It cannot be overstated how vital it was that the writers steadfastly refused to go the tired “anti-hero” route and stuck to their guns to make Oz a true black hearted villain. We needed to hate him when it was all over and, holy shit, mission accomplished.
Same for Sophia. I feel like Hollywood lately has a fascination with anti heroes. Unrelated but related I watched the Griselda show on netflix and its about a drug queenpin who was an IRL person. The person IRL un-alived a kid and was happy about it. In the show they try to make her sympathetic and make it seem like it was an accident and she felt bad. Just let people be shown as who they were if they are a bad person there is no amount of shine you can add to that to make them “relatable”. Just make them a bad person.
I agree this show is fantastic, and something I loved about the show was that, yes Oz and Sophia were clearly bad people however, they didn’t make them so stereotypically evil that they didn’t have their human moments that made them relatable, albeit those moments were typically few and far between and when they were there, they were blink and you miss it type moments but, they did make them, if not relatable they did have their sympathetic moments which sympathetic moments is probably a better way of putting it now, that I think about it.
@@478Johnnyboyalso The same with some of Ryan Murphy’s shows where it seems like it kind of Glamorous the real life bad people like Serial Killers and so
I mean some people were mad that he killed Vic lol but it’s like what do u expect he’s a villian it’s only right it ends like that the kid should’ve never said he looked at him as family he should’ve kept the relationship business maybe than they would’ve kept going
Vic having the choice to leave was very reminiscent of Jesse when he realized his cigarette was missing in his pocket…little choices that if they had taken the alternate route, their lives would've gone dramatically better.
I noticed an Easter egg in episode 1. They show a store called Burgess Jewelry. A nod to Burgess Meredith who played The Penguin in the old school Batman tv show.
The events of the Penguin took place about a week or so after the events of The Batman, which means that Batman had just gotten the shit beat out of him (shotgun blast to the chest), Alfred was in the hospital, and the city was still in chaos after the attack. Most of the events that we see as the audience are being done at street level and not exactly out in the open, so not exactly on a beat up Batman's radar. The explosion at the end probably roused him and got him more interested in what was going on, hence the Bat signal at the very end. I actually like that Batman was only referenced twice throughout the whole series.
I love that they took a lot of inspiration from Tony Soprano in making Oz who he is, even his build is fairly reminiscent of Tony. Oz has so much depth to his character and there's so many parallels to him and Tony. Killing Vic / Killing Christopher, his relationship with his mother, him only fending for himself, it adds so much feel to it that gives Oz an amazing template and Colin Farrell completely killed it, stuck the landing. The scene where he kills Vic made me so enraged at him, it was like watching Gemma kill Tara in Sons of Anarchy, Walt poisoning Brock in Breaking Bad, or Shane killing Lem in The Shield, it had me enraged and hoping that character dies every time they're on screen. Absolute cinema.
I think he knew his brothers would die (more so drown) because there’s a shot where he looks at a jar filling up with water drops on the windowsill. I think this was how the director chose to hint to us the viewers
This show is way better than it has any right to be. I'm 5 episodes in and loving it. I also finally started watching The Bear. I'm very late to the party but I highly recommend if you haven't seen it yet!
Glad to see you got around to watching this masterclass in comic book television. It was awesome to see Cristin Milioti deliver a star making performance.
If somebody had told me that the asshole being held hostage by Kiefer Sutherland in Phone Booth would be portraying the Penguin in a grounded, gritty rendition of the Batman universe, I would never have believed them.
29:50 cool thing about that line is that I think it’s a callback to the note that the Riddler left to Batman telling him I’ll see you in hell in which case hell was Arkham
Thanks, Cody! I have this on my watchlist and I was curious, but I just have not gotten the opportunity to watch yet. That being said, I respect your opinion very much and I WILL BE WATCHING THIS SERIES BECAUSE OF YOU. I am sorry for the caps, but I am excited now. I hit the like as per usual. Oh, by the way, you're right. The timing of the release was a little weird and I do not think it was promoted enough. Have a good evening, Cody. You are appreciated. ADDENDUM; I really appreciate the "Breaking Bad" analogy because I DID have a little bit of a slight "Whats the hype about" kind of moments in the beginning to now I have to make sure I have MULTIPLE COPIES OF ALL THE SEASONS IN MY COLLECTION. I am going to binge this soon. I was bored looking at the streaming offerings and this is going to give me an excellent distraction when needed. This review was GREAT.
I'm SO GLAD that not only did Matt Reeves cook but Penguin got to be a full blown dick instead of some sad boi because it's okay to have a pure evil villain
I loved it too. This was the version of the penguin i was waiting for in live action in the batman. As much as I find danny devito sooo entertaining. Then they're like hold my beer you haven't seen shit yet. Amazing that ending with Victor a character we have known for only a few hours, and a total of 8 weeks, punched me in the gut more than watching my favorite character of all time batman die twice in the flash and that's amazing
I literally have no negatives with this show , it's just perfect it really has no flaw's whatsoever, The Cast is perfect, The story is perfect , the direction is perfect and also it has the same atmosphere of the batman, Colin Farrell s Penguin is probably top 5 best batman villains , Nothing to say A 10/10 Tv series for me ❤.
