While The Penguin is definitely a gangster show walking around as a comic-hero tie-in, it does a good job of dipping into comic book territory where needed. It also, in its second episode, manages to keep that tension going.
The second episode of The Penguin has Colin Farrell’s Oz Cobb playing both sides in the wake of his murder of Antonio Falcone. After barely escaping culpability in the first episode, he again finds himself in a situation where the finger can be pointed at him.
It’s actually kind of fun watching Oz Cobb scramble to fix situations where his life hangs in the balance. It really brings a humanity to one of the most prominent members of Batman’s rogue gallery in a way that Nolan’s films couldn’t even touch. The Penguin gives us the opportunity to spend time with these characters, steep with their motivations–and I find myself rooting for Oz.
It would be hard to imagine what an encounter with Batman would look like after watching this show. I have the same type of sympathy watching Oz Cobb scramble for his life as I did watching poor Norman Bates clean up after his “mom’s” murders.
I can’t help but feel like Oz is enjoying some plot armor here, too. He makes wild gambles–like framing Salvatore Maroni for Antonio’s death–and always seems to get away with them.
Sofia Falcone, played brilliantly by Cristin Miloti, is becoming increasingly unhinged after her brother’s murder. In fact, the episode starts with her in the midst of an EMDR session, where she is experiencing flashbacks to her time in Arkham. But despite how obviously cunning and intelligent Sofia is, she is starting to be swayed by Oz Cobb as well. By the end of the episode she is seemingly in league with him, with the intention of taking down the Falcone leadership hierarchy.
Despite how well put together it is, not much has really happened so far in The Penguin. And despite my sympathies for Oz Cobb, I’m ultimately finding it hard to root for such a terrible person. I think that’s why I tend to sway away from these types of shows.I’m still a little at odds about how Batman would look in this scenario, despite his encounter with Oz Cobb in The Batman, The Penguin seems very far away from gravelly voiced men not wearing hockey pads.
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