Episode Seven: “Top Hat”

In the seventh episode, “penguin” (2024) focuses on Oz’s (Colin Farrell) bond with his mother, Francis Cobb (Deirdre O’Connell), a prominent relationship that has not been given much detail until now.

Viewers are treated to an extended flashback sequence showing Oz and Francis when they were much younger. Viewers are also introduced to Oz’s two brothers, Jack and Benny. By the end of the flashback, viewers know how and why Oz is the way it is.

In the present day, Oz realizes that Sofia Gigante (Cristin Milioti) has kidnapped his mother. Before he can confront her head-on, he is ambushed and attacked by Salvatore Maroni (Clancy Brown) and his henchmen. Oz manages to break free of Salvatore and escape.

Meanwhile, Sofia visits her niece Gia (Kenzie Grey) after discovering that Gia can cooperate with the police regarding the deaths of the entire Falcone family. Sofia realizes the pain she has caused Gia and has become what she hates most: her father, the late Carmine Falcone.

The episode welcomes a new perspective on Oz’s origin and includes some great moments of well-executed tension, especially at the end of the episode where Oz’s Bliss production facility is destroyed.

The acting of all the performers, regardless of their time on the big or small screen, is still memorable. Viewers see Oz in a state of distress, not knowing what to do. It’s the first time his enemies have something he cared about most.

It is the first time since episode four (“Cent’Anni”) that viewers also see Sofia in a state of distress. After realizing that she is essentially her father, she loathes herself for putting Gia in the same situation that Carmine did years ago.

Of the three big leads, Brown’s Salvatore is the one given the least amount of time to shine. However, he is still a great enough actor to make his presence known. He has a pretty good fight scene with Oz where he unleashes all his hatred on him for making his life miserable by killing his wife and son.

Until the end, Sofia wants to make Oz suffer like he made her suffer. Instead of trading Francis for Oz’s supply of Bliss, she sends him a special gift that eventually leads to Oz being captured by one of Sofia’s men.

Episode Eight: “A Thing Great or Small”

The ending of “The Penguin” is what most season finales strive for, but most fall short. Oz is taken to Sofia where he also holds Francis hostage. Sofia tortures Francis to get Oz to confess, but he doesn’t say a word about what he did.

Francis comes to and reveals to Oz that he always knew what he did to Jack and Benny. Francis also tells Oz that he planned to have him killed by a prominent gangster, Rex Calabrese (Louis Cancelmi), whom Oz admired. However, he could not go all the way.

Oz breaks free of the restraints, grabs his mother, and flees the scene. At the site of Oz’s destroyed headquarters, Victor (Rhenzy Feliz) berates the other crime families for not getting involved in the war against Sofia and instead running away.

Sofia orders the existing crime families to hunt down and capture Oz as she prepares to leave Gotham City for good. Victor manages to have the crime bosses’ deputies killed and Oz is freed while Sofia is kidnapped.

In her final moment with Oz, she is sent back to Arkham Asylum – a fate even worse than being killed. She receives a letter from a woman named Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz) and smiles as she reads it. By the end of the season, Oz has gotten what he always wanted: to be the most respected and feared crime boss in all of Gotham City.

In a penthouse, he dances with Eve Karlo (Carmen Ejogo), while she dresses in a similar dress that Francis once wore when she and Oz were young. They slow dance together as the camera zooms out from them outside the penthouse, where the Bat-signal is lit in the distance.

“The Penguin” turned out to be stellar in acting, writing and music. Where it excels the most is how it separated itself from being its own thing and didn’t include any material or cameos from Robert Pattinson’s Batman.

It offered a cute, original story with characters that many DC Comics fans haven’t seen fleshed out on the silver screen. It also solidified Colin Farrell as one of the best actors playing a comic book character today. If you have a subscription to Max, then do yourself a favor and watch this series.

Rating: 4/5

@judethedudehannahs