If you told this writer just five months ago that HBO would have the best show on television about the criminal underworld, I would have told you that you must have found a time machine and traveled back to the good ole’ days of James Gandolfini giving us the greatest performance in the history of television as Tony Soprano in the early 2000s.
Surprise, surprise. Just like many critics and fans alike, I have been awestruck by the wonderful weekly HBO presentation of ‘The Penguin’ which airs on Sunday nights at 9 PM EST. For the first time in a long time, live television is cool again.
I cannot remember the last time I actually looked forward to a scheduled television series on a week-to-week basis. ‘The Penguin’ is not only the best show on television right now, but far outpaces the production of most Hollywood movies being released right now.
When compared to the major motion picture ‘Joker: Folie A Deux,’ ‘The Penguin’ looks like ‘The Godfather’.
This review will not contain any spoilers. The first four episodes of the series focused on the backstory of each character in the series, and brilliantly so. Heading into episode five, HBO had released a trailer teasing the final four episodes as the battle for Gotham between the prominent crime families and Colin Farrell’s ‘Penguin’ character.
Episode five is jam-packed with action from start to finish. I actually had to take time to pause it after certain things transpired to take in what I had just watched. It is captivating, spectacular, and enthralling.
While episode four gave us a look into the chaotic and bleak creation of Cristin Milioti’s Sofia Falcone character, and really gave her a chance to shine as an actress, episode five is far more focused on Oz Cobb himself.
In episode five we get a closer look at the darker side of Oz. The levels to which he goes in order to further his own power is quite disturbing.
HBO has struck gold again with ‘The Penguin,’ as Matt Reeves continues to make the case for the best ‘Batverse’ we have seen to this point. ‘The Batman’ (2022) was epic. ‘The Penguin’ is even better. I would venture to say that this series cements, in my mind, that Matt Reeves has created a better version of the Batman than we have ever seen.
Even though Chris Nolan’s Batman is fantastic, captivating, and still beloved by millions of fans, what Matt Reeves is doing right now with this universe and this level of production quality and storytelling is something that we frankly have not seen before.
This series isn’t a little good. This is must-watch television. ‘The Penguin’ will quickly become a show that is bing-watched with any number of other classic shows, possibly only being held back by its 8 episode run.
I do wonder, with the success of this show, if HBO will be forced into extending the series, or if Reeves will preserve his next project until after ‘The Batman 2’ which is slated for release in Fall of 2026, having been postponed from its initial 2025 release due to the Hollywood strike.
