The Penguin, Episode 1

What’s it about?

After the events of The Batman (2022), the series dives into Oswald "Oz" Cobb's rise to power as The Penguin within Gotham City's criminal underworld.

The facts 

• Directed by Craig Zobel
• Stars Collin Farell, Cristin Milioti, Clancy Brown, Mark Strong
• English language
• Runtime: 63 minutes
• HBO original
• Based on characters from DC comics

Why did it get this rating? 

This series was self-rated by Neon. You can find out more about self-rating by streaming providers here.

Violence

The first episode contains several scenes with graphic violence, the most intense parts include:

• A character is shot in the head twice, with bloodspray shown
• A dead body is dragged around in a bag, thrown down stairs and then tossed into the trunk of a car. You later see the decaying body and a close up shot shows a missing finger on their hand.
• A character is stabbed in the eye with a car freshener. This part is intense as you see a sharp part of the freshener go into his eye with blood spray afterwards, and the sound effects are gruesome. When the character stumbles away, he’s then hit by a bus and killed.
• In an act of torture, a wire is driven under the skin of a character’s arm. The wire is pulled up, cutting into the skin, and blood seeps out while the character screams. They threatened to cut off his arm  but this doesn’t happen.
• A character is shot in the head after being interrogated. We don’t see headshot injuries but we see signs of torture on the victim’s body.

Offensive language

Offensive language is used throughout including the words f*ck, sh*t and b*tch, as well as coarse language like damn and pussy.

Sexual themes

You see a brief shot of a breast, and a nude male from far away.

Characters visit a brothel, however this is not with the intention of having sex and no sex acts are shown.

Helplines:

• 1737
• Safe to talk
• Lifeline
• Youthline

Further information 

• Why are ratings and content warnings important for me and my whānau? - Blog
• ‘The Penguin’ Opens to 5.3 Million Viewers Across Platforms in First Four Days - Variety
• Colin Farrell says exploring Oz’s ‘disturbing’ R-rated life in ‘The Penguin’ made the show ‘tasty’ - The Wrap