The Penguin episode 5 is out, and I want to talk about it: both the episode and the show more generally.

Spoilers Ahead (though I’ll try to keep them light)

The Penguin episode 5, in summary, is very good. It’s not the best episode and had, I thought, some minor pacing issues. Oz/Penguin’s confrontation with the Maroni family felt a bit rushed. But that’s forgivable. The Penguin-Maroni showdown is not the main event. It’s just a step on the path to the main event (Oz vs Sofia). It’s an important but relatively minor plot point, and the pacing issue is barely noticeable anyway. Besides, the rest of the show has been so good that ‘not being quite as good as other episodes’ is still very good. Episode 4, which focused on Sofia’s backstory, was particularly great.

Episode 5 felt like the calm before the storm, moving characters into position for the big showdown that will presumably play out in the final three episodes. Sofia Falcone/Gigante has formed an alliance with the recently bereaved (by Oz) Sal Maroni. Oz, meanwhile, is setting up a new power base in the devastated Crown Point neighbourhood, where he’ll likely achieve his dream of being a benevolent mob boss/man of the people. That said, ‘calm’ is not an accurate description of the episode. It’s more like a relative term here. Episode 5 still had a very high body count that aptly demonstrated the brutality of Oz and Sofia both. I’d expect nothing less for a show about two villains fighting each other for control of the underworld. It drives home that Gotham needs Batman.

On that last point, my one grievance with the show so far is the conspicuous absence of Batman. There doesn’t need to be a cameo or surprise appearance. If Batman swoops in and saves the day, as much as I would probably enjoy seeing that, it would be a letdown. It’s meant to be about the Oz/Penguin’s rise to power; having Batman interfere would undermine that. Besides, “it’s a big city”, as Batman puts it. He’s probably been busy since the flood. I’m calling him absent in the sense that he’s never mentioned (besides a brief newsreel comment in episode 1). Again, there doesn’t need to be a wink-at-the-camera shout-out fan service moments, but some mild off-hand remarks about Batman seem warranted. Similar to how the Riddler has received a few low-key references due to the flood he caused. The fact that Carmine Falcone’s death involved a bat-themed vigilante fighting his way into a secure mob compound, the same bat-themed vigilante that hunted down Oz in a jet-powered car, would surely come up in casual mob conversation. The fact that it doesn’t, seems kind of weird to my mind.

That one point aside, the show (not to keep repeating myself) is great. If you haven’t watched it already, stop whatever you’re doing and go watch it (what are you doing reading spoilers?) I expected it to adapt a comic called Dark Victory. The Batman 2022 was based on The Long Halloween comic. So Dark Victory, a sequel to The Long Halloween, is the obvious source of inspiration for the film’s follow-ups. This has largely been the case. Dark Victory is set in the aftermath of Carmine Falcone’s death and heavily features Sofia. It details a war between the remaining mobsters, led by Sofia, and the Gotham Freaks, led by Two-Face. The show replaces Two-Face with Oz/Penguin and has an alternative and much more interesting take on Sofia. The show’s version is also more grounded: it’s gangsters vs gangsters instead of gangsters vs supervillains. This is more in keeping with the 2022 film’s take on the Batman mythos and makes for some great TV.

The Dark Victory comic was told from Batman’s perspective, which is another point of departure. This makes me think that The Batman Part 2 will adapt the Bat-specific parts of the story. On that note, Dark Victory included Robin’s origin story, a character Robert Pattison said he wants to include. So perhaps the film will feature Robin as well. We’ll have to wait and see.

Until then, The Penguin is fantastic, even without Batman, and I hope they make more spin-offs set in this version of Gotham. And even though episode 5 has not necessarily been the strongest, it’s still great. That’s how good the rest of the show has been. The episode has also set the stage for a killer couple of concluding episodes, which means the show will get even better.

-Dexter