Season 1, Episode 7, “Penguin’s Umbrella”
From the beginning of “Gotham,” Robin Lord Taylor’s Penguin has been, with the occasional exception of Jada Pinkett Smith’s Fish Mooney, the best thing about the show.
It’s a meaty part, for sure, loaded up by the writers with plenty of physical tics, narrative twists and memorable lines. This little guy is a golden goose, his (supposed) boss Maroni said on Monday. “Honk, honk!” the Penguin chirped with a glee that seemed totally bizarre at the moment, and thus perfectly in line with the character’s M.O. He was playing the geek for Maroni, sure, but he also unsettles everything he touches.
But even setting the writing aside, Mr. Taylor does something special with the character, updating the demented foppishness and distinct physicality of earlier versions while adding a fresh gutterpunk nastiness that sits seamlessly alongside a wicked, unflappable intelligence. His Penguin is oddly likable, a key quality — for appeal, plotting and believability — in a guy who so often finds himself in a roomful of thugs who should clearly just bump him off and be done with it. The performance, which could have easily devolved into caricature, bears remembering when Emmy nominations are announced next summer.
All of which is to say, the title of this week’s episode, “Penguin’s Umbrella,” was a welcome sign. It offered promise that was mostly fulfilled on Monday, as the series finally embraced its strengths and turned in what was, by a fairly wide margin, the best episode of its run.
The umbrella of the title refers, of course, to the Penguin’s signature prop, which we see him carrying in the opening scene while flanked by two new flunkies, signaling his continuing evolution toward his supervillain destiny.
But the accoutrement also functions as a handy metaphor for both the Penguin’s unparalleled ability to shield himself from trouble and the broad shadow the little man is casting across Gotham City. Everything in Monday’s episode sprang from his actions, from Gordon running for his life (more on that in a minute) to the end of Nikolai the would-be Falcone usurper to the dispatching of Frankie Carbone, the Penguin’s lone rival within the Maroni organization.
In arguably the best scene of a very good hour of television, the Penguin castigated a bemused Carbone for his love of money and his resulting cheapness before getting to the point: All it took to get your men to betray you was more money than you were willing to give. “When you know what a man loves, you know what can kill him,” the Penguin said. Aided by the turncoat henchmen, he stabbed Carbone to death — his preferred means of murder, apparently — and then gave his vanquished rival a tender kiss on the head in another inspired bit of freakiness. “Love conquers all,” he said.
It was a fun inversion of a treacly cliché, and one that in this contex, had an added meaning. Because for all the Penguin’s intricate maneuvering, what seems to be driving him is a genuine, fervent and possibly deranged love for his home, Gotham, and a belief that his and the city’s destinies are intertwined. And so far he has indeed conquered everything in its path, including both Fish Mooney, his old boss, and, at some point, presumably, Maroni, his new one.
In the final scene we learn that not only has the Penguin stayed two steps ahead of everyone else, he has orchestrated nearly everything we’ve seen to date. The Penguin has been working for Falcone since the pilot episode, it turns out. A flashback revealed that everything that has followed since — from Gordon’s faking the Penguin’s murder to the undermining of Fish and death of Nikolai to the infiltration of Maroni’s camp — has unfolded just as the little man predicted.
“It’s almost uncanny. Everything played out exactly as you said it would,” Falcone said.
“Almost uncanny”? That’s one way to put it. I would have also accepted “almost totally implausible.” But at this point it’s more fun just to give him the benefit of the doubt and go with it. “Gotham” is much more enjoyable when the Penguin’s calling the shots.
Meanwhile, what are we to make of his abiding protection of Gordon? One guess is that for someone who seeks to manipulate every situation, a Boy Scout is something handy to have in the toolbox. As Don Maroni noted (rather clumsily at the time), “There’s nothing more dangerous than an honest man.” Feel free to share your own theories in the comments.
Under the gun, thanks to last week’s revelation that he faked the Penguin’s assassination, Gordon was forced to play a little rougher than usual on Monday, in a welcome smudging of his typical nobility. He shot one of Mooney’s goons in the leg and ditched a poor police officer, who got caught in later crossfire, with nary a look of concern or self-flagellation furrowing his brow. His onetime rivals Allen and Montoya saved his skin, but he took two bullets along the way. (No vest, Gordon? You’re the most wanted man in Gotham City; I thought Boy Scouts were supposed to be prepared.) I also enjoyed that “Gotham” finally stopped telling us how broken the police department was and showed us.
“There are 50 cops in here,” Gordon said when his would-be captor, Victor Zsasz, a ghoulish killer imported from the Bat-iverse, cornered him in the police station. “Try something.”
“Everybody out!” Zsasz said, and everybody left.
So Gordon has his work cut out for him, going forward, and that’s even before you consider his fiancée, who apparently has a penchant for blundering into trouble. (Please, “Gotham,” don’t turn Barbara into some tired “Perils of Pauline” sideshow.)
But hey, at least he has the city’s cagiest criminal in his corner. That’s something both he and the show as a whole can hang their hat on for now.
A FEW THOUGHTS WHILE WE TAKE YOU TO …
• “Funkytown.” The song’s brief cameo as Victor Zsasz’s ringtone was my favorite random moment in the episode.
• Harvey Bullock didn’t have much to do this week, but he did manage to get in a good line in response to Gordon’s plan to arrest Falcone and the mayor: “What, did you sit down with a panel of chimpanzees and a bucket of crack to come up with that one?”
• Fish was right: Falcone did have a trick up his sleeve. But she still has one of her own, right? We don’t think Falcone knows Liza is working for her, do we?