Gotham City is underwater. For those who breathe the rarified air high above her streets — folks like Bruce Wayne and the Falcones — the aftermath is only felt in the power vacuum left behind by a fallen father. For the many who live on Gotham’s street level, chaos reigns.
To anyone who’s spent any amount of time in any version of this city, the succession of news voices and flashes of chaotic footage that orient us in the maelstrom of urban decay will be all too familiar. That’s because we’re in Matt Reeves’ The Batman Universe (recently rebranded the “ Batman Epic Crime Saga “), the latest in a long line of WB/DC projects to secure a healthy series-length expansion on HBO/Max. Under the careful narrative direction of showrunner Lauren LeFranc, The Penguin casts Colin Farrell’s Oswald Cobb in a monstrous (but recognizably human) “rise to power” arch that feels as comfortable presented alongside the HBO crime-drama canon as it does such DC villain-centered fare as Peacemaker or Harley Quinn .
We find Oswald Cobb exactly where we left him in Matt Reeves’ The Batman , looking out over the city, perched in the no man’s land between worlds, the city between two cities. “Things will get worse before they get better,” says Batman’s voiceover at the end of the film, over the same shot of Oz that opens The Penguin . “And some will seize the chance to grab everything they can.
” Oz sees his opening through the Riddler’s attack on Gotham. A chance.