February 12, 2025

FILMHOUNDS Magazine

All things film – In print and online

A Thrilling Crime Series — The Penguin (TV Review)


There will be many for whom the phrase “comic book universe” will cause mild heart palpitations or even the sense of dread. It's true we're saturated in the market, and so for to decide that shutting down one universe to start another isn't enough and to create a third universe based solely of Batman seems a little — well, greedy.

2022's The Batman was a thrilling crime saga that took the gothic nature of Burton's Batman films and the more grounded, realistic aspects of Nolan's and merged them. Matt Reeves' epic adapted elements from eighty-odd years of comic books, while taking serious cues from graphic novels Earth One, The Long Halloween and Year One. 

While the awaited sequel continues its development, the Batman Epic Crime Saga, as it's apparently known, continues with the eight episode limited series . We follow Oswald “Oz” Cobb aka The Penguin () a week after the events of the film. The Riddler has flooded Gotham and killed crime boss Carmine Falcone. Now the crime empire of Gotham is up for the taking.

What works about The Penguin is the characters. Showrunner Lauren LeFranc takes the Fredo Corleone figure of Oswald and makes him more than just a limping caricature. There is, in the writing and in Farrell's endlessly watchable performance, something of Tony Soprano about him. He's aware of his shortcomings physically but his drive is what makes him so thrilling to watch. His budding friendship with young street-wise Victor Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz) forms the emotional heart of the show and is where the show nabs its biggest laughs.

It's a triumph for the supporting characters too, each actor given their own moment to shine — not least Clancy Brown as imposing mobster Sal Maroni. But the show, aside from the two male leads, belongs to Cristin Milioti as the unhinged Sofia Falcone. Sofia's arc takes a lot of the violence men impose on women from the film and examines it in more depth. What sadism does to the psyche, what men do in the quest for power — and how women survive. Deidre O'Connell and Carmen Ejogo play women in Oz's life that also suffer and survive based on his whims and actions.

It's a more subdued series than one might expect, aiming older than even The Batman did. There's swearing, blood-letting and torture, and yet it feels like it's happening in the corner. For some this might be an issue; in an age where everything in the universe must move the narrative forwards, this could easily have been a line of dialogue in The Batman – Part II. But instead, The Penguin becomes a microcosm of the first film.

What happens when a terrorist destroys half a city? What will poor people do in desperation? What happens when someone smarter comes along? After all, Batman can't be there for everything, and the show, in a way, uses the absence of Batman as a great look at how his tunnel vision quest gives way to things like this. Even when there are cameos, it feels much more earned, and they're less showy than you might expect. It's a show that rewards fans of the film, but there's also nods to the comic for the eagle-eared listener.

The Penguin is a thrilling crime series, made all the more thrilling by the magnetic central performance.

The Penguin will be released on Sky Atlantic from 20th September.