Since I last reviewed the show, three more episodes of The Penguin have been released. In my opinion, these episodes have certainly succeeded in keeping up the quality of episode 1. The first of these new episodes is titled “Inside Man”, and is the second episode of the show. This episode was particularly memorable for making the characters improvise on their established plans. This was seen in the scene when the Penguin had to give up on framing Johnny Viti because Victor couldn’t plant a piece of evidence. This was just one prominent example, but there were many other instances of characters improvising not only throughout the episode but also throughout the show. Many other movies and shows go the lazy route by having character’s plans work on the first attempt. By contrast, The Penguin constantly throws wrenches into the character’s plans that they have to apart to, which makes the show much more interesting and suspenseful.
Episode 3 is titled “Bliss”, and was still very enjoyable, but looking back at it, the episode didn’t have much that jumped out at me as being great. The most stand-out thing in this episode was how it built on the dynamic between Victor and the Penguin. However, the main conflict of Victor almost leaving Gotham didn’t feel as impactful as it should have been. This is because it was obvious that there was no way that the show would have one of the main characters permanently leave the setting in the third of eight episodes. Despite this grievance, I was still excited watching Victor make his climactic return when he saved the Penguin from the Maronis at the end of the episode.
Episode four is titled “Cent’Anni”, and is interesting for mostly being a flashback. The aspect of the flashback that intrigued me the most was seeing a young Carmine Falcone. Many of the characters in the show are related to him, but because Falcone is dead during the present of the show, the viewer previously couldn’t see those characters interact with him. With this flashback, the show could finally show how Sofia and Alberto acted while directly facing their father. Another important part of Falcone’s role in this flashback was the reveal that he had committed the hangman murders, not Sofia. This strays from one of the show’s source materials, namely Batman: Dark Victory, where Sofia truly was the hangman. Even though adaptations often become inferior when straying too far from their source material, this change worked well in the context of the show and The Batman. Previously, The Batman showed that Falcone had a tendency to strangle prostitutes to death. Making him the hangman ties back into that aspect of his character by showing that he has had that tendency for years. One final thing I enjoyed was seeing Kenzie, a corrupt cop from The Batman, show up in the flashback. While the scene itself wouldn’t have been changed if it was a different cop that worked for Falcone, this choice makes the universe of the movie and show feel more cohesive.
From these three episodes, it is clear that The Penguin will be able to continue its quality from episode one through the rest of the show. I am definitely looking forward to watching episode five now, not only because I am sure that it will be good, but also because of episode four’s very engaging cliff hanger.
