While HBO’s The Penguin hasn’t been packing on the Easter eggs as much as your regular comic book-based TV show, this week’s episode dropped two big ones: the drug Bliss, and its creator, Dr. Trey Bloom (Tyler Bunch), are both straight out of DC Comics.
Spoilers for The Penguin Episode 3, “Bliss,” past this point.
In the episode, we finally discover the identity of the game-changing drug that Alberto Falcone (Michael Zegen) was teasing in the premiere episode. While some speculation pegged it as Venom, the drug that powers Batman villain Bane, it’s Bliss, a party drug.
As we discover late in the episode, it’s also the drug that was given to Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) and others in Arkham to veg them out. Since this whole show, and this episode in particular, is about how we turn weaknesses into advantages, Sofia’s plan, hatched with Alberto and adopted by Oswald Cobb (Colin Farrell) is to market Bliss to the masses.
To do that, she employs Dr. Trey Bloom to grow Bleeding Tooth fungi. He explains that the basidiospores (more on those in a second) are the drug, or rather, “The psychoactive compound in the sap creates a potent, euphoric stimulant. It’s a completely different high.”
Though we don’t get much more detail than that, it seems like they’re distilling a crystal version of the sap, which seems to reliquify on the skin and can be licked to cause a high… As we see in the club scene when people are using what Oz calls Bliss.
That all said, what’s the real story behind Bleeding Tooth Fungi? And what is Bliss — and who is Dr. Trey Bloom — in DC Comics? Read on.
Can You Really Make Party Drugs From Bleeding Tooth Fungi?
Also known as Devil’s Tooth or Hydnellum peckii, Bleeding Tooth fungus is a real thing that’s found all over North America, Europe, and beyond.
So look, I’m not mushroomologist, but I will say the description of how the drugs are used seems to be a bit of sci-fi gobbledegook. The “bleeding” on the mushrooms is not the spores, it’s what’s called “guttation,” which is basically best described as plant sweat. Fluids like xylem or phloem sap come out of the plant; and in this case, they’re red so it looks like blood.
Basidiospores, meanwhile, are something different. They’re reproductive spores, and in the case of Bleeding Tooth fungus are located on the underside of the mushroom, not the top.
Perhaps more importantly, while Bleeding Tooth’s guttation does have medical uses, there’s nothing psychoactive about it. The main medical use? The red drops that Oz, Sofia, and Dr. Bloom are harvesting are an anticoagulant. It’s not going to get you high, but if anyone in that club is on a dialysis machine or in the middle of having a heart attack, it could potentially thin out their blood a little bit, which might help.
And in case you’re curious, there are also no real-world drugs that are harvested from these shrooms. They are edible and are not poisonous. But because of the guttation, they taste extremely, disgustingly bitter. Other than as an anticoagulant, the only other use is in dying textiles. I guess that’s not as much fun as “party drug” though.
What Is Bliss In DC Comics?
The only thing Bliss on The Penguin and Bliss in DC Comics share is the name. The drug was first introduced in Titans #26 in 2010, written by Eric Wallace, and was created by a drug lord named Elijah who crafted the hallucinogen out of the hormone secretions of pre-adolescent children. Seriously. He was shut down over the course of two issues, and that was it for Bliss.
Or was it??? The name of the drug was brought back in 2018, again in Titans, this time created by Mallah and The Brain… Two characters who are normally Doom Patrol villains. Unlike the previous iteration, this Bliss wasn’t made out of children’s hormones. However, it did bring all the users to a sort of shared psychic plain. The goal? every user of Bliss would increase The Brain’s intelligence with their own. Eventually, the super-intelligent gorilla Mallah turned on The Brain and helped the Titans shut him down.
I’m going to take a wild stab and say exactly 0% of any of this will show up on The Penguin.
Who Is Dr. Trey Bloom In DC Comics?
The slightly wilder DC Comics reference here is Dr. Trey Bloom. Like Bliss, it’s nowhere near a one-to-one. However, Mister Bloom is a more recent Batman villain, created by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo and introduced in 2015’s Batman #43.
Mister Bloom is an unnamed thug experimented on and turned into a monstrous supervillain who looks like Slenderman, can stretch and grow, and exhibits other powers like the ability to control machines, project ice and flames, and more. He’s a pretty wild and terrifying character that is meant to throw both Batman — and the reader — off balance.
Perhaps more to the point of this episode, Mr. Bloom was introduced selling “seeds” that would implant themselves in people and give them superpowers. Those people burnt out, literally, but it was worth the super-high in the meantime. Who did he try to sell this weird drug to? The Penguin.
Again, the seeds are nothing like Bliss, and Dr. Trey Bloom is nothing like Mr. Bloom. But you don’t introduce a guy with the last name Bloom selling drugs to The Penguin without it being a reference. Like the rest of the Batman Epic Crime Saga universe, don’t expect this Bloom to stretch and shoot fire from his hands. But he does have something a little weird to bring into the world of Gotham City.
Who Is Tyler Bunch, Who Plays Dr. Trey Bloom On The Penguin?
Tyler Bunch, who plays Dr. Trey Bloom on the show, is an experienced puppeteer. Really! He started his career on Sesame Street in 1993 and performs on the show to this very day. He’s also performed in multiple Muppet movies and TV shows, and credited as H.D. Quinn has done voices in video games ranging from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate to Grand Theft Auto V. He’s also appeared several times in bit roles in Law & Order and its spinoffs. And now he’s on The Penguin! You can follow him on Instagram @tylerthebunch.
Where To Watch The Penguin:
The Penguin Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
The first episode of The Penguin premieres Thursday, September 19 at 9 pm ET on HBO and Max. There will be an encore airing on Sunday, September 22 at 9 pm ET, and then the show will move to its regular time slot of Sundays at 9 pm ET starting on September 29.
Here’s the full list of episodes in The Penguin, with premiere dates:
- Thursday, September 19, 2024: The Penguin, Episode 1: “After Hours”
- Sunday, September 29, 2024: The Penguin, Episode 2: “Inside Man”
- Sunday, October 6, 2024: The Penguin, Episode 3: “Bliss”
- Sunday, October 13, 2024: The Penguin, Episode 4: “Cent’Anni”
- Sunday, October 20, 2024: The Penguin, Episode 5: “Homecoming”
- Sunday, October 27, 2024: The Penguin, Episode 6: “Gold Summit”
- Sunday, November 3, 2024: The Penguin, Episode 7: “Top Hat”
- Sunday, November 10, 2024: The Penguin, Episode 8: “Great or Little Thing”
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