Penguins mom had him promise that if her dementia progressed to a point where she was just gone, that he would he kill her. He promised. Then she stabbed him, told him she knew he killed his brothers, it came out she wanted to have him killed, then she had the stroke and at the end & he kept her alive in a vegetative state... The last shot she's in on camera she's crying, a stream of tears is visible. The ultimate F-U from the penguin.
My dad saw The Batman and, like me, thought it was great. But when I showed him a pic of Colin without the makeup, he was so shocked that this was the same guy!
I loved this show and episodes 1-3 were good and when ep 4 happened oh I loved it S tier comic book content from that episode to the finale. Sofia Falcone was an amazing character and this show made the penguin so despicable and I loved it. Hated that he did our boy Vic dirty and honestly it shocked me bc his one moment of humanity blind sided me into thinking he would spare Vic but that moment that speech of family happened I knew it was over for him. Just A+ I loved the show sm. Made me even more excited for the Batman part 2 especially since they left in that scarecrow Easter egg in. Colin was perfect as the penguin.
I don't think we will ever see a show as well written, produced, and/or acted as Breaking Bad. I truly think it (and Better Call Saul) were once in a lifetime lightning in a bottle situations.
Better Call Saul got real boring, real quick. Season 1 was great, but overall the whole thing was just too much of a slow burn, sanitized version of BB
there is something i've said for a while: we need a comic or tv series showing street level crime in Gotham with Batman on the loose, you get to see how guys get out of these situations, the fear of The Batman and them trying to get out of the way and stay out of the Bats line of sight and avoid him
After the severe disappointment and my hatred of Joker 2, I LOVED this show. This is my favorite version of Gotham: it feels like Scorsese would make. Colin as Penguin was one of the highlights of The Batman (which is a great Batman movie anyway!).
I’d argue The High Evolutionary from GOTG 3 last year was a good example of letting villain be a villain in Marvel movies. Other than that though, it’s a totally fair criticism that most MCU villains are made to be somewhat sympathetic
The Batman was a good film, but has a few big problems that keeps it from being great. It could easily 45-60 minutes too long, and the third act doesn’t quite stick the landing. The Penguin however is incredible. The writing, acting, world building++ is amazing! Btw: The Batman 2 needs a hard R rating. The Penguin felt so much more realistic partly because of this.
With how great this show was it makes me hope the batman 2 and 3 are R rated(even though I doubt it), because the f bombs for a verse as real as this makes it way more realistic feeling.
@@imsentinelprime9279a torturer, human trafficker, grapist and kid diddler. The worst things you could be. More evil and despicable than murder or murderers
Vic getting killed was such good writing. He served two main purposes. He was a caretaker for Oz’s mom. And he helped with the drug trade. In the space of one episode, Oz no longer was directly in the drug game (his lab blew up and he got into politics) and his mom became a vegetable. He no longer had any use for Vic, and discarded him like a murderous sociopath would.
The Penguin is a freaking unicorn of a TV series. No woke shit, phenomenal writing, directing, acting, and it stands completely on its own. It wasn't constantly winking at the audience about its Batman connections. Any other show these days would have been talking to no end about how it was created by and written by a woman but not here. She did a magnificent job of storytelling here that felt like it came from Reeves himself. And the casting was perfection! Farrell and Milioti should get Golden Globes for this show. Vic and Francis were also phenomenal. There wasn't a single bad performance. Easily the best thing on television since Better Call Saul. Also, Cody, i am pretty sure you are on an island by yourself that the show wasn't good until episode 4. That is your hot take of the year by far. Had tons of friends and coworkers watching week by week and we couldn't stop praising it from the off.
Stop with the "woke" cr*p 🙄 everyone using it doesn't seem to note the irony of what it actually means and that makes them look painfully uneducated. You can speak positively on something without relying on this increasingly tired, contradictory term.
@ I did find it interesting that they both held off on watching the show, and then binged it within the last week. Maybe binging it gave them a different experience than the rest of us?
@_victaris_8581 That could definitely be it. i thought the first 3 episodes were very interesting because that was really the only time in the show where Oz is trying to maneuver through the full might of the Falcone and Maroni families while they all still think of him as a peon.
Show some respect to tony soprano, that’s where they got inspiration from and that’s where the Walter white inspiration came from also. The sopranos started all this 🐐
@ yes. Oswald has been around even before Tony was born and is an enemy to one of the most iconic characters of all time, he’s the same character. Danny & Colin portrayed differently but it’s still the same exact character nonetheless. He’s much more smarter, too bad
I've got one nitpick of my own, which is that while Mark Strong did a good job, I really missed Turturro as Falcone. Everything else they did was pretty great for the most part.
SPOILER ALERT !!!!! I love the last shot of the show. When mama prostitute ( which is disturbing btw) says, " No one can touch you now," and the penguin that we all know is born, that bat signal comes on. So good.
