‘The Penguin’ Episode Five Recap: “Homecoming”

After episode four left the entire Falcone family wiped out by Sofia (Cristin Milioti), one wonders exactly where The Penguin goes from here. Well, a villain has been lurking in the shadows since its first episode and has not had his time in the spotlight to inflict severe damage on Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell) after double-crossing his family. That person is none other than Salvatore Maroni (Clancy Brown), who has now made it clear to Oz that he has signed his death warrant after hiring a guard to assassinate him in prison. 

Oz’s plan is simple. He believes Sofia did him a favor by killing all the Falcones, which makes his job of killing the Maronis much easier. At the top of the Helen Shaver-directed episode, Homecoming, he kidnaps Taj Maroni (Aria Shahghasemi). He gives an ultimatum to both Salvatore and his wife, Nadia (Shoreh Aghdashloo): the mushrooms for their son. The two accept but make it clear to Oz that he has crossed a line that not even they would do. However, one has understood throughout the last four episodes that he is not to be trusted and only makes decisions that will ultimately benefit him and him only. 

This makes me wonder what game Victor Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz) plays with Oz. In this episode, we have a B-storyline where he is forced to care for his mother, Francis (Deirdre O’Connell). He recognizes a drug dealer from his past life, Squid (Jared Abrahamson), which could complicate things as Victor moves to a safer location after Salvatore breaks out of prison. That’s right, his assassination attempt didn’t work, and the shrooms Oz has been looking for have completely dried out (with the exception of two meager buckets). In any event, Victor staying around to help Oz will not reward him in any way, even if he believes he’s found some purpose in spending time with him and learning how his criminal operation works.

What Sal does not know, however, is that Oz has already put his plan in motion, regardless if he broke out of prison. This meant killing not only Taj but also Nadia, hoping Sal would also be eliminated. During the exchange between Taj and the shrooms, Nadia is horrified at seeing his son completely wet and cold. One eventually realizes that Oz has caked Taj in gasoline and burns both mother and son alive in the most horrifyingly violent scene of the series thus far. 

It’s also in that moment where audiences eventually have to wrestle with the idea that Oz is not a character to whom you can relate, even if the showrunners spent many scenes in the first four episodes humanizing the man, particularly in his relationship with his mother (though she’s a pretty terrible person). In this case, it becomes easy to latch onto the titular character regardless of the acts he commits in the series. But Nadia and Taj’s death goes one step further than what we were previously exposed to and primes us with the inextricable fact that this person is not to be trusted and should not be sympathized with.

Of course, with Sal surviving the attempt on his life, it’ll be difficult for Oz to escape his wrath. Even more so with Sofia, who is now adopting her mother’s name (Gigante) and teaming up with him. This episode interestingly develops Sofia’s arc in a far more psychotic way than the fourth episode left us with her. For once, she keeps Johnny Viti (Michael Kelly) alive to convince her to join the new crime family she will build, with the help of Dr. Julian Rush (Theo Rossi), now infatuated with her. 

However, as soon as Viti criticizes Sofia’s introductory speech, she kills him dead on the table. No hesitation, too. One mistake in her eyes, dead. I’ll admit never seeing this twist coming, which further exacerbates just how profoundly disturbed Sofia has become. And it wasn’t her fault, but the result of her own father who would rather throw her under the bus than admit his crimes. You almost feel slightly sad for her, but she is straying further from a path of redemption and is going to a territory that not even Oz would likely steer in. 

The rivalry between Sofia/Sal/Oz will be at the forefront of The Penguin’s last three episodes. I’m still unconvinced about the Julian/Sofia relationship, but there is more than enough time to develop it further by the time the show ends. How this will wrap up, however, is anyone’s guess: the show has drastically changed its story, and has left it all out in the open for Oz to rise as the Penguin we know from the comics. But how will this occur? One way to find out…

The fifth episode of The Penguin is now available to stream on Max.