The Penguin

Superhero fatigue is a real phenomenon, and The Penguin arrived at a moment when audiences had every reason to be skeptical of another comic book property. What they got instead was a crime drama that uses its Gotham City setting as atmosphere rather than obligation. Set between the events of The Batman, the series follows Oswald “Oz” Cobb as he attempts to fill the power vacuum left by the death of Carmine Falcone, scheming and murdering his way through Gotham’s criminal underworld. There are no capes, no superpowers, and no world-ending threats. Just a man with ambition, desperation, and an absolute willingness to do whatever it takes.

The eight-episode limited series premiered on HBO in September 2024 and drew immediate praise for its performances, its visual style, and its refusal to feel like a superhero show. Community response was strongly positive, with viewers comparing it favorably to classic crime dramas and praising it as the strongest live-action DC project in years. The primary criticism centered on its relentlessly dark tone, which some found exhausting over eight hours, and questions about whether the Gotham setting added enough to justify itself.

Colin Farrell’s Transformation and Sofia’s Rise

Colin Farrell’s performance is a vanishing act. Buried under prosthetics and speaking with a gravelly accent, he becomes Oz Cobb so completely that you forget you’re watching an actor. But the transformation isn’t just physical. Farrell finds the wounded, desperate core of the character, the kid from nowhere who will burn everything down before he goes back to being nothing. Oz is cruel, manipulative, and occasionally pathetic, and Farrell makes you understand every choice he makes without ever asking you to forgive them.

Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone is the show’s other towering performance. Sofia is a woman who survived something terrible and emerged from it with nothing left to lose, and Milioti plays her with a quiet intensity that makes every scene she shares with Farrell feel like a negotiation where someone might die. The dynamic between Oz and Sofia drives the entire series, and the show is smart enough to give Milioti the screen time and material to match Farrell’s central role.

The production design turns Gotham into a character of its own. Rain-soaked streets, crumbling infrastructure, neon-lit clubs: the city feels lived-in and hostile in ways that serve the story’s themes of power, desperation, and decay. The visual language borrows from classic crime cinema, using lighting and framing to create tension without relying on action sequences.

The show’s approach to its source material is remarkably confident. It takes what it needs from DC mythology and ignores the rest, treating the Batman universe as a setting rather than a constraint. You don’t need to have seen The Batman to follow the story, and the show never pauses to explain its connections to the larger franchise. That self-assurance is rare in franchise television.

Gotham’s Unrelenting Darkness

The show’s tone is oppressively dark, and while that’s clearly intentional, it can make for a grueling viewing experience. Eight episodes of backstabbing, violence, and moral compromise without meaningful moments of lightness or hope tests the audience’s endurance. The best crime dramas find room for humor, warmth, or at least the suggestion that something better exists beyond the violence. The Penguin occasionally struggles to provide those relief valves.

The supporting cast, while competent, doesn’t receive the same depth of characterization as Oz and Sofia. Several characters who seem positioned for important roles end up functioning primarily as plot devices, and the criminal underworld beyond the two leads can feel thin. When the show zooms out from its central power struggle, the world around it doesn’t always feel fully populated.

The eight-episode structure, a strength for pacing, also means certain storylines feel compressed. Character motivations that deserve more development are sometimes communicated through shorthand, and a few plot turns rely on the audience filling in gaps that the show doesn’t have time to address. The tightness that keeps the narrative focused occasionally cuts into the depth of secondary storylines.

Some viewers questioned whether the show needed to be set in Gotham at all. Strip away the DC branding and you have a perfectly functional crime drama about a mob war in a decaying American city. The Gotham connection adds atmosphere and a built-in audience, but it also invites comparisons to the broader DC universe that don’t always serve the show’s grounded ambitions.

Crime Drama First, Comic Book Show Second

The Penguin’s smartest decision was prioritizing genre craft over franchise obligation. By committing to the rhythms and values of crime drama rather than superhero television, it earned an audience that might have otherwise dismissed it. The show proves that these characters and this world can support stories that don’t require costumes or spectacle to be compelling.

Should You Watch The Penguin?

If you enjoy crime dramas, character-driven performances, and shows that take morally compromised protagonists seriously, The Penguin is worth your time. Fans of The Batman will appreciate the expanded world, but the show works equally well for anyone who wants a well-crafted story about power and what people sacrifice to get it. The limited series format means no filler and no wasted episodes.

If relentlessly dark storytelling drains you, or if you’re looking for superhero action and spectacle, this isn’t the DC show for you. The Penguin lives in a very specific register, and it has no interest in lightening up to broaden its appeal.

The Verdict on The Penguin

The Penguin is a crime drama that happens to take place in Gotham City, and that’s exactly what makes it work. Colin Farrell disappears into Oswald Cobb with a performance that’s equal parts repulsive and magnetic, while Cristin Milioti matches him as Sofia Falcone. Lauren LeFranc built a power struggle that owes more to classic gangster stories than to superhero television, and the eight-episode structure keeps everything tight. The darkness can feel unrelenting, and the supporting world doesn’t always match the depth of its leads. But as a character study of a dangerous man clawing his way to the top, it’s one of the best things to come out of the DC universe.