"The Penguin" Doesn’t Appreciate Gotham City

A prestige Batman spinoff just ain’t it.

It’s a certain anniversary today and I’ve been pretty vocal in my support for a Free Palestine against Zionism. And we’re gonna continue to talk/write about those things, but, honestly, I just don’t want to do it today. And I think that’s okay. Y’all know where I stand. Where I’ve stood. Today, I just want to think about this weird ass television show based on a frivolous and antiquated comic book character I grew up loving. We’ll have more entries on the history and present of Zionism and the efforts of anti-Zionists across the world pushing the boulder up the hill. But today, we’re gonna just scream about The Penguin for a little while. I hope that’s alright. –Tirhakah Love

The Penguin Doesn’t Appreciate Gotham City

A prestige Batman show just ain’t it.

When the new show was announced for Max I was pretty excited. Colin Farrell’s performance in Matt Reeves’s The Batman in 2022 was pretty masterful. Definitely one of my favorite aspects of that first movie. And being able to stretch his acting showcase over the course of an eight episode neo-noir miniseries seems like an easy call to make. But now having watched a couple hours of the show, I’m left a little dumbfounded. It’s just…not hitting for me. Like at all. And I couldn’t really place why it isn’t. On its face, the show has many things that I like: a dark atmosphere, the street-level crime show with adequate amounts of gangster politicking and drug talk, and an ostensibly charismatic character at the center. So why the fuck am I annoyed watching this joint?

The third episode of The Penguin dropped yesterday and I think it finally answered a couple questions I’ve been having about it for the last two weeks. Am I dumb or numb? Can glossy, prestige TV work in a gangster show based on a comic supervillain? What is it about this show that I’m just not connecting to? Last night’s hour finally solidified something that I hadn’t thought of: how The Penguin functions within the larger Batman franchise. The first episode takes place just a week after The Riddler exploded Gotham’s seawall and, thus, it works as a bridge of sorts between the first film and its inevitable sequel. And because of that it has to maintain a sense of continuity that kinda works against one of its most critical goals: expanding the worldbuilding in this version of Gotham. 

The Penguin could’ve taken place in pretty much any seedy city in the midwest and/or the east coast. Usually, Gotham is imagined as one of three cities, Chicago, Detroit or New York. And usually it’s an amalgam of the three somehow. But what sets Gotham apart from pretty much any other superhero city is that it combines gothic realism with fantastical elements via Batman’s GOATed rogues gallery. But none of those major villains are really players here. The closest character to meeting that outside of its protagonist is probably Sofia Falcone – who does have some really fascinating stories in the comics, including the follow up to The Long Halloween (called Batman: Dark Victory) upon which 2022’s effort was based – but there are no characters here that actually unlock the spirit of the city in any meaningful way. Gotham has always been a canvas for the macabre – like Batman fought Dracula here, bruh! – but in The Penguin it never has a chance to show itself as the limitless character it’s proven it can be.  

And this is where continuity and the prestige gangster formula become the culprit, at least in my estimation. While watching the third episode, which focuses on the backstory of Oz’s new driver/henchmen, Vic, and, on Oz and Sofia’s attempt to get backing for a new drug, I realized like, wow, I really don’t care about Vic in the way that I should. The newcomer to crime is the youngest member of the cast and the audience’s moral compass and link to the world, and it’s really not a good look if we don’t give a shit about how he got here. Largely, because it’s really fucking predictable. He lost his family during the Riddler’s attack and took to petty crime before colliding with The Penguin in the first episode. Two episodes later we get a sense of the life he had before, with a pretty loving Dominican family and a girlfriend who also lost her family post-explosion, is planning to go to California. He wrestles with the possibilities of going to California with her or staying with Oz in this episode but we, as an audience, know for damn sure he ain’t going anywhere. So it’s just a matter of how we get to that final answer. The problem here arises when, despite its predictable destination, the journey to that point isn’t really exciting. There are no Scarecrows awakening his fears, no Firefly’s swooping in and setting apartment tenements ablaze, or even a Ratcatcher to get some sense of the depths of Gotham’s mythology. Without those fun little references, the show has to rely on action and emotion, but unfortunately there’s not really enough of either for us to really keep our attention. 

I’m not totally sure, obviously, but I imagine these characters are pretty off-limits. Or, maybe they’ll be introduced later for viewers willing to stick it out. But I’m just not sure the crew has been given enough material for The Penguin to be anything but a showcase for Colin Farrell. And listen, I love that Irish muhfucka as much as the next film lover, but I’m just not sure that love is gonna carry me for five more episodes. Something’s gotta give or, I imagine, that anyone outside the most ardent of Batman lovers might just give up. 

I’m not sure prestige crime noir works for a Batman show. The Penguin doesn’t give way to the sillier, more fantastical aspects of the Batman world. And usually that realism can be balanced out with emotional resonance, but it’s just not connecting for me. And I’m nervous that my patience won’t hold up long enough to see it through.

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That’s all for today my friends. New podcast dropping Wednesday! Get excited whores. We’ll have a few extra emails going out this week to make up for last week’s restful moment. It’s gon be real fun. Till then, freaks!