Ever since HBO’s The Sopranos became a TV phenomenon, gritty crime dramas that make you root for the bad guy has become an enduring subgenre, and can even be considered the lifeblood of “Peak TV.” In the past few decades, viewers have rooted for Walter White escaping the DEA, Tommy Shelby ruling Birmingham in secret, and Barry ruthlessly dispatching with his targets. There’s something satisfying in watching an evil scheme by, say, a Targaryen go off without a hitch.
But in recent years, trying to find a fresh angle on the anti-hero story has become more and more difficult. Now, it’s all come full circle: HBO is airing The Penguin, a very Sopranos-inspired series that subverts the idea of anti-hero in a way that’s both obvious and shocking.
Spoilers for The Penguin Episode 5 follow!
The Penguin Episode 4 ended with the deterioration of the alliance between Sofia Falcone and Oz Cobb, with Sofia finally exacting revenge on her family with a mass murder that leaves her the sole surviving member. In Episode 5, Oz has to get his own leg up, and with the Falcones handled, that only leaves one target: the Maronis. In a desperate scheme to get the mushrooms used to make his hallucinogen Bliss back, he kidnaps Taj Maroni and arranges a swap: Taj for the shrooms.
Oz leads Taj back to Nadia Maroni and she embraces her son, but he’s sopping wet with a mysterious liquid. Once the mushrooms are secure, we learn exactly what that liquid is: gasoline. With an unfeeling glare, Oz reaches into his pocket and pulls out a lighter, tossing it on the ground. In an unparalleled moment of cruelty, we watch as Nadia and Taj go up in flames.
This moment is the final undeniable proof that Oz Cobb isn’t an anti-hero: he’s just a straight-up villain. He’s still humanized, we still see him return to visit his mom after this brutal double homicide, but he’s far more difficult to root for. He’s not Tony Soprano being haunted in dreams by the friend he offed and talking with a therapist, nor is he Walter White trying to keep up a double life and raise money for his family. He’s an old-fashioned, mustache-twirling, scheming, and conniving villain.
Upon reflection, it’s the obvious choice for this series. While it’s influenced by the anti-hero shows that came before it, at the end of the day it is a series about a Batman villain, and Batman baddies aren’t exactly known for their nuance. In The Batman, the movie that launched The Penguin, the main villain was a Riddler who took his cues from Zodiac. Grounded? Yes. Sympathetic? Absolutely not.
The Penguin is, to coin a phrase, the anti-anti-hero show. It’s not afraid of making its protagonist unlikable and risking losing audience goodwill. At this point, we just want to see a fight for power between two people willing to do anything, and that’s exactly what we’re getting with the fight between Oz and Sofia.
