A Batman show with Batman? It's been done before. 'Gotham' was a pretty good show. Really good at times. But it got bogged down trying to lay the track for the entire Batman mythology in an hour-long network TV series. Too often it got sidetracked and lost focus. It was also hampered a bit by having to play things too safe due to being a broadcast network series. 'Penguin' doesn't have either of those problems.
The obvious inspiration--maybe a bit too obvious at times--is the classic HBO series 'The Sopranos'. If you remove the few (and I mean very few) direct references to Batman lore, this would be easy to mistake as a spin-off of that show. That's not a criticism. It's what makes 'Penguin', or at least this first episode, work so well. It's not a comic book series, it's a crime drama.
The cast here is just fantastic. The transformation of Colin Farrell into Oswald "Oz" Cobb is nothing short of astounding. You would never, ever recognize him. And I don't just mean physically. His performance is one of the best I've seen in a TV/streaming series in a long time. I hope he is recognized come award season, because he deserves to be.
'After Hours' is a very strong first episode that sets the stakes for what's to come. And they won't need to shine a signal in the sky to get me to show up for it.
The obvious inspiration--maybe a bit too obvious at times--is the classic HBO series 'The Sopranos'. If you remove the few (and I mean very few) direct references to Batman lore, this would be easy to mistake as a spin-off of that show. That's not a criticism. It's what makes 'Penguin', or at least this first episode, work so well. It's not a comic book series, it's a crime drama.
The cast here is just fantastic. The transformation of Colin Farrell into Oswald "Oz" Cobb is nothing short of astounding. You would never, ever recognize him. And I don't just mean physically. His performance is one of the best I've seen in a TV/streaming series in a long time. I hope he is recognized come award season, because he deserves to be.
'After Hours' is a very strong first episode that sets the stakes for what's to come. And they won't need to shine a signal in the sky to get me to show up for it.
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