Yeah! The Batman is always in Gotham when the going gets tough (which is pretty much 24/7 in Gotham). I haven't seen the last couple of episodes, was assuming Bats would show up for a cameo.
The character of Ozwald is written with a knowledge of psychology that is referencing Psychopathy as his disabling foundation, and Narcissistic Personality Disorder which naturally grows from that foundation.
Man I have been so curious what your thoughts were on this show! I’m glad you enjoyed it as much as I did! Definitely my favorite show of the year so far! Great review man!
What I love most about this show is that it shows a Villain being a REAL VILLAIN! Not an anti-hero, a PURE VILLAIN! The flashback sequence of the Penguin as a kid was so twisted showing that he was a psychotic piece of crap! Sofia fate was even worse than death is going back to the place that turned her into a monster, but for me, His Mom's fate is BEYOND Worse than dying! After horrible act he did to Vic, I want Batman to beat the crap out of him in the sequel! Overall, I loved this show! It's honestly one of my favorite DC series, and I will definitely bench the show again. Loved it and I CAN NOT WAIT FOR THE BATMAN 2!!
Been waiting for this! But ultimately I knew you were gonna think this show was the shit! 😂 Been a big fan of you for years. So glad to finally have a RUclips channel that is constantly on my level 🤟
I am thinking that he is this Universe's Scarecrow....maybe he changed his name because of how the Crane name is considered toxic because of his father. I hope that's it...I'm not a big fan of them changing names of established characters just because.
Finally got around to binging the show during the weekend.....jeez, that was awesome. Yeah, if DC want to keep allowing this type of story to go forward, we're talking a game changer.
First movie/tv series I can ever remember, that had a Cure track included. When Oz was opening up the tunnels...."A Forrest" by The Cure was playing. Masterpiece of an album entitled 17 Seconds. This was when The Cure was at their best...They were very dark, not the newer poppy sheeet they have made lately.
NGL the last episode felt like the end of both of the godfathers. He killed all of his enemies in one fell swoop but right after he had to kill someone near and dear to him.
26:20 I can see where you're coming from. I see it as Oz banking on people around him underestimating him and his ability to do what he can to get out of any situation. He thinks on his busted ass feet
My only thing with the bomb scene in Crown Point I will say and kind of is a staple for Batman in a whole, not sure if the showrunners did it on purpose. It happens in the middle of the day and while we get a moment in THE BATMAN movie where he is out doing stuff mid day, all purposes related to that event, Bruce Wayne maybe busy. I cannot say that is what is truly going on that moment, and would be cool to see Pattenson's Batman essentially doing his detective thing in the next time we see him in regards to that event, but it also does to some degree make sense that he would not have shown up also. I do not know but could be food for thought on that scene because from the time to bomb goes off to the infamous club scene with the characters, it is day time. Batman kind of stands out in the morning a bit, would be cool if the showrunners actually put that into consideration though.
SPOILER ALERT I was hooked as soon as Oz killed Alberto in the very first episode. That was so well done imo. I assumed Alberto was going to be a main character, so I didn't see that coming at all. Lol. Followed by him saying "fuck!" leading into the title card. 😂 Soo good!
Even though it was sad and not entirely unexpected, I'm glad the writers decided to go with *that* direction at the end. It's a reminder that, while the Penguin does have some humanity to him, at the end of the day, he's an evil scumbag who will always put himself first and doesn't care who he has to step on to succeed. Very true to the comics.
Another thing that they do with the show is show all of Oz's promises lead to nothing. He promises Eve that Sofia wont come for her. He promises his mother he'd kill her if she ended up in this type of situation. He promised Vic that everyone would know his name, but ultimately throwing the ID and Vic killing the only person in the city who couldve IDd him
Great series. The acting and the storytelling was absolutely amazing. This show better win some emmys, for the leads and the show. That ending waa insane.🤯 TERRANCE OUT
@@jacobyrassilon Succession, Better Call Saul, Dark, The Leftovers, Shogun, Mindhunter, Westworld (s1), Peaky Blinders, Severance even TLOU are all better, which I’d assume the majority agree with. Not saying it’s bad by any means but a very solid show, nothing more
@@NotSoRandom_considering that I have seen most of the shows you stated, nope, penguin is better, well, better call saul is better, that i agree. I haven't seen severance, heard good things about it and it's directed by Ben stiller, who i consider an underrated creative force. I haven't seen last of us either. Maybe your tastes are different, but mind hunter is definitely not on this discussion. That's an 8/10 show for me
I know what you mean about the lack of Batman in the season but when those 2 big Easter Eggs happen at the end of episode 8, I literally screamed " finally, we got it "
23:22 TOTALLY TOTALLY 100% disagree with this. i was so worried they’d do the big movie studio thing where every 5 minutes it’s like “ahh you remember when this happened in our other movie? Remember Superman ? Remember Batman!? They’re in this universe too” i’m so glad they saved any mention of Batman and Catwoman and all that until the very end. There were points where i completely forgot this was even a based on a comic book because the story, writing and acting had me so hooked on what was happening. my favorite part of the finale is when he’s showing his mom the view of the city after he’s “won” and you see her shed a tear. because it’s like is she doing this because she’s happy and proud of him finally ? or is she crying because she’s disgusted with him for what he did and still hates him ? questions like that at the end of a show bring light to the fact that the writing is superb.
