J.Drangal
Sidekick
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2013
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So, it looks like my predictions about Francis pushing Oz to sacrifice her to finally get power over Gotham were all wrong, ahah.
Kudos to the writers for not making the Penguin an anti-hero and delivering a truly irredeemable villain !
If it had seemed to me too expected to see Oz kill Victor, I have to admit that I still find this whole thing really well done.
The thing is, I hadn't thought Oz would do it without having a “really good reason” (so to speak... hum).
That's what makes the scene so sad and upsetting (and powerful) : there's no punishment here, just some twisted pragmatism.
And “twisted” is really the key word in this finale. Damn.
I'm kicking myself for not having thought that Francis could always have known what Oz had done to his brothers, and I love how that their relationship was in fact not just a toxic love but completely driven by each other's narcissism and ego. Francis kept Oz close to her out of pure self-interest, hoping that the cruelty of this son she hates would ensure her social ascension, while he doesn't seem so much to seek his mother's pride as to flatter himself with the idea of being a good son (still with me?
).
When he places his now-paralyzed mother at the top of a building overlooking the city, it’s not about a promess made to her, but to him. By the way, that closing scene...
Firstly, Oz's look is absolutely perfect. We weren't sure if the Penguin's classic get-up would work in this universe, but with the series pushing more and more into its pulp origin and the introduction of music-hall elements into the character's background, everything falls in place. Just let him f**king smoke a big cigar in the next movies and we'll be good to go!
Secondly, I love the over-the-top atmosphere of Oz dancing with Eve dressed as his mother, while the latter is a prisoner of herself on the floor above... Again, there's something so comic-booky about it, it reminds me of Clayface (Preyston Payne) and his doll. And when the bat-signal lights up...
No, really, there's a degree of stylization here that reminds me of Burton, and I hope this universe continues in that vein!
---
Now, just to share some nitpicks : I have to say that I feel like Sofia's character didn’t get a real conclusion, and to be frank, that letter from Selina didn't particularly excited me (yet?).
As far as we know, there don't seem to be any “real” plans for a sequel to Sofia's story, so it just felt a bit like a formulatic setup to me... But if there’s any chance to bring back Cristin Milioti, just do it !
Also, I really don't get what they wanted to do with Julian Rush. When Oz was holding Sofia at gunpoint, I thought of him, expecting him to pop up and get some finality to his purpose... but no.
And then he's somehow back at Arkham ? I get it, he's following Sofia but... what for exactly? This relation seems half-cooked and I suspect some reverse engeneering here, as it feels like Julian is a character only create to have the others getting some information here and there. More of a plot device disguised as a character than a genuine creation.
One last thing: to me, the scale of the different gangs wasn't very clear. When Sofia was with Maroni, it felt like they were almost alone, but when she talked about auctioning off her family empire, everyone was still interested. Besides, all those little gangs seemed pretty, well, little... When Victor brings them together to help Oz, it looked like each one of them was made up of no more than a leader, a lieutenant and 3 or 4 henchmen...
Anyway, it's a detail but it made me raise an eyebrow occasionally.
---
So, all in all, a great finale to a really great show !
Everything related to the title character was VERY on point and that Penguin is definitely among my favorites Batman villain on live-action. Such a cool, charismatic and absolutely cruel character. Really looking forward to see more of him… but in the movies ! Despite my love for the show, I don’t think this should get a second season... We'll see.
In any case, that Penguin is now big enough and perfectly ready to confront Batman again and I hope he'll be that terrible itch the caped crusader can't scratch all along the saga.
EDIT :
Oh, I hadn't done a mini-review of the previous episode (which I really liked) but I wanted to say that Rader Allen was simply excellent in the role of young Oz.
I really felt like I was watching the same character. Really great casting and performance here.
Kudos to the writers for not making the Penguin an anti-hero and delivering a truly irredeemable villain !
If it had seemed to me too expected to see Oz kill Victor, I have to admit that I still find this whole thing really well done.
The thing is, I hadn't thought Oz would do it without having a “really good reason” (so to speak... hum).
That's what makes the scene so sad and upsetting (and powerful) : there's no punishment here, just some twisted pragmatism.
And “twisted” is really the key word in this finale. Damn.
I'm kicking myself for not having thought that Francis could always have known what Oz had done to his brothers, and I love how that their relationship was in fact not just a toxic love but completely driven by each other's narcissism and ego. Francis kept Oz close to her out of pure self-interest, hoping that the cruelty of this son she hates would ensure her social ascension, while he doesn't seem so much to seek his mother's pride as to flatter himself with the idea of being a good son (still with me?
).When he places his now-paralyzed mother at the top of a building overlooking the city, it’s not about a promess made to her, but to him. By the way, that closing scene...
Firstly, Oz's look is absolutely perfect. We weren't sure if the Penguin's classic get-up would work in this universe, but with the series pushing more and more into its pulp origin and the introduction of music-hall elements into the character's background, everything falls in place. Just let him f**king smoke a big cigar in the next movies and we'll be good to go!
Secondly, I love the over-the-top atmosphere of Oz dancing with Eve dressed as his mother, while the latter is a prisoner of herself on the floor above... Again, there's something so comic-booky about it, it reminds me of Clayface (Preyston Payne) and his doll. And when the bat-signal lights up...
No, really, there's a degree of stylization here that reminds me of Burton, and I hope this universe continues in that vein!
---
Now, just to share some nitpicks : I have to say that I feel like Sofia's character didn’t get a real conclusion, and to be frank, that letter from Selina didn't particularly excited me (yet?).
As far as we know, there don't seem to be any “real” plans for a sequel to Sofia's story, so it just felt a bit like a formulatic setup to me... But if there’s any chance to bring back Cristin Milioti, just do it !
Also, I really don't get what they wanted to do with Julian Rush. When Oz was holding Sofia at gunpoint, I thought of him, expecting him to pop up and get some finality to his purpose... but no.
And then he's somehow back at Arkham ? I get it, he's following Sofia but... what for exactly? This relation seems half-cooked and I suspect some reverse engeneering here, as it feels like Julian is a character only create to have the others getting some information here and there. More of a plot device disguised as a character than a genuine creation.
One last thing: to me, the scale of the different gangs wasn't very clear. When Sofia was with Maroni, it felt like they were almost alone, but when she talked about auctioning off her family empire, everyone was still interested. Besides, all those little gangs seemed pretty, well, little... When Victor brings them together to help Oz, it looked like each one of them was made up of no more than a leader, a lieutenant and 3 or 4 henchmen...
Anyway, it's a detail but it made me raise an eyebrow occasionally.
---
So, all in all, a great finale to a really great show !
Everything related to the title character was VERY on point and that Penguin is definitely among my favorites Batman villain on live-action. Such a cool, charismatic and absolutely cruel character. Really looking forward to see more of him… but in the movies ! Despite my love for the show, I don’t think this should get a second season... We'll see.
In any case, that Penguin is now big enough and perfectly ready to confront Batman again and I hope he'll be that terrible itch the caped crusader can't scratch all along the saga.
EDIT :
Oh, I hadn't done a mini-review of the previous episode (which I really liked) but I wanted to say that Rader Allen was simply excellent in the role of young Oz.
I really felt like I was watching the same character. Really great casting and performance here.
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