The Penguin has walked the tightrope line of offering viewers a Batman spinoff show that doesn’t have Batman in it (yet). To the surprise of many DC fans, the concept has been working well, as Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell) and Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) have provided all the intrigue needed to carry the series, with a stacked supporting cast to make Gotham’s underworld drama worth tuning in for.
However, The Penguin Episode 7, “Top Hat” had a climactic twist that has created major stakes for the series, heading into the finale: because if Batman doesn’t show up now, it’s going to be a massive hole in the franchise continuity…
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WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW!
Episode 7 of The Penguin saw Sofia Falcone grab Oz’s mom as a hostage, while Sal Maroni (Clancy Brown) forced Penguin to hand over his new drug supply. Oz managed to once again wobble his way out of the fire, as Sal died in their ensuing fight and Oz’s crew held onto their turf. The victory was short-lived, however: Sofia grew tired of tit-for-tat moves to seize the throne, and sent a bomb into the tunnels to blow up Oz’s entire operation. Oz managed to get out in time (through the same overflow tunnel he left his own brothers to die in), but the blast collapsed an entire city block, leaving the slum neighborhood of Crown Point looking like a Third World warzone.
And therein lies the issue: Up until now, The Penguin has been able to sustain the idea that everything that has happened in this underworld power struggle has been under the radar enough for Batman (Robert Pattinson) not to get involved. After all, The Penguin takes place just weeks after the events of The Batman and Gotham is in a state of emergency following Riddler’s terrorist attack, and the resulting flooding of the city. Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) is no doubt busy in both his civilian guise (as a wealth and power figure aiding in cleanup and rebuilding) and his vigilante guise (battling a surge in crime, and new kinds of villains springing up). In short: It could be believed that Batman is too busy to be worrying about mobsters and crooks killing one another, or too unbothered to intervene – even with headlines about the Falcone Family Massacre flashing over news screens.
However, the explosion in Crown Point no doubt cost innocent people their lives – and more importantly, it’s a clear signal that serious action is going down in that part of the city. After Riddler’s attack, any detonation of an explosive device should have Gotham law enforcement and Batman on the scene immediately, looking to crack heads. And those are exactly the kind of stakes Penguin Episode 7 has set for the finale.
The Penguin: Does Batman Have to Appear In The Finale?
There was already a lot of grousing about the entire Falcone crime family being killed in mass murder and Batman not showing up -so if Batman doesn’t show up in some form or fashion during the finale, in reaction to Sofia’s bombing, The Penguin will have stretched a lot of fans’ belief in this “interconnected universe” to the breaking point. As of Episode 7, fan comments and memes are already springing up, clowning Robert Pattinson’s Batman for his poor job protecting the city. The Dark Knight is creating presence, through his total absence.
Admittedly, Penguin’s creative team has set a precedence for Batman’s “cameo” not to be a heavy-handed scene-stealing moment. The show has been routinely commended for fleshing out the vision of Gotham City director Matt Reeves established in The Batman (2022), without having to do heavy name-drops about or cameos from major Batman characters. We could simply see an image of Batman or the Batmobile on the scene in Crown Point through news footage or some overhead shot and that would be enough; after all, none of the main characters in The Penguin is someone who would want to stick around if Batman was close by.
However, if the show tries to end the story without any reference to Batman getting involved or at leat being aware of what’s occurred, it’s going to feel like a big misstep, and The Batman: Part II is going to have a lot of explaining to do.
The Penguin is airing on HBO and streaming on Max.
