The Penguin has been an interesting show so far. It is one that has started off relatively slow which has given the assumption that it's a show that intends to really stick around for a few years with numerous seasons. I came to this assumption based on the fact that so far, with five episodes in, it has been a slow grind between specific families within the city of Gotham as Penguin hunts down a new drug which is scheduled to revolutionise the drug market and naturally bring in silly amounts of cash with it. Penguin, wanting to get in on this, has made his moves against numerous families and cartels. Often playing multiple sides and telling people what they want to hear while ultimately screwing them all over in the process and playing innocent. Things picked up in the last episode when it was revealed what Penguin had been up to, and even with this faster series of events, the episodes are still a bit of a gradual move forward rather than fast-paced and chaotic. In episode five we saw how these events were really starting to play out, and how Penguin had desperately made his move to get his hands on the shrooms that everyone wants to get their hands on. It feels as if this is a bit more of a slight origin story at this point, one that aims to tell the story of how Penguin rose to such power, from a low-level crook that double-crosses, to one that pulls the strings and is pretty much unstoppable once he gets his hands on some true power. Some of this was implied with how the episode ended, which I won't directly mention this early on in the review of the episode. But keep in mind there will be spoilers from this point on.
In some sense it does feel a bit like a comic in how the episodes play out. The scenes feel really concise and the locations are often sparingly differed up. Everything feels quite tight and there's little room for world building that expands upon the city of Gotham. Though when it's convenient for the story and characters, the world of Gotham does start to open up a bit more. In this episode we saw how Victor needed to find a safe place to hide Penguin's mother, a space where nobody would be looking and they'd be safe after Penguin performed a bit of a heist that led to him stealing the shrooms and gaining a lot more attention on himself. With this, Sophia begins making her moves as her grasp for power is finally seen. No longer the beaten down heir to the Falcone family throne, but taking it by force. We see her nature really coming out now after the previous episode was strong and focused on her troubled story as a character placed into Arkham wrongfully, and surrounded by corruption and the insane. I quite liked that episode, and it makes sense now for her character to have this crazy nature to her that feels far more brutal suddenly. Sophia's character is quite similar to that of Penguin in some ways, that force to not be messed with, the ways she deals with those who step out of line. As well as an incredibly short temper despite the more calm look she holds most of the time. With all of this, Sophia starts to plan to form a plot against Penguin. Settling for peace with other crime families in revenge against him.
A lot of the increased tension has Penguin performing an action that does seem more in-character: he seeks a place underground. Though this is more from a standpoint that it comes from a place in his childhood, something not explained that much. But it does serve as a great base for also growing more shrooms and operating from out of reach from the rest. It's a secret place that does perform more as a comic book type of lair, and I quite liked this aspect of the show's development. I'm looking forward to seeing how this base forms and what point it serves from here on. Especially with the growth of the characters as they change. So far everyone still feels a bit more human, a bit more normal. This is something from the show I don't enjoy too much. I like the idea of them still having that more comic book nature to them, a bit more cartoonish in a way. Whether that's in their appearances and features, or the environments that they surround themselves in. Seeing Penguin go back underground seems fitting, but I'm not entirely sure as to how Victor will change. He's still a character very much utilised as a plot point, convenient when needed but not much else to him. That remains, and I've mentioned already that he's a bit of a weaker character due to this. I'd like to see his character do something beyond the chores of Penguin finally. More than just a stuttering driver that looks after his mother from time to time. That is still something yet to happen, but I hope it does as things expand.
I'm still not a big fan of the directing so far. I think the episodes are incredibly dark and it removes a lot of the depth of the world from them. These scenes are often very dimly lit where we just can't really see much, even in their faces of the characters. And with this it also feels repetitive. The lighting used is all too similar, a lot of warmer tones in interiors and exteriors, even one scene in this episode has some really strong colour grading which just felt more like it hurt the eyes rather than added to the environment. It's an odd decision to make things so dark, but it feels as if it's mostly done to look cinematic while hiding some of the more cheaper set design or make up. Regardless of the reasoning, I'm not enjoying that side of things all that much.
Still, I'll be watching and keeping an eye on how things change. This wasn't a bad episode, certainly not as strong as the previous, but the show is clearly moving somewhere and there's definitely something greater planned ahead. I don't think this will be just a one season miniseries.