The Penguin TV series picks up right where The Batman movie leaves off – with Gotham City crippled from a terroristic attack by The Riddler. It shouldn’t be surprising then that as Oswald “Oz” Cobb (Colin Farrell) begins his campaign to seize power in the underworld, Gotham is still caught up in the Riddler’s maze. The Penguin premiere has a moment that a lot of fans may have missed, where it’s conveyed to fans just how much impact The Riddler is still having on Gotham’s social order.
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Early on in The Penguin Episode 1, “After Hours,” Oz and his assistant/hostage Victor Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz) take a train out of Gotham City to the suburbs, to visit Oz’s mom Francis (Deirdre O’Connell). While riding the train, Oz is approached by a young kid handing out flyers, which read “Gotham’s True Face.” There is a QR code on the flyer, and if you access the code you’ll get taken back to “rataalada.com,” the viral marketing site used to promote The Batman, which also functioned as Riddler’s platform for revealing his master plan to the public and committing his horrific executions of Gotham’s corrupt mayor, district attorney, and police commissioner. Even Edward Nashton is now locked away in Arkham, The Penguin reveals that his followers are still very much active and determined to continue the villain’s “revolution”:
Cl0ckbreak3r: What’s been put in motion can’t be stopped.
xxREIGNITINxx: Arkham’s releasing patients and Blackgate is a mess… no one’s really a prisoner in there. Not even our old pal Sal Maroni.
HOLDTHELINE81: People say they want the truth but they shield their eyes when we shine the light.
DETERMINATOR: Let’s make sure they’re not blinded again to the corruption, the killings, the Falcone power grab…
HOLDTHELINE81: We start in the streets. Tonight at 9pm. Meet at the metro outside Crown Point.
Cl0ckbreak3r: Done and done. The revolution is just getting started.
This message reflects a very interesting fracture in Gotham City’s social order, right now. Both the followers of The Riddler and city officials like Mayoral Elect Bella Reál are committing to ending Gotham’s longstanding era of corruption and mob control. The two factions just have very different approaches and standards about how to do it. The new government officials want to affect positive social change through benevolent policy; the Riddler’s followers want to use chaos and coercion to drag the mobsters into the light.
Neither approach is good for Oz Cobb and the Falcone Crime Syndicate, as The Batman made it clear that the mob’s place in Gotham is shrinking by the day.
The Penguin is now airing on HBO and streaming on Max.
