"The Penguin"...brief finale thoughts.

Well up until maybe 20 minutes from the ending of "The Penguin" I was all in, or mostly all in on that show. I thought it was brilliantish, until the last 20 minutes of the 8th episode of season 1, and yes, I understand why that moment was there. It's probably the same reason the director of "Man Bites Dog" added an unnecessary, in my opinion, violent rape scene in that movie, to remind us that evil is still evil and not to be rooted for, but I got that before I started the series, I was never rooting for him. But I've seen enough brutality in real life and fiction maybe this was just an extra slice I didn't want on my mind's plate. I suppose I am growing out of nihilisic, depressing, and violently dark media. Prior to this I'd just finished Ti West's "X" on H.B.O. and I found that movie, moving, funny, sexy, and a poignant reflection on youth, aging, and stardom in a similar way "The Substance" was. I've seen and enjoyed some villian-led, depressing, and nihilisic things over the years but I think I'm over that taste...or at least presented as darkly as this was, much in the way I grew out of a taste for absinthe. And if I wanted to see more of that darkness I'd watch the news more often I suppose.

.............................................................................................................. Below are quotes from Colin Farrell taken from a CNN article on Episode 8: “Honest to God… I know it’s only acting, and geez, I’ve been doing it long enough. You go home and take your costume off and you go back to your life. But some scenes go in deeper than others,” he recalled. “The crew were very invested in the story, genuinely – we’d spent a year on and off together – and the mood on the set that night was pretty dark,” he said. “Everyone, the focus pullers, the camera operators, the boom operators, craft service … it really wasn’t pleasant. We all knew what had to happen; it was only fiction. But it was so dark and it was so ugly and so unjustifiable.” “We moved through it as quickly as we could,” Farrell added. “Everyone was very on point and we flew through it. But it was it was really, really ugly.” ................................................................................................................