What term I dont think a lot of us learned, is “villain protagonist.”
Which is probably a better way to characterize some of these guys.
The best characters are where you dont know which one it is.
Thanos is a good example.
Matter of fact, the ultimate villain.
I feel you, Thanos.
Im right in the middle, perfectly balanced as all things should be.
Walter White is another all time great because you watch him devolve from one to the other.
Watched him as he started as the former and finished as the latter.
Boy were we way off on that one.
I know thats not a rare take any more, everyone has had that epiphany.
And at the time we were like “what a fucking bitch, man!”
It was a different time!
We were still all publicly hating women with no backlash!
But anyway, Walter was an Antihero and Heisenberg was a Villain Protagonist.
Dexter Morgan killed 149 total people, with only 12 of them not fitting Harry’s Code.
Serial killer with an 80% hit rate for justified kills?
I thought it would be higher, but I still give him Antihero.
In my humble opinion.
One of the best characters on television the last few years.
And while he nails it with the acting, the writing of his character is top shelf stuff.
Right up there with the Walters and the Thanoses, if you ask me.
So where does he rank, and where does he fall on the Antihero-Villain Protagonist scale?
The Penguin, in general, is very obviously a villain.
When you say, who are the villains in Batman?
The answer is Tier 1: the Joker, the Riddler and, the Penguin.
Tier 2: Two Face, Bane, Scarecrow and then Tier 3 are your guys like Mr.
But very definitively the Penguin, as a character, is a villain.
Nothing heroic or protagonist-ic about him.
Devito’s Penguin is this disgusting deformed half human half animal lascivious freak.
Nobody has EVER, for one single second, liked or rooted for that version of the Penguin.
Where as Colin Farrell’s Oz Cobb is a super ugly fat guy with a bum leg.
A sympathetic figure surrounded by worse assholes than he initially appears.
played by Theo Rossi, shout out to Juice!
all of these assholes are less likable than Oz Cobb.
As the series starts Oz is more affable than almost all the other characters on screen.
He comes across as the guy who had to hustle harder than all these other rich pricks.
The crippled guy who has to use his wits and his brains and is always one step ahead.
On the one hand, I dont really think Oz hit them with the flashlight.
But, they kept hiding in that tunnel.
And also its very relatable when you’re stuck being “it.”
You start cheating by opening your eyes and people are yelling at you.
I may justdie Marco.
A SIX YEAR OLD WALKING, vs an 8, 10, and 12 year old RUNNING.
How the fuck was I ever supposed to catch them???
Were they even having fun????
What was the point of this game????
Why would anyone want to do that????
Other than, of course, to point and laugh at me.
Now, the difference is, I just said “fuck you guys!
I’m going inside!”
Thats a pretty key difference, right there.
And that, my friends, is where you really start to feel the villain side of Oz.
Up until that point you know theres a lot of murder and violence.
Theres a lot of backstabbing and double crossing and going back on his word.
But in all those cases they are expendable trash bag henchman or other crime bosses and scumbags.
So you dont really care that his actually behaving like a shitbag.
Fucking deplorable.That fat piece of shit.
What an absolute asshole.
He’s the focus.
You’ve gone on this ride with him.
The ups and the downs.
The wins and the losses.
Every time you think he’s cooked he finds a way to wiggle out.
Or at least I was.
But then…Vic happens.
And that changes everything.
There is no grey area on that one.
Theres no explaining that one away.
Thats one of the single most despicable, unconscionable moves in television history.
The kid that gave you his everything.
Did everything he could to make Oz proud of him.
Came back to save Oz’s ass time and time again.
Came up with the Link scheme to outwit Sofia.
But that was the nail in the coffin for me.
From Antihero to Villain Protagonist once he killed Vic.
A real piece of shit move that really left my jaw on the ground.
They’re doing it.
They DID IT."
