TV mob guy machine—blending equal parts James Gandolfini in The Sopranos, Sylvester Stallone in Tulsa King, Paul Sorvino in Goodfellas, and even The Simpsons’ Fat Tony.
For the most part, it’s surprisingly not a pitfall of the series that Penguin is such a mafia stereotype. His “Ayy, have a little respect! I’m the fuckin’ Penguin over here!”-esque lines add a lot of levity (intended, or not!) to a show that’s more or less what you’d expect from a mob show in the Batman universe. Plus, the fact that Farrell didn’t phone in a millisecond of his performance is a testament to how much fun the show is—even when The Penguin feels like it’s not even set in a world where Batman and the Joker also exist.
I don’t want to harp too much on how toning down the character’s wackiness could have been a potential catastrophe, especially since Farrell pulls it off with such ease. But the last time we saw the Penguin in a Batman movie was when an ooze-dripping Danny DeVito summoned a penguin army from the Gotham aquarium, strapped rockets to their backs, and drove around in a giant motorized rubber duck bath toy.
So! The bar for a grounded Penguin wasn’t a high bar to clear. Thankfully, episode 1 of the HBO series—which debuted Thursday night—does just that.
Fans entering The Penguin are likely already enamored with Farrell’s celebrated performance from 2022’s The Batman. If you were amazed that the Banshees of Inisherin star thrives under that mountain of prosthetics before, that feeling only increases here. In fact, The Penguin conveniently kicks things off right where Cobb’s story in The Batman left off. Paul Dano’s QAnon Riddler floods the city and Zoë Kravitz’s Catwoman kills mob boss Carmine Falcone (John Turturro). The events leaves both a devastated city and a power vacuum in the criminal underworld.
Colin Farrell has the character nailed down.
It’s the perfect scenario for the hungry Penguin as he looks to become Gotham’s new kingpin, which the city’s nightly news broadcast conveniently reminds us nearly verbatim. A reporter reveals that Carmine Falcone’s son, Alberto (Michael Zegen), is filling in the role of head honcho for his father despite his “struggles with alcohol.” It’s cute that Gotham reports on the crime families like they’re worried about them sending in their second-string quarterback. But the Penguin rashly unloads three bullets into young Alberto in the very first scene of the show, so Gotham can rest easy regarding the amount of alcohol their crime lords consume.
Though the decision to murder the heir to the Falcone crime family should send the Penguin to his grave in episode 1, he’s able to play the fool and blame the hit on rival Salvatore Maroni (Clancy Brown). He lifts Maroni’s ring from Alberto’s cold, dead hands and returns it to the man himself. So, Maroni can either throw Penguin under the bus, or use his initiative to start the war he wanted anyway. He chooses the latter—delaying Penguin’s early execution.
VIc becomes the Penguin’s new driver in a plot that feels ripped right from Tulsa King.
Elsewhere in the first episode, a young teenager on the outs named Victor Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz) saves Penguin’s life. Oz takes the kid under wing after he tries to steal his purple Lamborghini. “Technically, it’s plum,” Oz says. He sees something in him. Maybe he relates to Vic as another one of Gotham’s outcasts, since Vic has a stutter. He hires the teenager as his new personal driver. If he starts exclaiming, “Jumping jellybeans, Mr. Oz!” like he’s Penguin’s unwilling Robin, I wouldn’t be surprised.
Vic and ol’ Pengy spend most of the episode dumping Alberto’s body in the truck of a random car, complaining about the number of pickles in their sandwiches, and driving around a murky Gotham city. Penguin even takes the subway (the P line, naturally), where the show makes a curious note that he doesn’t sit in the handicap seats. He’s not that evil!
The audience also gets the first glimpse at Penguin’s loneliness at his spiteful mother’s (Deirdre O’Connell) house. She’s no Livia Soprano, but she’s not a saint either. Cobb isn’t like Tony Soprano watching old Westerns and proclaiming, “What happened to Gary Cooper? The strong, silent type.” Instead, he watches Rita Hayworth in Gilda later that night and just says, “Goddammit, this chick.” His mangled foot hurts like hell (hence, the waddle), and he just wants someone to talk to. (Other than the people trying to kill him, of course.)
Cristin Milioti is going to make for an excellent antagonist.
When a new threat emerges—Carmine Falcone’s daughter, Sofia (Cristin Milioti)—Penguin is already hurtling toward defeat. She’s been recently released from Arkham Asylum, the crazed nuthouse where Gotham’s most violent criminals are sent and forgotten. Naturally, no one stays there for long. Sofia seeking to lead the family business herself, though she has competition with Falcone underboss Johnny Vitti (Special Ops: Lioness’s Michael Kelly).
Sofia comes dangerously close to whacking Penguin at the end of the series premiere for killing her brother. I must give credit to Oz for his hide-in-the-trunk maneuver—followed by a goon hilariously hit by a bus—but he’s still captured and tortured by the Falcone clan. The young Vic carries out Penguin’s escape plan. He sends the car with Alberto’s body in the trunk straight through the Falcone family’s lawn, with a bloody “Payback” message that points the Falcones back to the Maroni family.
This kind of lucky exit happens over and over again throughout The Penguin, forcing you to question why anyone keeps Oz waddling around. It’s a good thing they do. He’s no Yojimbo, but his ability to play both sides and trip up the criminal ladder makes entertaining television. No matter how many stupid and awful choices the Penguin makes, I have a feeling I’m going to like this guy.
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