Though the new HBO Max series The Penguin is obviously a hyper-gritty take on DC’s Batman universe set in a world created by Matt Reeves, I can’t stop laughing at 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 fast you might miss them, fired off like the bang snaps a kid slams on the sidewalk that then explode with a sharp crack. Most of these are led by Colin Farrell, who is unrecognizable in his role as Oz Cobb aka The Penguin, and they add the briefest moments of levity to an otherwise heavy crime drama.
The most recent episode begins with a tragedy: The flooding of Gotham by the Riddler, first seen in 2022’s The Batman. We see how it affects Oz’s reluctant new henchman, Vic (Rhenzy Feliz), who over the course of the episode slowly settles into his role, discovering he might actually like being so flush with cash he can pay off cops. It’s also the start of Oz’s partnership with the deliciously unhinged Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti), who seems to be perpetually on the precipice of killing someone in her line of sight, like a coiled cobra in the grass. But despite all the tension simmering through episode three, 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 that she smuggled out of Arkham. As an eccentric chemist explains the drug, cultivated from some freaky-looking mushrooms, in increasingly more scientific ways, he throws a few Latin words out there. Oz immediately snaps, “what the fuck you say to me?” like Tony Soprano with his hand on the butt of a gun. I guffawed.
Moments before that, Sofia shows up at Oz’s apartment, where a terrified Vic is forced to play the gracious host. She moves around the room, clearly disgusted by Oz’s interior decorating choices, picking up a remote like it’s covered in toxic waste. Vic goes to tell her what it’s for, but before he can finish, she clicks it and a huge electric fireplace kicks on. “Tacky,” she mumbles.
She’s not here to hang out though, they have an errand to run. Oz instructs Vic to remain in his apartment instead of tagging along. “Stay put,” he says, closing the door behind him. He opens it again immediately after and hisses, “If you do anything stupid, I’ll sense it.” It’s a master class, guys.
Though the rest of the episode is pretty high-stakes, there are consistent dashes of humor sprinkled throughout that consistently startle a peal of laughter out of me: Oz responding to a rival gang leader asking if they’re staring a coup with “What are you, reading books or somethin’?”, Vic splitting a gunman nearly in half with Oz’s plum-colored Maserati (it’s not purple, as he reminds us in episode one) just when you think our Penguin is done for, and Oz responding “fuck it, leave her,” when Vic asks what they should do about Sofia, who was also in the line of fire. They speed away in the destroyed Maserati while “Me And The Devil” plays.
Every single episode of The Penguin thus far has been like this—terribly tense mobster moments that Oz gets out of by the skin of his one gold tooth, punctuated by surprisingly riotous riffs. It’s the best show on TV right now, and surprisingly one of the funniest. The fourth episode of The Penguin airs on Max on Sunday, October 13.
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