Besides the show being a little predictable, because we all know how and where it has to land. Not to mention certain characters that won’t be a part of the movies. The show was a powerful platform for The Penguin and to setup the criminal underbelly of Gotham. I felt like the quality remained consistent all the way through and not one episode was a waste or filler. I loved that it gave us so much background for the Penguin without changing him to much. Ultimately changing his motivations, over giving him a typical character arc. He remained a villain and that ending reminded you of why he will always be a villain. I loved that they intentionally tricked audiences into assuming he will become an anti-hero. To allow the last few minutes to break your expectations and leave it as a rememberable ending to the season. Solid 9/10, due to some very nitpicky writing moments and the fact that the show does pull a lot of influence from other influential series to push its narrative along. Can’t wait for The Batman 2 to come along and blow these two projects higher into the stratosphere.
This show hit different for me watching the 90s Batman animated series basically being invested in every movie and game I love this show from the get go !!!
Hey Cody, while we’re on the topic of the penguin. A couple years ago I sent you some action figures for one of your fan mail videos, one of which was a penguin figure, I was wondering if you happen to remember it? Also love ur videos, keep up the good work!
One hundred percent it’s rare to see writers and the team to fully commit to keeping a villain making horrible choices. The penguin is such a well written character and they fully commit to him being a bad guy.
I felt that Vic’s fate would happen. Oz being cynical throughout the series and his mom encouraging him to be bad, it would make sense he would have to cut ties with things that make him “soft”. Great series, so far 🎉
It cannot be overstated how vital it was that the writers steadfastly refused to go the tired “anti-hero” route and stuck to their guns to make Oz a true black hearted villain. We needed to hate him when it was all over and, holy shit, mission accomplished.
Same for Sophia. I feel like Hollywood lately has a fascination with anti heroes.
Unrelated but related I watched the Griselda show on netflix and its about a drug queenpin who was an IRL person.
The person IRL un-alived a kid and was happy about it. In the show they try to make her sympathetic and make it seem like it was an accident and she felt bad.
Just let people be shown as who they were if they are a bad person there is no amount of shine you can add to that to make them “relatable”. Just make them a bad person.
Disney should take notes.
I agree this show is fantastic, and something I loved about the show was that, yes Oz and Sophia were clearly bad people however, they didn’t make them so stereotypically evil that they didn’t have their human moments that made them relatable, albeit those moments were typically few and far between and when they were there, they were blink and you miss it type moments but, they did make them, if not relatable they did have their sympathetic moments which sympathetic moments is probably a better way of putting it now, that I think about it.
@@478Johnnyboyalso The same with some of Ryan Murphy’s shows where it seems like it kind of Glamorous the real life bad people like Serial Killers and so
I mean some people were mad that he killed Vic lol but it’s like what do u expect he’s a villian it’s only right it ends like that the kid should’ve never said he looked at him as family he should’ve kept the relationship business maybe than they would’ve kept going
Colin Farrell and Cristin Milioti BETTER win Emmys next year. The whole cast was great.
Yesss
A million times
Or even golden globes
Finally a comic book movie/tv show where the VILLAIN is actually a VILLAIN. I love how the writing makes it hard to root for him.
Vic having the choice to leave was very reminiscent of Jesse when he realized his cigarette was missing in his pocket…little choices that if they had taken the alternate route, their lives would've gone dramatically better.
I was reminded of the driver in the movie Heat as well. Opportunity to get out of the crime life and make the right choice not taken
@@col2281the action is the juice 💯
He should have left for
California with Graciela.
I noticed an Easter egg in episode 1. They show a store called Burgess Jewelry. A nod to Burgess Meredith who played The Penguin in the old school Batman tv show.
Good catch 😊
The events of the Penguin took place about a week or so after the events of The Batman, which means that Batman had just gotten the shit beat out of him (shotgun blast to the chest), Alfred was in the hospital, and the city was still in chaos after the attack. Most of the events that we see as the audience are being done at street level and not exactly out in the open, so not exactly on a beat up Batman's radar. The explosion at the end probably roused him and got him more interested in what was going on, hence the Bat signal at the very end. I actually like that Batman was only referenced twice throughout the whole series.
Great points. Not having Batman referenced too much let the show breathe.
I love that they took a lot of inspiration from Tony Soprano in making Oz who he is, even his build is fairly reminiscent of Tony. Oz has so much depth to his character and there's so many parallels to him and Tony. Killing Vic / Killing Christopher, his relationship with his mother, him only fending for himself, it adds so much feel to it that gives Oz an amazing template and Colin Farrell completely killed it, stuck the landing. The scene where he kills Vic made me so enraged at him, it was like watching Gemma kill Tara in Sons of Anarchy, Walt poisoning Brock in Breaking Bad, or Shane killing Lem in The Shield, it had me enraged and hoping that character dies every time they're on screen. Absolute cinema.
