After a gap of around a week and a half, The Penguin returns with its second episode and continues with the intrigue and conspiracy set up in the premiere. The show continues to flex stellar acting across the board and sharp writing, making this show more than just another comic book tie-in project.

Even though Oz is nicknamed “Penguin”, he shows just how viper-like he is through his manipulation of others. What he makes up for in physical prowess he more than makes up for in his skills of communication, being able to charm and coax others to his plan through words. Even when a knife is pressed against him, he’s able to find a card to play to keep himself alive, or pass the suspicion off of himself and onto someone else, despite being the agent of chaos driving the plot. I liked the twist that Penguin planted a murder weapon on Sofia Falcone’s bodyguard instead of Michael Kelly’s Johnny Vitti, the Underboss of the Falcone family and the target of Oz’s plans. The setup was there to easily frame Johnny for murder, but Oz is playing the long game, taking the organization apart bit by bit via distrust and psychological terror. Once again, selling this is Farrell’s performance, which will most certainly be recognized at next year’s Emmys. But it’s not all crime for Oz, as he balances his ambitions with some level of concern for his mother, who is struggling with dementia. I think Oz is in denial about the illness, as he dismisses the warnings from the landlord about how she needs long-term care due to the determination of her mind. As such, I’m curious how this will play into the larger narrative.

But despite being called The Penguin, I’d argue that the most interesting character in the show is actually Sofia Falcone. Grappling with her mental instability and her grief, she’s both a sympathetic and terrifying character at the same time as she’s incredibly unpredictable. Because we know she was released from Arkham Asylum but appears to be rehabilitated, we automatically have that sense of unease knowing she had some sort of violent history. Plus, Arkahm isn’t exactly known for its quality services within the Batman canon, which adds to this sense of unease. What sells all this is Cristin Milioti’s performance as Sofia, specifically her eyes which look haunted and full of paranoid distrust. She deserves just as much praise for acting as Colin Farrell does.

The episode also had two great moments of tension, the first being the previously mentioned murder and subsequent knife-planting sequence, while the other was a convoy robbery of drops. Oz orchestrated the whole thing on behalf of the Maroni family, including The Expanse‘s Shohreh Aghdashloo as Nadia Maroni, Sal’s wife, who helps run the operation outside of prison. Of course, Oz is playing both sides against each other and I’m curious how he’ll flip the tables on the Maronis, who see him as nothing but a dog to be made to heel to them.

While just about everyone on The Penguin is scum, Rhenzy Feliz as Vic is the part of the show that shows a lot of empathy. The criminal in training is clearly going through some stuff and despite wanting to play gangster, suffers with fear and desperation. His family and home were affected by the Riddler floods from The Batman, so I think his bid to join the criminal underworld is more to help those he cares about, despite seemingly trying to keep them at bay for the moment.

I don’t think the second episode was quite as strong as the premiere, but it was still really good and I hope that The Penguin can really keep the momentum up now that the board is set for a mob war and lots of power plays and manipulation. Stay tuned for more!