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HBO’s Batman spinoff series The Penguin just got a fresh start, and it’s not looking good at all for the title character. After last week’s episode illuminated the audience to the plight of Sofia Falcone, episode five, “Homecoming,” was like watching with a fresh set of eyes. This Oz Cobb guy is bad, bad news, and the only question is, can anyone be worse?
The answer, it seems, is yes. After murdering most of her family, Sofia (Cristin Milioti) decides it is time for a change. She gathers the remaining troops, including underboss Johnny Viti (Michael Kelly), to share some news. No longer will they be the Falcone crime family. Now they’ll be the Gigante crime family, her mother’s maiden name, as a sign of disrespect to her father and his followers. Johnny objects—but since Sofia has already gotten everything she wants from him, he pays for it with a bullet to the head. Yup, now they’re the Gigantes.
After watching a movie (The Batman) and half of a series about the Falcone crime family, to watch Sofia wipe it clean and rename it is pretty bold. Almost as bold as what Oz (Colin Farrell) does to the other major crime family, the Marionis. After kidnapping the son of the boss, Sal (Clancy Brown), and his wife Nadia (Shohreh Aghdashloo), Oz makes his move. He calls for a hit on Sal in prison and, during the hostage exchange between Sal’s wife and son, burns the wife and son alive. It created an image that, no pun intended, will be seared into our minds.
That should leave only Sofia in the way of Oz’s quest for Gotham City but a mistake was made. Sal escaped the hit, as well as prison, and decides he’s going after Oz. This desire only gets stronger when Sal learns what Oz did to his family. Having two mob bosses after you is bad, but things then somehow get even worse for Oz. Sofia finds Sal and calls for a truce. She wants to merge the formerly warring crime families into one. A new power couple with a singular aim: kill the man who killed Sofia’s brother and sent her to prison, and killed Sal’s family—Oz Cobb. Oz is fucked, people. And we can’t wait to see how it plays out.
The best part about it though is, as we begin to contemplate Oz’s dire situation, he’s finally caught a break. The episode ends as he and Vic (Rhenzy Feliz) find a new hideout in the lower levels of Gotham, a perfect place to make drugs and continue the war. Oz has his mind on the future and thinks this is the beginning. We’ll see if that’s true.
As good as The Penguin was at the start, you get a sense that last week’s episode put it on an even greater upward trajectory. With three episodes left, we may be in for a finish that puts the show in the upper echelon of comic book-related TV shows.
The first five episodes of The Penguin are all streaming on Max. Click here to watch.
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