That last scene with Vic still has me shook up. Great review 👌
The director cared for the IP, and it showed.
It is Batman …. lmao
It’s the same director that’s doing the movies dummy
@@croatiankid6595he is the producer, another person is the director
They've done a great job of world building for the next batman. This show was damn near perfect.
I think he knew his brothers would die (more so drown) because there’s a shot where he looks at a jar filling up with water drops on the windowsill. I think this was how the director chose to hint to us the viewers
😂😂😂
@@ericg1100?
@@IZEZTY its the most super obvious foreshadowing in anything ever lol
I missed that.
The Penguin is pure evil. Now I can’t wait for Batman 2 because this guy needs to be stopped!
I’ve been waiting for this. I loved this show. Love the channel, keep up the great work!
Arkham Asylum, Cold Cold Heart, and Court of Owls should be adapted one way or another by this Batman/Penguin universe
I feel like everything is leading up to Court of Owls being in The Batman 2.
@@joelmbaumgartneryes it seem like it
I wanna see night cries adapted but I doubt they go that route.
10/10 Masterpiece in my eyes. I cannot wait for more out of this universe that I am fully onboard for. Really hope this show sweeps the Emmy’s
This show is way better than it has any right to be. I'm 5 episodes in and loving it. I also finally started watching The Bear. I'm very late to the party but I highly recommend if you haven't seen it yet!
The bear is fantastic
When eve says no one can stop you now and the batman signal lights up I'm like no one except the batman!
Thanks for the reaction Cody! You inspired me to make my channel horror centric.
Glad to see you got around to watching this masterclass in comic book television. It was awesome to see Cristin Milioti deliver a star making performance.
If somebody had told me that the asshole being held hostage by Kiefer Sutherland in Phone Booth would be portraying the Penguin in a grounded, gritty rendition of the Batman universe, I would never have believed them.
Developed into a great actor. Also liked him In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths
In Bruges is one of the best movies ever made. I’ve so glad that this show will give Colin more notoriety.
Don't forget he was bullseye in that other movie
29:50 cool thing about that line is that I think it’s a callback to the note that the Riddler left to Batman telling him I’ll see you in hell in which case hell was Arkham
Thanks, Cody! I have this on my watchlist and I was curious, but I just have not gotten the opportunity to watch yet. That being said, I respect your opinion very much and I WILL BE WATCHING THIS SERIES BECAUSE OF YOU. I am sorry for the caps, but I am excited now. I hit the like as per usual. Oh, by the way, you're right. The timing of the release was a little weird and I do not think it was promoted enough. Have a good evening, Cody. You are appreciated. ADDENDUM; I really appreciate the "Breaking Bad" analogy because I DID have a little bit of a slight "Whats the hype about" kind of moments in the beginning to now I have to make sure I have MULTIPLE COPIES OF ALL THE SEASONS IN MY COLLECTION. I am going to binge this soon. I was bored looking at the streaming offerings and this is going to give me an excellent distraction when needed. This review was GREAT.
I'm SO GLAD that not only did Matt Reeves cook but Penguin got to be a full blown dick instead of some sad boi because it's okay to have a pure evil villain
I mean, he is still a sad boi. Just delusional enough not to realise it
Best show of the year!!!!! 👍🏾🙌
FINALLY! I WANTED AN EPISODIC REVIEWWWW
I loved it too. This was the version of the penguin i was waiting for in live action in the batman. As much as I find danny devito sooo entertaining. Then they're like hold my beer you haven't seen shit yet. Amazing that ending with Victor a character we have known for only a few hours, and a total of 8 weeks, punched me in the gut more than watching my favorite character of all time batman die twice in the flash and that's amazing
I cant wait to see how this gritty version of the Penguin uses his gadgets- the top hat, machine gun umbrella etc
I literally have no negatives with this show , it's just perfect it really has no flaw's whatsoever, The Cast is perfect, The story is perfect , the direction is perfect and also it has the same atmosphere of the batman, Colin Farrell s Penguin is probably top 5 best batman villains , Nothing to say A 10/10 Tv series for me ❤.
Penguins mom had him promise that if her dementia progressed to a point where she was just gone, that he would he kill her. He promised. Then she stabbed him, told him she knew he killed his brothers, it came out she wanted to have him killed, then she had the stroke and at the end & he kept her alive in a vegetative state... The last shot she's in on camera she's crying, a stream of tears is visible. The ultimate F-U from the penguin.
My dad saw The Batman and, like me, thought it was great. But when I showed him a pic of Colin without the makeup, he was so shocked that this was the same guy!
