I knew from the internet that there was going to be this mini series focusing on the character of Penguin, one of Batman's villain. It was released on 19 September in the US and was immediately available on HBO GO the following day. Since it was shown one episode per week, I only started watching two nights ago so I could watch the finale last night. All right then, let's get into the series.

Brief Story Line

Set after the events of The Batman, Oswald "Oz" Cobb (Colin Farrell - Artemis Fowl, In Bruges etc) tried to capitalize on the death of his ex boss, Carmine Falcone. However, he was looked down by people from Falcone family, including Carmine's son Alberto (Michael Zegen - The Stand In, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel TV series etc) and his sister Sofia (Cristin Milioti - Made for Love TV series, The Wolf of Wolf Street etc). Oz decided to build his own criminal empire by tricking, manipulating and pitting the Falcones against their biggest enemy the Maroni family led by Salvatore (Clancy Brown - John Wick: Chapter 4, Dexter: New Blood TV series etc).

During this time, Oz forced a teenager named Victor Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz - Marvel's Runaways TV series etc) to help him do odd jobs which included taking care of his mother Francis Cobb (Deirdre O'Connell - L. A. Doctors TV series etc). Things were not as easy as he thought would be though, as Oz's plan was not exactly full proof and he had to face so many challenges.

So what would happen to Oz aka the Penguin? You could find out in this series.

End of Brief Story Line

Just like in all movies or series around Batman or his adversaries, this series had a dark tone and was quite heavy. In fact, I thought it had similar vibes with that wonderful pre-Batman series Gotham which ran for five seasons from 2014-2019 and focused on Detective Gordon before he became Commissioner, fighting against crimes led by the would-be Batman's enemies. Although, this one somehow felt even darker and heavier than that. Anyway, despite the series focusing on the rise and fall of Oswald, I could see that the real main characters were Oz, Sofia and Vic. While Sofia was quite well known (I had seen her character before), Vic was a bit unclear to me. I had a bit of suspicion due to his name, but after further reading on the internet, I found out that it was likely based on a completely different character. There were also few flashbacks to show the past of these three people to provide context on their action/behavior.  

The series itself has only 8 episodes with duration between 47 to a little over 1 hour. I understand it was categorized as mini series which was a good thing cause we would not be worried if it was going to be renewed or not. However, the fate of Penguin was quite predictable since we knew that the story was about him after all. What truly gave me a shock was one scene towards the end that I really did not see coming. I guess that was the part where we finally got to see the real Penguin. Although the emphasis was on Penguin's rise and fall and his fights against the other mob families, I thought this one lacked a bit in the action part. The series felt more like crime drama with a bit of action. It's a good thing that the story was engaging, otherwise it might not be too entertaining for me.

This series featured an ensemble cast which was understandable. What surprised me though was most of them were mentioned during the closing credits as part of the main cast. I counted a total of > 20 people there throughout the whole series. Aside from the ones I mentioned above, some of the notable cast were Carmen Ejogo (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, True Detective season 3 etc) as Eve, a prostitute and Oz' lover, Theo Rossi (Army of the Dead, True Story mini series etc) as Dr. Julian Rush the psychiatrist who worked in Arkham Asylum, Michael Kelly (Outside the Wire, House of Cards TV series etc) as Johnny Viti the underboss for Falcone family and Mark Strong (Atlas, Cruella etc) who replaced John Turturo portraying Carmine in flash backs. There were only few people who reprised their roles from the movie including Jayme Lawson as mayor-elect Bella Reál and Con O'Neill as GCPD Chief Bock. 

I also noticed in those closing credits the name Matt Reeves (the director of The Batman) as one of the Executive producers together with others like Colin Farrell and Lauren LeFranc (known as the executive producer of Impulse series and writer for several episodes of Chuck and Agents of SHIELD). She was also credited as the showrunner. The things that really stood out for me in this series was the awesome story telling, the amazing make up effects and the brilliant acting. No wonder it was so highly praised by critics. I think it might have a shot for multiple awards next year.

Overall, this was a great series set in the Batman universe. Once again the story of Batman's enemy could be told in a wonderful way. It was amazing how many villains of Batman had many complex background that could be given their own series. So if you are fans of Batman and all stories related to him, then I am sure you would love this series. Even if you are not, this could be seen as quality crime drama where it just so happened that the lead character was from a comic book. But if you actually want to see this because of the action or thinking it is a superhero/antihero series, then you would not be satisfied with this. I myself was satisfied watching this as it's exactly what I had anticipated in such series. 

Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars