Gotham City is in the aftermath of everything that happened in The Batman movie. From Riddler’s arrest to Falcone’s murder, everything is now leading to the chaos that Gotham citizens and its finest are not ready to face. But The Penguin Episode 1 shows, that the war is coming nonetheless and Mr. Cobblepot is at the center of it- making his way to the top, one bullet at a time!
You can clearly see the impact that the downfall of Falcone has brought to the Gotham. Everybody who was scared of him was now on the street looking for a chance to take his throne. For now, it was passed to Carmine’s son- Alberto Falcone (Michael Zegen). But as they say, ‘all thrones come with a cost’, Alberto soon had to pay the price which went up when he disrespected Oswald.
Well, the Penguin instantly regrets the decision and with a loud sound of “FUC*”, we get the title. Cut to the next scene, Oz is now making the attempts to dump the body- starting with packing in a body bag and carrying it downstairs to the back alley by himself where he had parked his car.
Soon he finds some teenagers trying to steal his car’s rim – the worst fucki** day to do that! Anyway, Oz being Oz rains bullets on them and everybody manages to escape, except one, Victor. Now a hostage and breathing at the mercy of Cobblepot, Victor has no choice but to help Oz dump the body. The majority of the episode covers their attempt to take care of the body but it still remains the fun- the entire sequence.
Upon finding a resting place for the body, Oz decides to get rid of Victor. But he pleads his way out of the brutal death.
Oswald’s Anxiety
In the morning, Oswald is called by the Family- the ruling group of Gotham that owns every business Oswald runs. They ask him to shut down and move everything to another neighborhood, to which, Oswald doesn’t agree. During their little argument- we are introduced to Alberto’s sister, Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti), who is also an ex-Arkham patient released after her sentence was over. She is looking for her brother and suspiciously has questions for Cobblepot.
Sofia, nonetheless, invites Oz for a meal. Their conversations end with Sofia’s grown suspicion over Cobblepot’s involvement in her brother’s disappearance. As for him, as soon as he leaves, Oz moves to his mother’s home with Victor who is a patient of dementia. His plan was to run away from the city for a while along with his mom and Victor but his mom reminds him who he is, and what is his future.
It’s time to fight back….!
Oz decides to stay and hit back at whoever tries to hit him. Soon after his return, he comes up with a plan. There was a ring he stole from Alberto’s dead body. The ring was passed to him from Carmine who took that ring when he defeated Maroni.
Oz goes to meet Maroni in the jail and tells him about how Falcone wore the ring to flaunt his winning over Maroni all this time. This ends up in a deal between Maroni and The Penguin- giving him a backup plan against the Falcone Crime Family.
Cut to the next scene, an intense chase scene takes place where Oz gets kidnapped by Sofia’s men in the end. Sofia had found one of the teenagers who escaped Oz’s bullets earlier. He confirms seeing Oz on the night Alberto went missing. This gave Sofia the assurance she needed and in return, the boy got to eat a bullet to death.
While Sofia is torturing Oz, a car with the decaying body of Alberto crashes outside the mansion taking the doubt away from Cobblepot. At the end of the episode, we see Oz and Victor talking over Oz’s favorite mixed-flavor Slush Puppies.
The Penguin Episode 1 Review
Here’s the thing- the last show about The Batman Universe that I absolutely loved was Gotham. But this one- it takes all the cake out there. Matt Reeves has done a beautiful job. It’s like you are watching The Sopranos, Gangs of London, and Narcos mixed together.
The show fittingly honors Penguin’s character. It has always been his trait- not the strength, but the mind. And The Penguin does a beautiful job displaying that. Now, the cinematography. The Batman movie was already a beautiful compilation of frames- but The Penguin is in no way behind.
Each and every sequence of the first episode was so beautifully written that I must say, I am probably going to desperately wait for each episode that is yet to come.
What’s Next?
HBO’s The Penguin Episode 1 started with a banging entry topping every chart with critics’ reviews. Among the new releases by DC, this is another promising entry after the brilliant Peacemaker show! The future of DC looks great with projects like Lanterns and James Gunn’s Superman on the way- but for now, we have The Penguin to focus on.
And with the release of each episode- I will keep recapping and reviewing them here for you!
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