(episode review) - The Penguin - Episode 1

I remember a time when many people did not like Robert Pattinson because he played a Vampire that sparkled. I watched a few Twilights and I must admit, they were ok, but when you want a story of a Vampire having seen Wesley Snipes play Marvel's Blade, and so well, might I add, you do not really want anything like a sparking vampire. So when Robert was announced as the new Batman after Ben Affleck who was meant to be the next Batman going forward after Christian Bale, people were upset. Nobody wanted the Twilight boy to be Batman because he is a "terrible" actor. But the thing is, you can be in a franchise where you may not like that character, TV show, theme etc, but that does not make the actor, a bad actor. I heard about Robert and his capabilities and he was excellent in Tenet, but playing Bruce Wayne, Year 2 of his career as Batman, while people had their discrepancies, Matt Reeves directed a great film with a great story and great actors. In that film, the character ' The Penguin', played by an unrecognisable Colin Farrell, was simply amazing, so hearing they would do a TV show, could only mean great things, right? Right!

This show does not waste any time letting you know what time it is and what you as a viewer are in for. Gritty, Dark, Gangster/Mob TV show in the vein of The Sopranos but with comic book characters no more than 10 minutes into the show, you fully understand the set-up where The Penguin is and what he might need to do next. Having watched the entire first episode, The Penguin shows us Gotham, the gangsters/mobs/crime lords who are vying to fill the power vacuum created after the events of the Batman movie. We find out his intentions and I will take a gamble that during the series, we will see The Penguin rise to prominence as a Mob boss in his own right.

There were only a handful of things I did not like about the show, such as Penguin's voice which seemed as though it sounded slightly different from the film, and there was some CGI used with the driving, but other than that, this show was really good. They highlight The Penguin as a character with impulse issues and someone who came from nothing trying to climb up the criminal ladder. It would be nice to see Batman pop in here and there or maybe see something in the skyline, but so far, the story of the Penguin is masterfully hand-crafted and a joy to watch because this character seems to simply, make mistakes, get caught making them, but manages to slip away. It's the, being able to take a Medium/Genre like Comic Books and mould/fit/craft them into another genre, like a crime drama, just like how Captain America: The Winter Soldier was a homage to a 1970s political thriller and look how loved that film was.