That dynamic performs out within the episode’s greatest scene, a confrontation that happens in a flowery restaurant. After Oz barks out his order, Vic takes his flip, however his stutter prevents him from getting out the phrases. When the waiter finishes Vic’s sentence, Oz snaps, “Don’t do this. The person is talking.” He then insists that the waiter pause for Vic to state his wishes on his personal.
It’s a robust second, one wherein Colin Farrell‘s typically too huge portrayal leaves room for Vic’s actor Rhenzy Feliz to work. Feliz sells the combination of concern and confidence as he makes his order, feeding off Oz’s encouragement.
However as a substitute of simply letting the scene communicate for itself, Valdivia and Zobel permit Oz to proceed into the heavy-handed. He delivers a diatribe about taking what’s yours and by no means ready for anybody else to provide you respect. True, these are Oz’s mantra and the supply of his bond with Vic. However it’s additionally the identical factor that Oz has stated within the two earlier episodes, one thing that the waiter confrontation already made clear.
Sarcastically, Oz speech about confidence underscores a insecurity in The Penguin. The present was met with skepticism from the start, a spin-off reeking of Warner Brothers Discovery‘s must create extra “content material” primarily based on recognizable IP as a substitute of a want to discover one in every of Batman‘s oldest enemies. Furthermore, it needed to observe the realism of the Matt Reeves film, regardless of selecting that movie’s most colourful and cartoonish character as a lead.
Three episodes in, The Penguin appears determined to be taken significantly as a character-rich crime drama, not a present a few laughable man who stymies Batman and Robin with bird-themed crimes. That desperation isn’t extra clear than it’s in “Bliss,” with its characters who declare the present’s themes in plain dialogue and dramatic beats borrowed from different, extra acquainted works.
The issues within the Vic storyline are accentuated by the episode’s pleasant B-plot, which lastly places Oz and Sofia on the identical staff. The pair of shifty schemers are prepared to maneuver Alberto’s heightened model of Drop, known as “Bliss,” onto the streets. As a result of they’re enjoying in opposition to Luca and the present heads of the Falcone household (with Oz enjoying in opposition to the Maronis as properly), they should distribute by Gotham’s Triads. Nonetheless, the Triads have one requirement: that Johnny Vitti, Luca’s right-hand man and sworn enemy of Sofia and Oz, name them personally to request assist.
