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Notice! This post contains SPOILERS for episode 7 of The PenguinThe Penguin episode 7 features several Easter eggs and references as the titular Oz Cobb’s (Colin Farrell) childhood is finally revealed. Not only is Oz’s past explored with some very dark truths, but the episode also includes some major deaths. There is also a critical decision that turns the Penguins’ entire conflict with Sofia Gigante (Cristin Milioti) upside down, as important references and flashbacks are presented throughout this new episode.
In The Penguin episode 7, Oz Cobb’s mother was taken by Sofia Gigante and Salvatore Maroni (Clancy Brown). After some significant revelations of Oz’s dark past as a child and a major confrontation with Sal, Oz now has to deal with Giant Sofia becoming even more volatile and dangerous than she already was, especially with her mother’s life still in her hands in the end of the episode. To that end, here are 13 of the biggest Easter eggs and references in The Penguin episode 7, the penultimate episode before the end of the new DC show.
“Islands in the Creek” – Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers
Relates to Penguin’s debut
During The Penguin Episode 7’s flashback sequence set 34 years before the current events of the DC show in 2022, “Islands in the Stream” by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers can be heard playing on Francis Cobb’s record player. However, this isn’t the first time a Dolly Parton song has been heard on The Penguin. Not only was “9 to 5” heard on Penguin’s car radio in the show’s premiere, but it also served as the end credits track for the first episode of the series.
Leg of Oz
Dating since childhood
Featuring Oz Cobb as a boy, young Oz can be seen wearing a leg brace. This confirms that Oz’s “bad leg” has been an ongoing condition, rather than something that happened to him later in life during his career as a Gotham gangster. Likewise, this also means that the nickname “Penguin” given to him due to his unique way of limping and walking probably stuck with him throughout his life.
Rex Calabrese finally makes his debut as a penguin
Having been referenced several times on the DC Show
After multiple references made in previous Penguin episodes, DC’s Rex Calabrese finally makes his live-action debut in Penguin flashback sequences from episode 7. Also known as “The Lion” in the original comics, Rex was Oz’s hero who ended up hiring the young man to be his driver, starting Oz’s career as a gangster in Gotham City. To that end, Rex’s golden car, Oz, formerly known as the “chariot,” is also shown in this new episode.
Cart Coin
Same Oz coin found in Penguin episode 5
While playing with flashlights in the abandoned tunnels of the tram system beneath Crown Point, young Oz finds a cart coin while searching for his brothers Jack and Benny. This is probably the same coin that adult Oz found in his mother’s things during The Penguin episode 5, leading him to rediscover the tunnels and central hub that have become the perfect new base of operations for his drug empire.
The overflow tunnel door
First seen in Penguin Episode 5
In a truly disturbing twist, it is revealed that young Oz locked his brothers in a tunnel during a storm. By leaving them to drown and returning home to be with his mother, the implication is that Oz never said anything about what happened to Jack and Benny, having been jealous of having to share his mother’s love. To that end, this overflow port is the exact same one that adult Oz saw looking in The Penguin episode 5. Additionally, this same overflow tunnel ironically saves Penguin’s life after Sofia sends a rigged car to blow up his underground operations at the end of The Penguin episode 7.
Beetle juice
Released in 1988 (a year before Burton’s first Batman film)
When Francis asks Oz where his brothers are, he states that they went to the cinema to watch the 1988 film. Beetle juice. Directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton as the titular ghost, it’s worth noting that Burton’s film Batman was released the following year in 1989 and starred Keaton as Bruce Wayne, the same iteration of The Dark Knight who fights Danny DeVito’s Penguin in 1992. Batman Returns. Likewise, Burton’s sequel to Beetle juice It was just released in theaters in September this year.
Oz’s favorite movie explains a lot
Fred Astaire top hat (1935)
Making a film with his mother, it is revealed that young Oz’s favorite film is from 1935 top hat starring Fred Astaire. Shown tap dancing while wearing a top hat, tails and holding a cane, the connections between Fred Astaire’s style in this film and the original depictions of the Penguin on the DC Comics page are not hard to miss. In the same way, The Penguin episode 7 itself is also titled “Cartola”.
“Ginger, fuck, Rogers”
(Also in top hat)
Held in the Falcone mansion as Sofia’s prisoner, Francis tells Sofia that after her son kills her, she will tap dance on his grave “like fucking Ginny Rogers.” Another classic actress, Ginny Rogers was Fred Astaire’s co-star in 1935 top hat.
“I got you! I got you!”
Mirrors the Penguin’s Batmobile chase
Even though Salvatore Maroni ends up dying of a heart attack while fighting Oz Cobb, The Penguin still acts like he beat Gotham’s crime boss. Likewise, he repeatedly tells Maroni’s corpse that he caught him. With that in mind, it’s a mirror image when Penguin prematurely celebrates Batman’s escape and says the same thing during the Batmobile car chase, only to be immediately flipped over by the Dark Knight’s powerful muscle car.
Salvatore Maroni Ring
Finally belongs to the penguin
The Penguin also takes Salvatore’s ring from his corpse and puts it on his own finger. The Penguin episode 7. Having originally been from Sal, Carmine took over the ring when he exposed Maroni’s drug deal before the events of Batman. Then, his son Alberto Falcone took over the ring after the Riddler killed Carmine. Although Oz took the ring after killing Alberto and returned it to Maroni as a sign of good faith, he now has the ring in his possession once again. As such, it’s a symbolic symbol, one that certainly suggests that the Penguins’ rise to the top of Gotham’s underworld is nearly complete.
“Is that what you think?”
Sofia using Carmine’s exact words from 10 years ago
Sofia Gigante visits Brookside to meet with young Gia Falcone, who says she saw Sofia’s mask the night she gassed her family. However, Sofia uses the same exact tactics and words that her own father used when Sofia suspected that Carmine had killed her mother ten years earlier, appearing shocked that Gia could think that she would be capable of doing something so horrible. Caring for Gia and her suspicions, this interaction greatly breaks Sofia, who later decides that she has stopped playing her father’s games, opting to create a new one and seeking nothing more than absolute revenge from Oz from now on.
Monroe Jazz Club
Where Oz took his mother dancing
Taking Francis to what was once the Monroe Jazz Club, The Penguin Episode 7 returns once again when Francis finally comes out of his room after Jack and Benny’s death and takes Oz dancing when she makes him promise to get everything she deserves. A memory that was first referenced by an adult Oz in The Penguin episode 2, the fact that Sofia now knows enough about this to bring Francis to Monroe’s house in the present certainly doesn’t bode well for Oz moving forward.
Detective Marcus Wise
Taking Penguin to Sofia Gigante
After surviving the car bomb explosion that destroyed Penguin’s drug operations and an entire block of Crown Point, a stunned Oz Cobb is found by Detective Marcus Wise, the corrupt cop Sofia hired. The Penguin episode 2, which is also corrupt in the original DC Comics. Knocking out Oz, it appears that Sofia has hired Marcus once again to bring him to her at Monroe’s house for a final showdown in The Penguin imminent end.
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