You haven’t seen this series 4.4 out of 5 and you’re wrong!

It’s definitely one of the best series of this year’s end, and yet it hasn’t gotten the fame it deserves. Rated 4.4 out of 5 by AlloCiné viewers who gave it a chance, this fantasy takes place in the famous world of superheroes, a prolific genre in film and television.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be generating as much buzz in France as other platform fiction, and that’s a shame because you’re really missing out on a little gem of writing and performance.

Available on the MAX platform, The Penguin is a spin-off of the Matt Reeves film Batman, centered around the character of Oswald Cobb, aka The Penguin, played by Colin Farrell. Created by Lauren LeFranc, the series takes place days after Batman and follows Oz’s rise in Gotham’s criminal underworld.

• Penguin: How much is a Batman spin-off series with Colin Farrell worth?

Although the series just finished airing 8 episodes, we’ll tell you why you should catch up if you haven’t had the desire or time to do so yet.

Exploring the dark world of Batman and the rise of a true villain

Looking at one of the iconic villains of the Batman universe, The Penguin offers a different take on the world fans are familiar with, much like the Joker. Less performative and more intimate, this spin-off focuses on telling everything the superhero struggles with deep down.

Comic book fans will easily find the various hidden details and appreciate this popular world and will appreciate this immersion into the criminal and underprivileged underworld of Gotham City, with a gallery of well-drawn characters.

And above all, unlike other superhero franchises, The Penguin doesn’t deviate from the nature of the villain that is Oz. The cliché of certain super villain redemption arcs is starting to annoy the public, and the series manages to find the right balance to paint a complex and consistent portrait of a great antagonist.

Masterful performances

Despite his short time in Batman (about ten minutes), Colin Farrell gave an unforgettable transformation and performance as Oz Cobb, a.k.a. The Penguin, the iconic villain of the superhero universe.

And he continues to offer a decent performance of his character in a series of 8 episodes, each one hour long (and you don’t have to worry about it), with the right balance between emotion and violence. But the one who almost steals the show is Christine Milioti, who plays Sofia Falcone, the daughter of gangster Carmine Falcone.

The actor has done justice to this female character who has been mistreated in an oppressive and violent male world and reduced to a model of hysterical and murderous madness, while she has what it takes to be a tough boss.

We also highlight the performance of a young Renzi Feliz as Victor, the Penguin’s protégé. The dynamic between the two characters is fascinating, but above all tragic until the series’ final thought-provoking moments.

High quality dark and attractive thriller

In terms of staging and aesthetics, we imagine inspiration from Coppola’s or Scorsese’s mob movies. If the form is enjoyable, the substance is even more so, approaching the narrative construction of series like Marvel’s Daredevil and The Sopranos.

The series does not refrain from violence and cruelty, as well as its main character, who only knew this “defense” to find a place in the world. Imbued with the illusion of the American dream, Penguin is a story of emancipation and the rise of crime, which evokes sympathy and disgust, and which is, above all, very dangerous and violent because it is admired by everyone.

We owe the quality of the series to the supervision of showrunner Lauren LeFranc and Matt Reeves, who has a shared vision for his Batman franchise. It’s no wonder the series’ episodes are so highly rated, with episodes 4 (9.5/10) and 8 (9.7/10) being the highest-rated television episodes of all time on IMDb.

The “Penguin” series is available on the MAX platform.