Welcome back to the blog readers. It is no secret that The Penguin is the best series on television right now, and I cannot believe the quality of the content we are getting. Everyone is giving phenomenal performances and the story is so engaging, but I am upset we are getting close to the end of this great show. What would the penultimate episode provide for us, titled "Top Hat," written by Vladimir Cvetko, and directed by Kevin Bray? Stick around to find out.
NOTE: I will be using spoilers for my thoughts, so DO NOT read ahead if you have not seen the episode.
I do admit that I was a little nervous that this show may not stick the landing in the last two episodes, but this is HBO baby. I also learned from critics that apparently this episode does not do a whole lot of progressing in terms of the story, so that made me a little more nervous. I also found out we were getting a younger version of Oz and his mother Francis, and seeing a flashback brought me back to the final episode of Agatha All Along (2024). But fuck all of that, this episode is absolutely fantastic as usual. Colin Farrell and Cristin Milioti are excellent as usual and the story does progress to what will be great heights.
I kind of feel like a broken record talking about how good Colin Farrell and Cristin Milioti are in this show, but all the praise they are getting is absolutely warranted. But Farrell as Oz Cobb in this episode is a different kind of beast. We see some vulnerabilities in Oz that he is able to bring to the surface in a most brilliant of ways. Just take a look at the scenes he shares with Clancy Brown's Salvatore Maroni. There is so much animosity towards Maroni that Oz has, and Farrell is amazing in one particular scene where he airs out some grievances against Maroni. Finally, I wanted to praise his performance in the final scene of this episode, where he brilliantly shows rage and heartache all in one nice little package. Bring on the Emmy baby.
And the same can be said for Cristin Milioti in terms of performance. I feel like a broken record with all the praise I give her as well, but it is all warranted for her. The dynamic range that she is able to bring to Sofia Falcone is electric as hell, and the amount of depth that not only she brings to this character, but the creators do as well. And in this episode, we get to see that depth be paid off with possibly the second-best performance of the season from her. Just her scene with Gia will inform you of the Emmy chase she is on right now. There is deception, there is sadness, there is eventually rage in there, but this may just be one of the sexiest performances of the year. Especially her final scene when she reveals a series-changing revelation where she is as menacing as she has ever been in this series. Like I said with Colin Farrell, bring the Emmy her way please.
The story of this episode is so damn good, and I cannot believe how good the story of this show has been. We start with a flashback to Oz's childhood as he lives with his mother and two brothers Jack and Benny. We learn that Oz has always been jealous of his brothers and feels he should be getting all of his mother's love and attention. The boys are tasked by Francis with giving criminal Rex Calabrese a book to which he gives them fifty bucks. The three go into a sewer that will eventually become Oz's base of operations and decide to play flashlight tag. Jack and Benny go down a ladder knowing Oz cannot, so he locks them in the storm drain and goes home while the rainstorm slowly drowns the boys. He enjoys a movie with his mother, knowing he doomed his brothers to their death. He later attends a jazz club with his mother and promises to give her a better life and refuses to quit until he does. Hearing last episode that his brothers died young made me feel a little sympathy for Oz and made me think that that is how he got to where he is now. But knowing he was responsible for their deaths takes that sympathy away, making Colin Farrell's quote that you will hate Oz by the end all the more true.
Back in the present, Sofia has since knocked Victor out and kidnapped Francis, leading Oz to tell Victor to get him an army and him to be ambushed in the apartment by Salvatore Maroni and his cronies. Sal beats the hell out of Oz as retribution for him killing his wife and son and takes him to his base of operations. He kills some of Oz's workers and tells the rest of them that Bliss belongs to him now. Oz provokes Sal, which gives his men an opportunity to cut the lights and take out Sal's henchmen, leading to Oz fighting Sal in a train car. Sal unexpectedly dies of a heart attack, leaving Oz furious that he could not kill his rival and shooting the dead body four times. He then tells his men that Sal is dead and that they will rule Gotham. It is very interesting that they decided to kill Sal in this way, leaving Oz to feel slighted that he did not get to do it himself. This really chips into Oz's insecurities, and I think that may have an impact on the finale if Oz cannot kill Sofia.
Meanwhile, Sofia has Francis in her house as she tries to get some information from the elderly and dementia-filled mother of Oz, learning Oz tells his mother a lot, including about her. Francis is not afraid of Sofia, telling her that Oz will kill her as she has a dementia episode regarding Jack and Benny, leading to her slapping Sofia. As this happens, the orphanage Gia has been taken to called telling Sofia that Gia is trying to talk about Sofia. She tasks Dr. Rush with interrogating Francis as she goes to the facility. Gia tells Sofia that she saw a gas mask in her possession and asks if she killed her family. Sofia assures her that she did not as she sees Gia has harmed herself. She assures Gia that her family were terrible people and she is better off that they are gone, putting her in the same situation Sofia was in, leading her to be emotional.
Oz calls Sofia and offers her a truce: the Bliss empire for his mother. She returns to the mansion and tells Rush she plans to accept his terms and wants to be free from the cycle she is in, but Rush convinces her to follow through on her desire to see Oz suffer. This inspires her to follow through. She sends Rush to Oz's base of operations in a car as he runs out of the car. She calls him to tell him that she sent him a gift. He thinks his mother is in the back of a car, but he discovers a bomb on a timer, which leads him to jump into the same storm drain that he trapped his brothers in as the bombs explode. Meanwhile, Sofia has taken Francis to the same jazz club from Oz's youth as he has to climb out of the drain and make his way to the streets, where is knocked out by a detective while looking for Victor. I definitely think this is going to draw a lot of attention to this gang war, and may even lead into the events of The Batman Part II (2026), possibly leading into an appearance from Battinson himself.
The Penguin is getting as good as it has ever been in its penultimate episode that features so many twists and turns and phenomenal performances. Thank you all for reading, and I will see you for the next post.
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