Analog Anxiety

At first, I wasn’t really planning to watch The Penguin. I liked Matt Reeve’s Batman movie but didn’t love it, and the character that Colin Farrell plays in it didn’t appeal to me that much. Honestly, the idea of Colin Farrell in a weird fat suit was a bit weird for my taste.

I decided to change my mind and give the show a chance, since the buzz around it seemed to be increasing with each episode. I didn’t hear anything too specific about it, just some vague Sopranos references, and people were talking about it every week. It also helped that I was on my paternity leave, so I could use something to watch while the baby slept on my chest.

I ended up watching the seven episodes I had “saved up” in two or three days.

The Penguin is an incredible ride. Colin Farrell does a remarkable job of portraying a despicable person that, sometimes, for a brief moment, I could believe he was being honest, or I was feeling bad for him. He balances it out perfectly despite all those prosthetics on his face. He is such as charismatic as the character is supposed to be, and the effect he has on the characters around him is similar to what the audience feels.

Cristin Milioti is another highlight of the show. Her character is sympathetic, and she shines in this role. Most people probably know her from How I Met Your Mother, she was so good on that show that made fans turn on the ending. Here she is a powerful but scarred woman that is on a path for revenge. Her wardrobe and hair are also always on point.

The rest of the supporting cast is also great, with some old veterans and younger actors. Rhenzy Feliz as Penguins protégé is the closest to an audience surrogate, and it’s a tragic character as well. Michael Kelly from House of Cards also plays a great asshole mobster. There are others I could mention, like Penguin’s mother or the triad boss as well.

Not only are the characters compelling, but the plot of the show is also great at slowly peeling its layers and changing how we see it’s characters and their relationships. There are many twists without feeling it cheap. It’s deliberate in how there’s a lot hiding beneath the surface when we meet everyone in the first episode, and how everything builds up as the season runs. A couple episodes in the final stretch of the season suffer from being a setup for the final two episodes, but it’s a necessity and the payoff makes up for it.

All of the above is wrapped around great directing and cinematography. It’s not on the level of The Batman, though it gets close. You can see the money on screen, it feels like prestige TV.

I would say the biggest issue I had with the show is how it’s all just a setup to show the “comic-accurate” Penguin and the next movie in the franchise. These types of projects usually suffer from this. Instead of seeing a continuation of these characters in a Season Two, we have to wait for a movie where they will be secondary to Batman. The ending feels forced or “artificial” instead of where the story would lead naturally.

As it might be obvious now, I loved the show and regret not catching it from the start. It’s compelling with great acting, characters and plot. I will miss this side of Gotham, and it made me more excited for its continuation in movie format and hopefully a second season.