‘The Penguin’ Episode Eight Recap: “A Great or Little Thing”

Warning: The following article contains spoilers for episode eight of The Penguin.

As I said multiple times covering the show for Awards Radar, The Penguin‘s eventual lead-up would be chronicling the rise of Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell), toppling both the Maronis and Falcones to become the crime lord of Gotham, positioning himself in a far more powerful position than he did at the beginning of the series. What I did not know was how he would accomplish these goals. Of course, taking down the Maronis was much easier than anticipated since Salvatore (Clancy Brown) suffered an unexpected heart attack while fighting Oz and died on the spot.

But what about Sofia (Cristin Milioti)? She’s proven to be way more unpredictable, anticipating Oz’s moves at every turn and now putting him in a vulnerable spot by kidnapping his mother, Francis (Deirdre O’Connell). With the aid of Julian Rush (Theo Rossi, and dare I say, the most underdeveloped character of the show now that the episodes have all aired), he makes Francis revisit her most painful memory: when she asks Rex Calabrese (Louis Cancelmi) to kill Oz after she found out he left his brothers to die.

But as she spends time with him at Monroe’s and is about to dance with his son, Francis can’t bring herself to do it. In the present day, Oz is now brought into the club with her mother. Thanks to Julian’s therapy, Sofia now knows everything about him and understands what happened to his brothers. He forces Oz to confess what he did all those years ago but continues to deny all wrongdoing. As a result, Julian slowly cuts out Francis’ pinkie with a cigar cutter until she confronts her son and tells him, point blank, that she knows exactly what he did.

Oz still doesn’t want to show remorse and instead tells her he did everything in his life to please her. Francis doesn’t believe him and stabs his son in the stomach in the hopes that he will die, but suffers a major stroke that ultimately leaves her in a vegetative state. This is the cruelest fate of any character The Penguin has drawn: she can’t die peacefully but will instead have to perpetually suffer at the hands of her manipulative son without being able to speak or do anything beyond staying in her bed and looking in the vast nothingness that is Gotham City.

This is far more cruel than Victor Aguilar’s (Rhenzy Feliz) telegraphed end in this episode. I’m very doubtful that there was a scenario in which he would remain alive, either killed at the hands of Sofia, suffering a terrible accident, or by Oz himself. Victor has naturally climbed the ladder to become an effective ally for Oz, not only by getting the gangs to unite at the top of the episodes in the hopes that they will want to rescue The Penguin but also by setting up their respective murders.

Once Sofia tells all gang members that Oz’s head is theirs for the taking, Feng Zhao’s (François Chau) second-in-command alerts Victor that something is wrong. He not only sets up Zhao’s murder but also the assassination of every single gang member in Gotham. They all die, and Victor is the sole person responsible for their fates. With that, you would assume Victor would take a much bigger role in Oz’s operation now that the competition has been completely wiped out.

Well, not completely. Sofia is once again framed for everything Oz has done (Alberto’s murder, Salvatore’s death, among others) and sent back to Arkham, under the supervision of…Julian Rush. Yeah, their relationship has been muddled, to say the least. But at least we get the revelation that Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz) is her…half-sister? What does this mean for The Batman: Part II? Who knows!

And after all this is said and done, Oz and Victor reflect on what they’ve accomplished. And that’s where Oz strangles him to death. No remorse. No sympathy. Just a liability that has now seen far too much and needs to be taken out. While I saw this death coming a mile away, what shocked me the most is how violently grim it is. Audiences who were sympathizing with their relationship now feel deep remorse for even connecting with Oz. He was never a good person, nor was he the hero of the show.

This entire series has been carefully examining the rise of Oz from The Penguin he will become, and we know from the comics. That’s what it’s always been. And after killing Victor, he’s now that person. A lonely, deeply troubled person who constantly seeks validation from his mother that he can no longer have (as she stares at the window with a tear falling in her eyes), but that person nonetheless. How that will factor into The Batman: Part II remains to be seen, but we will likely see an even darker side of him that the show explored in eight thrilling episodes.

All episodes of The Penguin are now available to stream on Max.