By Zachary Truman

I am a casual enjoyer of The Batman films. I have found many to be enjoyable, including the recent addition of Matt Reeves’s 2022 film, The Batman. However, nothing sounded more insufferable to me than having to watch any additional or supplementary materials to this universe. I was asked to write this despite having no intention of watching it originally, nor am I really a fan of The Batman (a nice 7/10). So perhaps it won’t be too much of a surprise I found this to meandering and pointless, with some moments of heart.

Immediately, at the start of the episode, it recaps the fallout of Batman and gives exposition to set up Oz/The Penguin (Collin Farrell) as a character in this expanded view of his world. Early into the episode, Oz kills Alberto Falcone, the son of one of the main villains from the 2022 film. The rest of the episode simply manages to hold your hand in the most uninteresting way, with a Plainview approach to the characters and world of Gotham. 

Farrell and Milioti are offering some kind of whole embodiment into this semi-grounded crime drama, but nothing that blew me a way. The screenwriting makes some strides to make this dark and gritty, but it always feels like a hollow shell of a show. By episode 2, Inside Man, they have no deeper investment into Oz as a character than before. I appreciate the commitment, staying consistent with the innate humor and unnaturalistic tendencies established for Oz in The Batman. I think you can also admire that they have not (I don’t think they will either) used Batman as character for the show but make an attempt to establish some intriguing side characters of the show to level out the world (Sofia Falcone, various goons, Victor Aguilar, etc.)

As stated, episode 2 continues to be more or less the same. The strong performances may be enough to make it a worthwhile viewer for the casual fan or average pedestrian browser. Although, those who liken the show to works like ‘The Sopranos’ exist in a totally different plain from reality. There is conservation to be had about the destruction of Prestige Television, but a week-by-week review of The Penguin is certainly not the place. The hyperbolic nature and those so quick to call any average show that manages to be somewhat subversive amazing should be questioned. I, as an enjoyer of art, feel like I can’t trust when people recommend a television drama because I know I am getting myself into eight 45-minute episodes of overdrawn-out contemporaneous drivel. The Penguin is an egregious example due to each episode running over an hour when you include the credits and after the episode talk. It does not manage to be well-paced or interesting enough to sustain that runtime. 

As episode 2 drew to a close, I was faced with the question I ask myself when I watch any television show: Was that a waste of my time? No, I don’t think so. As a personal rule, when watching long-form programming, I usually give it 3 episodes to start before making a decision to drop. There is enough nuance in between all characters, likely my favorite being the Mother of Oz, and a decent amount of production value to make it feel like there was some semblance of a vision here to grasp on, too. We will have to see how the remainder of the show shakes out, but for right now, despite not enjoying this at all, I found enough value to consider continuing on. If the remaining six episodes follow this line of quality, when I deliver my score for episode 8, do not be surprised by a 2.5/5 stars.