I finished up The Penguin last week and it was epic.
Forget what you know from the comics. This show has nothing to do with this incarnation of Oswald Cobblepot.
In The Penguin, thin dapper Irish actor Colin Farrell becomes the pudgy, scarred Brooklynesque low level henchman Oswald Cobb for the Falcone crime family.
Following the events of the 2022 film The Batman (oh my God! Has it really been three years?!?!), the poor sections of Gotham City are a no man's land caught in a struggle for power between the Falcones and the rival Maroni family.
Over the course of the series, Oswald Cobb finagles, lies, murders, manipulates, betrays etc etc etc to pit the families against one another and live long enough to pick up the pieces and become the king of crime in Gotham City.
Sofia Falcone may have something to say about that.
As much as Colin Farrel deserves every accolade possible for his incredible performance as the erstwhile Penguin, attention must be paid to the remarkably outstanding Cristin Milioti.
Cristin has a wide ranging filmography of TV and movie roles but I know her best as Tracy McConnell in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother. Or if that name doesn't ring a bell, "the mother" in that show's final season.
Which does nothing prepare you for her role in The Penguin.
Sofia Falcone goes from being a pampered Mafia princess to being tortured, broken and abandoned to a 10 year stint in Arkham Asylum for murders her father committed. Her father and everyone in the Falcone family attest that Sofia is mentally ill and is the psycho murderer known as "the Hangman".
After the death of her father in The Batman, Sofia is released from Arkham.
Sofia Falcone did not go into Arkham a murdering psycho bitch but she comes out as one.
She slaughters the Falcone family and sets her sight on getting revenge against Oswald Cobb for his role in her betrayal.
That blood lust to see Oswald suffer will prove to be her undoing.
Cristin Milioti deserves some kind of Golden Globe or Emmy recognition for her work on The Penguin.
I hope it doesn't get overlooked because it's a "comic book" show.
I've seen too many genuinely great performances in shows like Doom Patrol or Superman & Lois get passed over for recognition because of the dismissive attitude towards movies and shows based on comic books.
The Penguin does draw on a deep well of mythology set forth in Batman comics but this series is an epic tragedy, almost operatic in it's scale that defies it's source material.
The Penguin has more in common with The Sopranos than it does with Detective Comics.
There's so much about this show I did write about here. Oswald Cobb's motivation to do anything, to win the respect and love of a mother who is never going to give him what he wants. This drives so much of the drama and the tragedy of this series. I'll leave it wiser heads than mine to parse that minefield but it's heartbreaking to watch.
And Oswald's mentoring young Victor, building a relationship that is akin to a father/son dynamic, you want it to survive with both of them in a good place at the end.
SPOILER! Victor does not survive. Which was pretty much a given from the get go but how he meets his fatal fate destroyed me.
Oswald Cobb may be the main character of this series but it in no way makes him a hero. He is a monster. He is absolutely the villain.
And that image of a bat shining against the cloudy Gotham City sky is an omen of the fate of all villains in this town.
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Next week on the Tuesday TV Touchbase:
St. Denis Medical
the return of new Night Court
and a mid season report on High Potential.
Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.
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