4/5 stars
The eight-episode crime drama charts the rise of Oswald Cobb (Farrell) from small-time mobster to kingpin of the Gotham City underworld.
The Penguin picks up the action just days after the assassination of mob boss Carmine Falcone (John Turturro in the film, but played by Mark Strong in the show’s flashbacks), which left Gotham’s criminal community in disarray.
Cobb, who managed the family’s Iceberg Lounge nightclub, seizes the opportunity to make a power grab, murdering Falcone’s son and heir, Alberto (Michael Zegen), and snatching his incoming shipment of a new, game-changing party drug.
Simultaneously, Cobb takes a young street punk, Victor (Rhenzy Feliz), under his wing. Victor’s family were killed when The Riddler’s terror attacks flooded the city, decimating the impoverished neighbourhood of Crown Points.
Cobb’s power play coincides with the release of Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) from Arkham Asylum. Sofia was incarcerated after being convicted of strangling seven women, including her own mother, which earned her the moniker “The Hangman”.
