Since when is The Penguin everybody’s favorite Batman villain? Since FOX’s Gotham, that’s when. What do we love about The Penguin? First and foremost—it’s the childlike glee with which this overgrown manchild celebrates his small victories, delights in violence, and gleefully connives to get whatever he needs to fulfill his criminal objectives. Oswald Cobblepot is having a wonderful time ingratiating himself into Gotham’s underworld. And we’re having an equally wonderful time watching him.
When we last saw actor Robin Lord Taylor—he was being slaughtered like livestock after making his way to Terminus on The Walking Dead. Didn’t recognize him? That’s probably because he was blonde then. Oswald Cobblepot is many things—but never a blonde. This article contains spoilers for the first half of FOX’s Gotham Season One.
Robin Lord Taylor first appeared in Gotham’s pilot episode (which is actually a misnomer, since the season had been ordered before the first episode aired). Oswald Cobblepot was lucky enough to secure the job of carrying Fish Mooney’s umbrella. In addition to giving The Penguin his most iconic accessory, it also placed him squarely in the center of the local mafia. When we meet Cobblepot, he is referred to as Penguin simply because he’s funny looking and has a beaky nose. After a brutal beat down by Fish’s gang, Cobblepot develops his signature penguin waddle along with a furious desire to not be called Penguin. Yeah, good luck with that, Oswald.
Before long, Oswald Cobblepot becomes everything Batman fans want. That hair, that stance, the eyes, the smarmy raspy voice he’s always cracking terrible jokes with. Penguin is suddenly funnier than The Riddler, fiercer than Ra’s al Gul, shiftier than Catwoman, and more insane than The Joker—especially at this point in Gotham. Cobblepot spends the first half of FOX’s Gotham Season One being a police informant even as he repeatedly puts Jim Gordon’s life at grave risk. Cobblepot loves violence (just watch as he applies an umbrella-enhanced beating to a Mooney associate), and is a big fan of getting brutal revenge for petty slights. I’m not saying those obnoxious frat boys didn’t totally deserve what they got—but damn. Harsh!
Gotham fans can’t talk about this new Penguin without mentioning his mother—the delightful Gertrude. She uses the unAmericanized version of the family name, referring to herself as “Kapelput.” Mrs. Kapelput is as cloying as she is redolent of Norma Bates. She’s always afraid her son will forsake her in favor of “painted whores,” and is constantly worried that other people are picking on her little (mid-30’s) boy. Helicopter parenting is taken to a bizarre extreme in the family Kapelput, so it’s no wonder that little Oswald is growing up to be criminally quirky.
My favorite Penguin moments on FOX’s Gotham include him trying out the frat boys’ polo shirts (complete with a turned-up collar), and seeing the look on his face whenever someone is foolish enough to refer to him as “Penguin.” Remember, he doesn’t like it. And he can be surprisingly vicious when dealing with those he doesn’t like. Other pitch-perfect moments include him poisoning his henchmen with cannoli (usually “I brought cannoli” is the most beautiful sentence in the world), the time he honks like a golden goose for Maroni, and any time Cobblepot delights in being a grasping opportunist.
Does Penguin have any flaws? Maybe. He seems to underestimate the hatred inspired by his misdeeds. Nikolai’s men probably won’t be cool about their leader being killed. He seemed utterly shocked when Fish Mooney stabbed his hand; and taking that poor dishwasher’s shoes wasn’t very nice. And we can only imagine the horrors in store for Liza, whether Penguin rats her out to Falcone or not. Cobblepot knows that “timing is everything.” That has to mean that the best for out new favorite villain on FOX’s Gotham is yet to come.