The Penguin Recap: Episode 1 - After Hours

Ash Walker • 23 Sep 2024 Features

“Workin’ 9 to 5, what a way to make a living.”

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Our story picks up directly in the aftermath of 2022’s The Batman, during which - as helpfully recapped by an array of newsreaders - the psychotic Riddler (Paul Dano) committed a heinous act of domestic terrorism, blowing up the sea wall and flooding Gotham City.

But this show is mostly focussed on the fallout of another of Riddler’s crimes - the murder of mob kingpin Carmine Falcone (John Turturro in the movie, recast as Mark Strong here), and the power vacuum left in his wake.

Our ‘hero’, Oswald Cobb (Colin Farrell), derogatorily called the Penguin because of his club foot and general, penguin-like appearance, wastes no time in plundering his former boss’s office for jewels and blackmail material. Unfortunately for Oz, Alberto Falcone (Michael Zegen) - Carmine’s son and heir to the crime family - shows up, and is instantly suspicious.

Right off the bat (no pun intended) we get to see how charming Oz can be, and how cunning. He calms Alberto down and tells him a story about a gangster from his youth who was beloved by the community for helping people - a man Oz clearly looks up to, and aspires to be like.

Oz is trying to position himself as a sort of advisor to the young mob boss, and this story is designed to gently prod him in the direction Oz wants him to go. But, of course, it backfires. Alberto starts laughing at Oz and Oz, without really thinking about what he’s doing, pulls out a gun and pumps him full of lead.

Oops.

It’s a masterful scene, a great introduction to our strange and complex protagonist, and it really showcases just how amazing Colin Farrell is, even beneath all those prosthetics. What an opening!

The rest of the episode is mainly concerned with Oz scrambling to cover up his impulsive mistake. First he disposes of the body, forcibly enlisting the help of a young, stuttering would-be thief called Victor Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz).

Oz plans to kill the kid once he’s served his purpose, but instead takes pity on Victor and offers him an opportunity - to become Oz’s assistant/apprentice, and make something of himself. It’s an opportunity that Victor only too happily accepts, at first out of self-preservation, but increasingly out of ambition. It’ll be interesting to see where this relationship goes.

It’s also through Victor’s eyes that we really start to get to know Oz Cobb, and see just how complex and downright weird he is. He’s slippery and hard to pin down: one moment he’s threatening Victor’s life, the next he’s talking about how much he loves slushies and his new air freshener. He lies and murders to get what he wants, and he also listens to Dolly Parton.

He also has a very messed up relationship with his mother, Frances (Deirdre O’Connell), who is manipulative, overbearing, clearly a bit psychotic and also possibly suffering from dementia - all in all a pretty worrying combination. Definite shades of Tony Soprano here, and some strange, meaty stuff for Farrell and O’Connell to get their teeth into.

But the most interesting new character we meet has to be Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti), sister of Alberto, recently released from Arkham Asylum - that favourite haunt of Batman villains like Riddler, Two-Face and, of course, the Joker. She’s every bit as scary and unhinged as you might expect, and immediately becomes suspicious that Oz had something to do with her brother’s sudden disappearance.

Milioti is absolutely brilliant here, showing Sofia’s barely-contained madness beneath a quick smile or a twitch of her too-wide eyes. She’s terrifying, and easily goes toe-to-toe with Farrell. The idea of seeing these two battle it out in the weeks to come is very exciting indeed.

Easter Eggs & Comic Connections: This being (technically) a show based on a superhero comic, the showrunners are bound to throw in a few references and cheeky easter eggs for the hardcore fans. Here’s a few we picked up on:

• Sofia Falcone, aka the Hangman, is the main antagonist of the classic Batman story Dark Victory, by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale - the sequel to their legendary The Long Halloween, which served as a major inspiration for The Batman. Incidentally, Sofia’s ill-fated brother Alberto is also revealed to be a serial killer in that story - but probably not in this series, as he’s now very much dead.
• This is a fun one - Oz’s apartment is above a store called Burgess Jewelry, a reference to Burgess Meredith, the character actor who played the Penguin opposite Adam West on the 1966 Batman TV show.
• When Oz and Victor are on the subway, a masked guy walks by holding a flyer with a QR code. Following that code takes you to www.rataalada.com, a site that played a big part in The Batman, and now displays a forum conversation between Riddler’s followers, hinting at a ‘revolution’ still to come. Maybe we’ll see some of this in the show going forward?
• Fun fact - in the comics, Salvatore Maroni (Clancy Brown), the imprisoned former mob boss who Oz visits (and sets up as Alberto’s killer) is the one who throws acid on district attorney Harvey Dent, effectively transforming him into Two-Face. Cool!

Shout-Outs:

• The Penguin make-up effects remain absolutely astonishing. Colin Farrell just totally disappears into it and the prosthetics are so believable that you just immediately accept that this is a real person. Incredible work.
• Love the fact that Oz is only comfortable getting rid of a body during the day, as he clearly knows that the Batman will be prowling Gotham’s streets at night. Pretty smart.
• That torture scene… Razor wire under the armpit? That is some nasty, albeit very investive, stuff.
• The award for Most Shocking Moment of the Episode has to go to that opening scene. What starts out as a mildly tense but generally civilised chat turns quickly into cold-blooded murder. RIP Alberto - we hardly knew ye.

Verdict: An absolutely incredible episode to kick things off, bursting with mood, tension and buckets of charm. Here’s hoping the rest of the series lives up to this promise.

The Penguin airs every Friday at 9pm on Sky Atlantic, and can be streamed from 2am the same day.