The Penguin 2024 - Colin Ferrell in a fat suit.

[Internet War Criminal]

Holy shit those flashbacks were painful, that’s the fakest thickest Italian accent I think I’ve ever seen that’s meant to be played straight on television.

 

[Cnut]

Cute fat little oz was pretty good, I liked him. I knew it would end up being revealed he had something to do with his brothers' deaths. I just didn't think it would be revealed so quickly, stupidly & make Oz into an oedipal sociopath killer fat kid. It's ok to love your mom, but not that much. Before now it was actually touching how he cared for her. Obviously Sofia is going to find out and tell Mom...? How else can this end?

And that was the entire backstory of his brothers. Retardo. This series has strong "we made it up as we went along" vibes for important plot, while things like Sofia's psychological profile seem meticulously planned. Have you guys been watching those interviews after the credits? That show runner, man ...

 

[Overly Serious]

It's 100% Farsi (Persian), the wife is played by an Iranian-American and it's confirmed by the subtitles, which isn't as left-field as you might think because of the fuckhuge diaspora which gets their slimey greedy criminally inclined CIA-backed mittens into all sorts. Arm*nian would have been a better fit though, maybe Lebanese. Making gangsters multiculti miscegenators is something that makes sense in a comic book universe afterall.

Ah, thank you for that. I couldn't work it out. Yes, Armenian would have seemed natural to me. I'm not aware of some gangster diaspora of Iranians personally. But glad to have it answered either way.

Whatever sympathy I have for Oz is gone after this latest reveal. What he did is not forgivable. I'm inclined to think he didn't know the drains would flood but his okayness with it even if not fully intended is beyond the pale. I don't want to see him win any longer and that's a major detraction from a show if it subjects you to an outcome you dislike. There are ways of doing that and making it good and that's called Tragedy. But that's where a good person fails, not the bad person wins.

@Cnut I've not watched any of the interviews and wasn't really paying attention to it. Is the showrunner a lolcow or something?

 

[Xenomorphs Are Cute]

I just like to remind everyone that Salvatore's actor is literally Mr. Krabs.

 

[Cnut]

I've not watched any of the interviews and wasn't really paying attention to it. Is the showrunner a lolcow or something?

She seems like a shy try-hard drama kid who wished she was a hot goth girl, now all grown up to make her own show about a sad-girl power fantasy. The kind of show that makes her "feel seen."

Too smart to be a Twitter rabble rouser, just a few steps past that into professionalism. Too oblivious to realize her MO is ten years late.

Sadly Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka were writing episodes of Caped Crusader instead of Penguin which is right in their wheel house. Then I imagine Jeph Loeb (who invented Sofia in the Long Halloween and was in charge of Marvel Tv for many years) making this show and how worse it could be.

One other thing gleaned from the interviews is Eve's actress is actually some posh British lady instead of an irl ghetto madam so that's interesting. Seems like a nice broad.

 

[Cat Hyde Boots]

Spoiler

Why did he kill Victor. What is he, stupid?

In all seriousness, they only did it so you wouldn't feel happy for him because he won.

 

[Get the rope Macaulay!]

Yes, Armenian would have seemed natural to me.

maybe it was just gotham, but wasn't penguin recently retconed into being vaguely eastern european, like copplepot was some americanized version of his name?

I just like to remind everyone that Salvatore's actor is literally Mr. Krabs

its too bad they didn't think to do this back in 1999, plankton' va literally looks like you asked an AI what a human version of him would look like. its incredibly good.

 

[Xenomorphs Are Cute]

Spoiler

Why did he kill Victor. What is he, stupid?

In all seriousness, they only did it so you wouldn't feel happy for him because he won.

They did it because of that & also to show just how narcissistic he is.

Spoiler: Episode 8

On one hand, you can understand that how he is considering he always had the survival instinct of a virus. He's literally betrayed by his own mother who says she doesn't love him & nearly made Oz's idol (Rex) kill him as a kid before her stroke & realized his earthly tethers like "family" could betray him or hurt him trying to achieve his goal. So he kills Vic before Vic could potentially betray him in the future & isolates himself. The entire show was showing he's always been a sociopath who thinks about himself even killed his brothers (also felt tacked on suddenly) as a kid, a guy who (nearly) killed his own boss (in The Batman), his boss' brother's wife & son, then said brother himself, & even his own brothers, & was okay with getting his mothers finger cut off... wouldn't kill some random spic he met like, what, 2 weeks prior?

Oz strangles darkies, ignites Arabs, & isn't afraid of anything. Absolutely /our/guy.

But on the other hand, it feels extremely inconsistent cause just 2-3 episodes ago, Oz's mother made him promise he'd find a way to euthanize her if she ever became a vegetable. Admittedly, that's an incredibly tough conversation, villain or not. He does end up promising her though. How does the finale end? It ends with Oz's mother in a vegetative state, looking out the window of the penthouse suite Oz always wanted to get her, with a tear running down her cheek.

