After Hours

The show is put together very well. The writing is on point, the dialogue, the acting, it's very grounded. It captivated me from the first scene. Colin Farrell steps into this character and brings him to life and makes us believe it's real.

The city of Gotham feels realistic and gritty like it should. The supporting cast all deliver great performances. At no time is the immersion broken. All other show runners of Superhero/Star Wars/Fantasy shows should sit back and drink it in. This is how it's done.

The only thing I can recommend that could be improved is that characters don't have to say everything. For instance, there is a point that Oz takes Victors license and says: "I'm keeping your ID". He doesn't need to say that. It's more impactful if he just puts it in his pocket. Actions say things better than words sometimes, and there are a few moments in this show where dialogue could be said better with actions.

This is the show i wanna see, great performance, and amazing and interested story, the interpretation by Colin Farrel is worth a nomination for best actor no doubt, the makeup, the sound of his voice, the way he walk is truly another person "the penguin" i think this is the best performance of the character and the development of the character is amazing, his motivations, and his ambitions come to live in this performance. The story is very interesting, and the new characters give the plot a lotta fun and a lotta new twist, i can see gotham in every frame y can wait for the new episode, we need more series like this, i will love to see more villains from Batman like this, truly ine of the best shows this year.

It's got everything you could ask for from a pilot episode. It ties in perfectly to The Batman, it builds the character of The Penguin further and does it really well, it establishes the supporting cast (or at least some of it) well...heck, it even humanises The Penguin/Oz pretty well by giving us a look at his relationship with his mother.

The cast are really well chosen, with Colin Farrell especially showing why he was such an inspired choice for this role. It shows again why this, far more grounded, take on the Batman mythos is so badly needed.

I eagerly await the rest of the series now, and hope they can continue to keep the quality this high.

As a Batman fan, I'm pretty biased, but if you measure the quality from purely a series standpoint, it's an incredibly well done introductory episode. I can see why they wanted to bridge the film into this and give Colin Farrell the reigns as the iconic penguin character he continues to play. It's better than most crime thrillers of the last decade in its first episode. That says something. The production level is stunning as well with the settings in Gotham being as palpable as possible. You really don't even care that Batman isn't in this because it gives you the perspective of the penguin which is a nice breath of fresh air.

The idea of this show was delivered with a lot of promise when it was first announced. This is not just a DC show or a spinoff to "The Batman," but a show that potentially shows how DC is going to do on HBO and if they can keep up the quality that we usually connect with that kind of reputation. The show has been compared to a lot of great crime shows, but it's also exciting to see how it will stand out, and this first episode does a great job of setting up this underdog story with a formidable performance from Colin Farrell.

More than anything else, the thing that immediately stands out is the show's tone. It feels very similar to "The Batman," with the exception that it has been given a TV-MA rating, which enables them to use profanity and more graphic violence. That may take a few people off-guard, but it also sets the stage for a more gritty entry into this world. And the grit is certainly there, as the opening minutes of the episode features quite a shocking event that is very violent, yet also surprisingly comedic in a very dark way. The show brilliantly balances that grit with dark comedy, definitely setting its own tone very smartly from the very beginning. It's difficult to properly judge where the show is going, but it is setting up a very formidable character in Oz and perfectly expanding on his role and his ascent to the top of the food chain. Farrell is still eclectic in this role and totally disappears beneath the incredible make-up work that's being done to make him into this Oz, but he gives it his all as well, totally changing his voice to sound so fundamentally different from what we're used to hearing from him. At the same time, Cristin Milioti also enters the stage as Sofia Falcone, in an unpredictable and suspenseful performance that fits so well with what Farrell is doing that we constantly want to see more with them. The budget is noticeable, but the pull of the episode's plot is enough to keep you fully invested.

"After Hours" does a great job of selling the show's premise and giving it a unique tone that makes it stand out among other crime shows. The character is so fascinating and his journey is relatable, and Farrell continues to amaze as this character, especially in his scenes with Milioti as Carmine Falcone's semi-psychotic daughter.