The Penguin, The Batman-related spin-off MAX introduced on September 19th as a Limited series, picks up where The Batman left off. The bay is a wreck, crime boss Carmine Falcone is dead, and the Riddler is in jail, but low-level gangster Oswald Cobb is making moves. This should not be a surprise. Oswald is a second-rate Richard the III: Deformed, overlooked, underestimated, but very smart and able to use his shortcomings to strengthen his position. Nobody ever sees you coming, do they Oz? Despite his assets, the scale of his ambition and impulsiveness threaten his ascent.
Part of understanding Colin Farrell’s performance is to compare it to the real-life character, Al Capone, that Robert DeNiro played in Brian DePalma’s The Untouchables (1987). Between their girth, ruthlessness, and desire to lead, they also have issues in common with Richard the III: Ego and narcissistic levels of ambition–the desire for too much too soon.
The question one might ask as the press play on The Penguin is, “Can this character carry a whole series? I am here to say, absolutely, and then some. Farrell’s disappearance into the Penguin in The Batman was so complete, that I, even knowing Colin Farrell was in that skin suit, kept asking myself where? Farrell is an actor with a wide range, but in The Batman, he was on another planet. Sure, the suit and the makeup are superior work, but it’s the actor inside the suit who pulls off the magic trick.
When you hear Farrell’s voice there’s not even a slight lilt of the Irish actor’s disarming accent. A friend said you can see him if you look close in the Penguin’s eyes. I tried. No dice. Farrell isn’t just playing the part, he’s becoming one with the part. Pardon my reference to greatness, but the closest comparable I can come up with is John Hurt in The Elephant Man. And even there, I could hear Hurt’s voice.
Still, anyone wondering if the story of a hobbled, wobbly, man of scars and bodily largess could carry a series. All signs point to yes. As Farrell did in The Batman, he plays The Penguin straight, even as the show reveals the crook in his devious spine.
Part of the purpose of The Penguin is to serve as a bridge between The Batman and director Matt Reaves next film about the caped crusader (one assumes Robert Pattinson will be in tow). If you were a fan of Reaves’ The Batman (perhaps even over the Dark Knight Trilogy) it’s probably because you wanted your Knight even darker. Maybe you wanted an R-rated Batman–Reaves’s film pushed as close to the crease of the PG-13 envelope as it could, but HBO’s The Penguin breaks the seal. The violence is bloodier, the language more vulgar, and yes, it is very very dark. If the pilot of The Penguin is any indication, Reaves may look to push the constraints of the comic book character rating system further, at least where the world’s greatest detective is coming from.
Thus far, and yes, I’m only talking about one episode, but The Penguin is about a man who got dealt a weak hand: meager beginnings, obesity, a jigsaw for a face, and a foot disfigurement that makes him waddle like, a, well…you know.
These infirmities make crime bosses look past him. They see him as an earner, not a boss, but this earner wants to be a boss, and those on the higher rung look so far down at him that he isn’t even in their orbit.
All save one: Sophia Falcone (played the fabulous Cristin Milioti). As the two size each other up in a largely unspoken way, they are aware that both of them want the same thing: to head the Falcone crime family. Oz and Sophia both have deficits. Oz has a plan, but limited resources. Sophia is whip-smart, but also insane—there are some awkward conversations around her being recently released from Arkham Asylum.
The two match up wickedly. Sophia’s instability makes her impossible to predict, and as Sophia whispers in Oswald’s ear, “I knew you were meant for more than this.” Maybe no one else is onto Oswald Cobb, but Sophia certainly is. The wisdom in going full, straight-on serious noir in The Penguin, is that without Batman around (at least so far), the show plays just as close to The Sopranos as it does The Batman. Maybe closer.
With the absence of the cape, we can dig into these (relatively) normal characters more deeply. Should The Penguin stay on this storyline, it would largely work as a top-flight gangster series, but with the shadow of the bat lingering over, we know that this is just an interlude.
Towards the end of the pilot, Oswald Cobb says, “Maybe I am more than what you think.” That whisper from Sophia’s lips has taken hold. Yes you are, Oz, although I have no idea what you have done with that rakish, Irish, dish of handsomeness named Colin Farrell.
The Penguin’s eight-episode run will air every Sunday night on HBO/MAX until November 10, 2024