LETS GOOOO. I was hoping for this review. 🔥
I loved this show and episodes 1-3 were good and when ep 4 happened oh I loved it S tier comic book content from that episode to the finale. Sofia Falcone was an amazing character and this show made the penguin so despicable and I loved it. Hated that he did our boy Vic dirty and honestly it shocked me bc his one moment of humanity blind sided me into thinking he would spare Vic but that moment that speech of family happened I knew it was over for him. Just A+ I loved the show sm. Made me even more excited for the Batman part 2 especially since they left in that scarecrow Easter egg in. Colin was perfect as the penguin.
I don't think we will ever see a show as well written, produced, and/or acted as Breaking Bad. I truly think it (and Better Call Saul) were once in a lifetime lightning in a bottle situations.
Better Call Saul got real boring, real quick. Season 1 was great, but overall the whole thing was just too much of a slow burn, sanitized version of BB
This series made The Batman even better!
It's more like The Sopranos than Breaking Bad
Exactly the thumbnail references breaking bad but it’s like the sopranos wayyyyy more
Now this is how you f'ing do comic book adaptations. This was amazing.
The Penguin is my favorite show of the year so far.
there is something i've said for a while: we need a comic or tv series showing street level crime in Gotham with Batman on the loose, you get to see how guys get out of these situations, the fear of The Batman and them trying to get out of the way and stay out of the Bats line of sight and avoid him
After the severe disappointment and my hatred of Joker 2, I LOVED this show. This is my favorite version of Gotham: it feels like Scorsese would make. Colin as Penguin was one of the highlights of The Batman (which is a great Batman movie anyway!).
I’d argue The High Evolutionary from GOTG 3 last year was a good example of letting villain be a villain in Marvel movies. Other than that though, it’s a totally fair criticism that most MCU villains are made to be somewhat sympathetic
That was exactly my thought. He was just wonderfully evil
Thanos should've been but they changed his character a lot.
The Batman was a good film, but has a few big problems that keeps it from being great. It could easily 45-60 minutes too long, and the third act doesn’t quite stick the landing.
The Penguin however is incredible. The writing, acting, world building++ is amazing!
Btw: The Batman 2 needs a hard R rating. The Penguin felt so much more realistic partly because of this.
With how great this show was it makes me hope the batman 2 and 3 are R rated(even though I doubt it), because the f bombs for a verse as real as this makes it way more realistic feeling.
Show was a masterpiece oz did vic dirty though
Yeah, I’m still processing. Considering what he did to his brothers, how did we NOT see that coming???
If they made us hate Oz in this shows. I can’t imagine how sick and twisted this version of Joker is going to be!
I imagine this universe version of joker, would be a kid diddler
@@imsentinelprime9279a torturer, human trafficker, grapist and kid diddler. The worst things you could be. More evil and despicable than murder or murderers
Vic getting killed was such good writing. He served two main purposes. He was a caretaker for Oz’s mom. And he helped with the drug trade. In the space of one episode, Oz no longer was directly in the drug game (his lab blew up and he got into politics) and his mom became a vegetable. He no longer had any use for Vic, and discarded him like a murderous sociopath would.
The Penguin is a freaking unicorn of a TV series. No woke shit, phenomenal writing, directing, acting, and it stands completely on its own. It wasn't constantly winking at the audience about its Batman connections. Any other show these days would have been talking to no end about how it was created by and written by a woman but not here. She did a magnificent job of storytelling here that felt like it came from Reeves himself. And the casting was perfection! Farrell and Milioti should get Golden Globes for this show. Vic and Francis were also phenomenal. There wasn't a single bad performance. Easily the best thing on television since Better Call Saul.
Also, Cody, i am pretty sure you are on an island by yourself that the show wasn't good until episode 4. That is your hot take of the year by far. Had tons of friends and coworkers watching week by week and we couldn't stop praising it from the off.
Stop with the "woke" cr*p 🙄 everyone using it doesn't seem to note the irony of what it actually means and that makes them look painfully uneducated. You can speak positively on something without relying on this increasingly tired, contradictory term.
Sean Chandler also took a while to get into the show.
@_victaris_8581 Weird, maybe my standards are just low...or theirs are too high😅
@ I did find it interesting that they both held off on watching the show, and then binged it within the last week. Maybe binging it gave them a different experience than the rest of us?
@_victaris_8581 That could definitely be it. i thought the first 3 episodes were very interesting because that was really the only time in the show where Oz is trying to maneuver through the full might of the Falcone and Maroni families while they all still think of him as a peon.
Show some respect to tony soprano, that’s where they got inspiration from and that’s where the Walter white inspiration came from also. The sopranos started all this 🐐
I started watching the Sopranos after I finished the Penguin. Love both
Well no, Oz did (HBO) Tony Soprano is a great character but Oswald Cobb is more iconic and recognizable
@@kainlives7958 no lol
@ yes. Oswald has been around even before Tony was born and is an enemy to one of the most iconic characters of all time, he’s the same character. Danny & Colin portrayed differently but it’s still the same exact character nonetheless. He’s much more smarter, too bad
I've got one nitpick of my own, which is that while Mark Strong did a good job, I really missed Turturro as Falcone. Everything else they did was pretty great for the most part.
