Played by Robin Lord Taylor, Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot (AKA Penguin) is one of the most fluctuating villans the Gotham TV Show. He goes from Fish Mooney’s umbrella man to king of Gotham in a few seasons. Despite being a villain, you don’t always hate his every move, sometimes it’s hard to not pity the poor guy.
Despite being a ruthless and often violent crimelord, his rise to the top certainly came with its fair amount of heartbreak from losing the people he loved the most to betraying his closest of friends. And although he manages to be one of the most feared criminals in Gotham, many fans are left wondering if it was worth it. After all, he is almost unrecognizable from the first season to the last, both in dress and attitude.
Nevertheless, Penguin makes some particularly questionable choices in his rise to stardom that leave fans hating his guts. However, his vulnerable persona that you see in the first season never truly leaves your mind, forcing you to feel terrible for some of the things that happen to him.
Hated Him: Killing Innocents
Oswald was undeniably a murderer, just like any villain. However, sometimes his reasonings are so small that it just becomes annoying.
Oswald is particularly quick to anger, and in the first few seasons in which he becomes the renowned Penguin, he is seen to lash out at the smallest of things, such as name-calling. Perhaps one of the most shocking is when he is hitchhiking back to Gotham and two young men pick him up, commenting that he walks like a penguin after they messed around with him a bit. Although they are a bit mean, it didn’t condone him murdering them!
Felt Bad: Working For Fish Mooney
The show begins with a poor Oswald, trying to survive as Mooney’s umbrella boy, whilst knowing he is destined for greater things.
He is treated like dirt from the offset and is consistently messed with and belittled. Some fans speculate that if Mooney had been nicer to him then perhaps she wouldn’t have passed away and Oswald wouldn’t have become the Penguin. Nevertheless, she creates the famous Penguin walk and ultimately drives the show in his favour.
Hated Him: Double Crossing Mooney
There are many different ways to view Oswalds time working for Mooney. Some see it is a valuable time in Oswald’s life that helped him realize his full potential, whereas others see it as a time in which Oswald was a worthless slave.
Nevertheless, you can’t help but hate him when he decides to double-cross her. Viewers quickly learn that betraying people is Penguin’s way to get into power, however, when he does it to Mooney there is a sense of guilt involved. Although she treated him badly, she still cared for him and was visually heartbroken when she found out. That was quickly replaced with anger though.
Felt Bad: Nearly Getting Killed By Jim
After finding out that he was a traitor, Mooney orders the murder of Oswald Cobblepot but makes Jim Gordon do it.
Nothing made fans feel worse for Oswald than when he was begging for his life on the edge of the docks, so the relief that comes after Jim doesn’t go through with it is monumental. You sort of feel bad for both characters at this point, but Oswald truly shows his weakness here and the show forces you to pity the man on the brink of death, even if he is a villain.
Hated Him: Forced Cannibalism
Another situation in which Oswald gets revenge on the people who treated him badly. Only this time he takes it way too far.
After he moves in with his father and tries his best to get on with his step-family, he finds out how truly sinister they all are one they kill his father and force him to work as their maid. So to get his revenge he murders his step-siblings and feeds them to their mother. When this scene takes place it is truly shocking and not in a good way. Fans couldn’t help but feel like this was a step too far for Oswald.
Felt Bad: His Mothers Murder
When Theo Galavan graces the screens, viewers instantly hated him more than any other villain. Unlike the rather lovable Penguin, Galavan was ruthless and sadistic.
Even with this knowledge in mind, no one expected him to have Penguin’s mother killed. So when this happened you instantly feel terrible for Penguin who has just lost the one love in his life. As previously mentioned, everyone has a soft spot for Penguin so seeing him so heartbroken makes it impossible to not feel bad for his loss.
Hated Him: Killing Isabella
This was one of those times where Penguin went too far and made a horrible decision. For the person who focuses so much on emotional vulnerability, he is driven the most by love and friendship.
When Penguin cut the brakes on innocent Isabella’s car just because she was spending time with Ed, every viewer instantly despised him. It was pointless and just caused pain to everyone involved, ultimately resulting in Ed losing Isabella, and Oswald having to freeze Ed. The choice was an immature one and was completely pointless.
Felt Bad: Shot By Ed
This is perhaps the most understandable action from Ed in the whole show after Oswald did one of the most unnecessary killings of the show.
Oswald killed his love through pure jealousy so it only made sense for Ed to lash out in the only way he knew how. Nevertheless, many fans can’t get over the love the two share, be it platonic or romantic so for this act to almost go through, you can’t help but hate Ed and feel bad for Oswald.
Hated Him: Freezing Ed
There are many reasons as to why you end up hating Oswald for freezing his best friend. The main one is how much damage it does to poor Ed.
Due to the freezing, it is highlighted that Ed’s brain isn’t what it used to be and it’s clear that he suffers from it rather badly. Although he and Oswald end up becoming the best of friends at the end of season 5, their friendship dramatically suffers and both people end up suffering.
Felt Bad: Losing His Friends
It should be noted that most of this is Oswald’s doing, it still hurts to see him alone so often. He loses Ed countless times, he loses beloved friends and family all to get more power.
The death of any character is hard to watch, especially when they are so beloved like Butch, but as it is with death, the hardest part are the people left behind. This is the case with Penguin, he is always the one to be grieving or suffering from his loss which is particularly hard for both the viewers and Penguin.
