Review of The Penguin(HBO Series), Played By Collin Farrell

The Penguin, played by Collin Farrell has just come to an end, and least to say it was an epic finale. If you are a fan of comic books, especially Batman and Gotham from DC Comics, you know that Hollywood never found the perfect actor to play Batman’s character. Several A-list celebrities have tried over time, but none of them succeeded in extracting the true essence of the superhero, who was a billionaire and womanizer in the day and a Dark Knight vigilante in the night.

But sometimes the casting is done so perfectly that it amazes the audience and critics. It seems like that the actor was born to play a certain role (like Henry Cavil for Superman). This time they got it right as they cast Collin Farrell as Oswald Cob aka The Penguin. The transition seems flawless as the makeup crew transforms Collin Farrell into this amazing and unrecognizable figure that the audience could not even believe. 

Cast and Crew

Collin Farrell is cast as the main lead, The Penguin, who has a disfigured body and runs a small-time operation of drugs, goes by the name Oswald Cob. He worked as Falcone’s driver and climbed into the ranks by gaining their trust.

Cristin Milioti plays Sofia Falcone, for whom Oswald Cob was a driver. She has spent ten years in Arkham Asylum, Gotham’s psychiatric hospital because of her father(which will be explained in the story), and she is out for revenge for whoever killed her brother.

Rhenzy Feliz plays Victor, a young teenage boy whose family has been killed in the flood tragedy, who Oswald Cob takes into mentorship after he finds him steeling his tires. The character of Victor is of very importance as it makes a monster-like creature Oswald, look humane.

These are mainly the characters the story revolves around. Other characters include Clancy Brown, who plays Persian gangster Salvator, Mark Strong as Carmine Falcone(Sofia’s father), Deirdre O’Connell as Francis Cob(Penguin’s mother), and Theo Rossi as Dr.Julian Rush who is a doctor at Arkham Asylum.

The Plot

The story revolves around how a disfigured-bodied small-time driver of a mafia boss’s daughter, becomes the most powerful mafia boss by defeating all the big gangs. Defying all the odds with his cunning and cutthroat nature he takes everything that he thinks he deserves. He starts with Alberto Falcone who just became the head of the Falcon family after the death of his father Carmine Falcone, because he disrespected him.

After he dumps the body he plays the game of cat and mouse with all of the crime families including Sofia, who is now out of the Arkham Asylum and seeking the murderer of her brother. Many times The Penguin gets inches away from the death, but he manages to get out every single time. The business of drugs is all that he knows about and he builds the biggest drug ring in the city using the mafia for his benefit and changing directions as the wind flows. 

The drama shows the fictional character Penguin’s ambitions, to achieve the highest position in society which evolves from his childhood trauma and special needs. He is hell-bent to prove and provide for his mother everything she didn’t have in her life throughout her adulthood.

But there also is a monstrosity that is part of his nature which he cannot escape from. That is why he is destined to betray his allies, even those who he loves the most. The drama maneuvers through his humanity and wickedness brilliantly and just shows the capability of the writer and director which is just mindblowing.

Performance

The drama performed very well and was well received by the audience. First, the makeup transformation of Collin Farrell went viral, it really looked like some other human being to be honest. Then there was the plot of the drama which started to captivate the audience, which kept increasing until the finale which was seen by a whopping 2.1 million viewers on HBO.

The success of the show just proves that innovation and great writing are well received by the audience, Hollywood should just pay attention to it. It could get comic book adaptation fans to watch it and love it, especially at a time like this when superhero fatigue is all-time high and shows like Rings of Power and Agatha All Along just flopped due to poor writing.

Sad to say that The Penguin, which is an eight-episode miniseries, has come to an end, but season 2 has already been expected by the wide audience that the show generated over such a short period. It is an amazing production in every way whether it is writing, casting, or even directing, it is just epic. Go watch it yourself, we highly recommend it.         For more of our content, visit our website.