The Penguin Episode 5 “Homecoming” has truly taken things up a notch, by featuring some of the most gruesome death scenes we’ve seen in this show – or any comic book TV show, for that matter. The latest chapter of The Penguin picked up from the big twist of Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) killing off her mob family and seizing control as the new don. Sofia’s power grab is just one element of Oz Cobb/Penguin’s (Colin Farrell) master plan that goes wrong: his triple-cross play against the Maronis also blows up in his face. By the time the dust settles, some bodies get dropped, in ways viewers are never going to forget!
WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW!
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Getting Rid of the Competition
A big turn in Penguin Episode 5’s story happens when Oz kidnaps Taj Maroni (Aria Shahghasemi), the spoiled influencer son of mob boss Sal Maroni (Clancy Brown). Oz uses Taj as a hostage to negotiate for the return of the psychotropic mushrooms that create the hit new party drug Bliss – product that Sal’s wife Nadia (Shohreh Aghdashloo) stole from him.
The Maronis concede to an exchange of the mushrooms for their son but plan their own double-cross, ambushing Oz and his man with some additional gunmen hidden in the rafters. However, Oz has his own betrayal planned: giving Taj a kerosine shower before the exchange and then lighting the trail of liquid behind him on fire.
Nadia can’t stop the trail of fire from catching up with her son but refuses to let him go, leaving mother and son to burn alive, screaming. The most chilling part about the scene is how director Helen Shaver keeps the camera on Oz’s face the entire time, as we see a gleeful smile spread over his face, watching the horrific event. If we didn’t know who “The Penguin” was before… we do now.
New Don, New Day
Sofia spends most of the episode trying to both get out from under the murders she committed and secure her new place as the queenpin of her own crime family. Early on in the episode, it’s revealed that Sofia is keeping Falcone underboss Johnny Viti (Michael Kelly) prisoner, to locate and secure the nest egg of money she knows her father Carmine Falcone amassed. Instead, Johnny appeals to Sofia on the strength of their family bond, and offers to help her grab the respect of the underworld, so they can lead the Falcone mob into a new era.
Johnny indeed gets the various Gotham mobs and syndicates to come to the table with Sofia. However, he’s blindsided by her sudden announcement that she’s ending the Falcone line and starting a new mob, under her mother’s maiden name, “Gigante.” Johnny dismisses Sofia in the middle of her speech, trying to wrestle control of the meeting – only to catch a bullet to the skull. Sofia dumps a bag of money into the blood pool as the entry fee to her new family. The table of gangsters all snatch up the literal blood money, while Vitis lies slumped on the table with a bullet hole in his head.
The Penguin is now, officially, the most violent and disturbing vision of Gotham City we’ve seen onscreen. It’s actually getting hard to see how fans of The Batman can go back to the almost-certain PG-13 rating of The Batman: Part II when Penguin is giving us R-rated greatness – that also haunts our dreams.
The Penguin is now airing on HBO and streaming on Max.
