The Penguin Episode 1 Recap & Ending Explained [SPOILERS]

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Penguin Episode 1.

HBO’s The penguin Episode 1 sets the bar high for The Batman Spin-off, opening DC’s new take on Gotham that feels disarmingly familiar. Colin Farrell’s Oz may be a new take, with a changed origin and radically different power to Penguin’s other live-action pictures, but his Gotham embraces him like an old friend, building on ideas written in DC lore for decades.

The opening episode of The penguin Just yet The Batmans ending, with Gotham in limbo. The Riddler’s gang has destroyed most of the poorer neighborhoods – especially Crown Point – while the rich go on with their lives mostly undisturbed. Beneath the surface, the world of organized crime is shifting, and Farrell’s Penguin recognizes an opportunity. It’s a great opening episode, and one that explores deeper messages and gives you everything you need to fall completely under Oz’s spell.

The Penguin Episode 1 Spoilers and Key Storyline

• 1 week after the Riddler’s attack on Gotham, poor areas are destroyed, while wealthy neighborhoods flourish

• Alberto Falcone has replaced his father Carmine as head of the Falcone crime family

• The Penguin kills Alberto when he mocks him for delusions of running Gotham

• Oz ropes in a Gotham kid, Victor Aguilar, when he catches him trying to steal his rims

• Sofia Falcone, newly released from Arkham, investigates Alberto’s death, suspecting Oz

• Oz betrays the Falcons, allying with Sal Maroni at Blackgate Prison to steal a new drug shipment

• Oz pins the blame for Alberto’s death on the Maroni family

Why the penguin ends up on Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5”

The classic country music hints at the penguin’s true subtext

Given the opening of The penguin Episode 1 is soundtracked by Michael Giacchino’s moody Batman theme, the closing credits playing Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” is a significant tonal move. But the song is a precision choice, that It speaks to more than just that Oz is a fan of excellent music. Creator Lauren LeFrank tells Empire that Oz’s musical taste reflects who he is: “Oz is such a different guy, he’s really a wild person, he’s hard to pin down,” But it’s way deeper than that.

“9 to 5” is symbolic here in addition to Oz’s unexpected weirdness: the song, which was written for the movie of the same name, is an anthem for equality. The 1990 film, which also starred Parton, is about female office workers who take revenge on their selfish, sexist boss, replace him, and immediately improve the company’s fortunes with a big boost in productivity.

It’s essential The ultimate fantasy for anyone who ever thought they could do a better job than their bossBut it’s also a song about pouring yourself out.”A cup of ambition“And destroy corrupt systems of power. Oz Cobb may be a criminal, but he believes he is standing up for his class, against the elites, taking back what is right, and by extension theirs. He has, essentially, accepted the “9 to 5” As his own anthem for change.

Why Oz Kills Alberto Falcone – Oz’s Double Cross Plan Explained

An impulsive mistake on the part of the penguin or a fatal character flaw?

Oz’s impulsive killing of Alberto Falcone in the first half of The penguin Episode 1 sets the tone for the show, and establishes Oz’s main weakness: disrespect. He kills Carmine Falcone’s heir despite knowing that he needs him to climb Gotham’s underworld ladder, because Alberto reminds him of the fact that he doesn’t belong. He shoots him not only because of the insult, but because of its truthWhat drives him and supports his entire arc. Oz will do whatever it takes to gain power, or to maintain his self-image, even when it’s as idiotic as killing a mob boss.

Oz is a volatile figure, but he is able to spin intricate plots to protect himself because his real superpower is adaptability and perseverance. His emotional reaction to Alberto mocking him is an important thing to keep an eye onBecause he shows elsewhere in episode 1 that he doesn’t quite think all plans through, largely because of hubris. He sets up Sal ​​Maroni to take the case for Alberto’s death, but assumes that he will get away with it because of the Maronis’ desire to keep up appearances. This is illogical, but it is based on how Penguin sees the elite world that he muscled into.

That said, Oz’s plan to turn the Falcones’ attention to the Maronis is genius. Sal Maroni is in Blackgate prison because of Carmine Falcone’s betrayal of mob rules. He was a rat, but it was Sal who ended up in the cage. Oz effectively lends the Maronis power back to them for his own benefitNot only removing Sofia’s suspicions of his murder of Alberto, but also destabilizing Gotham’s criminal hierarchy. How he continues to use it will become clear.

The penguin’s secret meaning is already clear

Gotham’s elite is a performance, and Oz knows how to play it

The idea of ​​performance is a major part of The penguinEven from episode 1. Oz is an outsider, making his way in the mob world despite his humble beginnings in life: He wears what he thinks are classy clothes, drives what he thinks is a flash car, all in an effort to project the right image. Sofia Falcone wrestles with the same conflict right away, telling Oz that the restaurant her father took her to as a child was too rich for her taste, and tells a story about him paying her to keep her elbows off the table.

