Review: ‘The Penguin’, Episode 1 — 'After Hours'

Originally posted on Murphy's Multiverse
By Charles Murphy | Last updated Sep 20, 2024 12:53 AM ET

When Matt Reeves‘ The Batman hit theaters in 2022, it was clear that the Gotham which Robert Pattinson‘s Batman sought to protect had a long, dark and sordid past. Corruption ran so deep in Gotham that it might rightly be believed to be a cornerstone of the great city. So strong was the foothold of organized crime in Gotham that the crime families and their goons were entitled and emboldened to carry out their crimes while still considering themselves good men.

Despite being as warped as the foot that caused his Penguin pimp limp, Falcone family capo Oz Cobb believed himself to be one of those good men. Colin Farrell’s portrayal of Oz in The Batman demanded a follow-up performance which has now hit Max in the form of the limited streaming series, The Penguin. And the series pulls no punches about its lead character nor does it provide any quarter for a man who finds himself in a mess of his own making.

If The Penguin weren’t known to be a spinoff set in Reeves‘ Batman Epic Crime Saga, it would be as unrecognizable as a comic book-based property as its star is in the lead role. The Penguin shares far more in common with any number of HBO’s prestige crime dramas and Episode 1, “After Hours”, embraces that legacy. It goes full gangster right away and it looks as though the series will benefit from its forthright approach as an exploration of the world of organized crime and the types of people who inhabit it.

Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.
-Salvador Dali

Central to Episode 1 and presumably the series are Farrell‘s Cobb and Cristin Milioti‘s Sofia Falcone. Oz wastes no time in unintentionally making an enemy out of Sofia and much of the first episode is spent with Oz apparently spinning his wheels. However, the true brilliance of the episode comes in its closing moments. In his own words, Cobb knows he inhabits a world of big men who need to believe he’s small…and so he allows them their fantasies, using his rough appearance and demeanor to serve as a facade for an ingenious criminal mind. And by episode’s end, Cobb has engineered the rise of the Maroni family he once took down and set himself up as all nut untouchable.

Thematically, ambition is at the episode’s core and from Cobb’s words to his new partner in crime, Vic, to the 9 to 5 needle drop, there’s no chance it can be forgotten. Cobb’s ambition is second to none and now, with his brilliant mind free to cook, his time has come. Every bit as ambitious as its title character, The Penguin is as intelligent, violent and grounded in the human condition as the great HBO dramas it aspires to be.

This article first appeared on Murphy's Multiverse and was syndicated with permission.

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