REVIEW: The Penguin – Episode 2, “Inside Man”

Television Reviews

With its second episode, “Inside Man,” The Penguin hits its stride, mounting the tension as the subterfuge within the Falcone family begins. Mercifully, Colin Farrell tones down his caricaturish performance, mostly playing Oz straight, and the result is a much more immersive crime story. That being said, he still can’t hold a candle to Cristin Milioti’s captivating Sofia Falcone, who effortlessly steals the show from the titular character.

Oz begins enacting his plan to dismantle the Falcone family piece by piece with the Maronis as his pawns, but his efforts hit a few snags, and he’s forced to improvise to stay alive. Sofia is convinced there’s a traitor in the Falcone family and that he killed her brother. Carmine Falcone’s brother Luca arrives to take over as boss of the family.

Luca Falcone’s introduction in “Inside Man” marks the arrival of Mark Cohen, yet another veteran TV actor this series managed to snag. The Penguin has a top-notch cast, and Cohen’s presence brings the gravitas needed for the Falcone family’s new leader. Luca is very low-key, which helps contrast him with the unhinged Sofia and, though he only had five minutes of screen time in the first episode, the drug-addled enthusiasm of Alberto. Luca, an original character as opposed to some of the repurposed Falcones and Maronis from the pages of DC Comics, appears to be a measured boss, knowing when to get forceful and when to use a deft touch; he’s probably the best leader the Falcone family could ask for, which makes it amusing that we’re supposed to root for his downfall. But The Penguin pulls it off because his rival is such a compelling character… and I don’t mean Oswald.

***SPOILERS***

Sofia is fleshed out further in “Inside Man,” and she’s even more complex than she was presented as when we first met her. She loved her brother and is motivated to find his killer, but that’s not the end of it; Sofia and Alberto were going to run the family together with that new designer drug Alberto had developed. His death not only broke Sofia’s heart but killed her ambitions, and she’s being cast aside while her uncle and his old school buddies take over. Now, she’s got two choices: she can either leave for Italy and get out of the way, leading a peaceful but luxurious life with unlimited funds and nothing but time, or she can fight against immense odds and decades of tradition to wrest the family from Luca and Johnny Vitti. This storyline is so engrossing I wish it were the main focus of the show; Sofia’s motivation for taking over the family is more interesting than Oz’s, and that’s why I want her to defeat Luca, even though he’ll probably be a better boss than his insane niece.

A lot of this is due to Cristin Milioti, who continues to tiptoe along a fine line as Sofia. She’s almost certainly crazy, but Milioti balances that with intelligence and humanity, making Sofia someone who, despite being a deranged killer, is sympathetic and oddly endearing. In the scene where her cousin, Carla Vitti (a change from the comics, where Carla was Carmine’s sister and Johnny Vitti’s mother), is clearly nervous about her daughter getting too close to Sofia, Sofia very subtly suggests that she may kill the girl, and there would be nothing Carla could do about it she did. It’s creepy, but it comes from a place of sadness and resignation, as Sofia realizes that even her former best friend sees her as a dangerous lunatic and acts out almost as a child would, as if she’s saying, “If she thinks I’m a psycho, I’ll give her a psycho.” As much as I think this series is being a bit overpraised (I like it, especially now, but people are acting like it’s the second coming of The Sopranos or something), Milioti is giving a masterful performance.

Reluctantly moving away from Sofia to focus on Oz, he’s actually much better in “Inside Man” than he was in the first episode or The Batman. Except for one scene where he falls back on his overacting habit, Colin Farrell is more serious this week, making Oz’s scenes more enjoyable to watch. His road to conquest begins here – aside from having his sidekick Victor deliver Alberto’s body at the end of the premiere – with a Maroni hijacking of a Falcone drug shipment, which goes wrong when Johnny Vitti insists Oz be on one of the trucks. This triggers a downward spiral, as the Falcones are angry with Oz for screwing up, while the Maronis think Oz sabotaged the theft. Keeping Oz scrambling to protect himself and maintain his plot seems to be the key to making his storyline work, as it not only ups the tension but forces Farrell to play up the drama rather than the weird comedy aspect of Oz.

Oz is a stronger character in “Inside Mad” due to the plotting, too. Last week, he came off as an impulsive idiot who got lucky when some of his stupid decisions paid off, like keeping the ring he foolishly took from Alberto. Now, he seems much more like a smart tactician, rolling with the punches when his plans go awry and thinking on his feet when he’s in trouble. The way he takes care of the captured Maroni thug is inspired, from his alerting Johnny Vitti (and, consequently, Luca Falcone) to his location to killing the hostage to protect himself to framing Sofia’s bodyguard for the murder. Now, he’s not only concealed his involvement with the Maronis but he’s eliminated the one person Sofia confided in while cozying up to her bit by bit. He now has Sofia as an ally, meaning he’s got resources and access to the upper echelons of the Falcone family. He can make his power play with a bit more confidence, knowing that Sofia is backing him because she thinks he’s backing her. Not bad for a guy she almost tortured to death a week ago.

Pretty much everything with Oz works better in “Inside Man.” His scene with his mother is much more endearing; it’s clear he loves her, and his dance with her to the jazz record is sweet. Oz will take time out of his desperate struggle for power and survival to make sure his mom knows how special she is to him. His scene with Victor as they bury the bodies from the funeral repast is good, too, as he impresses upon his protégé how important it is to be ruthless and never hesitate because that’s how one ends up lying in a grave rather than digging one. And his talk with Eve about his intentions suggests that he cares for her as well, needing her help but not wanting to put her or her girls in too much danger. I was convinced Colin Farrell’s performance wouldn’t get better, but if he can act like this for the rest of the series, it will be a lot easier to follow the Penguin on his journey to ruling the criminal roost.

As The Penguin goes along, I’d like some of the other actors to get more to do. Clancy Brown still offers little more than his presence as Sal Maroni (although Shohreh Aghdashloo is great as his wife), as does Michael Kelly as Johnny Vitti. Victor is a bland character who appears to be there just so Oz can bounce off of someone; similarly, Oz’s mother feels like she’s more a tool to explore Oz’s personality than a character in her own right. Otherwise, The Penguin has picked up considerably, and I’m now eagerly awaiting the next episode.

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