Chin up, the brutal ending to DC’s best show was actually pretty good

If you are looking for a quick assessment of The penguinFinal episode of, know this: it’s the very definition of a perfect TV episode. Not just DC TV, not just comic book TV… it’s so good it might seem impossible from the outside. And this is a show that already had an episode that I proclaimed the best DC episode of all time. Sometimes, The penguin It’s been a difficult show to watch; as challenging and provocative as it is excellent. With episode 8, this feeling grew a lot.

Located right after The penguin With Episode 7’s explosive ending, with Gotham once again in ruins and the empire of Oz falling around them, the finale sees Sofia and Cobb’s conflict come to a head. To recap, Oz was taken by Sofia’s men and a harrowing confrontation was planned between the Penguin and his mother over the death of his brothers. From there, it’s all a matter of how we get from Oz at his lowest level until he’s in a position to rival Batman in the next. Batman Part II – a rollercoaster we’ve been rocked by several times this season.

Directed by Jennifer Getzinger (who has an incredible resume), the finale promised to wrap up the stories of all the main characters, as well as returning the reins of Oz to Matt Reeves, and let’s just say it’s a success. A towering, formidable, shocking and provocative success that even manages to bring the focus back to Batman’s story, in fact.

We need to talk about this scene

The Penguin Finale has one of the most memorable scenes of all time

I won’t get into specific spoilers here, but the final scene with Vic from Oz and Rhenzy Feliz is easily one of the most deeply moving things I’ve ever seen on live-action TV. It’s the kind of scene that sucks the air out of the room.thanks both to the exceptional performances and the direction the story takes.

Their dynamic was also beautifully fleshed out throughout the episode, after the previous 7 brought them together. Vic was groomed as Oz’s underboss and replacement for Gotham’s staff – he was always the key to Oz realizing his endgame and the key to his power. And throughout the finale, there are subtle exchanges of genuine affection from Vic to his boss that make the way this story unfolds all the more impressive.

The Penguin Recovers and Reshapes Oz for the Future

Now this is how you remind everyone that Oz is not a nice guy

The penguin needed an Oz recovery because, let’s be honest, he was a little too likable. No matter what he did, Colin Farrell’s performance is so darkly charming – by design, I might add – that you end up rooting for the guy. This was beautifully choreographed throughout the show because we had to be invested in his victory.

In the end, however, everything changes because of one scene that literally everyone will talk about for a long time. It’s such an effective recovery of the idea that Oz is despicable that I almost have to stand up and applaud. I’ve watched this episode twice now, and believe me, it’s infinitely more moving the second time around, as you identify the tricks that made him feel good about things. The storytelling at work here is genuinely top-notch.

How The Penguin Avoided A Big MCU Problem

Even when you know the ending, it doesn’t take anything away

The MCU’s Disney+ shows were hampered by a genetic problem: they had to be watched without impacting the main films while also expanding on them. This is why you get entire series of bottles that will have no impact when and if these characters appear in a film. And, crucially, this is also why so many of them start and end in exactly the same position, narratively speaking. They are burdened with glorious expectation, so to speak.

The penguin could have fallen into the same trap, as it is a support story for Batman films. We already knew Oz’s move through Gotham at the end of Batmanand him being in power in the sequel would still make sense even without these 8 excellent episodes because of the final scene. This is simple self-preservation and logic from Matt Reeves’ team to ensure that anyone who missed the show isn’t lost when the sequel comes out.

But The penguin it’s still essential viewing all the same: not only is its quality a big selling factor, but the journey back to Oz’s power play is told immaculately, without any sense that you’ve just been cheated out of the ending, essentially following straight through from The Batman. I can’t say the same about some MCU shows, even though I liked them: The penguin it feels more substantial in every way.

The Penguin’s finale has some of his strongest individual performances

It’s impossible not to shower the cast with superlatives

It would be easy to let all of the episode’s specifics evaporate in the face of the monumental effect of its most prominent scene, but there’s much more to this than what happens on the riverbanks. And all successes come back to one thingThe penguinhas done incredibly well: getting exceptional performances from aprofoundly talented cast.

Colin Farrell is once again imposing: especially when he’s dealing with horrible emotional stress. Watching him during the interrogation scene that crowns the episode as its true high point is fascinating. The fact That he can achieve so many nuances under that amount of prosthetic makeup is surprising. He then does it again, in Oz’s most frantic moment and it’s not just the results of what he does, but the brutal way in which the camera allows an unflinching view of what is taken from him that sets it apart as an excellent piece of work.

Cristin Milioti is great again (mark that on your bingo card) and in the same interrogation scene she does her best work with viscerally affecting material. Many of Batman’s villains are classified by their mental instability, but Milioti’s laser-guided attack on Oz’s most important relationship is a case study in revenge. The emotional cracks that appear are equally important, and it’s often in Milioti’s flashes of crushed humanity that Sofia is at her best. I want more of her.

Deidre O’Connell, in turn, does what she always does well in The penguinplaying two sides of Francis Cobb – at once cruel and calculating (for good reason, of course), and lost due to illness. Through Julian Rush’s flashback device and Sofia’s interrogation and O’Connell’s performance cap off one of the most claustrophobic and intense scenes I’ve seen in a long time.

And then there’s Rhenzy Feliz, the underdog of The penguin whose performance never had the luxury of greatness. Victor is more subtle but no less expertly crafted: a street kid archetype with depth, and the way he establishes his dynamic with Oz is good and I fear it will be overlooked. Without his work, the end of the episode simply wouldn’t be the way it is. He may not get the Emmy nomination, I almost guarantee the other three will, but that would be a disappointing oversight.

Final Thoughts on The Penguin’s Ending

It’s settled: this is the best DC TV ever

If you invest about eight hours in a premium TV show, you want it to keep the ending: The penguin it does this by delivering one of the best TV endings of all time. It’s so clever that once you rewatch this wonderful show, you’ll notice where it told us what was going to happen, and the trick loses none of its magic for it.

Matt Reeves may be very happy that Lauren LeFranc expanded the Batman universe even before he did: this show was a revelation that probably shouldn’t have been a surprise, but comic book projects have enlightened a lot of people, and it’s great to have such a colossal talent (along with each writer and director) creating this quality of entertainment. Honestly, I’m sad it’s over now. The penguin is dead; Long live the Penguin.

All 8 episodes of The penguin are available to stream on Max.