This fat fuck would rather keep her in a physical & mental prison than accept that he lost her before he could make her proud. Further digging into his delusion, we find that Oz's "special relationship" with his whore GF involves legitimate Chris-chan bullshittery of her dressing up as his mom & telling him she's proud of him. Just get rid of her & leave no weaknesses at all. Same with the GF, what about her conclusion? She snitched on him.

TBF, it's a spin-off of a villain, actually acting like how you expect a villain to act. But I do agree it feels fairly forced.

 

[Cat Hyde Boots]

Spoiler: Expanded Thoughts

The series fails to be a miniseries about the Penguin. This is because Oswald doesn't actually change as a character. The point of the less 3 episodes is essentially to show that Oz has always been this way and it gets really forced, especially during the last 10 minutes of the series. Him killing Victor because he realizes family is a liability doesn't work when he keeps his previous connections, both of whom betrayed him, alive. He only killed the guy who actually believed in him.

The thing is, him killing Victor would work if he killed Eve and his mother as well. It would have worked if he actually deeply cared about his family but was constantly betrayed by those he trusted, so decided to stop trusting anyone. They could've even connected it to the movie. Oz realized Falcone ratted to the police and was ready to kill him for it. That could've been the first betrayal he felt that begun to writtle him down. But the writers didn't care about Oz. They cared about Sophia.

Sophia actually has an arc. She moves on from her father's sins and the terrors of Arkham. Her goals through the series shift and they're understandable. It really seems like the series is only named "The Penguin" because Warner Bros wouldn't approve a series about Sophia Falcone.

Asides from that, it really seems like there wasn't a single guy that was reading all these scripts and saying no to stuff. Oz seems like a totally different character than the one in the movie. His characterization is incredibly different from the movie and the first half of the series than it is in the last half of it. And again, this is not because he went through an arc. The reason he doesn't go through an arc is because, unlike Sophia, there wasn't a unified vision for Oz's story. Does he want to be respected like Rex Calabrese or feared like Carmine Falcone? The answer ultimately was neither. He just wanted to be on top and ultimately had no principles because no one could agree to what they were.

Show looked nice. 6/10. Mid.

 

[NPZCC]

Where the fuck was Batman during all of this, collecting Riddler Trophies?

 

[Cat Hyde Boots]

Where the fuck was Batman during all of this, collecting Riddler Trophies?

The most powerful crime family all dying mysteriously and a large fucking bomb blowing up isn't a concern of his. You see, the bomb's payload is exposed and he needs to trigger a controlled explosion with the power winch.

 

[Overly Serious]

So this show is quite the journey for me. The first episode impressed me - Collin Farrel was excellent, Sofia Falcone was fascinating and I had Dolly Parton's Nine to Five stuck in my head for days. The last episode I'm not even watching. In fact, I'm quite proud of myself because normally my OCD tendencies compel me to keep watching something even if it's gone downhill so this marks a triumph in reclaiming my time.

What finally turned me off was the last episode with the death of his brothers. Penguin at this point is irredeemable to me and I will feel it distasteful to see him triumph, which given he's the centre of the story and a key Batman villain I expected him to. I also didn't like the hints of where things were going with his mother and the deeply, deeply unpleasant psychiatrist character was also repugnant to me just to see him on screen in every aspect of him.

So I've just read the spoilers people have posted as an insurance against any relapsing on my part out of curiosity. And all I have to say is that they've pretty much confirmed my expectations and I'm glad I stopped before the end.

@Cat Hyde Boots Excellent analysis, btw. (And superb avatar).

 

[Cnut]

I wish the flashbacks were "real" and had the same younger actress for mom (yes I know she was in the mirror for a second, like it was a cw show for people with no brains.) Nice to see Kid Oz again who does a great job. I'd be happy to see a prequel series of fat boy becoming the monster.

As for spoilers
It's dumb the way it played out. His mom knew the whole time! It's a wasteful reveal but Sofia's torture game was very well done. Probably the high point of the series. Then again there was so much dumb stuff throughout, I would feel embarrassed to recommend this series to normie friends.

The needledrops in every epksode are awful. Tonight has teeny-bopper cover of Leadbelly because it's deep and serious, man. Where DID she sleep last night??? Reminds me of the awful Chucky show! I think it's a-ok when the songs are "actual" needledrops, aka the old jazz songs they keep playing on vinyl.

Lamest is Vic's demise. I would've liked to see Vic moving forward as #1 henchman. Oz's whole thing was that he wanted the kind of respect he received from Vic. But he kills Vic for seeing his weakness, or some dumbass reason. Then he lets the traitors live, as well as his mom who literally said "please kill me." The blunt reveal that Oz totally sucks is a major strike against the show, and is utter character assassination after the first half of the series, robbing the protagonist of any semblance of nobility.

