Obviously, Oz Cobb is a bad guy. After all, he is the Penguin, one of Batman’s worst villains. Watching the show when he first came to power was never going to be puppy dogs and ice cream. Throughout the show so far, we’ve seen Oz (Colin Farrell) do all kinds of bad things, from burning his rivals alive to betraying someone he trusted. In this week’s first episode of the show however, Oz’s true evil is revealed. And, ironically, he saved her too.
Episode seven The Penguin“Top Hat,” we started with this important information. Suddenly, we saw a young Oz (Ryder Allen) living with his mother (Emily Meade) and two brothers, Jack and Benny (Owen Asztalos and Nico Tirozzi). It seemed like a normal family all things considered, with Oz, the middle child, yearning for his mother’s attention and his brothers’ respect. The three boys go out to play and, after feeling like they’re messing with him, Oz locks them in a storm drain as it starts to rain. He tells them “Have fun and go out” and goes home. As the rain continues to fall and his mother continues to worry, Oz does nothing. The point, of course, is that not only did Oz kill his brothers, but he was right to do it.
It’s a cool and very uncomfortable time. It’s probably the hardest thing to watch from all this distance The Penguinand that says a lot. But what made the revelation even more interesting was how it finally came back.
The last episode left Oz at the mercy of Sal (Clancy Brown) and Sofia (Cristin Milioti). They had kidnapped his mother and he was willing to do anything to get her back. In the end, Oz turns the tables by killing Sal (sort of, he has some kind of episode) and trying to trap Sofia. Only Sofia beats him at his own game. He sends a bomb in his place, hoping to blow up not only Oz but his entire career. When Oz discovers this, he ignores everyone who works for him and runs to save himself. Where do you find refuge? In the same storm pit (or at least one like him) his brothers died all those years ago.
In fact, I’m still struggling with what exactly is the meaning here, which is, in itself, remarkable. You rarely find yourself thinking about comic book TV shows for hours and days later. But the truth of the matter is that this symbol of Oz’s darkest hour is coming back to save him from another. Are you rewarded? Is he punished again? Is it just a coincidence? Our best guess is that the filmmakers continue to show that Oz’s worst, most despicable choices all contributed in some way to his growth. That you don’t get to the top without a lot of dedication. And this one, causing the death of his brothers, is the biggest yet.
One episode left The Penguin and we can’t wait to see how it goes. What did you think of this week’s episode?
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