The Penguin The Penguin on HBO - General Discussion

[DarkAlchemist]

Reeves needs to work on the Batman universe. WB and DC should let him do his job.

The Batman

- The Penguin (limited series)

The Batman II
- Joker w/Riddler? (limited series) / Harvey Dent (limited series)

The Batman III

In my opinion, this approach would benefit both DC and all the fans

 

[Iceman]

Looking superbly Penguiny here, and with underground base in tow, all while playing the most convincing Penguin in a crime story. Awesome stuff.

 

[Kane52630]

 

[Iceman]

The monocle would be cool but I don't see it happening here, “organically” if I may say so.
Although I personally find Reeves' Gotham kind of timeless in its visual presentation, I can't see the costume designers going in that direction.
... Unless it's decided that Oz would start wearing it to look deliberately offbeat, old-fashioned...

On the other hand, I need Oz to be carrying around a huge a** cigar.
For me, it's really part of the character's atirail, he MUST smoke!

View attachment 109633

Just look how happy and charismatic he is here!

(and no, me being French has nothing to do with my opinion, relationship or appreciation of tobacco... )

I don’t want to encourage smoking but he does look great with a cigar, and Sofia is also another unfortunate great advert for smoking looking so good doing it.

 

[DCDAVE]

i feel they can do a catwoman or gcpd spin-off after batman part 2 to lead into part 3.

but that depends on how part 2 plays out.

joker's pretty over-exposed at this point - don't see the need to do any stand-alone spin-off with him.

i can imagine keeping him in a sort of hannibal lecter kind of role throughout this universe.

Barry is too good of an actor to play a Hannibal Lector role and Joker IP is one of the biggest that DC has. Joker is going to play a vital role in the Reeves verse Batman saga.

Catwoman seems to be a favorite on the board so I can see that. A good heist type movie would be fun to see especially if she is stealing from the rich elite of Gotham.

 

[chintai80]

I don’t want to encourage smoking but he does look great with a cigar, and Sofia is also another unfortunate great advert for smoking looking so good doing it.

good for show only, bad for people's lungs.

i quit cigarettes over 10 years ago - and have not looked back since.

but yea, oz does look good smoking that cigar haha.

 

[Iceman]

good for show only, bad for people's lungs.

i quit cigarettes over 10 years ago - and have not looked back since.

but yea, oz does look good smoking that cigar haha.

Well done sir, great achievement.

 

[OrbOfConfusion]

I don’t want to encourage smoking but he does look great with a cigar, and Sofia is also another unfortunate great advert for smoking looking so good doing it.

No lie, against what all those anti-smoking PSAs used to say, seeing characters smoke on film or TV just...looks cool. Like when Dave Chappelle smokes during his routines, or characters on shows like this one or Boardwalk Empire smoke, it almost makes me want to try it.

Put a cigarette in Sofia's mouth and I'm officially in.

But also, smoking kills. Or something like that.

 

[emielaen]

Reeves needs to work on the Batman universe. WB and DC should let him do his job.

Aren't they? His show is airing on HBO every week, they start shooting Part II soon and there's been articles every other week about him making more shows.

 

[Rod]

Two big ending spoilers I've gathered around. One is a bit more specific, about a certain character of this universe, and the other a bit more general, about the conclusion of a certain storyline.

About an specific character:

Reviewer confirmed Selina mention in the end:

...there’s a brief final episode mention of Selina Kyle (Zoe Kravitz), which could potentially pay off in 2026’s “The Batman Part II.”

https://theplaylist.net/the-penguin...out-the-decay-of-the-american-dream-20240916/

General definition of a certain storyline conclusion:

Vic storyline to have a "heartbreaking" ending:

"[Victor Aguilar's storyline]... eventually goes a long way in service of underscoring the story of the misbegotten and marginalized people of Gotham that Oz belongs to and feels an affinity for (not to mention the heartbreaking ending that wraps it all up)."

 

[Sawyer]

Honestly, drag her. She’s great, but that hair is an abomination.

 

[Sawyer]

Heh. Just spotted Theo Rossi in Cloverfield. Didn’t realize he had been on Reeves’s radar for this long.

 

[Erik Lensherr]

What's the point of Theo Rossi's character? Don't tell me this clown becomes the Scarecrow??

My theory: He is not real. He is in Sofia's head

 

[WayneMB]

What's the point of Theo Rossi's character? Don't tell me this clown becomes the Scarecrow??

My theory: He is not real. He is in Sofia's head

....

 

[Sawyer]

“That character has actually only existed in that other character’s head” is a bit played out, but it does track with what we’ve seen so far.

I vividly remember thinking it was funny that none of the guys had anything to say about Sofia having her shrink in the room when she capped Johnny Viti.

 

[Kane52630]

 

[kguillou]

Theo Rossi’s character is definitely in Sofia’s head. They’re heavily telegraphing it. You dont spend ten years getting tortured in Arkham and not come out with serious psychological trauma and distortion.

 

[AndrewGilkison]

How will they reveal this to the audience? By having her talk to Rossi and someone else in the room goes "who are you talking to?"

 

[Erik Lensherr]

This pic from the next episode destroys the "he only exists in her head" theory

Spoiler

 

[Art Vandelay]

So...Batman has to be referenced at some point now, right? Like there's no way around it, too much has happened in Gotham for Batman to not be investigating this mob war. I never bought the idea that he would just sit out and watch the two families take each other out, that kind of goes against him stopping crime.

 

[TheGDBatman]

So...Batman has to be referenced at some point now, right? Like there's no way around it, too much has happened in Gotham for Batman to not be investigating this mob war. I never bought the idea that he would just sit out and watch the two families take each other out, that kind of goes against him stopping crime.

It was mentioned in the promo material that he’s been missing for weeks. I’m assuming the movie will tackle this head on.

 

[emielaen]

Lol Batman is not gonna be mentioned in this show.

 

[SwordOfMorning]

There isn't going to be a single allusion to Batman at any point in the show after that first scene. They've hammered that home repeatedly and it was mentioned in the reviews so much that it felt like maybe people were specifically told it was cool to spoil that so there would be zero expectations.

 

[AndrewGilkison]

This pic from the next episode destroys the "he only exists in her head" theory

Spoiler

Spoiler

I thought this episode destroyed that, by showing Sofia's henchmen repeatedly opening doors to let Rossi into the room, and also being in the room during their conversations. Is Sofia imaging them too?

 

[Dr.]

Of interest only to language nerds but…

Has it ever been explained why Deirdre O’Connell’s character is cited in print as “Francis”? This spelling is consistently used by reputable sources like IMDb, Wiki, the major trades, etc. But traditionally, “Frances” is the feminine form — while “Francis” is masculine.