HBO mini series “The Penguin” Poster https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15435876/mediaindex/?ref_=tt_mv_sm

Spoilers!!! 

This article with discuss HBOs’ The Penguin with mentions of Matt Reeves 2022 The Batman 

The Penguin, one of the most iconic Batman villains of all time has finally received the recognition many believed he deserved. In September of 2021, the crime drama miniseries, The Penguin based on the DC villain of the same name began production. This series consisting of 8 episodes was ordered by HBO Max in March 2022 after the release of the film The Batman, directed by Matt Reeves, as this series is a spin off to the events of the movie, picking up the story. After a long line of production being halted by the 2023 Writers Guild Strike. The Penguin, starring Colin Farrell as the man himself, finished production in February 2024, having its big debut on September 19th, 2024. 

Matt Reeves, director of The Batman originally had the idea for this show as he wanted to expand on his version of Oz, rather than having a sequel movie, Reeves wanted to explore this character through a spin off series, something more in depth for the character. The American television writer Lauren LeFranc was hired to write the series with Reeves and producer of The Batman, Dylan Clark working as producers through their personal production companies, 6th & Idaho and Dylan Clark Productions. During the time the series was officially picked up, another show aimed to focus on the GCPD (Gotham City Police Department) was actively in the works but in March of 2022 this show was put on hiatus in favor of the popular villain’s spotlight series and as of July 2024, this show was cancelled and would not be moving forward in its production though aspects of it were combined into The Penguin. 

Production was later confirmed with writer Lauren LeFranc as the series’ show-runner and executive producer, Adam Kassan and Daniel Pipski as executive producers; and Rafi Crohn as co-executive producer. Matt Reeves stayed around of course, while not being directly in charge it was confirmed by actor Colin Farrell that Reeves had weight in the decision of who would be directing as well as helping orchestrate the organization and structure of the scripts. In October of 2022 Farrell was given the chance to read the first episode, describing it as “Tasty and Unusual,” following up with episodes 2 and 3 the following week; the final script was finished in May of 2023.

The show, while being a sequel, was written with the intention of working as a stand-alone story. Dylan Clark, one of the producers, compared the show to the 1983 film Scarface, following the themes of The Batman of a darker and grittier theme, allowing for a more serious atmosphere; Clark stating it would be “incredibly violent.” The writing strays away from the usual animated silly penguin most of us know and focuses on Oz’ rise to power to become a truly evil villain; leading to fans calling this take of villains “The Penguin Effect.”

These 8 episodes follow Oswald (Oz) Cobb, aka The Penguin portrayed by Colin Farrell as he takes more and more control of Gotham’s underworld.

Episode 1-After Hours 

The show picks up a week after the events of The Batman, focusing on the death of Kingpin Mobster Carmine Falcone. With a gap in Gotham’s crime world Oz sees the power there is to be seized and while going for that, has a run in with Falcones’ son, Alberto Falcone, who shares his plans of taking control of his father’s drug ring. They sit down for a discussion, leading Oz to impulsively ends Albertos life. While trying to cover his tracks Oz finds his car rims being taken by a group of teens. Though most of them flee one submits and pleads for his life to be spared, Victor “Vic” Aguliar, played by Rhenzy Feliz and in return is spared and recruited by Oz. After learning of the families plans, he also finds out that Alberto’s sister, Sofia Falcone (played by Cristin Miliot) has recently been released from Arkham Asylum and has her suspicions of Oz in her brothers disappearance. He decides to take matters into his own hands, going to Carmine’s rival Salvatore Maroni and offering him power and control of the drug ring and with some convincing, Maroni agrees. However, Sofias suspicions return later as she kidnaps and tortures Oz but is interrupted by the recovery of Albertos body, staged by Vic to bring Maroni into the picture. Oz is released and starts to play with Vic his rise to the top. 

Episode 2- Inside Man 

After framing Maroni for the death of Alberto Falcone, Maroni is nowhere near happy with him but continues their partnership, letting Oz help with a Falcone drop shipment that is seized by Maroni’s crew. Meanwhile, Luca Falcone, uncle of Alberto and Sofia Falcon steps up to take over the family. At the same time, Francis Cobb, Oz’s mother is learned to be suffering from dementia, Oz consistently being there to care for her, to make things better. Sofia is learned to be suffering from PTSD after the death of her brother and slowly begins to lose her, convincing herself that someone in Falcones crew was a mole for Maroni and that’s how her brother’s death came along. Sofia bribes Marcus Wise, a former GCPD detective and he kidnaps one of Maroni’s henchmen, Ervad. Oz is quickly requested by Maroni’s wife, Nadia, to find Ervad before anyone can talk to him. During all this Vic sets up evidence framing Johnny Viti, Falcones’ underboss, instead of Maroni for the death of Alberto. In the end Oz gets to Ervad, ending his life and framing Castillo, one of Sofias enforcers as the mole. Before Sofia can avenge her brother, Castillo is executed by Luca. The episode ends with Oz and Sophia making a partnership to allow Sofia to take over the Falcone crime family. 

Episode 3-Bliss 

This episode introduces us to a drug that was used on Sofia and other inmates in Arkham, Oz giving it the name Bliss. The two of them make a pitch to The Triads, a Chinese crime group, for the distribution of this new drug. However, their offer is refused unless they can get Johnny Viti in on it, leading to Oz and Sofia blackmailing Viti into working with them and gaining the support of the Triads. Vic has his own dilema , he can either leave Gotham in pursuit of a happier life or stay and work with Oz to get to the top. In the end Vic decides to stay; after making this decision he returns to find Oz and Sofia held by the Maroni’s, who have now realized Oz is playing both sides of the game. Before anything happens, Vic manages to interrupt by crashing Oz’s car, the two of them escaping and leaving Sofia for her fate. 

