The Penguin is set one week after the events of Matt Reeves’ The Batman. However, the Caped Crusader will not appear in this show.
The Penguin is not a Batman vs Penguin tale. Instead, the show focuses on the title character and his attempt to rise to the top of the Falcone crime family following the death of Carmine Falcone.
In this universe, Penguin, or Oz Cobb as he is known in this series, is a low-level criminal at the start of the show. He wears clothes and drives cars fancier than his actual station within the organization warrants. He’s flashy, like a caricature of a Vegas mob boss. Basically, to the rest of the Falcone family, he’s a joke.
And that’s the brilliance of The Penguin, Oz is considered a joke by pretty much every criminal in Gotham. Rather than a title he wears proudly and uses to strike fear, the nickname of penguin is used as an insult. Oz wears leg braces due to a club foot. This causes him to waddle rather than stride when walking.
And nothing makes this more clear than the intro to the pilot. We immediately find Oz breaking into 44 Below to steal evidence Carmine had on the rest of the Falcone family. However, he is interrupted by Alberto, Carmine’s son, and is forced to talk his way out of being caught by offering to drink with him.
The two swap stories until Oz tells a story about what inspires and motivates him. About earning and having respect. Alberto, however, finds this hilarious and laughs in Oz’s face. The thought of Oz commanding respect or being a boss within the family is a joke and Alberto tells Oz this. Oz reacts poorly to the ridicule and shoots Alberto dead.
The Penguin has just killed the next in line to run the Falcone crime family. Things are off to a great start for Oz. The rest of the series follows Oz as he attempts again and again to claim control of the Falcone crime family and each time is met with disaster.
Showrunner Lauren LeFranc uses these moments to induce humor and playfulness into the show. Oz has a brilliant criminal mind, and by all rights, each of his plans should have worked, but he does fall to the rule of Murphy’s Law, whatever can go wrong will go wrong. Every time.
The show is dark, the humor is dark, and the tone is dark. These are criminals after all, and violent ones. But LeFranc has done a spectacular job of taking a microscope to Matt Reeves’ universe and bringing a sense of realism to the franchise. Oz is relatable even if you’re not a criminal.
We’ve all tried to better ourselves and create a better life than the one we have and have felt like the whole universe is working against us. Through the lens of Batman Oz is a criminal vying for power who should be stopped. But zooming in we see Oz is trying to make it in the only world he understands. To him this isn’t a good guys verse bad guys scenario, this is about looking out for yourself, knowing your worth, and taking care of number 1.
The Penguin doesn’t make you love Oz because he’s a redeemable character, far from it, it’s because he owns it. He knows what he’s done, he knows they were his choices, and he stands by them. In the moment he was right and that’s all that matters.
With this show bridging the gap between Reeves’ The Batman and its sequel, it will be interesting to see where this show ends along Penguin’s journey. Will Oz become the Penguin we know and love in time for the next movie? Or will we have to wait to see his rise as one of the most ruthless and organized criminals in Gotham?
One thing is sure, The Penguin is a marvelous entry to Batman lore and Colin Ferril will go down with the likes of Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, and Jim Carey with his portrayal of the Penguin.
The Penguin is available to stream on MAX Sundays at 9:00 pm ET/PT.
