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The Penguin Review by Oliver Grainger

Published October 23, 2024 By

After watching the released episodes of The Penguin, here are my thoughts about the series so far! 

Throughout the opening five episodes of The Penguin, viewers are eager to continue watching due to the expert writing of the show. The show picks up straight after the end of 2022's The Batman and the devastating explosions that the Riddler had set off. The audience follow the character of Oswald and his journey towards becoming the kingpin of Gotham's crime underworld. Viewers of the show are shown Gotham's darker side that was only frequently shown within The Batman. DC making a show about a villain and crime within the city creates a new dimension for the DC fanbase because there is no self proclaimed good guy within the show. The creators want the audience to see the darker side of this world and to root for and feel sympathetic towards characters who have done awful things such as Sofia Falcone. 

Likewise, the prosthetics used on Oswald (Farrell) creates the terrifying character that is The Penguin and through the prosthetic leg that is used within the series the audience are not only shown why Oswald is nicknamed The Penguin, we are also shown the more vulnerable side of him such as his care for his mother. Furthermore, the adaptation is seen to differ to others such as Danny Devito's as Farrell's adaption shows who he was before he became the penguin whereas Devito's shows a mad man who has embraced what society had made him. Colin Farrell provides the character with a personality different to that of other adaptations, the viewers are wanting Oswald Cobblepot to succeed and are sympathetic to the character. Additionally, audiences are sympathetic towards the character of Sofia Falcone, played by Cristin Milioti due to the scenarios that she is in and what she has endured at the hands of her family. Moreover, The Penguin allows viewers to see the real Gotham without the batman watching over it. Due to the lack of the city's so called protector, the viewers are shown the streets of Gotham through the characters within The Penguin, such as Victor played by Rhenzy Feliz, who has lost his home and family due to the bombs set off by Riddler in The Batman. 

Within the first minutes of episode one, viewers are shown a low angle shot of the train tracks with a train passing by which then switches to the dark abandoned alleyway underneath it. This is significant to the theme of the show because the only form of light seems to be coming from the train passing by which then allows the audience to be aware that there will be no hope for the citizens whom live here. The birds-eye view of the destruction of the city in episode 4 of The Penguin also help to set the tone of the show as audiences are shown the destruction and horror that the citizens have endured denoting that there is nobody who will be coming to save them. Finally, the low angle shot of Oswald looking up at Sofia helps to create the theme of the show as it shows how Oswald is not respected and how powerless he is compared to the Falcone crime family.

I strongly encourage people to watch the new addition to the DC universe and I am eager for the next episodes to be released and to see how the series ends and how it sets up future projects in the same franchise.

Overall Score 10/10 - Extremely well written show that keeps people anticipating and guessing what will happen next.

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