The world of DC is making a comeback with shows like The Penguin, a spinoff of the 2022 film The Batman that centers the iconic villain, played here by Colin Farrell. And this show did not disappoint.
We get a look at the rise of Ozwald Cobb, who ends the show as the crime kingpin known as the Penguin. It isn’t easy taking over the gangs of Gotham City. Oz goes through some difficult and dangerous moments as he gets himself in and out of close shaves. It’s been a fun ride seeing him get out of sticky situations, especially with chrismatic rivals like Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) pushing back on him.
Now that the show is over (maybe to return, maybe not) it’s time to rank the eight episodes of The Penguin from worst to best.
8. Episode 3, “Bliss”
This episode could have been much stronger if there was more time to explore Vic (Rhenzy Feliz), the young orphan who becomes a kind of right-hand man to Oz. He has a PTSD flashback while distributing drugs for Oz in a club. That could have been a serious problem for Oz's campaign to take over Gotham. Instead, it's over before it gets started and is never mentioned again.
The storyline of "Bliss," which involves Oz and Sofia trying to sell a new kind of drug, was a little predictable. I would have loved for more time with Oz and Sofia working together. They didn’t trust each other, but they needed each other. They played to each other’s strengths. This episode brought us a chance to see that and then ended it all a little too abruptly.
7. Episode 5, “Homecoming”
After spending the previous episode diving into Sofia's past, we return to the present in "Homecoming." Sofia finally takes over the Falcone crime family, pledging that she will protect and pay the rank and file who were so often ignored by her forebears. We see her heart in this episode, as well as her need for revenge.
This episode also has some cute moments. Seeing Vic and Oz's mother Francis (Deirdre O'Connell) interact was special and heartwarming. I think Francis saw through to Vic’s heart, and he was good at helping her as she slid further into dementia.
As we step over the halfway mark of the season, this episode foreshadows a lot of what’s to come. It’s well written, but it's burdened with having to set up a lot of the back half of the season, so it doesn’t have quite the same impact as some of the other installments.
6. Episode 2, “Inside Man”
We get to see how much Oz has to think on his feet in this episode. He realizes what he needs to do to gain power in the city, and that is to work with Sofia. The problem is that she doesn’t trust him, and he needs to find a way to convince her that he isn’t a mole.
There are some well-written moments in this episode that show us that Sofia isn’t just a pretty face. We get some foreshadowing for Sofia’s backstory. She was the one her father Carmine wanted to take over the family at one point, and it’s easy to see why.
I also appreciate the way we see Vic second-guessing working with Oz. This leads into his storyline in “Bliss” where he has a chance to leave with his friend from school. He should have gotten out while he could!
5. Episode 1, “After Hours”
The series premiere gives us a good start to Oz’s story. We get to know who he is up against and how much he is going to have to plan if he wants to take over. It’s also clear that none of this is going to come easy to him.
This episode starts with an unexpected bang as Oz kills his boss Alberto Falcone in a moment of anger, which tells us a lot about him. The truth is, he’s a man who thinks well on his feet and pretends to have complete control. We’re hooked from the start as we try to see how he’ll overcome the obstacles in his way, including the ones he puts there.
A pilot episode has to be strong to keep us watching. This episode had enough intrigue to make us pay close attention. I’m guilty of scrolling on my phone to see what others are saying while watching, but I couldn’t do that with this premiere!
4. Episode 6, “Gold Summit”
Vic and Francis’ moments throughout this episode are why it places so high. I adored seeing the way Vic cared for Francis. We got to see how he understood her in a way that nobody else did. He was able to help calm her, even though Oz stopped him in his tracks and made it worse. I would have loved an hour of just Vic and Francis hanging out and chatting.
This was also a big episode for Vic growing into the crime business. He made his first kill, and we got a beautiful reminder that he doesn’t actually want this. Not always, anyway. This is just survival at this point, and we get a chance to see the young boy that he still is. I wished we got more focus on his PTSD that came up in Episode 3, but at least we got something in his mixed feelings at the end of “Gold Summit.”
I wish we had a little more Sofia in this episode. The dinner scene with Sal (Clancy Brown) and Sofia was just perfectly done. They both offered what the other needed at the time, and I wanted to see more of their surrogate father-daughter dynamic.
3. Episode 7, “Top Hat”
The penultimate episode of the show starts with a gut punch. We knew Oz had something to do with his brothers’ deaths, but I didn’t quite expect to see what we did. I can believe this boy who would let his brothers drown to death would grow up to be the man we know.
This episode includes callbacks and a reminder of loose ends. I, for one, loved the way Sal just collapsed from a stroke during his fight with Oz. Some people may say that it was “plot convenience,” but I say it felt real. Sometimes we need a relatively “normal” death in a show full of so much murder. It’s a little like having a natural death in a show that involves the supernatural.
I was on the edge of my seat watching Sofia visit her niece Gia (Kenzie Grey), who may have seen something the night Sofia killed her family. How far would she go to make sure Gia didn’t mess things up for her? This episode added yet another layer of humanity to Sofia that we needed to see was still in there.
2. Episode 4, "Cent'Anni"
Having a full hour focused on Sofia was everything we needed to understand her. Up to this point, she was the creepy serial killer known as “The Hangman.” Only she wasn’t. She didn’t do anything, and instead her own family betrayed her and locked her away in an asylum.
It’s not surprising that Sofia ended up as twisted as she was. There’s a constant debate over nature vs. nurture, and in Sofia’s case, it was nurture. The people around her and the things she went through made her who she was as she fought to take over the Falcone empire. Having an hour dedicated to this story gave us a chance to actually feel empathy for her.
Having this episode made Sofia’s turning point more believable. It also made her love for her late brother Alberto — the only person to support her through her stay in Arkham — far more believable, and I always appreciate seeing more of actor Michael Zegen on my screen.
1. Episode 8, “A Great or Little Thing”
This episode had a lot going on, but it didn’t feel too fast or too much. There was a lot to cover as we saw Oz finally take over Gotham. There was always the question of how he’d get around Sofia, but he managed it by appealing to the overlooked underlings in all the Gotham gangs.
This was definitely an episode that brought out Oz’s true colors. All season, it’s looked like he loved his mom with everything he had; that she was his weak link. The truth was that he didn’t love her at all. He needed her to need and want him. His narcissism stopped him from loving — and that meant he was more than willing to trap her in the prison of her own body despite her wish that he let her die with dignity. It was also heartbreaking to see what he did to Vic for the crime of wanting to be part of Oz's family.
The ending with Sofia offered me some hope and excitement for a continuation to her story. It’s not over for her, and I’m willing to watch a Selina Kyle series if it means more Sofia.
This episode wrapped everything up nicely. It gives us a great push into The Batman: Part II and maybe even a second season of The Penguin. But even if that doesn't happen, this show was well worth the watch for its own sake.
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