Episode 4- Cent’Anni 

This episode starts with the flashbacks of Sofia Falcone, learning her father is suspected of being a serial killer nicknamed the Hangman, who’s killing methods match that of her mother’s death in her adolescent years. In response Sofia meets with a reporter to discuss the suspicions, Oz finds out about this and alerts her father, who in return frames her for the murders. From here she is admitted to Arkham Asylum where she undergoes treatments such as electroshock therapy until her doctor’s associate realizes she’s innocent. Before long her mental and physical conditions worsened, leading to her murdering her cell neighbor. Back in the present Sofia is at a family gathering, with family who all knew she wasn’t crazy and was innocent, who didn’t stand up for her. She floods the Mansion with Carbon Monoxide, killing all in, sparing only her cousins young daughter Gia and Johnny Viti, keeping Viti at gunpoint.

Episode 5-Homecoming 

Oz is quick, having his crew kidnap the Maroni’s son Taj. He uses their son as ransom to get back a shipment of the Bliss drug he offered them, during the trade, Oz ends both their lives in a gruesome display. Sofia still has Viti; she tortures him until he eventually supports her in becoming the head of the Falcone crime family. She takes control under her mother’s last name, becoming Sofia Gigante , executing Johnny Viti as he objects. In her new power she forms a partnership with Salvatore Maroni to kill Oz for his betrayal. Meanwhile Oz and Vic investigate an old underground railway, deciding to use it as ground to produce more of the bliss drug. 

Episode 6- Gold Summit 

Time has passed and Oz has grown his empire, dealing bliss all over the city. Maroni and Sofias newfound partnership are strengthened, killing Bliss dealers as a warning to Oz. In retaliation, Oz gives away bliss to cause chaos within other territories. Meanwhile Francis Cobbs health begins to deuterate, making Oz promise to kill her if she continues to get worse. Oz decides to work with other gangs to work together against Maroni and Sofia. To gain an advantage on Oz, Sofia and Maroni break into his apartment, discovering his love interest Eve, who despite being threatened, gave up Oz’s location. This leads to Sofia finding out Oz had lied about not knowing she framed, he knew everything.  

Episode 7-Top Hat 

These episodes show us what turned Oz into who he is. As a child he felt a resentment towards his siblings Benny and Jack, he wanted all his mother’s attention and didn’t want to share. During a game of hide and seek Oz left his brothers in an overflowing sewer, leaving them to drown. Into the present, Oz returns home to find Vic injured and his mother kidnapped by Sofia Gigante. Maroni’s men soon return and while Vic escapes Oz is beaten and brought to an underground hideout, where Oz and his men stag an ambush leading to the death of Salvatore Maroni. In return for the safety of his mother back, he offers the bliss supply in return but is pulled into a trap at the trade-off, a bomb going off, destroying the entire building. 

Episode 8- A Great or Little Thing 

Oz survives the explosion but is quickly apprehended and brought to Sofia where Francis is tied up, through arguing, Oz finds out everything he kept from his mother she knew. As a child she knew what he did to his brothers, saying she always knew he was monster and wanted to have him killed but couldn’t do it herself. This all leads to her breaking into a stroke, permanently leaving her in a vegetative state. Oz corners Sofia and leaves her to the GCPD, moving her back to Arkham. In the end, Oz made it to the top, destroying anything he needed to get there. 

The reception of this show was rather high, the series having an overall rating of 8.7/10 on IMDB, being chosen as the IMDB staff pick for drama, and winning 3 awards of 21 nominations. Episode 8 of the series, A Great or Little Thing, received the highest rating of the series at a 9.5/10. One user who rated this episode a 10/10 stated, “Just here to say The Penguin blew any and all of my expectations out of the water. The writing the acting, the backdrops, the progression of the story, all of it was incredible,” another user saying, “They were developed as a couple of extreme sociopaths with absolutely no regard for human life or society as a whole.” Users overall received very well, whether it be the development of characters, the writing, or the technical elements of the series, the show was played out perfectly to engage the viewer, having them ask themselves; what comes next? 

The channel @CinemaBlend interviewed the team for the series. One of the first points brought up in the interview is the use of swearing in this show. Batman is notorious for never cursing and always being an upstanding person so to see this kind of language in Batman media is different. Matt Reeves stated, “It was exciting to hear Oz’s voice in full flower, I mean he gets very poetic with his use of profanity.” While details like this may seem minor the use of the language, as stated by Dylan Clark, “In exploration with Rob’s character The Batman to be in a certain tonal lane but then to also shift gears.” The addition of this language helps strengthen the idea of morals and justice within this universe. 

In interviews with Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz and Craig Zobel they discussed the building of Oz as a character physically, throughout all the time spent recording and production they had grown to know Collin Ferrell all Oz. Cristin Milioti, who played Sofia Gigante stated, “Certainly when I see him in his real form because I associate those eyes and that voice with someone who I spent a year with who is not real but feels like a person I know better.” As well as Rhenzy Feliz stating, “Now deep down I know its Colin but it’s like a magic trick on the surface level it feels like that’s what’s really happening.” 

Not only was the physical build a true embodiment of what turns Oz into the Penguin, Craig Zobel, director of the series said, “There were times where… that isn’t Colin Ferrell, it was a different person.” Ferrell’s delivery of the character created a completely different person, he brought Oswald Cobb to life in the fullest form. 

The Penguin blew the standards of what a dark realistic comic book show should be, this series created new heights and new standards for what makes a villain truly evil. This series proves to the viewers that just because they’re the main character doesn’t mean they’re a good person. The series set itself apart from the rest and sets itself up for the rest of the story to continue to fill this world that Oz lives in.