I feel Strong was a "strong" replacement. He had a more intimidating look and presence than Turturro.
SPOILER ALERT !!!!!
I love the last shot of the show. When mama prostitute ( which is disturbing btw) says, " No one can touch you now," and the penguin that we all know is born, that bat signal comes on. So good.
Yeah! The Batman is always in Gotham when the going gets tough (which is pretty much 24/7 in Gotham). I haven't seen the last couple of episodes, was assuming Bats would show up for a cameo.
By that thumbnail I can tell you love it because Breaking Bad is regarded as the best television show ever 😂
Um, no. It's a great show, but no where near the "best" television show ever.
@ that’s your opinion cuh
@@jacobyrassilonI don’t think it’s the best either but very good.
I loved The Penguin season 1
The finale somewhat felt rushed but content and filmmaking wise this was fantastic. Cant wait to see this Epic Crime Saga continue
The character of Ozwald is written with a knowledge of psychology that is referencing Psychopathy as his disabling foundation, and Narcissistic Personality Disorder which naturally grows from that foundation.
I see Penguin not as diabolical, but just stone cold to the core.
Man I have been so curious what your thoughts were on this show! I’m glad you enjoyed it as much as I did! Definitely my favorite show of the year so far! Great review man!
Batman universe once again carrying DC on its back
Always has always will. There isn't a better superhero than Batman
There are so many characters I love in the comics but they just can't get any of them right.
What I love most about this show is that it shows a Villain being a REAL VILLAIN! Not an anti-hero, a PURE VILLAIN! The flashback sequence of the Penguin as a kid was so twisted showing that he was a psychotic piece of crap! Sofia fate was even worse than death is going back to the place that turned her into a monster, but for me, His Mom's fate is BEYOND Worse than dying! After horrible act he did to Vic, I want Batman to beat the crap out of him in the sequel! Overall, I loved this show! It's honestly one of my favorite DC series, and I will definitely bench the show again. Loved it and I CAN NOT WAIT FOR THE BATMAN 2!!
Been waiting for this! But ultimately I knew you were gonna think this show was the shit! 😂 Been a big fan of you for years. So glad to finally have a RUclips channel that is constantly on my level 🤟
I have always said that Colin Farrel has always been a character actor trapped in lead actor body.
Theo Rossi’s character was my only negative thing in this masterpiece of a show.
Unless he has a HUGE part in The Batman Part II, he seems like a plot contrivance whose only use was letting us see Francis’s flashbacks.
I am thinking that he is this Universe's Scarecrow....maybe he changed his name because of how the Crane name is considered toxic because of his father. I hope that's it...I'm not a big fan of them changing names of established characters just because.
Finally you did content on this show 😂,it's absolutely amazing man I expected this to be good but holy sh*t did they nail this,9.5/10 for me
17:07 The backstory with his mother and brothers is based on the comic Penguin Pain and Prejudice.
Fantastic show and A+ performances + writing. Such a pleasant surprise
Finally got around to binging the show during the weekend.....jeez, that was awesome. Yeah, if DC want to keep allowing this type of story to go forward, we're talking a game changer.
I really wasn’t on board until ep 4 as well. I promised myself to hang in there.
Are we getting a debrief for The New Breed 31 on 31?
Hopefully this show teaches DC and WB that not everything Batman related has to revolve around The Joker.
First movie/tv series I can ever remember, that had a Cure track included. When Oz was opening up the tunnels...."A Forrest" by The Cure was playing. Masterpiece of an album entitled 17 Seconds. This was when The Cure was at their best...They were very dark, not the newer poppy sheeet they have made lately.
I've been waiting for this!!
The greatest comic book show of all time.
NGL the last episode felt like the end of both of the godfathers. He killed all of his enemies in one fell swoop but right after he had to kill someone near and dear to him.
26:20 I can see where you're coming from. I see it as Oz banking on people around him underestimating him and his ability to do what he can to get out of any situation. He thinks on his busted ass feet
My only thing with the bomb scene in Crown Point I will say and kind of is a staple for Batman in a whole, not sure if the showrunners did it on purpose. It happens in the middle of the day and while we get a moment in THE BATMAN movie where he is out doing stuff mid day, all purposes related to that event, Bruce Wayne maybe busy. I cannot say that is what is truly going on that moment, and would be cool to see Pattenson's Batman essentially doing his detective thing in the next time we see him in regards to that event, but it also does to some degree make sense that he would not have shown up also. I do not know but could be food for thought on that scene because from the time to bomb goes off to the infamous club scene with the characters, it is day time. Batman kind of stands out in the morning a bit, would be cool if the showrunners actually put that into consideration though.
SPOILER ALERT
I was hooked as soon as Oz killed Alberto in the very first episode. That was so well done imo. I assumed Alberto was going to be a main character, so I didn't see that coming at all. Lol. Followed by him saying "fuck!" leading into the title card. 😂 Soo good!
