Colin Farrell Brings The Penguin's Crime To HBO — Grade The Premiere!

Picking up right where The Batman left off — the story begins just a week later — the new HBO series The Penguin stars Colin Farrell, reprising his role from Matt Reeves' hit 2022 film. The series explores a Gotham City still reeling from the explosions, flooding and death caused by the Riddler, which an opening news report informs us spared the wealthy suburbs while hitting poor neighborhoods hardest, particularly Crown Points. In the midst of this, the death of Carmine Falcone (played by John Turturro in The Batman, with Mark Strong glimpsed in a photo in the premiere that sets up some flashbacks he'll appear in later) has created a power vacuum for Gotham's mob world, with Carmine's son, Alberto Falcone (Michael Zegen), the chosen successor.

Meanwhile, Falcone underling Oswald "Oz" Cobb, aka The Penguin (Farrell), clearly has plans of his own. He breaks into Carmine's office at the shut-down Iceberg Lounge, discovering files that include spy photos of Falcone syndicate underboss Johnny Viti (Michael Kelly) in bed with a woman. When Oz is caught by Alberto, he hands over jewels he also found, awkwardly claiming he was only grabbing everything to protect it for Alberto from others taking it.

Alberto humors Oz and then succumbs to his addictions when Oz offers him Drops, the drug introduced in The Batman that is a big part of the Falcones' business. As Alberto sits with Oz, he tells him they are working on a newer, better drug that will revolutionize their operation. Alberto also shows off his ring, which was worn by Carmine before him, but originally belonged to their imprisoned rival, Salvatore Maroni, before Carmine betrayed him.

When Oz affectionately talks about a local gangster in his neighborhood growing up — who treated everyone well and was celebrated by the locals — Alberto mocks him for having small-time aspirations, calling him a "little bitch." This prompts Oz to suddenly pull out a gun and shoot and kill Alberto, before breaking into laughter... which abruptly stops when Oz realizes he now has a very big problem.

TO THE VICTOR | While going outside to dispose of the body, Oz stumbles upon a group of teenagers trying to steal his hubcaps, shooting at them and causing them to flee — except for Victor Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz), who doesn't move fast enough and is grabbed by Oz. Oz tells the scared, stuttering young man to calm down and then immediately has him help get the body in his trunk. He informs Victor, "We're in this together now, which means I own you," and says if Vic disobeys him, he'll murder him and anyone he cares about.

In the car though, Oz becomes more casually friendly (rather hysterically, he wants Vic to appreciate his car air freshener), realizing he and Vic are both poor kids from the east side of Gotham — Vic is from the devastated Crown Points — and that they both frequented the same corner store, a place where Oz insists the Slush Puppies are better if you blend the flavors. The two stop to see Eve (Carmen Ejogo), a prostitute Oz is clearly very affectionate with and sees regularly. She agrees to be his alibi for the night.

Oz and Vic then leave Alberto's body in the trunk of a car in a junkyard, though first Oz takes information from Alberto's phone about the shipment Alberto was using for his new super drug and removes the Maroni ring from Alberto's finger. When Oz tells Vic to turn around and look at the sunrise, Vic assumes Oz is going to kill him. Oz tells Vic that killing him would probably be the smart play, but he thinks the boy can help him. He once more threatens him if he steps out of line and then tells Vic he really does want to just enjoy the sunrise for a moment. It's the little things, right?

WELCOME HOME, HANGMAN | Meeting with his men, Oz has the photos of Johnny Viti sent to Councilman Hady, who was in debt to Carmine. Oz is informed they've recovered about 30% of their supply of Drops from the flood but that it could be contaminated, and Oz dismissively says that won't be a concern to the addicts buying the drugs.

Oz is summoned to the Falcone mansion, where Viti informs him they are going to shut down the Drops plant Oz has been running, moving all operations to Robbinsville where it will be safer — as Oz angrily says it will also lead to drastically reduced business. Oz asks for time to prove his plant's worth, quickly using Alberto's plan as his own and claiming he's on the verge of introducing a much more notable, profitable drug to the populace.

They're interrupted by the arrival of Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti), who Oz is surprised to see, not knowing she'd just been released from Arkham. She follows him outside when he attempts to leave and insists on them catching up right away, leading them to go get lunch together. It turns out Sofia was in Arkham for murder, and that the press dubbed her the Hangman. She also mentions that it was Oz who went to her father, apparently leading to her incarceration, but she adds he has no choice as Oz stammers that maybe he could have helped her.

She then calls out Oz on talking about this new drug, noting that this plan was a secret between Sofia and Alberto, and that no one has seen Alberto since he left for Carmine's office the night before. Oz quickly comes up with the lie that Alberto brought him in on the secret too, but didn't tell him that Sofia was involved. He mentions Alberto was "on a bender" but that he didn't go with him to the Iceberg Lounge and was with Eve the night before.

Sofia tells Oz, "People underestimate you, but not me. I always knew you were capable of more" — one of many terrific line deliveries, dripping with menace and nuance, from Cristin Milioti.

