However, the new HBO Max series The penguin is obviously an extremely dark take on DC’s Batman universe, set in a world created by Matt Reeves. I can’t stop laughing about it.
Not because it’s bad (it’s very good), but because there are so many disarmingly hilarious moments in this show that happen so quickly you might miss them, fired like the blast a kid hits the pavement, which then explodes with a sharp bang. Most of these are led by Colin Farrell, unrecognizable in his role as Oz Cobb aka the Penguin, and they provide the briefest moments of levity to an otherwise heavy crime drama.
The latest episode begins with tragedy: the Riddler’s flooding of Gotham, first seen in 2022 The Batman. We see how this affects Oz’s reluctant new henchman Vic (Rhenzy Feliz), who slowly settles into his role over the course of the episode and finds that he might prefer to have so much money that he’s the police can pay. It’s also the beginning of Oz’s partnership with the deliciously unhinged Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti), who seems constantly on the precipice of killing anyone in her sights, like a coiled cobra in the grass. But despite all the tension brewing in the third episode, I couldn’t stop laughing.
At one point, Sofia brings Oz to the factory, where her team is hard at work on a new psychoactive drug she smuggled out of Arkham. As an eccentric chemist explains the drug, which is grown from strange-looking mushrooms, in increasingly scientific terms, he throws out a few Latin words. Oz immediately snaps, “What the hell are you saying to me?” like Tony Soprano with his hand on the butt of a gun. I laughed.
Shortly beforehand, Sofia shows up at Oz’s apartment, where a frightened Vic is forced to play the amiable host. She moves around the room, clearly disgusted by Oz’s choice of interior design, and grabs a remote control as if it were covered in toxic waste. Vic starts to tell her what it’s for, but before he can finish, she clicks on it and a huge electric fireplace comes on. “Tacky,” she murmurs.
She’s not here to hang out though, they have an errand to complete. Oz tells Vic to stay at his apartment instead of coming with him. “Stay there,” he says, closing the door behind him. Right after, he opens it again and hisses, “If you do something stupid, I’ll feel it.” It’s a masterclass, folks.
Even though the stakes are quite high in the rest of the episode, there’s a touch of humor that never fails to make me laugh: Oz responds to a rival gang leader’s question about whether they’re planning a coup with “What are?” “You read books or something?” Vic nearly splits a gunman in half with Oz’s plum-colored Maserati (it’s not purple like he reminds us in episode one), just as you think our penguin is done for, and Oz responds : “Fuck it, leave her,” when Vic asks what they should do about Sofia, who was also in the line of fire. While “Me And The Devil” plays, they speed away in the destroyed Maserati.
Every single episode of The penguin so far it has been like this– terribly tense mobster moments that Oz struggles to get out of, punctuated by surprisingly wild riffs. It’s the best show on television right now and surprisingly one of the funniest. The fourth episode of The penguin will air on Max on Sunday, October 13th.
