HBO’s Batman spin-off series The Penguin has just gotten a fresh start, and things are not looking good at all for the title character. After last week’s episode focused on Sofia Falcone’s ordeal, the fifth episode, “Homecoming,” was a fresh perspective. This man, Oz Cobblepot is bad news, really bad news, and the only question is, can anyone be worse?
The answer, it seems, is yes. After killing most of her family, Sofia (Kristen Miloti) decides it’s time for a change. She gathers the remaining forces, including the underboss Johnny Viti (Michael Kelly), to share some news. They will no longer be the Falcone criminal family. Now they will be the Gigante criminal family, named after her mother as a sign of disrespect for her father and his followers. Johnny objects – but since Sofia already got everything she wants from him, he pays the price with a bullet to the head. Yes, now they are the giants.
After watching the movie (Batman) and half of the series about the Falcone criminal family, watching Sofia wipe them out and rename them is a bold move. It’s almost as bold as what Oz (Colin Farrell) did with the other major crime family, the Maroni family. After kidnapping the son of boss Sal (Clancy Brown) and his wife Nadia (Shahrzad Akbar), Oz makes his move. He calls for a hit on Sal in prison, and during the hostage exchange between Sal’s wife and son, he burns them alive. A picture is painted that will remain engraved in our minds, unintentionally from the Toria.
That was supposed to leave Sofia alone on Oz’s path to Gotham City, but a mistake was made. Sal survived the hit and prison as well, and decides to go after Oz. This desire becomes stronger when Sal learns of what Oz did to his family. Having two mob bosses after you is bad, but things get worse for Oz. Sofia finds Sal and calls for a truce. She wants to merge the former warring crime families into one. A strong new couple with one goal: killing the man who killed Sofia’s brother and sent her to prison, and killing Sal’s family – Oz Cobblepot. Oz, oh people, has collapsed. And we can’t wait to see how things unfold.
But the best part is when we started thinking about Oz’s miserable situation, he finally got a break. The episode ends when he and Finch (Reigns Fields) find a new hideout in the lower levels of Gotham, a perfect place to make drugs and continue the war. Oz has his vision of the future and believes this is the beginning. We’ll see if that’s true.
Good as The Penguin started, you had a sense that last week’s episode put it on a bigger upward trajectory. With three episodes left, we may be on the cusp of finishing putting the show on the highest level 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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