For both Oz and Sophia, conformity is an important part of Gotham’s hierarchy of power: Oz aspires to be a part of it, despite claiming he wants to take it down. He grew up admiring mobster Rex Calabrese, whom he remembers as a kind-hearted, widely respected community leader, but who is based on Selina Kyle’s DC Comics father. For Oz, this is the role he wants to embrace, shedding his past, partly because of the pressure his mother’s fantasy that he deserves everything.

Sophia is on the other side of the dynamic, a woman in the mob car, which LeFranc was very clear was motivated by a desire to comment and challenge how female characters tend to be shown in gangster media. She doesn’t fit in, as her story about her father pays her to conform.

Why Oz really doesn’t kill Victor

The new character of the Penguin plays an important role for her and Gotham

On the surface, Oz changes his mind about killing Victor because he recognizes a similar vulnerability in the young Gothamite. When Vic stammers, begging not to be killed when they meet, Oz is visibly surprised and his rage subsides. He sees Victor as another broken child, drawing a parallel between his speech impediment and Penguin’s own club foot, which he has worked hard not to acknowledge as a weakness. But as with all things, it is beyond the surface that it becomes more interesting.

Victor isn’t just an individual character: he’s a stand-in for the audience, and an opportunity for Oz to lay out his philosophy in a way that doesn’t just come off as exposition. He berates Victor as he berates the audienceAnd Vic is also the nominated representative for all of Gotham’s underclass. When Oz promises him power and wealth taken from the elites, he promises the same to Gotham: he forges himself as Rex Calabrese’s charismatic replacement, and you can already see the position he imagines for himself when he comes back into the game. The Batman Part II.

Sofia Falcone’s Talen Crimes Explained

DC Comics infamous serial killer and what it means for the Penguin

In the wake of seminal DC Comics arc The Long Halloween, Batman: Dark Victory Introduced a new serial killer to Gotham City, murdering cops with a relationship with Harvey Dent to implicate Dent as the killer. Sofia Falcone is revealed to be the killer, hanging the bodies of her victims by a noose and pinning Tangman clues to them. Her reign of terror is revenge against Two-Face, who murdered her father in the wake of the Holiday Killer being revealed as her brother Alberto.

The penguin Episode 1 establishes that Sophia has just been released from Arkham, and she refers to herself as “the Talien”, suggesting that a version of Dark victorys story will play out. Of course, without The Long Halloween It will have to be a very different adaptation, but the important part: that Sofia is accused of multiple murders is an important background.

What movie Oz and Victor watch and why it is incredibly important

The penguin’s reference to a 1940s film noir is deeper than you realize

As well as the symbolism of Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5”, The penguin Episode 1 also uses an almost 80-year-old movie to suggest deeper meaning. When Oz and Victor visit Francis Cobb, they watch GuildRita Hayworth and Glenn Ford’s film noir classic famously known as the movie The Prisoners Watch The Shawshank Redemption. Oz watches wide-eyed as Hayworth’s title character sings “Put The Blame On Maim,” a song he says about creating a scapegoat that inspires his plan to absolve himself of blame for Alberto’s murder.

Narratively, this is obviously important, as it becomes Oz’s epiphany moment, but there is more to it Guild Which highlights the brilliance of his choice for the scene. stylistic, The penguin Draws a lot of film noir: The HBO show’s lighting aesthetic might as well be from the 1940s, and while it’s in color, Gotham’s oppressive character is set in its tones and shadow. We might as well be watching a black and white movie.

Guilds history specifics are also a strong parallel to The penguin. It’s basically a love triangle noir, in which Gilda, Ford’s character, Farrell, and George McCready’s casino manager Mundson become entwined. Gilda and Farrell share a pathetic story, and when the former marries Mundson – Farrell’s boss with links to organized crime – their dynamic erupts. But Guild is much more than a straight-laced take on film noir, with barely veiled subtext that defied Hollywood’s rigid code at the time of its release.

Key to this is the revelation that Farrell and Mundson’s relationship was intended to be more than professional, and that Hayworth’s Gilda is more than the femme fatale or a plot device. key to The penguin There are two things: the presentation of Gilda as a strong female character with her own agency and how her involvement with Mundson and Farrell brings them all together in a conflict in which none of them is determined, and everything gets messy.

actually, Gilda is a prototype for Sophia – the strong female character – and Oz – the center of a charged conflict both manipulating and manipulated. Relationships for both, are to be weapons to our own advantage. Farrell and Mundson are the Falcones and the Maronis, and despite GuildIt’s taxed on Hollywood ending (the code in play again), it is already clear that it is not like The penguin is going to play out.

New episodes of The penguin Release every Sunday night on HBO.

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