Review: The Penguin
Colin Farrell returns as Oswald Cobb in a darker, grittier look at Gotham’s underworld.
He’s one of Gotham City’s most notorious criminals and one of Batman’s cunning and tragic enemies. The Penguin, or Oswald Cobb — this iconic villain has gone by several names and had many faces across movies, series, animation, and video games, from Danny DeVito to Burgess Meredith, Paul Williams, and Nolan North.
In 2022, director Matt Reeves gave us The Batman, a noir masterpiece that presented the superhero as a detective rather than a caped crusader. With clear influences from Seven, Chinatown, and Taxi Driver, the film showed Gotham as a dark and grimy city and introduced new, compelling versions of familiar characters like The Riddler, Catwoman, and of course, The Penguin.
One of the highlights of The Batman was Colin Farrell, buried under layers of prosthetics as the ruthless and opportunistic Oswald Cobb. In The Penguin, a new miniseries picking up shortly after the events of The Batman, we get a closer look at Cobb’s rise to power.
The series starts a week after Gotham’s devastating flood, with the crime lord of the Falcone family dead and his heirs, Alberto and Sofia Falcone, vying for control. But Cobb, ever the schemer, sees his chance. He plays both sides against each other, starting a brutal power grab to become Gotham’s new kingpin.
Farrell delivers a masterclass in acting once again, bringing depth and nuance to the cruel gangster. While we got only a glimpse of his talent in The Batman, this series gives him space to explore the character. Cobb is ruthless, yes, but Farrell makes him strangely sympathetic, even charming, in a twisted way. Flashbacks to his childhood and his relationship with his unstable mother (played brilliantly by Deirdre O’Connell) add further layers to the character.
The supporting cast shines too, with Cristin Milioti as the unhinged Sofia Falcone and Rhenzy Feliz as Victor Aguilar, a young orphan who becomes a key part of Cobb’s growing gang. But make no mistake, this series belongs to Farrell.
The Penguin is a brutal, gritty crime saga that plunges even deeper into Gotham’s violent underworld than Matt Reeves’ original film. It’s not just a comic book story — it’s a dark exploration of power, loyalty, and ambition.
This review is based on all eight episodes of The Penguin.