Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.“At the end of the day this is all about money.” The words come from a member of the Falcone Crime Family but they could have been uttered by someone at Warner Brothers. If there’s one thing that both gangsters and Hollywood execs know how to do it’s make a killing in Gotham City. Over the next month, the inexhaustible DC IP will be working double shifts, appearing on the big screen in Joker: Folie à Deux in October and on TV in The Penguin — a new spin-off-cum-follow-up to 2022’s The Batman.The Penguin arrives with muted expectations, following confirmation from showrunner Lauren LeFranc that the caped crusader will be taking a breather before returning for The Batman Part II in 2026. In his absence this latest instalment in the franchise feels superfluous, even if an eight-hour digression focusing on mafia footsoldier Oz Cobblepot (aka The Penguin) is competently made and fitfully compelling. Colin Farrell — concealed under layers of make-up, pounds of prosthetic flab and a thick New Yoik accent — plays the big, brash gangster who has previously livened up the gloom of Matt Reeves’s emo epic. Now he is promoted from scene-stealer to series-lead: a shift that yields uneven results.Picking up in the aftermath of the death of kingpin Carmine Falcone and The Riddler’s devastating attack on Gotham at the end of The Batman, we follow The Penguin’s efforts to establish himself as the new emperor of the city’s underworld. Distrusted thanks to his transparent ambitions yet underestimated due to his physical deformities, Oz is fleet-footed as he plays his rivals against each other. Chief among those standing in his way is Falcone’s wild-eyed daughter Sofia (Cristin Milioti), who is fresh out of Arkham Asylum — horrifyingly realised in flashback.Oz was previously a thorn in Batman’s side but here he is his own worst enemy, easily provoked into self-sabotage. Yet for all the character’s exaggerated attributes, Farrell mines vulnerability and even some tenderness from beneath the violent, volatile exterior. This is particularly noticeable in scenes featuring Oz’s domineering but ailing mother (Deirdre O’Connell) and his young driver, Victor (Rhenzy Feliz): a recently orphaned teen whom The Penguin takes under his wing. Through Victor, a sweet-natured kid pulled into the vortex of crime, the show gives us a rare glimpse of what’s at stake for ordinary Gotham citizens, not just the vigilantes and villains battling for the city’s soul. The Penguin can be heavy handed but its interest in the human experiences and societal failings that create someone like Oz and corrupt someone like Victor is still persuasive TV.★★★☆☆First episode on Sky Atlantic from September 20 at 9pm and on HBO in the US from September 19. New episodes released weekly
