The Penguin: Episode 2 Review – “Inside Man”

The following review contains spoilers for the second episode of The Penguin, “Inside Man”

It’s always scary going into episode 2 of a show whose premiere thrilled you. Can they keep it up? Will they drop the ball on all these awesome promises? And with a shaky start to “Inside Man” – a wacky flashback to Sofia’s time at Arkham and some sketchy dialogue about how “I’m not safe. I’m home.” – I was worried The Penguin had already lost the plot. What comes after that, though, is a solid episode of television that maybe isn’t able to maintain the breakneck momentum of its predecessor, but still finds ways to move excitingly towards the catastrophic end Oz has planned for both the Falcones and the Maronis.

The reason for this slowdown is mostly in the pacing. There are two really rad sequences in “Inside Man” – one being the Drops heist, and the other being that tense, final confrontation to sniff out the rat – but everything in between fails to capture that same intensity. Not that it has to, but the episode just doesn’t balance the hills and valleys of its roller coaster. Each of the scenes feels like a necessary one, shedding new light on Sofia Falcone or adding to the relationships between Oz and the people around him, but the order in which they’re put and the way in which they’re executed don’t instill the same excitement and or possess the gravitas that the first episode had.

But those two sequences are really spectacular. This series has already, in just the first two episodes, shown over and over how Oswald can get himself out of anything through conniving manipulation. And while I hope it doesn’t get to the point of overuse as a device to solve problems in the show, it’s really exciting watching him get out of these sticky situations. The final sequence in particular, with the knife swap, is my favorite example of Oswald’s particular set of skills. It’s simple, but using Johnny Viti as a misdirect for planting the knife on Castillo is a satisfying piece of drama that feels like an attempt at something Breaking Bad would do. “Inside Man” never reaches the level of heart-stopping tension of either Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, but I’m glad that The Penguin is seemingly trying to do something in that vein. And it’s a thrilling moment that puts both Sofia and Oz down a new path where they’ll work together. Or at least they’ll work together for now.

Once again, Colin Farrell and Cristin Milioti are a joy to watch. Even if the therapy scene at the beginning plays like a bad telenovela, watching the fury build in Milioti’s gigantic, emotive eyes throughout the rest of the episode is terrifying and exciting. Sofia’s fuse has been lit, and now we’re just waiting for her to explode. And Oz, conniving as ever, sets himself up as the only one on her side, making his play at both the Falcones and the Maronis an even riskier tightrope he’ll have to walk going forward. But as impossible as his plan sounds, Farrell sells the idea that Oz has both hands on both wheels. Maybe that’s just more of his fake-it-til-you-make-it attitude he’s so proud of as to tell Victor a whole story about how he became the driver for an old Falcone capo back in the day.

Victor doesn’t get a lot in “Inside Man” – moreso teases for what’s to come. Throughout the episode we get glimpses of Victor’s worry for his family and/or friends that suffered the same devastation he did when The Riddler attacked, but no one’s really asked him for details. It’s another sign of Oswald’s callousness towards Vic, as much as he tries to convince Vic otherwise, and when it starts to interfere with his work for the Penguin, I think that will become even clearer. For now, we get an understated sense of anxiety from Rhenzy Feliz, who’s doing a bang-up job of making me care for the young mobster-in-training. Especially as he messes up and gets caught trying to plant the jewels in Viti’s car, and frantically calls Oz for help to no avail.

“Inside Man” does a lot of heavy lifting, plot-wise, and that’s not always going to be the most exciting. What it does well, apart from those two killer scenes, is deepen the ties between its main cast of characters, while promising to break those ties later down the line. It’s more setup, which is necessary, but hopefully episode 3 is able to really say “go” now that everything is put in its place.