Even though it was sad and not entirely unexpected, I'm glad the writers decided to go with *that* direction at the end. It's a reminder that, while the Penguin does have some humanity to him, at the end of the day, he's an evil scumbag who will always put himself first and doesn't care who he has to step on to succeed. Very true to the comics.
Another thing that they do with the show is show all of Oz's promises lead to nothing. He promises Eve that Sofia wont come for her.
He promises his mother he'd kill her if she ended up in this type of situation.
He promised Vic that everyone would know his name, but ultimately throwing the ID and Vic killing the only person in the city who couldve IDd him
I was wondering if you were gonna cover this!❤❤
Great series. The acting and the storytelling was absolutely amazing. This show better win some emmys, for the leads and the show. That ending waa insane.🤯
TERRANCE OUT
I loved this show, too. I can't believe what Cobb did. Can't wait to see more
Was a big fan of the show, a solid 8/10. But some people are overdoing it as the majority usually do straight after the release of a show
I don't think it is overstated at all.
As someone who wasn't even a big fan of The Batman.......people are not over exaggerating
This show was the best thing I've seen since S1 of Game of Thrones. Not overstated in the least.
@@jacobyrassilon Succession, Better Call Saul, Dark, The Leftovers, Shogun, Mindhunter, Westworld (s1), Peaky Blinders, Severance even TLOU are all better, which I’d assume the majority agree with. Not saying it’s bad by any means but a very solid show, nothing more
@@NotSoRandom_considering that I have seen most of the shows you stated, nope, penguin is better, well, better call saul is better, that i agree. I haven't seen severance, heard good things about it and it's directed by Ben stiller, who i consider an underrated creative force. I haven't seen last of us either. Maybe your tastes are different, but mind hunter is definitely not on this discussion. That's an 8/10 show for me
Great review - I might actually check this out since I love the Batman 🦇
I know what you mean about the lack of Batman in the season but when those 2 big Easter Eggs happen at the end of episode 8, I literally screamed " finally, we got it "
23:22 TOTALLY TOTALLY 100% disagree with this. i was so worried they’d do the big movie studio thing where every 5 minutes it’s like “ahh you remember when this happened in our other movie? Remember Superman ? Remember Batman!? They’re in this universe too” i’m so glad they saved any mention of Batman and Catwoman and all that until the very end. There were points where i completely forgot this was even a based on a comic book because the story, writing and acting had me so hooked on what was happening.
my favorite part of the finale is when he’s showing his mom the view of the city after he’s “won” and you see her shed a tear. because it’s like is she doing this because she’s happy and proud of him finally ? or is she crying because she’s disgusted with him for what he did and still hates him ? questions like that at the end of a show bring light to the fact that the writing is superb.
Besides the show being a little predictable, because we all know how and where it has to land. Not to mention certain characters that won’t be a part of the movies. The show was a powerful platform for The Penguin and to setup the criminal underbelly of Gotham. I felt like the quality remained consistent all the way through and not one episode was a waste or filler. I loved that it gave us so much background for the Penguin without changing him to much. Ultimately changing his motivations, over giving him a typical character arc. He remained a villain and that ending reminded you of why he will always be a villain. I loved that they intentionally tricked audiences into assuming he will become an anti-hero. To allow the last few minutes to break your expectations and leave it as a rememberable ending to the season. Solid 9/10, due to some very nitpicky writing moments and the fact that the show does pull a lot of influence from other influential series to push its narrative along. Can’t wait for The Batman 2 to come along and blow these two projects higher into the stratosphere.
This show hit different for me watching the 90s Batman animated series basically being invested in every movie and game I love this show from the get go !!!
the penguin was the ultimate slimeball that reminded you that even tho we like him hes still a
“ Bat man villain “
This feels a lot more like The Sopranos to me.
It was heavily influenced by sopranos.
Hey Cody, while we’re on the topic of the penguin. A couple years ago I sent you some action figures for one of your fan mail videos, one of which was a penguin figure, I was wondering if you happen to remember it? Also love ur videos, keep up the good work!
This show was 🔥
Perfect continuation from The Batman and a perfect transition into The Batman 2.
YEAS HE POSTED
One hundred percent it’s rare to see writers and the team to fully commit to keeping a villain making horrible choices. The penguin is such a well written character and they fully commit to him being a bad guy.
I felt that Vic’s fate would happen. Oz being cynical throughout the series and his mom encouraging him to be bad, it would make sense he would have to cut ties with things that make him “soft”. Great series, so far 🎉
I'm going to need batman hit penguin with the 10 piece combo no biscuit in the batman 2 after that finale.
Fuck it. I just pre-ordered Season 1 on BluRay (Blind purchase).
Dude when he watched the flame go and burn 🔥 those two with a lil smerk on his face ... awesome
Amazing show
Glad you loved it, thought you would. I did too. Still not sure what IGN were thinking with their reviews
Same here, It just dropped at totally the wrong time for me but gonna binge watch it later.
Surely the Penguin is gonna kill Eve once he finds out that she sold him out to Sofia in Crown Point.
I thought he was at the very end