We shouldn't like Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell). The Penguin's protagonist is a menace to society, someone so motivated by his ambition that he doesn't care what effects the drugs he's selling have on Gotham City so long as they give him money and power. We also know, thanks to his comic book origins, that he's a character with legitimate supervillain potential. He could end up hurting Gotham City even more than his predecessor, Carmine Falcone.
And yet, we do like Oz. Two episodes into The Penguin's eight-chapter run, the series has made it all but impossible not to root for him. Part of that is due to Farrell's inherent charisma and likability, which shines through his multiple layers of prosthetics. But The Penguin has also given him two important qualities that make him the kind of character viewers want to see succeed, regardless of whether it'll actually be "good" if he does. Cobb was a bit of a bumbler in The Batman, as the movie didn’t have the bandwidth to flesh the character out. The series, however, has made Oz a street-smart underdog, qualities that are on full display in the HBO drama's second episode.
