When in doubt, know that if you channel Tony Soprano, you will have my attention. In the teaser trailer for Max’s The Penguin, we get to see Colin Farrell’s take on Oz Cobb, and it reminds me of another HBO series that defined television in the early 2000s: The Sopranos.
With Oz sitting in a chair, talking about some old-school gangster, it really just gives me the same vibe as Tony in his therapy sessions. In The Sopranos, Tony (James Gandolfini) has been suffering from panic attacks as the head of a mob family, so he goes to see Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) to talk about the source of his anxiety.
Throughout the series, their sessions frame many of the episodes, and we get a unique look into how Tony is feeling about things. Now, I don’t know if that’s what The Penguin was trying to do by having Oz sit down and talk about Rex Calabrese (a mob boss in Gotham), but it does give me a specific kind of feeling about what the show is going to be like.
Is Oz going to be struggling with his newfound power? Is he using that power and sharing this story as a way to frighten whoever he’s talking to? The possibilities are endless.
When you think about the crime scene in Gotham, it is run by Italians. You have your Carmine Falcone and even Rex is maybe Italian, but then Oswald Cobblepot does not exactly SCREAM Italy. In Matt Reeves’ story, Farrell’s take on the character goes by Oz Cobb, and maybe this is all just time for the Irish Mob to take over Gotham like in The Departed. But first, back to Oz taking on his best Tony Soprano impression.
Woke up this morning …
For whatever reason, Farrell’s approach to Oz not only has the feel of Soprano but also the hot energy that Tony does. Sorry, Tony Soprano is and will forever be a hottie. Putting Farrell in makeup to try to change how hot he is in order to play the Penguin? It didn’t work; he’s still very hot, even if he’s one of the weirdest villains in Batman’s rogues’ gallery.
Did I ever, as a younger fan of Bruce Wayne, think that I would think the Penguin was hot? No. Sorry to Danny DeVito, but you looked like my grandfather. I thought, “Surely, I’m safe.” And now, here we are. To be fair to Farrell, the Penguin has been Italian-coded since DeVito played him, so leaning into that Tony Soprano energy is not really that far out of the realm of possibility for the character. I do hope that they embrace it even further and that this is Oz in therapy.
He already owns a club (it’s just not a strip club like Tony Soprano’s), but to me, there is truly nothing hotter than a maybe Italian man working on himself, so Oz, take note and go to therapy, I guess.
(featured image: Max)
