The Penguin invests the small screen, with the promise of deepening the themes and intrigues of The Batman. Warner Bros. Discovery has been wanting to cash in on the success of the Robert Pattinson-starring film for a while now, with several projects emerging over the years. From a series dedicated to Gotham PD starring Jeffrey Wright to an exploration of Arkham Asylum, the studio followed many leads before concluding that a story about one of Matt Reeves’ guest antagonists was the best way to continue the journey.
It’s 2022, and DC Films has just passed into the hands of Peter Safran and James Gunn. It is quickly determined that Matt Reeves, like Todd Phillips, will have his heroes evolve independently in the cinema as in Max. DC Elseworlds, a name borrowed from comics that are set outside the main “timeline”, is presented as a place of greater freedom for creatives who do not have to worry about the chronology of the DC license. The Penguin therefore evolves in promiscuity with The Batmanwithout having to conform to Gunn’s plans and how the character could be exploited in the future. Matt Reeves is in charge of supervising the development of the series, he recruits Lauren LeFranc at the creation. Colin Farrell returns to play the criminal while Cristin Millioti is invited to play Sofia Falcone.
The story takes place a few weeks after the finale of The Batman. Gotham is still reeling from the explosions caused by The Ridler. The underworld is slowly recovering from the death of the most powerful clan leader: Carmine Falcone. Oswald Cobblepotalso called The Penguin, sees this disappearance as an opportunity to climb the social ladder. When his path crosses that of the young Victor Aguilar, he takes him under his wing and teaches him the basics of organized crime. But the return of Sofia Falcone, after a stay in Arkham, complicates things.
The rise of the marginalized
In 2022, Colin Farrell surprised with his interpretation of the Penguin. Under an impressive amount of silicone, the Irish actor gave life to a captivating Oswald Cobblepot, a little prince of crime that no one takes seriously. Hobbling through Gotham, pathetiche was presented as a man of little courage, ready to do anything to take advantage of every situation that arises. The series The Penguin takes this idea and reinvents it, to give more texture to this gangster. HBO’s creation is based on a simple premise: everyone, even the spectators, underestimates this villain.
Lauren LeFranc’s creation makes the informed choice to summon other marginal protagonists to accompany Oswald, protagonists who have no choice but to turn to crime to survive. If Gotham has always been shown as a city gangrened by crime, it is from the heights of skyscrapers and alongside the Dark Knight that previous film and television productions evolved. The Penguin frees himself from the gaze of the wealthy heir Bruce Wayne to get his hands dirty and telling the low-down of the fictional city alongside those who travel through it.
The main achievement of The Penguin is undoubtedly its characters, Oswald obviously, but also and especially Sofia (Cristin Milioti) and Victor (Rhenzy Feliz). The two actors hold their own against Colin Farrell. The first is distinguished by an impressive range of acting, oscillating between a chilling determination and a disconcerting fragility. The young Feliz is not to be outdone, he displays an impressively sincere performance. A few hams are sometimes present, especially when it comes to marking Sofia’s rise in the world of crime, but it is clear that The three actors manage to reinvent themselves constantly, to give new colors to their characters.
Gangsta’s Paradise
And The Batman was a tribute to film noir and the detective skills of the Dark Knight, The Penguin draws its inspiration from gangster stories like The Sopranos or Scarface. In the manner of these legendary productions, the HBO series tackles the myth of the American dream, dissects the crime and its actors.
With a clever play of parallels, the narration confronts characters sometimes mistreated by sexism, psychophobia or more broadly intolerance to better bring them together as the emblems of an America that promises great things, but where only some manage to stand out. The dice are loadedOswald, Sofia and Victor decide to play by their own rules. The series finds its strength in the relationship between the two male protagonists, which the narration mistreats as much as it pampers.
The whole thing may sometimes lack subtlety – the series invokes some clichés of the genre – The Penguin is still among the best that superhero licenses have done on the small screen. In some ways, the latest addition to the Max catalog is reminiscent of the Marvel Defenders developed by Netflix, Daredevil for example, minus the masked vigilante.
However, we regret that this narrative ambition is only very rarely translated into the staging. The series uses and abuses handheld camera shots to translate the energy of its scenes, without offering enough respite for the spectators to appreciate them as they should be. Even when the narration ventures to Arkham, the realization remains too wise and conventional to truly shine among what the small screen does best. We also regret that the city of Gotham not be not always immortalized as such a project demandsthat the series often makes do with the hushed interiors of the Villa Falcone and the gloomy clubs.
When the bat is not there…
Spin-offs are a dangerous game. Many studios have burned their wings, multiplying projects derived from emblematic licenses without managing to make us forget the absence of the most emblematic protagonists. The Penguin is certainly one of the most famous enemies in Batman lore, but does he really have what it takes to attract all the spotlight? Like Joker before him, and even more so, The Penguin manages to free himself from the shadow of the vigilante. Although it still hovers over the city, it does not prevent the universe from showing itself in a new light.
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The fact remains that as the story progresses, the viewer will be left in a state of confusion. Why does the masked vigilante, known to be the best investigator, never intervene? The narrative chooses to embrace this absence Without going into a long explanation, that’s already a good point.
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