HBO's Batman spinoff isn't fooling anyone.

It is impressive how little The Penguin makes a point of being a Batman show. In fact, one might wonder why it even cares. This is a show that clearly favors the Mafia canon over the comic book canon, a thinly veiled excuse to Scarface in Gotham City, or watch a version of The Godfather – Part II that is about Fredo. This may annoy some people and please others – it is certainly different from the Marvel Cinematic Universe-style Easter egg hunts that audiences have been bombarded with in recent years. But it's also an oddball, an HBO series that's hard to square with the network's penchant for prestige – and, of course, its other (extremely famous) gangster epic.

The new series follows Colin Farrell’s heavily prosthetic reinterpretation of Oz “The Penguin” Cobb, following 2022’s The Batman. An opening montage reminds viewers of the state of affairs in Matt Reeves' version of Gotham City, and the short version is: Batman kind of screwed up. The Riddler bombed the city, flooding its streets and turning its poorer neighborhoods into a disaster zone. The city's resources are running low. And mob boss Carmine Falcone (John Turturro in the film) is dead, leaving a power vacuum in the underworld.

Batman and Bruce Wayne do not appear in this story. The many criminals of The Penguin seem to give no thought to the armored man whose favorite pastime is to give petty criminals hell. This omission never ceases to be odd – I understand that this version of the superhero is just getting started, but The Batman made it quite clear that the people of Gotham at least heard from him. Aside from that, The Penguin uses a number of comic book devices to make it clear that Gotham is not simply a fictional New York, such as the existence of a drug economy based on “drops,” the occasional trip to Arkham Asylum, and Riddler question marks plastered on billboards everywhere. There are a hilarious number of scenes where characters walk past this very obvious comic book iconography and then act like they're not in a comic book show.

There is a precedent for the genre traps here. Many of the most popular and influential Batman comics are very much crime stories, such as Frank Miller's and David Mazzucchelli's Batman: Year Oneor Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's The long Halloween and its sequel, Dark Victory— which informs everyone The PenguinKnowing this, it's not hard to imagine a gangster saga that simply leaves out the masked crusader, detailing what kind of corruption the hero is trying to eradicate, or how disruptive his appearance might be in a well-established underworld.

The Penguin tends towards the latter. In accordance with his characterization in The BatmanOz Cobb is a bullshit talker and schemer who sees a chance to work his way up from being a glorified drug dealer to becoming the real boss. He enjoys little respect – his Perpetrator name is meant as an insult to his face – and he doesn't seem to be particularly good at much of what he sets out to do either. But he is driven, driven by an undying anger at the world around him for overlooking him and denying him the power and opportunities he believes he deserves, and he has a knack for getting other disgruntled men to join him in a fight to take back what is theirs. Batman may not be present, but he has given Oz a chance, and he will take it.

This is perhaps the most fascinating thing about The Penguin: Through its characterization of Oz and his place in Gotham, it illustrates the seductive appeal of gangster stories and suggests that it may not be very different from what draws people to superhero tales. The toxic fanbase inherent in both only underscores this. In that sense, the best character in the series, and the reason it all fits together so well, is a woman.

Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) is an immediate threat to Oz's ambitions. Recently released from Arkham, she is a surprise heir to the Mafia throne, an aspiring queen who fits Oz's criminal goals. As Diane Keaton portrays in The Godfather or any woman who enters an old patriarchal stronghold is immediately shut out by men who have power or want it – but always find ways to get their foot in the door, thwart plans and build their own empire. In the eight episodes of the series The Penguin takes the time to examine both Oz and Sofia to find the cracks in their psyches that make them want to change the city to their own standards, finding more in their petty humanity than in their criminal acumen.

Here is where The Penguin most feel like The Sopranosfocuses on the broken families that produce men like Oz or women like Sofia, and how the criminal “families” they belong to reflect their gaping emotional needs. The comparison is uncomfortable and unavoidable – a sharp divide between the Prestige TVs from when the term was coined to what it looks like today. What once described a subset of shows that ran counter to broadcast norms and sought to push boundaries is now a formal standard, a form ready to accommodate the IP connectivity that every high-profile media company must have today, even HBO.

But there is a craft The Penguin that makes it satisfying in its own way, a dazzling work of IP competition with the insidious goal of seeing how far you can exploit the Batman name while depriving Batman fans of his presence. Like it or not, that's how prestige TV is made today, but at least it can still Good.