Oz Cobb may find walking painful, but the series premiere of The Penguin didn’t miss a single step.
The Penguin picks up where The Batman left off. A flooded and disparate Gotham. One crime lord dead (Carmine Falcone), another in prison (Salvatore Maroni) Lawlessness without order rules the streets.
But where The Batman stumbled about, Penguin soars.
We see the clustered, disorganized world of Gotham, needing a hero, needing order, needing rules. And one not so special guy who wants to make a difference. Penguin has long had a vision that the Dark Knight really only sort-of stumbles into after quite a few knocks to the head: *If you want to leave a legacy, help those around you. Take care of Gotham*.
Oz Cobb is a mid-management weirdo. He’s no charmer, he’s sloppy and stumbles over his words. His extravagant purple Maserati only underlines the truth to people with real power and influence: he’s a charlatan.
Oz has big ideas. Big plans. Big goals. He’s willing to swing for the fences, and he’s looking for allies for his mission. He’s not selfless. He’s not pure. He’s not…stable. But he wants something better for himself, and he’s gonna do whatever it takes.
Enter Sofia Falcone. Her father’s name and wealth give her a lot, but she has a past (and she is a “she”). Her first scene tells us everything we need to know. The men talking business around her abruptly stop in favor of more halted, civil conversation, and she reveales she’s recently left Arkham Asylum, having been “rehabilitated”.
Sofia and Oz reconnect (their prior connection is not yet known) and share a meal. There are similarities between them – two people, hungry, hurt, and woefully underestimated. But Sofia shows a new depth, revealing her shrewdness and desire to know the truth about Oz’s dealings.
The Penguin is not a show about a hero. No one is expecting Oz Cobb to get redeemed, we already understand he will not walk a straight and narrow road. But I have hope – hope that his rise and fall will be excruciating. I want to see a man **almost** redeemed, a man who almost succeeds, a couple who almost overcomes, a city almost saved. And, as another Batman villain once reminded me- sometimes I just want to watch the world burn.
