Spoiler warning: This review discusses the finale’s major character turns and ending.
“A Great or Little Thing,” the 68-minute finale of HBO’s The Penguin, makes a persuasive case for the series as one of DC’s strongest television stories. Its brutal impact comes not just from violence or surprise, but from seeing what Oz Cobb’s ambition costs the people closest to him—and how little that cost changes him. The ending is powerful, though “DC’s best show” remains a judgment, not a settled consensus.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
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Penguin, The: The Complete First Season (DVD) | $16.00 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
![The Penguin Lessons [DVD]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51Su5ybJnXL._SL160_.jpg)
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The Penguin Lessons [DVD] | $20.95 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
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3-2-1 Penguins: The Amazing Carnival of Complaining - DVD | $10.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
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March of the Penguins Limited Edition Giftset (DVD) | $11.01 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
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Happy Feet/Happy Feet 2/March of the Penguins (DVD) (Triple Feature) | $12.80 | Buy on Amazon |
What the finale is—and what it has to accomplish
“A Great or Little Thing” is episode 8 and the series finale of The Penguin. Rotten Tomatoes lists its air date as November 10, 2024, and its runtime as 68 minutes. The page characterizes it as tying up just about every character arc and plotline introduced during the season; that is a broad critical summary, not a guarantee that every outcome feels neat or comforting. Rotten Tomatoes’ episode listing.
The assignment is larger than resolving a crime-and-power story. HBO presents The Penguin as an eight-episode limited series set in Matt Reeves’ The Batman world, starring Colin Farrell as Oz Cobb and written and showrun by Lauren LeFranc. The finale therefore has to close Oz’s rise while leaving the character legible within a wider Gotham story. HBO’s series information.
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Why the ending feels brutal
The finale’s emotional force rests on the difference between Oz’s success and any idea of victory. He has pursued power as though reaching the top will settle something inside him. Instead, the ending makes the cost of that pursuit difficult to mistake: the people around him are not merely pieces in a criminal contest, and his choices leave damage that triumph cannot erase.
That is the source of the jaw-dropping effect more than a single shock. The finale asks viewers to sit with the consequences of Oz’s conduct rather than treating his ascent as a clean, crowd-pleasing payoff. Its brutality is emotional as well as physical, and the two are connected: violence is part of the world, but the most disturbing question is what Oz can do to someone he claims to care about and still keep moving forward.
Rank #2
Colin Farrell’s performance anchors the payoff
Farrell’s work gives the finale its uneasy center. Oz is an outwardly forceful figure, but Farrell makes the character’s need for recognition and control feel persistent rather than abstract. That matters in a finale built around consequences: the ending lands not simply because events are grim, but because the performance keeps Oz’s self-justification close to the surface.
The series’ supporting characters matter to that effect, too. They give Oz relationships to exploit, defend, or damage, so the final reckoning has human stakes rather than functioning only as a scoreboard of who controls Gotham. The strongest payoff is the tension between the intimacy Oz appears to want and the harm his choices produce.
Does it complete the season’s story?
Broadly, yes. The finale is designed to feel like an ending, not a pause before another episode, and the Rotten Tomatoes listing describes it as closing most of the season’s introduced arcs and plotlines. Its sense of completion comes from bringing Oz’s rise to a defining outcome while making the character’s future feel morally bleak rather than emotionally resolved.
That distinction is why the ending can be satisfying without being comforting. A conventional victory lap would soften the season’s portrait of ambition; an ending that simply withheld answers would make the journey feel unfinished. This finale instead offers closure around the central character while leaving the audience with the consequences of what he has become.
Rank #4
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Is it really DC’s best show?
The finale supports a strong case for The Penguin as exceptional DC television, especially if the measure is a focused character drama: Farrell’s performance, LeFranc’s season-long point of view, and a conclusion that connects plot resolution to character all work in the same direction. The episode also benefits from telling a Gotham story that can stand on its own terms rather than relying on Batman to dominate every scene.
But “DC’s best show” is a ranking, and the available evidence does not establish a comparative consensus across DC television. A Vulture search-result excerpt describes the series’ Batman-free Gotham gamble as successful and places the series among the year’s best, but that is one critic’s judgment of the series overall, not a verified verdict on this episode. The more defensible conclusion is that the finale makes the superlative feel plausible without proving it as fact.
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Verdict
“A Great or Little Thing” pays off The Penguin by making its finale both a culmination of Oz Cobb’s rise and a reckoning with its human cost. The brutality earns its impact because it deepens the character story rather than serving as empty provocation. The episode is not proof of an objective DC ranking, but it is a forceful, carefully targeted ending—and a fitting final chapter for this limited series.
Where to watch
HBO’s launch announcement said the series debuted on HBO and was available to stream on Max at launch. That does not establish current availability in every country; check the local Max service or regional listings before watching. HBO’s launch announcement.
Quick Recap
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