The Penguin – Season 1 Episode 1 “After Hours” Recap & Review

After Hours

Episode 1 of The Penguin begins with an update on Gotham City in the wake of the Riddler’s attack in The Batman movie. Spoilers: It’s not good. There’s a power vacuum in Gotham’s poorest neighbourhoods, while Alberto Falcone has taken charge of his father’s empire. The wildcard here of course, is Penguin.

Our titular character shows up at the Iceberg Lounge and with a sledgehammer, grabs a bunch of gear from behind the war, which includes jewellery and incriminating documents. He hands them over to Alberto as a peace offering when he shows, and blows smoke up Alberto’s ass regarding his position as Kingpin of Gotham.

As they sit and talk, Alberto explains he wants to revolutionize the game and change the drugs flowing into Gotham. He praises his father, Carmine, as the ultimate carrot-on-the-stick merchant, knowing that Oz was skimming off the top. He was okay with it, given it kept him in line, but as the attention turns to Penguin and his dreams, things turn sour quickly.

Alberto antagonizes and laughs at Oz, eventually leading to him shooting the guy in cold blood. The realization of what he’s done hits hard, so Oz works to take out the trash – quite literally.

Outside, he finds a kid called Victor Aguilar and a couple of others trying to steal rims from his car. Oz catches up and threatens him with a gun. He notices Vic has a stutter and Oz clearly sees something of himself in this kid. Oz forces Vic to work with him, driving out to drop off Alberto’s body by the dock.

Oz checks through Alberto’s phone and finds a calendar update marked “Shipment”. This is, of course, regarding the drugs about to flow into Gotham and Oz wants to intercept it and take it for himself. Now, he also needs an alibi to cover for his whereabouts during Alberto’s death, and that comes from a local hooker called Eve whom he frequents.

They work through the night, and as the sun starts to rise, Oz takes Alberto’s ring before wondering whether to get rid of Vic. Vic gives an impassioned speech about ambition and wants Penguin to give him a chance. And it’s enough to convince him. At least for now anyway.

It’s just like any other day though, and after cleaning himself up, Oz takes Vic with him to work. At the warehouse, they’ve managed to recover 30% of the product but things are hectic on the street. To make matters worse, the Family ring and call Oz into HQ.

Unfortunately, it’s not good news. They’ve decided to shut down the plant, and they’re moving all operations to Robbinsville. There’s less heat over there and less gangs circling around too. The Family don’t want to risk a gang war here but Oz has his trump card – Alberto’s shipment.

Sofia shows up, back from Arkham after being “rehabilitated” and immediately asks about Alberto’s death. Oz deflects, but it’s also a no on the shipment too. Sofia is not letting this drop, and wants to go for lunch. Her distinguished persona soon drops when they eat together.

Oz manages to hold his own with this unhinged lady, and he thankfully has his alibi with Eve too. When they part ways, Sofia tells Oz she always knew that he was capable of more and never once underestimated him. When they part ways, Oz returns to Vic and he’s clearly spooked.

With the necklace Alberto gave him, Oz’s destination is his mother’s place. He hands over the jewellery to her and grabs his bag of cash stuffed in the closet. He wants them to go on a vacation together. She knows there’s something going on, and he eventually breaks the truth about Alberto. She reassures him and convinces Penguin to hang around rather than running away.

Oz shows up at the prison to see Sal. He’s done with the Falcone family and decides to switch sides. With Carmine dead and Penguin’s ambition reaching out, Sal initially refuses to hear him out. That is, until he hands over the ring Alberto Falcone had.

Unfortunately, Sofia is waiting for Penguin at his place, forcing Oz to hightail it when he returns home. Sofia and co soon catch up though. She has him stripped down and knows that Oz is lying, and starts torturing him after killing one of the kids from that night who tried to steal his rims.

However, there’s a bigger plan at play here. Someone drives the car sporting Alberto Falcone in the boot straight up into the Falcone mansion. Alberto is still in the trunk, his finger is missing and the word “Payback” is scrawled on the roof of the trunk. A cinderblock is used to drive the car up, so the culprit is long gone.

This is Victor’s doing, to set this up while Penguin is tied and questioned, given she’s unaware of Vic’s presence. Coupled with the ring handed over to Sal, it’s all designed to letthe Maroni’s take credit. Oz has decided he’s going to take the shipment and run the city himself. With Vic by his side.

The Episode Review

The thing with Gotham that a lot of these series and films tend to get wrong is the sheer gritty feel of this being a living, breathing animal. It’s part of the reason the Nolan films worked so well, and it’s similarly why people like the Matt Reeves version too. The Gotham prequel series is another stand-out in this genre, albeit the first few seasons at least.

When it comes to The Penguin, the creators absolutely understand Gotham and why it’s such an iconic city. The establishing shots in particular, with all the dirt, grime, gangs on the street and general griminess of it all really helps to channel that feel of this being a nasty place you wouldn’t ever want to visit.

The show gets off to a solid start and you certainly don’t need to have watched Matt Reeves’ film to get the gist of what’s going on here. The characters are nicely established, and this violent crime drama has an impressive style to it that makes you itch for more. If this is a sign of things to come, The Penguin could be one of the stand-out series this year.