The Penguin

Wow. The Penguin is just terrific. Everyone knows what a great actor Colin Farrell is but he's unrecognizable here as The Penguin. I wouldn't be surprised to see him nominated for some awards for his role in this. The biggest surprise was Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone. I wasn't too sure when I heard she was named actress for this role, she's a good actress but didn't think this role was for her. I was wrong. She's as good as Farrell is in this and makes you believe Sofia Falcone is a true rival to The Penguin. I also wouldn't be surprised to see how nominated for some awards for her role in this. This isn't your typical DC or Marvel show, it's a full on gangster series. This series takes place in the underworld of a now semi destroyed Gotham City and is a great follow up to Matt Reeves' The Batman. This is how you do it DC.

"Chaos is not a pit, chaos is a ladder" In the context of Lord Baelish, this is how "The Penguin" dealt with the destroyed Gotham, full of corruption and devastation, to be an ideal and very fertile environment for building his own authority.

As an extension of what happened in The Batman and the disaster that befell the city, I saw an opening scene that was one of the most amazing disasters that occurred, and the chaos that we see with the penguin's looks is nothing but an indication that the penguin was placed in the right place at the right time to exploit the overwhelming chaos, and of course he is the right man as well.

I don't have a great background in the world of comics or the Penguin character, but I didn't have a problem understanding the events and the character's style. All you have to do to watch the work is watch the Batman movie, and that's more than enough.

I thought Colin Farrell was great as Penguin in the Batman, but i have never understood casting a skinny good looking fit actor and putting him in massive prosthesis and a fat suit...especially when i kind of think he looks like some other famous actors who would also have been just as good. I also really didn't get why this spinoff was coming, and to be honest am just tired of Batman reboots. But after episode 1 i will confirm this show to be amazing (so far). I only watched it know it was a necessary to watch bridge between the first and second movies, and my surprise enjoyment of Farrell in the role in the first one. But i wasn't expecting to like it nearly this much. The acting is terrific, the writing is superb, and it surpised me with some quick twists. The biggest thing that i liked was the fact that there was so much more color in this than in the Batman. I noticed it almost immediately, as it was a huge complaint for me about the movie (it felt like watching it through a Zack Snyder lense). I hope this keeps being as good as it goes along because i genuinely cant wait until the next episode.

Absolutely nailed the tone and atmosphere. Gritty and grimy and dark, but Farrell is able to capture that glimmer of charm Gandolfini's Tony Soprano did.

There are similarities to the sopranos especially in tone. A lot of dark stuff goes down in this opening episode, but there's still comedic moments that match the tone and don't undermine it.

Where to start with Farrell. Amazing is the right word. Love to see talented star actors go all in on roles like this, and the makeup/cgi or whatever exactly they did with transforming him into the penguin physically not only passes the eye test, it looks incredible realistic. There is always the risk that if the make up job isn't good enough or is just a little off, it can completely distract. In the penguin, it adds to his performance and the overall quality of the show because it's such a damn good job. And Farrell as an actor is completely immersed in this role. I'm maybe a little biased because he is one of my favorite actors prior to this show, but I think this is going to get him well-deserved accolades.

I never really tune into new shows right away because I like to watch the episodes all at once, but I wanted to see how this one actually came out.

Didn't disappoint, in fact blew me away. Kudos to everyone involved with this project.

The first episode is a direct continuation of Matt Reeves' The Batman and I imagine those who haven't seen the latter will be a bit lost. But I watched The Batman a while ago and this show did an admirable job of quickly re-familiarizing me with where the movie left off, and without getting bogged down in a didactic recap. It also recaptures the movie's aesthetic and grim tone nicely, although the show has a lot more moments of sly levity than the movie did.

As in The Batman, Colin Farrell does an excellent job portraying The Penguin as a stereotypical mafia "street guy:" uncouth, profane, mercurial and quick to violence; but also savvy, cunning and able to read people. The character might have absolutely nothing to do with the comic book version but he's interesting in his own right.

I have my doubts about the show giving The Penguin at teenage sidekick; and I don't know if The Penguin's machinations will be enough to sustain a whole season. But so far it's off to a great start.