Diksha Sundriyal
In the penultimate episode of HBO’s ‘The Penguin,’ the fight between Oz and Sofia gets bloodier as each side tries to outfox the other, knowing that whoever emerges the winner will have the reins of Gotham in their hand. Usually, Oz would be several steps ahead of Sofia, but this time, she has the upper hand. In the previous episode, she discovers from Eve that Oz has a place in Crown Point. She goes through expecting to find the Penguin, but instead, finds his mother, who he claimed had died a long time ago. This gives her something with which she can now inflict pain on Oz as he did to her by killing her brother and betraying her repeatedly. SPOILERS AHEAD
Did Oz Kill His Brothers Jack and Benny?
Before delving into what happens to Francis, ‘The Penguin’ takes us into a flashback. On several occasions before, Oz had mentioned the tragic deaths of his brothers, Jack and Benny. But it is in this episode that we discover what really happened to them. Back when they were children, Oz, who had a limp due to his bad leg, felt connected to his mother such that he was, in a way, jealous of his own brothers. He wished his mother would rely on him more than she did on his elder brother, Jack. For example, she’d give him stuff to pass on to Rex Calabrese, who would then give them the money to take back to their mother.
While Jack preferred for him and his brothers to keep a distance from Rex, Oz already looked up to him even when he knew Rex was a gangster. One day, Francis sends them to Rex. When they have the money and are on their way, it starts to rain. To take cover, the brothers end up inside the tunnels, where they decide to play hide and seek. While Jack and Benny hide, Oz has to look for them. However, they go down through the ladder into the sewer. Even though Oz can hear them, he cannot reach them as he cannot climb down the already unstable ladder. Angry at his brothers for hiding, then, when they know he will not be able to reach them, he gets out and shuts the heavy iron door, not considering the fact that it is raining heavily and, soon, the small space where his brothers are now trapped will flood.
While his brothers ask him to let them out, Oz goes back home and tells his mother that Jack and Benny have gone to the movies. For a while, Francis is not bothered. But then, as it gets dark and the rain gets heavier, Francis becomes concerned. Back in the tunnel, Jack and Benny cry out for help until they drown, with none the wiser about what happened to them. Oz never tells his mother what really happened that day, and gripped by the grief of losing her two sons, Francis turns towards Oz, resting all of her happiness and aspirations on his shoulders. As for Oz, he is happy because he finally has his mother all to himself.
Is Sal Maroni Dead?
In the present, Oz comes back home to find his mother gone and Victor lying injured and unconscious. Victor tells Oz that Sofia took Francis, but when Oz sees Sal Maroni approach the building, he tells Victor to flee and gather the forces. Sal finds Oz and, after beating him up a little, asks him to take him to his base of operations. Meanwhile, Sofia tries to talk to Francis and find out more about Oz and his plans. The only thing she discovers is that Francis has dementia, and the only person who can help get into Francis’ mind is Dr. Julian Rush.
While Julian burrows his way into Francis’ fractured mind, Oz takes Sal to the tunnels. For a moment, it looks like Oz has finally lost everything, but then, one of his men is quick enough to turn out the lights, giving Oz a fighting chance. The ploy works and Oz runs as he gets his window. When Sal corners him, the men fight, but then, Sal has a heart attack, and he dies while a supervised Oz watches. To confirm his victory, Oz shoots at Sal a couple of times, declaring himself a winner.
Where Does Sofia Take Francis?
Now that he has his business back, Oz needs to get his mother. He calls Sofia, telling her that he is ready to give up the keys to the kingdom if she sends his mother back to him. While the deal looks good, Sofia knows by now that nothing is as it seems with Oz. She knows that he will have a trap in wait for him. Still, she has also started to have some doubts about the way things have been handled so far. The first person to get to her is Francis, who points out that even when Sofia claims to be different and do different, she is pretty much exactly what Carmine and the others had been.
The second person to show her the mirror is Gia, who remembers seeing a mask in Sofia’s bag the night her parents and the rest of the Falcones were murdered. Sofia tries to convince her that their deaths were an accident. But then, she sees the self-inflicted cuts on Gia’s wrist and realizes that she has basically ruined her life, just as her own life was ruined when she was thrown into Arkham. Before she can process this, she gets a call from Oz, who tells her about Sal’s death and makes his offer. By now, Sofia has decided that she doesn’t care about Bliss anymore, and the only thing she wants is to hurt Oz the way he hurt her, but that doesn’t mean she will kill Francis.
To show Oz that she is going forward with the deal, she sends a car to his hideout. As expected, it turns out to be a trap, but she uses this trap to blow up the entire place because the car had a bomb instead of Sofia and Francis. Ironically, Oz hides in the exact place where his brothers had died while his men and the entire base of operation are completely annihilated. At the same time, Sofia takes Francis to a place that might jog her memory. It remains to be seen what Dr. Rush has excavated from Francis’ mind, but it’s clear that it has something to do with Jack and Benny’s death, and Sofia is ready to do whatever it takes to unearth the truth about that day. If the whole picture comes to light, it will surely take Oz’s mother away from him for good.
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