‘The Penguin’ Review: Cristin Milioti Steals HBO’s New Batman Show As Sofia Falcone 

HBO‘s The Penguin is a show that starts, much like its eponymous Batman villain, at the bottom and then somehow manages, through eight episodes of gun fights, double-crosses, and electric performances, to wind up at the very top. The series follows Oswald “Oz” Cobb (Colin Farrell) in the immediate aftermath of Matt Reeves‘s 2022 brooding superhero smash The Batman, as the gangster derisively nicknamed “The Penguin” takes advantage of the chaos caused by Riddler (Paul Dano) to make a play to rule Gotham’s underworld all by himself. Standing in Oz’s way? Not Robert Pattinson‘s Batman, but dead mob boss Carmine Falcone’s terrifyingly unpredictable daughter Sofia (Cristin Milioti). In fact, The Penguin starts to soar when the HBO show focuses on Sofia Falcone’s storyline.

Cristin Milioti’s absolutely electrifying performance, combined with showrunner Lauren Lefranc‘s cunning approach to the gangster drama, turns The Penguin into an incredible addition to the live action Batman canon. It expands upon the world-building established by Reeves’s film and leaves you pumped to see what’s next for The Batman saga.

2022’s The Batman introduced us to a version of Bruce Wayne who was still settling into his role as the vigilante superhero Batman. Badgering him was a new villain called the Riddler. This mysterious figure was not only targeting key leaders in Gotham, but leaving clues for the Caped Crusader. During his investigations, Batman became linked with Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz), a cocktail waitress/cat burglar on a quest to serve justice to her secret kingpin father, Carmine Falcone (John Turturro). The film ends with the Riddler and his acolytes blowing up the sea wall that protects Gotham City’s poorest neighborhoods from being swallowed by the sea. Riddler kills Falcone and winds up in Arkham Asylum. Batman finally comes to the realization that beating up gang members does not a hero make. Unless he helps the innocents of Gotham, he is no different than the Riddler.

HBO’s The Penguin picks up in the immediate aftermath of The Batman, showing us the degradation left on the ground in Gotham by the Riddler’s actions. With Carmine Falcone dead and rival mob boss Salvator Maroni (Clancy Brown) behind bars, there’s a power vacuum in Gotham’s underworld that the Penguin is eager to fill. The problem is he isn’t all that respected by the surviving Falcones: Carmine’s party boy Alberto (Michael Zegen), his cunning cousin Johnny Viti (Michael Kelly), and the recently “rehabilitated” Sofia.

From the moment Sofia Falcone creeps into frame behind an oblivious Oz, The Penguin starts thrumming with true dread. The petite Milioti somehow manages to make a perfectly polite young woman dressed in all white feel like a more threatening villain than any of the gangsters in her midst. We learn that she recently left Arkham Asylum after finally being acquitted of murdering several women. Gotham knows Sofia as “The Hangman,” a serial killer who preyed upon the girls who worked in her father’s clubs. Although she professes her innocence, Sofia also possesses the power to make Farrell’s Penguin edgy like no other character we’ve seen before.

Luckily, Oz has allies. In The Penguin Episode 1 “After Hours,” he presses young Victor Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz) into his employ after catching the poor kid trying to steal his hubcaps. The teenager has been recently orphaned by the sea wall collapse and is one of the many suffering in the ruined neighborhood of Crown Point. Victor is sweet and stutters, and very quickly completely in the Penguin’s thrall. The other person in Penguin’s corner is his elderly mother, Francis Cobb (Deirdre O’Connell). Oswald keeps his ailing mother hidden in the suburbs, where they watch Gilda together and plot his eventual rise to power.

The Penguin has a slow, stunted start, that feels beholden to the classic tropes of the gangster story. There’s double crosses and gun fights and “New Yawk” accents, drug deals gone awry, and even family infighting. What keeps the early episodes afloat are the ensemble cast’s great performances. While I still don’t quite understand why The Batman director Matt Reeves didn’t just hire a character actor for the role, Farrell certainly transforms himself once more into the indelible force that is the Penguin, with the help of prosthetics cooked up by Oscar-nominated makeup artist Mike Marino. Deirdre O’Connell is incredible as the bitter Francis, but the show belongs to Cristin Milioti.

Cristin Milioti has long been regarded as an incredible actress, but in The Penguin, she’s finally given a role that calls upon her to use every part of her outrageous range. At times, Sofia Falcone is campy in her creepiness, gleefully shoving meatballs into her mouth during a funeral. In The Penguin Episode 4 “Cent’anni,” we meet a younger version of Sofia, who comported herself like a mob version of Audrey Hepburn before being psychologically broken down by Arkham Asylum. Throughout The Penguin, Sofia mutates before our eyes, trying on new approaches to life after lockdown. Through it all, Cristin Milioti is spectacular. So much so, she should already be the early frontrunner for next year’s Emmys.

The Penguin might technically be a Colin Farrell star vehicle, but it’s Cristin Milioti’s Batman villain that’s going to haunt you for years to come. Thanks to her performance — and a number of spoiler-y developments later in the series — The Penguin manages to transcend the mediocrity that defines most live action comic book television shows. The Penguin not only left me obsessed with all things Sofia Falcone, but eagerly anticipating where Matt Reeves and company take their new Batman universe going forward. The Penguin bodes very, very well for The Batman Part 2 and beyond.

The Penguin premieres on HBO and Max on Thursday, September 19 at 9 PM ET, future episodes will premiere at 9 PM ET on Sundays on HBO and MAX.