Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for The Penguin.
In asuperherogenre that seems intent on becoming grittier and gritter, few shows in recent memory are as dark asLauren LeFranc’sThe Penguin. Focusing on the titular villain, the series shows Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell) before he gained his reputation as one of Gotham’s most notorious crime lords — and the many bodies he had to bury to get there. The series has featured some truly terrifying moments of gore and bloodshed in Cobb’sfight for power against the vicious Sofia Gigante(Cristin Milioti) — yet along with all of his atrocities, we’ve also seen glimpses of a warmer side to the man, a more human aspect that loves his mom more than anything and is still (apparently) mourning the deaths of the two brothers who passed away when he was a child.
Many wondered what happened to these boys, and what immense cruelty was done to Cobb to turn him into the cruel man we see in the present day… and thenThe Penguin’s latest episode showed what happened to Oz’s brothers, offering up some of the series' most horrific deaths yet as well as some vital information about The Penguin himself.
‘The Penguin’s Latest Episode Depicts the Dark Side of the DCU
Aside from some remarks by Oz (usually to earn pity from others),The Penguinhadn’t offered much about his brothers’ fates before this week’s episode. The most information offered up about this pair came from the fractured,heartbreaking rants of Oz’s ailing mother, Francis(Deidre O’Connell); the older woman often gets lost in memory and talks about how much she loves her sons, only to remember their deaths all over again. It’s been heartbreaking to watch Oz have to bring her back in scenes that grant the man rare moments of empathy from viewers,offsetting the heinous acts he commits every episodeand positing that maybe he’s more than his monstrous selfishness.
It’s initially exciting whenthe latest episodeflashes back to Gotham decades before, when Oswald (Ryder Allen) was just a young boy obsessed with his mother and went out to play with his brothers Jack (Owen Asztalos) and Benny (Nico Tirozzi). It’s impossible to look away from a story that is sure to turn devastating at any moment, with red herrings likelocal gangster Rex Calabrese(Louis Cancelmi) and the common dangers of the city possibly causing the boys' deaths — which is what makes it even more shocking to find out thatOswald drowned his brothers in a sewer pipe.
While playing in Gotham’s underground trolley system, Jack and Benny hide from Oswald in a shaft that he can’t access because of his disfigured leg, with the petulant child growing upset and locking them in the overflow tunnel before returning home to watch a movie with his mom.There has been immolationand dismemberment before onThe Penguin, but nothing is as hard to watch as these young boys, locked in an industrial overflow tunnel, begging to be let out as rainwater begins to drown out their cries.Jack and Benny’s horrific deaths are punctuated by moments of young Oswald lying to Francisabout them going to see a movie before snuggling up on the couch with her,occasionally looking out at the rain and sparing a moment of worry about his brothers before cuddling closer to the woman he wanted all to himself.
These deaths may not have been intentional, but it’s undeniable how much Oswald revels in being alone with his mom, exhibiting genuine, deeply unnerving joy months later when Francis expresses dependence on him now that he’s the only man left in her life. Who knows whether this character was evil or if this event set him on the path we see him on today, but it’s absolutely clear that by killing his brothers, Oz learned that sometimes,getting what you want means spilling some blood.
Deirdre O’Connell’s ‘The Penguin’ Character Was Inspired by Mob Movies and Her Showgirl Grandmother
Deirdre O’Connell also talks about the show’s very complicated mother-son dynamic, and whether Francis really loves Oz.
In ‘The Penguin,’ People Are Born Monsters
Even with these horrific actions being Oswald’s fault,The Penguinmakes it clear that the child didn’t know he was going to inadvertently kill his siblings… at least, not at first. Through adult relationships with his mother, his protégé, Victor Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz), and his “girlfriend,” Eve (Carmen Ejogo), we learn that Cobb delights in not only amassing power but in others being dependent on him.He enjoys the feeling of these people needing himfor something and, in the case of his mother,clings to her as one of the few human lives he actually cares about saving.
A young Oswald might not have intended to rob his mother of two sons, but the way he blatantly picks her affection over their lives shows that he learned early on that death can bring people closer into his charismatic orbit. It’s a lesson that he carried into adulthood and allows us to understand why the Penguin is so good at committing such heinous acts:he started at a young age.
The Penguinis available to watch on Max in the U.S.
The Penguin
It follows the transformation of Oswald Cobblepot from a disfigured nobody to a noted Gotham gangster.
WATCH ON MAX
