'The Penguin' is a darkly engrossing entry into the Batman cannon

20 Sep 2024

NPR

With no costumes, no superpowers and no Batman, HBO's The Penguin is less like a comic book series than a crime drama — closer to The Sopranos than to the Batman movie from which it came.

DAVE DAVIES, HOST:

This is FRESH AIR. In 2022, writer-director Matt Reeves presented "The Batman," the latest movie incarnation of the popular DC Comics costumed hero. Robert Pattinson starred in the title role, and the villains he faced included a drug kingpin named Carmine Falcone as well as reimagined versions of The Riddler and The Penguin. Colin Farrell, who played The Penguin in that movie, now reprises the role in a new eight-part HBO spin-off series called "The Penguin." Our TV critic David Bianculli found it surprisingly dark and even more surprisingly engrossing. Here's his review.

DAVID BIANCULLI, BYLINE: In every TV or movie version of the Batman story, from the campy 1960s series to the recent increasingly somber "Dark Knight" films, the villains always have been more colorful and arguably more interesting than their heroic adversary. Modern DC comics movies have tried to address that imbalance by focusing on the psychological demons driving wealthy orphan Bruce Wayne to become a costumed crime fighter. And it's worked. But as proven by the recent and upcoming spin-off movies headlining The Joker, that same psychological deconstruction approach works even better when applied to the villains.

So here comes The Penguin. When Burgess Meredith played him on TV's "Batman" series, he was a waddling, quacking, cartoonish character in a tuxedo. When Danny DeVito played him in Tim Burton's movie "Batman Returns," he was still cartoonish but more menacing. And the way Colin Farrell played him in the recent movie "The Batman," almost unrecognizably buried under prosthetics and a body suit, The Penguin was brash and vicious but all too human. In this new HBO spin-off, the human element is everything. Lauren LeFranc from ABC's "Agents Of Shield" is the showrunner, and Craig Zobel of "Mare Of Easttown" directs the first three episodes.

The action in their sequel takes place just a week after the events in the "Batman" movie. With Carmine Falcone dead, the battle is on to fill the void at the top of Gotham City's evil underworld. Falcone's former lieutenant, Oswald Cobb, is one of the people eyeing the vacant throne. But there are others. One is Falcone's surviving son, Alberto, who makes fun of Oswald's girth and hobbled walk by calling him the penguin. There's also Falcone's daughter, Sofia, who has been tucked away for years at Arkham Asylum but is about to get out.

The series called "The Penguin," then, boils down to a story about a power struggle among mobsters. With no costumes, no superpowers and no Batman, the eight episodes of "The Penguin" are less like a comic book series than a crime drama - closer to "The Sopranos" than to the Batman movie from which it came. It's even darker, with a sometimes shocking amount of R-rated language and violence. And like "The Sopranos," the twisted relationship between the central character and his mother is the key to everything. Early in "The Penguin," Oswald, played by Colin Farrell, commits an impulsive murder and runs to his mother to protect and relocate her. The mother, powerfully played by Deirdre O'Connell, isn't exactly pleased.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE PENGUIN")

COLIN FARRELL: (As Oz) Ma, here's your water. Take these two peels, and then we got to go, OK? There you go, OK?

DEIRDRE O'CONNELL: (As Francis) Will you tell me first what I did to lose your respect?

FARRELL: (As Oz) What are you talking about?

O'CONNELL: (As Francis) You come in here, you're trying to buy me off with a necklace, some [expletive] about an urgent special occasion.

FARRELL: (As Oz) Ma.

O'CONNELL: (As Francis) Did I raise my sons to lie to me? Did I?

FARRELL: (As Oz) No.

O'CONNELL: (As Francis) [Expletive] then. What did you do? What did you do? Come on. What did you do?

FARRELL: (As Oz) I...

O'CONNELL: (As Francis) What did you do?

FARRELL: (As Oz) I shot Alberto Falcone. He's dead. It ain't safe for you here. You understand? Sofia Falcone is out of Arkham, and she knows. If she don't, she will.

BIANCULLI: He's right about Sofia. Sofia, played by Cristin Milioti, is the real shocking surprise of this series. To this point, Milioti has specialized in playing likable, resourceful, independent women in such shows as the sitcom "How I Met Your Mother" - she played the mother - and the brilliant "USS Callister" episode of "Black Mirror". She starred on Broadway in the musical "Once" and costarred in the second season of the FX series "Fargo." But she's never played a character remotely like Sofia, and she's simply outstanding. Her character, like Oswald's, is dissected intensely and intelligently in flashbacks. And her evolution, like his, charts the slow but steady path into becoming not just a mobster, but a monster. After exiting the insane asylum, she has her men capture Oswald, tie him to a chair and torture him while she watches and talks to him.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE PENGUIN")

CRISTIN MILIOTI: (As Sofia) You are so good at talking your way out of things, even at the cost of someone else's life - especially then, right?

FARRELL: (As Oz) What are you doing?

MILIOTI: (As Sofia) But my father isn't around anymore to reward you with fancy suits and stupid cars...

FARRELL: (As Oz) Sofia

MILIOTI: (As Sofia) And a club that he lets you believe is yours.

FARRELL: (As Oz) Sofia - (screaming).

MILIOTI: (As Sofia) It's just you and me now, OK? So I want you to think - I want you to really think - am I crazy? Is it all in my head?

FARRELL: (As Oz, screaming).

MILIOTI: (As Sofia) Tell me.

FARRELL: (As Oz, screaming).

MILIOTI: (As Sofia) Tell me that I'm too emotional, and that I have an overactive imagination and that I shouldn't take things so personally.

BIANCULLI: Milioti as Sofia has an unusually rich character arc. She's "Breaking Bad" at warp speed. Meanwhile, Colin Farrell inhabits the Penguin so thoroughly and compellingly that you'll actually forget it's Colin Farrell under all that makeup, at least I did. And I actually cared about these characters and believed them, a level of involvement I don't get with most DC comics adaptations and didn't expect here. On the lighter side of the Batman canon, I still love the TV and Tim Burton versions. But on the dark side, "The Penguin" is the best entry yet.

DAVIES: David Bianculli reviewed "The Penguin" on HBO and streaming on Max.

(SOUNDBITE OF BEASTIE BOYS' "MULTILATERAL NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT")

DAVIES: On Monday's show, we'll speak with Todd Phillips, who directed and cowrote the film "Joker," starring Joaquin Phoenix, and the new sequel with Lady Gaga playing Harley Quinn. The characters are very loosely based on the Batman stories, but it's a dark story about trauma and mental illness. It's also a musical, in which Gaga and Phoenix both sing. I hope you can join us. For Terry Gross and Tonya Mosley, I'm Dave Davies.

(SOUNDBITE OF BEASTIE BOYS' "MULTILATERAL NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT")

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