I must say, it took me way too long to get around to watching The Batman spin-off miniseries, The Penguin.
But, I finally did. And if I’m being honest, I don’t regret waiting to watch it. I think there were a few different elements in play that made my viewing of this miniseries less than. First, Robin Lord Taylor from the Gotham television series is my blueprint for Penguin. Seeing such a series version just didn’t draw me in. I loved the camp that the show brought with it. Second, I don’t really like Crisitn Milioti as an actress. Though I did like her character, I would have preferred someone else in the role.
I also felt like the series dragged on. Each episode was kind of agonizingly long even though there wasn’t much dead air. That’s probably just a me problem, but still, I will complain about it anyway. Also, other than Sophia Falcone’s story of how she ended up in Arkham, the rest of the plot of the series, at least involving Oswald, was kind of forgettable.
He’s just a psycho looking for power. I mean, he was a strange kid who took any criticism and twisted it all the way around until he could justify retaliation the extreme. Sophia on the other hand was practically innocent in her family. She was just trying to do some good, but that is not what her dad wanted to hear so he ruined her life, just like he did to her mother. The time she spent in Arkham really twisted her voew on things and she ended up kind of morphing into what her father had painted her out to be, but I did find that she redeemed herself in the end.
I am personally glad that they kept this as a miniseries. It was certainly not my favorite thing, but I would also not be against seeing other Batman villains get their own spotlight. Whether that be in a series or film format. Very curious to see what Matt Reeves’ Batman universe will turn into.