Why The Penguin Defeats Joker This Time

The Penguin and Joker 2 are both recent DC releases, but the rating gap between the two on Peliplat is striking. This made me wonder—what exactly makes The Penguin an 8.9 series, while Joker 2 only scored a 5.8? After watching the first few episodes of The Penguin, I’d say it’s because of its solid narrative, the kind we see in classic gangster films.

In my view, The Penguin isn’t a DC superhero show but rather a crime drama about Gotham.

The series opens with a strong start. In the first episode, we see Oswald (the Penguin) facing off with Alberto, the heir to the Falcone family. It begins as a civil conversation, but after a few provocations from Alberto, Oswald snaps and shoots him. This scene caught me completely off guard. This raw impulsiveness and sheer intent to kill reminded me of Tommy in Goodfellas. But unlike Tommy, who’s so hot-tempered that he can lose self-control at any moment and leave you stunned when he explodes, Oswald’s reaction feels like a compelled release from pent-up frustration, which made a deep impact on me.

Next, there’s Sofia’s first appearance. There’s immediate tension the first time she meets Oswald when she instantly suspects him. She is more than just a vengeful figure—she is a cold, calculating strategist. Sofia made me feel both tense and intrigued, and I wonder how far she would go on the journey of revenge. She tests Oswald with every expression and spoken line, almost daring him to expose all his cards. Watching Oswald’s composed exterior begin to crack reminded me of the complex dynamics of the gangs in Once Upon a Time in America, where loyalty and suspicion coexist but always on the brink of unraveling at the same time.

Beyond the main characters, there’s also Oswald’s purple Maserati, which stands out as a rare flash of color in Gotham’s dreary landscape. To me, it symbolizes Oswald’s spark of hope that hasn’t been fully corrupted. Watching him drive it through those grimy streets, it’s like he’s pushing back against the gloom around him. It’s reminiscent of Tony in Scarface in his white suit—Tony’s white symbolizes ambition, while Oswald’s purple suggests a defiant sense of self-preservation in a world that’s constantly trying to bring him down.

Back to Sofia—she’s not only an escaped asylum patient but a dangerous person hiding her madness under a layer of control. Her first move after her release is to find Oswald and demand answers about her brother’s death. Her body language and tone create such a sense of pressure that the audience can almost feel the threat while sitting in front of the screen. This reminded me of the tense face-off between Connie and Michael in The Godfather, a scene simmering with silent danger. This classic “tension” of gangster films keeps audiences holding their breath, almost anticipating the inevitable conflict.

Both Oswald and Sofia are complex characters—brutal yet vulnerable—and it’s this raw humanity that makes gangster stories compelling.

More than that, The Penguin is rooted in traditional storytelling.

In my opinion, it’s precisely this classic storytelling that makes The Penguin triumph over Joker 2. In contrast, Joker 2 suffers from trying too hard to be innovative. Recently, in the pursuit of novelty, many films prioritize “meretriciousness” rather than the core story. For example, Tenet—Nolan uses time inversion to intrigue the audience, but the thin emotional storyline left many people scratching their heads. It’s visually stunning and innovative in structure, but the characters’ motivations aren’t fleshed out enough to resonate deeply. Going too far with conceptual experimentation inevitably weakens the connection between characters and their audience.

Another example is Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. While visually impressive and action-packed, it suffers from shallow emotional storytelling. Main characters like Rey, Finn, and Kylo are designed to stand apart from the originals, but their character arcs feel like they are crafted for novelty, not depth. That’s why the original Star Wars series is still unforgettable, where Luke, Han, and Leia’s chemistry and emotional bonds are straightforward yet powerful, making their story timeless.

In contrast, The Penguin unfolds through classic crime-drama storytelling, prioritizing the characters’ conflicts, emotions, and moral dilemmas rather than showing off filming techniques. This approach provides an immersive experience that brings each character’s fate to life. Once again, I think of The Godfather, where Michael’s descent into power captures both ambition and vulnerability, letting audiences become emotionally involved in his journey.

Embracing traditional storytelling doesn’t mean a lack of originality. It simply offers a familiar way for audiences to connect with the story and truly experience each character’s highs and lows. In my opinion, classic storytelling techniques aren’t just relics of gangster films’ golden age—they’re still powerful tools. To genuinely move an audience, a film doesn’t need endless “wow” factors; it needs a solid core and believable characters.

Hollywood writers, really, stop fixating on constant reinvention and just tell a good story!