I Can't Believe 'The Penguin' Is Making Me Root for the Villains (2024)

Nearly every Batman TV show and movie paints the Dark Knight's rogues gallery as nigh-irredeemable monsters, but there have been a few exceptions over the years. Batman: The Animated Series turned Mr. Freeze into a Shakespearean tragedy and defined the character for years. It also gave us Harley Quinn — who's headlined her own television and film adventures throughout the years and has essentially become an anti-hero. The Penguin continues this tradition by showcasing how Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell) struggles with gaining respect in the criminal underworld, and it's this approach that's kept me hooked.

But it isn't just Oz that makes The Penguin such a great watch. Much of Oz's best interactions in the show so far have been with his teenage accomplice, Victor Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz), and Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti), the new head of the Falcone family. All three characters are underdogs of a kind, and the show has taken great pains to showcase their struggles — both in Gotham's criminal hierarchy and personal lives.

Oz doesn't just want the title of Gotham's top gangster for the notoriety, but because he craves respect and financial stability. The pilot episode, "After Hours", reveals that he grew up in a poor neighborhood; he's also been struggling to take care of his mother Frances (Deidre O'Connell) who is starting to show signs of dementia. Oz's desire for respect shows through in one of the very first scenes of The Penguin, when he starts talking to Alberto Falcone (Michael Zegen) about how the legendary gangster Rex Calabrese won his respect when he was younger; Alberto sees right through it and starts to insult Oz - and pays for it with his life as Oz guns him down.

Victor is also revealed to be dealing with his own struggles. The latest episode of The Penguin, "Bliss," reveals that he lost his family during the explosive climax of The Batman and how he's been struggling to survive ever since — leading to a full-blown panic attack in the bathroom and a confrontation with Oz. Farrell and Feliz deliver some of their best work in this sequence, as it showcases how Oz's obsession with gaining respect leads to him trying to influence others. He even tells Victor that nobody will remember him and his family despite Victor not having a family anymore. The fact that Victor's background is eerily similar to Jason Todd's also feels like a harbinger of doom, and the series hasn't even hit the halfway point.

Sofia Struggles With Her Mental Health in ‘The Penguin’

The Penguin quickly establishes Sofia as a deadly threat; she correctly guesses that Oz had something to do with her brother's death, and it's only thanks to some quick thinking that Oz is able to turn the spotlight away from himself. But what I really like so far is that the series addresses Sofia's mental health, and how she wasn't really "cured". Prior to the events of The Penguin and The Batman, Sofia was incarcerated in Arkham Asylum, where it's implied in the second episode "Inside Man" that Alberto was the one person to visit her. His murder, and her dogged obsession with finding the killer, is shown to be anything but healthy.

There's also the fact that despite Sofia inheriting her father's criminal empire, no one will listen to her when she's the smartest person in the room. Both Johnny Viti (Michael Kelly) and Sofia's uncle Luca (Scott Cohen) wave off Sofia's concerns that there's a mole in the Falcone family; Luca even makes moves to push Sofia out of the business. I can't help but root for Sofia at this point, since she's been through plenty of trauma and The Penguin is obviously hurtling to a confrontation between her and Oz — despite the fact that they share similar struggles. Showrunner Lauren LeFranc put it best in a conversation with Collider: "They’re both very smart. They’ve been disrespected in various forms. They have a rich history with each other, and a complicated one."

‘The Penguin’ Makes Its Characters Compelling, but Never Lets Them off the Hook

The best part about The Penguin is that it gives Oz, Sofia and Victor some compelling motives for their actions, but it doesn't absolve them from their sins either. Oz is still willing to lie his way out of every corner he's backed into. Victor is still aiding and abetting an unrepentant criminal. Sofia is still showing murderous impulses, despite her mental instability. Too often, most modern film and television shows have attempted to handwave the acts their antagonists commit by introducing a tragic backstory (see Maleficent) or giving them a cause that seems just (see Watchmen.) The Penguin thankfully sidesteps this trend, showing that a villainous antagonist doesn't always need redemption. Ironically, The Penguin shares this trait with another comic book show currently airing: Agatha All Along. Like Oz, Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) is shown to have suffered through some dark events in her life, but she's still willing to lie and throw others in the path of her incoming death to get what she wants.

Keeping the moral ambiguity as a constant presence in The Penguin also makes Oz, Victor and Sofia's struggle all the more compelling. All of them want different things: Oz power, Sofia revenge, and Victor freedom. But what lengths are they going to go to in order to get what they want? Will they be better off if they get it? And what happens when Sofia inevitably finds out that Oz killed Alberto? These questions have kept The Penguin percolating as it reaches its halfway point, and the answers will more than likely shatter viewers' hearts, but I love that this series is willing to put in the work to make the bad guys look good.

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The Penguin

TV-MA

Crime

Drama

It follows the transformation of Oswald Cobblepot from a disfigured nobody to a noted Gotham gangster.

Release Date

September 19, 2024

Cast

Colin Farrell , Cristin Milioti , Rhenzy Feliz , Michael Kelly , Shohreh Aghdashloo , Deirdre O'Connell , Clancy Brown , James Madio , Scott Cohen , Michael Zegen , Carmen Ejogo , Theo Rossi

Seasons

1

Prequel

The Batman (2022)

Story By

Bill Finger, Bob Kane

Writers

Lauren LeFranc

Streaming Service(s)

HBO Max

Franchise(s)

Batman , DC Elseworlds

Directors

Craig Zobel

Showrunner

Lauren LeFranc

Character(s)

Oz Cobb , Sofia Falcone , Victor Aguilar , Johnny Viti , Nadia Maroni , Francis Cobb , Salvatore Maroni , Milos Grapa , Luca Falcone , Alberto Falcone , Eve Karlo , Julian Rush

Avg Episode Length

60 Mins

The Penguin is available to stream on Max in the U.S.

Watch on Max