‘The Penguin’ Review: If This Is How a ‘Batman-Without-Batman’ Series Is Made, Bring It On!

Rating – **** (4/5)

The Penguin

Cast: Colin Farrell, Cristin Milioti, Clancy Brown, Rhenzy Feliz and more

Based on: Penguin by Bill Finger & Bob Kane

Showrunner: Lauren LeFranc

Streaming on: JioCinema Premium

Making a show about another character from the dark and devious world of Batman seems like a stretch, from the get-go. But the critical and commercial success of Robert Pattinson’s The Batman led to the idea of ​​a spin-off (yet another) show a few years ago in the form of The Penguin, which is Oz Cobb’s rise through the ranks to become the next big thing in the underworld.

You can rest assured that DC will move forward with the idea of ​​bringing in the director of Batman as an executive producer on the series to create a world for The Penguin that is exciting, mysterious, engaging, and fascinating.

It picks up right where The Batman left off, the power play in the mafia world has changed as the late Falcone’s son Alberto is the obvious heir to the kingpin, but his drug and alcohol addiction doesn’t help. On the other hand, Cobb’s lounge, Iceberg, is currently in ruins following the floods and a meeting with Alberto doesn’t go as planned. Enter Sophia Falcone (Cristin Milioti), who is looking for her brother and has just gotten out of rehab herself.

It may only be one episode, but the creators know how to grab your attention right away, and in an episode that’s only an hour long, so much happens that it almost feels like a satisfying movie that goes from point A to point B. Of course, we’ve only just begun.

There’s a consistent reminiscent thought process from The Sopranos and you can’t help but see the parallels in terms of character development, world building, and even the performances – but I say this in the most pleasant way possible and don’t mean to insinuate that The Penguin is in any way aping The Sopranos.

Colin Farrell is not only unrecognizable as Oz, but he also wears the heavily loaded prosthetics with such ease that it helps you forget that the man inside the prosthetics is actually a conventionally handsome man. Farrell not only transforms physically, but emotionally becomes Oz, who understands what he has to do to make a name for himself, does the dirty work to make a name for himself, is an overweight, conventionally ugly man who walks with a limp, has a scar on his face and although he is never physically comfortable, his aura gradually rises.

DC’s ability to be dark is almost a double-edged sword in itself for the studio where when done right the intricacy and detail in telling a story about yet another DC world character becomes a masterclass in itself and The Penguin is no different. Cristin Milioti is also phenomenal and almost too creepy!

A show in the world of The Batman without Batman is a normal occurrence now, but if these are the levels that the creators can reach in being about the world and not about Batman, then by all means keep going! It’s been a long time since you’ve seen an episode and you can’t wait for it to happen.

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