The Plus Sides and Perils of "Spinoff" TV

What the success of HBO's 'The Penguin' signals

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(No Spoilers)

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I didn’t like the new HBO series The Penguin, but I finished it.

The pilot struck me as dreary and reductive, a pale imitation of the 2000s “difficult man” TV era, copy-pasted onto a comic book villain without any of those series’ intellect, charm, or thorniness. Colin Farrell and the cast labored through the motions as if they were filling out a children’s coloring book of tropes rather than subverting or reinventing them.

Which was disappointing, because a revisit to Matt Reeves’ 2022 The Batman revealed the film had more personality than I remembered. That ridiculous emo romanticism—brought to life by Robert Pattinson, Greig Fraser’s shadowy cinematography, and Reeves’ commitment to stylistic over-the-topness—gave it flair and texture.

I assumed others might share my disappointment with The Penguin, politely put it away, and move on. Instead, the opposite happened: the show became an outright sensation.

Its popularity snowballed weekly. Whether it was excitement over Cristin Milioti’s cat-eye makeup or genuine interest in dissecting Colin Farrell’s Oz Cobb, the fervor was undeniable. HBO leaned in, releasing marketing materials comparing the show to The Sopranos in side-by-side screengrabs. What I saw as a cheap comparison, fans ate up.

Cristin Milioti and Michael Kelly

At some point, I had to stop and consider: maybe I got it all wrong. Maybe this flightless bird had wings...

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