The Penguin (2024)

As people didn't recognize Colin Farrell as Oz Cobb (short for Oswald Cobblepot) in 2022's The Batman, now they only talk about the prostethics of the new HBO / Max series, The Penguin.  I was waiting for this and sure hope they won't f**k it up.

Under the hunchback there is a huge actor I always loved and still he does not get the reputation it deserves, Irishman Colin Farrell (just in before and after doing Banshees of Inisherin and Sugar). You can hardly notice his voice and manierisms, he looks more like Robert De Niro as Al Capone in The Untouchables than the previous Penguin incarnations, Burgess Meredith in the '60's and Danny De Vito in 1992's Batman Returns. Plus a soft spot for Robin Lord Taylor in the Gotham series. Farrell was the best thing in the 2022 Se7ven ripp-off with emo batmen & riddlers. Also John Turturo was cool but he's off.  Here Mark Strong replaces Turturro as Carmine Falcone and Clancy Brown is Sal Maroni.

Cristin Milioti (Fargo, season 2) is Sofia Falcone, the daughter of the dead Mafia Kingpin.

Oz has a tight relationship with his mother (Deirdre O'Connell), that bringing him closer to James Cagney in White Heat and Scarface, from Paul Muni to Pacino's Tony Montana. 

1st episode was good but not fantastic, and it clearly goes into the gangster noir-ish tale, no supernatural involved. Surely this being HBO, they'll talk Sopranos in connection with this. 

Music score by Nick Giacchino (Michael's son). Here's The Penguin Theme, "Scherzo for a Flightless Bird").

Ep. 1 "After Hours"- From 9 to 5 / Dolly Parton. Rita Hayworth when Oz dances with his mom. End credits song, When In Rome with "The Promise".  

Ep. 2 "Inside Man" -so/so, gangsters by the numbers. Flashback of the kid. End credits song, a cover of "Happy Together", The Turtles' 1967 song, by Floor Cry. 

Ep. 3 "Bliss", the new drug, some betrayals. "Broken Belief" by Bob Moss.  Gil Scott-Heron's bladting "Me and The Devil" on the end credits.

Ep. 4. "Cent'anni", finally Carmine Falcone flashbacks. And Sofia's Arkham story, The Hangman, & a great finale (on Sarah Vaughan's So Long, My Love-1964). The Stranglers 1981 song  "Strange Little Girl" on the end credits. 

Ep. 5. "Homecoming". By the numbers mafia biz & betrayals but an interesting finale if it follows up. The Cure -"A Forest" and St. Vincent-"Reckless". 

Ep. 6. "Gold Summit". Most boring episode, all set up and a good end shot. Credits roll on a Chris Isaak cool song, "Black Flowers" from 1998.

Ep. 7 "Top Hat". The groove is back as we flashback to Oswald's childhood and his two brothers. Cue to Top Hat, the 1935 Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers musical which winks also in Joker: Folie a deux (Fred Astaire again, in 1953's Band Wagon  Cut to: "Islands on a Stream" (Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton) and Yazoo's Only You. It ends badly for The Penguin. "How did you called  me?". End credits on Swans-"Lunacy". Great song. 

Ep. 8: La Grand finale. Glimpses of Selina Kyle on an envelope and Oz puts on a tux to dance. One unexpected scene (not spoiling it here but it's about Victor Aguilar). Promises of season # 2 ensure. See if Colin Farrell wants to put athe makeup again. Golden Globe/Emmy should be guaranteed.

Complete songs list here. 

Already The Peng is  #92 on IMDb TV top shows (NA: Now, 6 weeks later, it's # 70 !) . Penguin beats the Joker, mostly now with Folie a Deux being the "hate it movie of 2024"...

So, in the end The Peng is for me a 3 out of 5, 6 out of 10. 

While he mentioned that he did watch DeVito as The Penguin and “was a fan of Burgess Meredith” in the Adam West-starring 1960s “Batman” TV show, Farrell said the inspiration for his take on the character ultimately drew from darker and less comic book-infused sources, including Dustin Hoffman’s Ratso Rizzo in “Midnight Cowboy,” Robert De Niro as Al Capone in “The Untouchables” and “The Sopranos’” James Gandolfini. “All of them are in there,” Farrell said. “Like, I’ve seen ‘Untouchables’ twice, I’ve seen ‘Midnight Cowboy’ four times. Anything, as an actor, anything you ever see, any piece of music you ever hear, it all kind of meets you inside in a place that gets used, gets filtered through every single character you do in lesser or greater ways.”

(from CNN piece here)