The Penguin S1 E3: "Bliss" Review

A part of me realizes that this episode-by-episode approach is the critical treatment I should have given to HBO's The Last of Us, but honestly? That's water under the bridge now. But I digress, and at any rate, The Penguin is meticulously and strategically revealing itself to be an excellent show, a narrative karate chop to the notion that superhero-related movies and shows can't be art. To be frank with you, as someone who's tried to write in the format of TV before, episode 2 and episode 3 are often incredibly difficult to conceive when compared to other episodes. This is because they're what some might call expositional. Other episodes at the beginning, middle, and end of the season are going to be exciting payoffs, but these episodes often play straight into the notion that writing is boring because they're less their own stories and more attempts to elevate other episodes of the show.

Nevertheless, Bliss does a lot of things really well. I love how it's even more ground-level than the already-grounded The Batman with its focus on Victor Aguilar, a seemingly-ordinary teenager also known as Vic, who has found himself tangled in the web of Gotham's corruption. Batman may have the resources to act on his vengeful impulses, but a lot of people - Vic among them - aren't so blessed. There's one sequence that shows Vic's perspective of the Riddler's terror attack on Gotham, a citizen's point of view. Up until now, there's been something of a barrier between the movie and the show, but this sequence thankfully blew that illusory fence to unceremonious pieces.

As for Vic himself, he's quickly becoming one of my favorite characters in anything Batman-related. He's such an underdog and endlessly socially awkward, but also intensely likable. I think that, in a lot of ways, he reminds me of the way I was in high school. I like the grip and the control that Oz has over him. The Batman treated Penguin as so much comic relief, but this miniseries is showing me exactly how he accrued so much power in the underworld and how he got so good at what he does through controlling and manipulating people. Additionally, can I mention that the editing of this show is incredible? I know that 95% of people who watch it aren't going to care about the editing in the slightest, but I want to commend Andy Keir, the editor of episode 3, who absolutely deserves some manner of accolade for his work.

Lastly, I love how unapologetically devoted to it's characters this show is! I suppose that should be expected for anything related to the name Matt Reeves, but I promise you it goes deeper than that. The Penguin perfectly understands what about The Batman worked, and does the same tricks here while also taking those tricks to exciting new heights. All in all, the already-evident strengths of the show combined with the strong word-of-mouth have me anxious to see what happens next.

Proverbs 14:31