Earlier this year, Colin Farrell played stylish private investigator John Sugar in Apple TV+’s Sugar. He wore sharp, beautifully tailored suits and looked like a male model as he glided around a sun-drenched Los Angeles investigating a case. In The Penguin , an offshoot of the 2022 film The Batman , he couldn’t be more different.
Oswald “Oz” Cobb is a mid-level gangster in gloomy, grimy Gotham, a city on the brink of collapse after a series of terrorist attacks. Oz is scarred, pockmarked, overweight and has a condition that means he walks with an awkward rolling gait – hence his hated nickname, the Penguin. It’s hard to imagine two consecutive roles offering an actor a better chance to demonstrate his range and physical versatility.
Fans of the DC characters might choose to view this eight-episode spin-off as the origin story of the Penguin and his journey from mobster to monster. Others can watch it simply as a dark, gritty, gripping crime drama, the enjoyment of which requires no knowledge of Batman lore. It works as both.
The series opens one week after the events depicted at the end of the original film. The killing of crime kingpin Carmine Falcone has created a power vacuum in Gotham’s underworld. Carmine’s son, Alberto Falcone (Michael Zegen), an unstable addict, fancies himself as the new boss but his sister Sofia (Cristin Milioti – mesmerising throughout), recently released from Arkham Asylum, also has her eyes on the prize.
Meanwhile Oz, an employee.