MAMA PENGUIN | Oz takes Vic on a train ride to see his mom and, amusingly, Oz's second car, kept near the train station, has Dolly Parton's "9 to 5" blasting when Oz turns it back on, revealing more about his musical taste than he probably wants Vic to know. As it turns out, Francis Cobb (Deirdre O'Connell) is having mental issues and is on a lot of medication. At one point, she speaks about Oz's brothers as though they were in the apartment, still children playing in the bathtub.

Oz introduces Vic as someone who will help take care of her — "He's got nurse-like qualities" — telling her she needs her to be moved to protect her. When she calls him out for keeping secrets, he admits everything about murdering Alberto and that he worries she won't be safe because Sofia is on to him.

Francis alternates between mocking Oz, telling him he sounds like a "weak little p—sy boy," and praising him, saying he's her "big, strong bull of a boy." She tells him he didn't shoot Alberto impulsively but instinctively and encourages him, saying he's so close to getting everything he's wanted. Suffice to say, their dynamic is weird, a bit creepy, and has shades of Tony and Livia Soprano.

Back at the train station, Oz tells Vic he knows the tenement Vic lived in was destroyed in the floods but praises him, telling him he made it despite the odds. He tells him people like the Falcones always lived in mansions and don't value what they have and that people like Oz and Vic have to take what they want, because no one will give it to them without a fight. Vic promises Oz he can count on him.

VISITING SAL | Oz goes to visit Salvatore Maroni (Clancy Brown) in prison, telling him he's done with the Falcones and wants to work for the Maronis. Sal dismissively mocks him, but Oz persists, telling him about the Falcones' plan to shut down their local Drops factory and how that leaves "a huge chunk of their business ripe for the picking." He'll give Sal all the info regarding the move out of the plant and how to take everything.

Oz offers to be a double agent for Sal, saying they'll be able to take down the Falcones from the inside and that Carmine Falcone was a rat who played them both for fools. Sal insists he won't work with someone whose loyalty is for sale, bringing up times in the past he knows Oz screwed over the Maronis.

Sal says he never wants to see Oz again, even as Oz promises he'll be back soon, hoping Sal will think over his offer. Before he leaves, he gives Sal his ring back, bringing up how Carmine was wearing it, mocking him for years. When Sal asks how Oz got it, Oz tells him he might be more than Sal thinks he is.

NABBED BY SOFIA | Returning home, Oz sees Sofia and her men outside his building and drives away, but they spot him and follow. Forced to stop thanks to a FEMA center set up in the street after the floods, he hides in his trunk and then fights off one of Sofia's men who spots him trying to escape, stabbing him and sending him stumbling into the path of a bus. But a second goon catches him and knocks him out.

Oz wakes up tied to a chair, surrounded by Sofia and her men, and now completely naked — and it's worth noting that Mike Marino's full body makeup and prosthetics on Colin Farrell in this scene is just as impressive as what's on Farrell's face throughout the series, looking utterly believable and transforming him completely.

Sofia tells Oz how the guards at Arkham would strip the inmates naked every morning and stresses how Alberto was the one person who would visit her every week and told her he'd fight for her. And now, despite Oz claiming he wasn't there, she's been told he was spotted at the Iceberg Lounge the night Alberto went missing, as she brings out her other prisoner — one of Victor's friends, who's revealed everything about their encounter with Oz at his car. Oz claims he doesn't know the kid at all and that he's the one lying... and Sofia responds by shooting and killing the kid.

Sofia tells Oz his talent is talking his way out of things, even if it costs people their lives, like it just did for Vic's friend. She has one of her men begin to torture Oz, pulling a piece of wire up underneath his arm, slicing him up, as she asks him if she's crazy and tells him that he better tell her Alberto's alive... which is when a car crashes into a wall in front of the mansion, sending Sofia and her men out to investigate. Inside the car, they find a brick tied down to the gas pedal and Alberto's corpse in the trunk, with the pinky finger he wore the Maroni ring on sliced off and the word "Payback" scrawled on the trunk door. Sofia screams in anguish and Oz, hearing from inside, laughs, knowing the plan he had with Vic worked.

WHAT A WAY TO MAKE A LIVING | Soon after, Oz, released by Sofia, meets with Vic, who brings him Slush Puppies from the old corner store they both knew. Oz asks Vic why he didn't do exactly what they talked about originally, which was to only leave Alberto's decapitated head and his severed pinky in the car, rather than the whole body with just the pinky missing. Oz frets this felt too small.

Vic tells him he got nervous about how to cut the head off and Oz tells him it's okay, because there's room to grow and Sofia got the message. Meanwhile, with Sal having been recently seen wearing his ring again in prison, thanks to Oz returning it to him, the Maronis will have no choice but to take credit for Alberto's death. Vic is worried, realizing Sal was not part of this plan like he'd assumed, but Oz tells him it doesn't matter and that he doesn't need Sal. Oz is intent on getting what's in the shipment and running the city, and he wants Vic in on it, telling him he's earned it and that guys like them have to stick together.

Oz asks Vic if his Slush Puppie is better with the mixed flavors, like he recommended, and Vic admits it is, as "9 to 5" plays on the soundtrack and Dolly takes us away to the closing credits.

OK, your turn! What did you think of The Penguin's first episode? Grade it in our poll below, then hit the comments with your full reviews!