October and the first half of November has been an excellent time for super villain media with the releases of Agatha All Along and The Penguin. Both shows follow a villain’s perspective, however tell very different stories. We’re going to briefly cover both and keep out the major spoilers, as I want you to check out both shows and experience all the mysteries and twists they offer.
Let’s start with Agatha All Along which was surprisingly good, and we first need to start with why that’s surprising. It’s not crazy to say the general consensus of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is that after Endgame and Spiderman No Way Home the quality has dropped. The MCU became bloated with a non-stop flow of shows and movies that were uninspired, and although I did my best to keep up with the MCU, I no longer see MCU movies in theaters and have dropped the previous two MCU shows only a few episodes in. I saw the trailers for Agatha All Along and thought it was going to be another soulless cash grab riding off of one of the MCU’s few good post Endgame projects: Wandavision, however I was willing to give it a chance and watched the first two episodes when they released, and I was pleasantly surprised.
Agatha All Along manages to set up a well written fair mystery, which although being relatively predictable, provides a satisfying conclusion. All the characters are well fleshed out which sets personal stakes quite well. The ending doesn’t quite land perfectly and leaves a feeling of wanting just a little more from the story, however I really appreciate the change from the generic Marvel formula of big cgi battle and instead finishing with a slower, tying up loose ends epilogue. Overall the show has some excellent scenes with a pretty good story tying them together.
Before starting this section I need to preface by saying I’m a member of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, and that Disney has had a terrible track record with queer representation. That’s not to say Disney hasn’t produced any good queer representation, however they typically use the 2SLGBTQIA+ community as a cheap marketing tool whilst providing underwhelming representation in order to also appease homophobic viewers and markets. That’s all to say when Agatha All Along introduced subtle queer themes and representation, I was rolling my eyes at the brief representation that could be missed or removed within the first two episodes. However I was gladly wrong about Agatha All Along’s representation, as the episodes go on the queer representation gets stronger and stronger with both leads being openly queer, multiple same sex kisses being shown in their entirety, and dialogue that makes their identities irrefutable. It was wonderful to see these identities unabashedly illuminated in a positive light.
Next up is The Penguin which is a suspenseful rollercoaster that twists completely at every episode, as past enemies become allies in one episode and then become enemies once more in the next, whilst maintaining sound reasoning that doesn’t make the twists feel cheap. You get invested as Oz Cobb (the titular Penguin) lies through his teeth and betrays almost every trust he gains in order to rise to power as kingpin of Gotham City. However he has to fight for his power as he struggles against the gangs and crime families of Gotham, as well as his own emotional competence.
“The protagonist is not the hero,” something we all learn in Grade 9 English and is something often forgotten in villain centric media, however The Penguin provides a master class in writing compelling villain-centric media. A pitfall villain centric media typically hits is the idea the protagonist can’t be evil, and so villain centric media works to redeem the villain, which although works for certain stories undermines the entire point of making a villain protagonist. Agatha All Along struggled with this as Agatha does commit some acts of evil, however she is redeemed to characters and in turn the audience. The Penguin manages to set up the Penguin as a flawed man who does bad things yet is justified in the eyes of the audience, and then builds up sympathy throughout the series. Then in the final episodes chips away before completely ripping out any sympathy the viewer may have towards the Penguin.
The Penguin wonderfully expands the world of Matt Reeves’ The Batman as it fleshes out the criminal underbelly of the districts of Gotham. I was originally disappointed when It was confirmed before the show aired that Batman would not be seen, as Robert Pattinson’s Batman in an antagonistic position was a really cool concept to me. Despite this Christian Milioti’s performance of Sofia Falcone wonderfully fills the antagonistic role with a chilling performance. And although Robert Pattinson is never seen within The Penguin, Batman’s presence is always felt throughout whether it be through background visuals like graffiti and posters, or the fact most crime takes place during the day to avoid him. The Penguin fleshed out a universe I can’t wait to dive back into in The Batman 2.
Overall both The Penguin and Agatha All Along are both great shows worth watching, however that’s not why you came here. You want to see a numerical rating and possibly how these shows compare. Well I would rate Agatha All Along a 7/10 and The Penguin a 9/10. Agatha All Along has some flaws but just by being good makes it one of the best MCU projects in a while, and along with Deadpool 3, has me excited for the future of the MCU. The Penguin is a near perfect show, with enthralling characters and a suspenseful plot that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Agatha All Along is good but The Penguin is great and if you only ever check one out, definitely check out The Penguin.
THE NORTH STAR 