It was a mediocre show elevated by the performance of one of the best actors out there.

It wasn't bad, but not that great. The writing was sometimes very clunky. The last episode was probably the worst in terms of writerly indulgence. Killing Vic was a debatable decision, but the lieutenants all rising up to kill their gang leaders was very silly. Basically everything to do with the other gangs was goofy and unpersuasive. Not a big fan of flashbacks or weirdo oedipal complex storylines. Too relentlessly grim while also being disconnected from reality. Even the timetable for things often didn't make sense.

Colin Ferrell was great, though. Really most of the actors were good, but none of it would work without him.

Number of shows I liked more this year — Shogun, Black Doves, Slow Horses, Nobody Wants This, Fallout, etc.

Penguin would have been astonishingly good in the early 2000s. But in the age of Succession, Station Eleven, Barry, Shogun, Mare of Easttown, etc., an 8.7 on IMDB is way too high.