Diksha Sundriyal
HBO’s ‘The Penguin’ brings the eponymous DC villain front and center, giving us an insight into his rise in Gotham’s underworld. The first episode sets a lot of things in motion, especially with the death of Alberto Falcone and the arrival of Sofia Falcone, who is hell-bent on finding her brother’s murderer. At this point in the story, Oz Cobb, aka the Penguin, doesn’t hold enough power to protect himself from the Falcones, so he has to look towards another powerful criminal family to back him in case things go wrong. This is where the Maronis come in, but they have their own demands, one of which puts Oz in a very difficult situation. SPOILERS AHEAD
The Penguin Becomes a Rat for the Maronis
To save himself from being killed for murdering Alberto, Oz arranged the pieces on the board such that it would look like he was killed by the Maronis. With the Falcons focused on tackling the gang war brewing on their turf, Oz is out of mind and out of sight, and hence safe. However, the Maronis are not happy with him using them as the scapegoat. Or so they make it seem. When Oz sees Salvatore Maroni wearing his ring, he knows that his plan has worked. However, in exchange for doing him the favor of taking the blame for Alberto’s death, the Maronis want him to become their eyes and ears in the Falcones’ operation.
The first thing that they want is the shipment of the Drops that are being transported from Gotham to Robbinsville because the Falcons have decided to shut down the operation. While some minor changes to the plan are made and several of Falcone’s men are killed, things turn out the way they were supposed to. The Maronis get the drops, and Oz makes it out of the whole thing alive. He even saves Castillo, Sofia’s bodyguard, who tortured him until Alberto’s body came back. He does this as a gesture of goodwill to make things up with Sofia, but she is not so easily convinced by it.
The Falcones Look for the Mole
With their entire shipment of the Drops robbed, the Falcones know that they are now well into the war that they’d avoided for all these years under Carmine Falcone. Another thing that is brought to attention by Sofia is that it had to be an inside job, someone from within their operation had to have told the Maronis about the drops and the transfer, for how else would they have had the details. Oz tries to wiggle his way into Sofia’s investigation, but she shrugs him off, proving that she still hasn’t counted him out yet, which is very bad news for him.
Sofia’s uncle, Luca Falcone, who is also the new boss, specifically tells her not to start an investigation of her own. However, she seeks out a police officer who had worked for Carmine, and gets him to find out if there is any chatter worthy of their attention. The officer comes through when he brings to them Maroni’s man, Ervad, who was injured during the robbery, to Sofia. Due to a heavy dose of morphine, the man is still unconscious, but when he comes to, Sofia can torture him enough to make him reveal the identity of the man who informed on the Falcones.
Oz is made aware of Ervad’s capture by the Maronis. They want their man back, and Oz should make it happen as soon as possible because if Ervad talks, Oz will be in much more trouble than them. To assure the Maronis that he is on their side, Oz gives them pictures of Johnny Vitti with Luca’s wife, which they can use to their advantage. Following this, he rushes to Alberto’s wake, which is where Ervad is being held. He needs to find the man before he can reveal any secrets, but more importantly, Oz needs to give the Falcones their rat.
Oz Find an Unexpected Scapegoat
At first, the idea is to have Johnny Vitti framed. Oz had the jewels from the Iceberg Lounge, which should have been in Alberto’s possession. He gives them to Victor to plant them in Vitti’s car. Meanwhile, he looks for Ervad and tries to convince him that help is coming, but he should, under no circumstances, reveal Oz’s name as the traitor. Ervad understands the assignment, but then Victor messes up the job, leaving Oz with no other choice. He is forced to kill Ervad with his knife, but before he can flee, the dead body is found, and the entire place is thrown into lockdown.
With no means to escape, Oz has to think on his feet. He finds an opportunity when Johnny Vitti stands right next to him. He gets in a fight with Vitti, which makes it look like he has planted the knife on the man. But when the checking happens, the knife is found on Castillo, who had broken up the fight between Oz and Vitti. This revelation shocks Sofia because she had trusted Castillo more than anyone else. While the man tries to defend himself, he is immediately shot in the head by Luca, which enrages Sofia to no end. To remove any doubt, Oz plants the jewels in Castillo’s quarters, making it look like he was there the night Alberto went to the Iceberg Lounge and never came back. With Castillo blamed as the traitor, Oz is now free. There is nothing that connects him to Alberto’s murder anymore, but that is not the best thing he gets out of all that has happened.
With her right-hand man gone, Sofia is left alone with no one to trust. She doesn’t feel supported by her uncle or any other men who have taken over her father’s empire and refuses to listen to her instincts. She has been terrorized by nightmares about her brother’s death and Arkham (opening the door for the entry of Dr. Julien Rush), and the only person she thought she could trust has been revealed to be the traitor. With no one else to turn to and the plan to take over her family’s operation on her mind, Sofia has the only person she can look to for help, the only person who has extended a helping hand to her, even when she has rebuffed him repeatedly. That man is Oz.
Read More: Did Colin Farrell Gain Weight for The Penguin? Is He Wearing Makeup or Prosthetics?
