One lesson that you probably should be taking from The Penguin, the spinoff show from Matt Reeves’ The Batman that’s available with an HBO subscription, is that no one is safe. By the end of the excellent Episode 4, titled “Cent’anni,” Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) had gassed most of her own family. The entire show got off and running when Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell) murdered Alberto Falcone in cold blood. And at the end of Episode 5, Sofia’s surviving “partner,” Johnny Viti (the great character actor, Michael Kelly), caught a bullet in the back of the head.
As I said, no one truly is safe.
The thing about Johnny Viti’s death, at the hands (or gun) of Sofia Falcone, is that it seemed like he made it through the episode by convincing Sofia to spare him. He talked – as so many people do on this show – until he was allowed to keep breathing. But then he crossed Sofia at the table, in front of her muscle, and it cost him his life. I had the opportunity to speak with Michael Kelly following the airing of The Penguin Episode 5. And when I asked him point blank if it’s weird watching himself die on screen in such a brutal fashion, he candidly told CinemaBlend:
(After) the second episode, my sister texted me, and she's like, ‘You're going to die. I know you're going to die. I hate watching you die!’ (But) that's part of the gig, you know? I didn't tell her. I was like, ‘I'm not going to spoil it for you, but just watch.’ But I don't know. I guess because you've done it, it's weird doing it. Laying there in that pool of blood, holding your breath while they collect money all around you. That was weird. But no … I guess I've seen myself die on the screen so many times, it's okay.
Michael Kelly did admit that he knew from day one that Johnny Viti wasn’t long for this world. He was told by The Penguin showrunner Lauren LeFranc that he’d be in five episodes, and he said to himself, “Oh, I’m dying. Got it.” And he did, brutally.
But that’s part of the reason why this ongoing Penguin series is one of the best DC stories available to stream at the moment, is that there are true dramatic stakes. Hardly an episode goes by where it doesn’t seem like a nemesis has the drop on Oz (Farrell), until he wickedly thinks of a way to get himself out of the jam. It’s like I don’t even miss Batman in the show, even though it’s set in Gotham.
We only have a few more episodes of The Penguin left, and a lot of story to tell. The show will then pass the baton to Matt Reeves, so he can carry the story through The Batman: Part 2, which will arrive in theaters in 2026.
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