After all the buildup about his brothers, the dumbest reveal was about the sewers/Oz's Oedipus Complex. In this storyline, the bros could have easily been mob martyrs or something, leaving Oz not that kind of killer, thus no motive to kill Vic. In either scenario it's fucking dumb how he had Eve in a mom-costume expressing her pride in her boy. What kind of arc is that? This show is impossible to take seriously.

I can't decide if I would rather have seen Sofia dropped off at Arkham and having a fit... for a minute I really wondered if Oz was going to shoot her, even after what he said to the councilman. Is there going to be any meat to the Selina/Sofia event? Or just a dumbass Easter egg?

Ps. Get ready boys someone turned on the Bat Signal. Whoopie.

Eta. Overly Serious I would watch the final episode it has some very interesting scenes, basically revealing in that the major problems are with setup not payoff.

 

[Overly Serious]

Eta. Overly Serious I would watch the final episode it has some very interesting scenes, basically revealing in that the major problems are with setup not payoff.

Thank you, I believe you. But honestly there are things in this show that have just become repugnant to me and I would sooner not see them played out. The spoilers are enough by themself to turn me off. I guess I only have a couple of questions I need answered:

Spoiler

1. What happens to Sofia?
2. Based on a comment of yours, does Selina as in Zoe Kravitz actually show up on screen?
3. Why do they turn on the batsignal and I take it we don't actually see Batman at all in the last episode?

 

[Cnut]

Thank you, I believe you. But honestly there are things in this show that have just become repugnant to me and I would sooner not see them played out. The spoilers are enough by themself to turn me off. I guess I only have a couple of questions I need answered:

Spoiler

1. What happens to Sofia?
2. Based on a comment of yours, does Selina as in Zoe Kravitz actually show up on screen?
3. Why do they turn on the batsignal and I take it we don't actually see Batman at all in the last episode?

Sofia is back in Arkham, aka basically her worst nightmare, and she is acting pseudo catatonic. Is she on drugs or just moody? Who knows. Her simp Dr Julian brings the pre-screened mail and it sounds like she has a lot of fanboys. But about a certain black envelope he says "this one looks interesting, it says she's your half-sister." Sofia begins to read the letter and slightly looks like her soul came back. That's it.

Bat Signal is just quick dumb thing over the ending skyline shots.

 

[The Nothingness]

So, this is what feels like when a show starts off strong only to slit its own throat in the end.

 

[Picnic_Boy]

I know he's meant to be a villain protagonist, but having Penguin leave his brothers trapped to have them drown and he has his mom's attention all to himself kind of undos all the pass interactions we seen with the two. Oz now comes off as Norman Bates or Eric Cartman.

That's 100% comic accurate, at least.

 

[Jar-Jar Fanboy]

There were so many moments I kept expecting Batman to show up. Like with Sofia by the bridge, when the background lights up, I was thinking Batman was dropping in. Nope, cops. Or with Oz and Vic by the water, I expected Batman to step in at the last second, but no, of course he wouldn't. Other than the Bat-signal at the very end, there was literally zero mention of Batman or Bruce Wayne. Hell, I wish one of the drug runners was heard saying some dude dressed as a bat attacked him and destroyed his package or something, just to remind us that Batman still exists. Oz directly encountered the guy in the movie, and just never brought him up? Not even a warning to his guys to watch out for him? That's my main gripe with the show. Otherwise, pretty good, I liked it, but sweet Mother Mary, did I cringe out of my skin when Oz had the hooker dress as his mom

 

[MilkThePig]

Good series. I'd probably give it around a 7 overall but it's nowhere close to the truly great series - The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, The Wire etc. It's very enjoyable to watch week to week but I can't see myself going back and rewatching it. People are going way over the top praising it as being this absolutely amazing thing. It's just good compared to a lot of the shit they pump out on TV these days. I do have a horrible feeling though that it'll completely shit the bed in the 2nd series onwards. Killing Vic was a bold choice considering he was probably the most likeable character and kept Oz somewhat likeable. It'll be interesting to see where they take it.

 

[Mound Dweller]

Would have been a much better character journey if the conclusion was embracing his nigga moments instead of just being a bad'un all along. le twisted sociopath is a tired trope would have been way more interesting if it was a conscious emotional decision as Penguin's whole schtick in the lore is that he's one of the very few non-insane villains. The mum shit was predictable but still icky and I didn't like it would have been much more kino if he I GOT YOUUU'd out and just blasted the old bitch for talking down to him, should have went Alberto on Vic's ass too instead of doing it coldly. He's got the eyetallian achsent he should be ragin' like one.
Solid 7 I like the fat suit and look forward to seeing Colin get the shit kicked out of him in future instalments, missed potential abounds though.