Warning: SPOILERS for The Penguin episode "Top Hat" are ahead!
HBO's The Penguin has been one of the stand-out shows of the year, and while I'm hoping we'll get news of Season 2 as we get into the new year and into the 2025 TV schedule, I have to give this series its flowers. It has been a long time since I've watched a show that has played with my emotions so much, and that was especially the case in the penultimate episode.
I both love and hate "Top Hat," but I should note that the negative part of that statement is also said with love. The Penguin can be frustrating in the best of ways, so ahead of what could be the closing chapter of its story, I decided to talk out some of the things bothering me ahead of the finale.
I Love And Hate How The Penguin Reminded Us That Oswald Is A Bad Guy
The Penguin punched me in the gut in "Top Hat" and reminded me exactly the kind of guy Oswald Cobb is with a deep dive into his past. I'm referring, of course, to seeing Oz become jealous of his brothers getting equal attention from his mother and ultimately leaving them to drown in a sewer so he could have a quiet night at home with his mother. At several points, it was clear he knew what would happen to his brothers and he simply didn't care.
I hated myself for being fooled into sympathizing with Oswald. In every live-action Batman movie and project he's been in, he's been an untrustworthy snake. Granted, the show hasn't portrayed him any differently than those shows, but I think it was because he was exclusively screwing over people who were also bad, I was able to see it a different way.
The Penguin was masterful in its storytelling, in that it both made us understand and sympathize with Oswald, only to rip that all away and remind the viewer that he is not a good person. I'm assuming that's something we need to remember ahead of the finale, which looks bound to be a rough one for Oswald, Sofia or possibly both characters. One thing I can say is that I doubt I'll ever feel sympathy for a Batman villain so readily again, and if Sofia does manage to get her revenge on Oz, I don't think that I'll feel bad for him.
I Love And Hate That I Have No Idea How Sofia Will Get Even With Oswald
Sofia Gigante may not be The Hangman, but throughout The Penguin, she's shown she's more than capable of violence. The surprise killing of Batman villain Magpie and some of her more erratic actions throughout the series have me clueless as to how she'll eventually exact revenge on Oswald for locking her away in Arkham Asylum.
I thought that her big move would be to kill Victor, but with him out gathering an army for Oswald ahead of the finale, I don't think she'll get a better chance than she had after hitting him with a tire iron. I think he'll get out of the finale unscathed, though considering he's an original character not from the original DC lore, there's a chance he'll be taken out before the next Batman movie.
I can't help but love and hate that we have no idea what Sofia will do in this upcoming episode, but I do have theories. There's a chance that Sofia will end up killing Oswald's mother, Francis, but not before revealing that it was her son who killed her other boys. Oz will see the disappointment on his mother's face right before her death, leaving behind a haunting memory he'll be forced to live with.
While I initially thought Sofia might spare Francis, I don't think her revenge against Oswald would be quite as impactful, assuming she did discover his dirty secret. Francis is suffering from some form of dementia, so even if she was told in the moment, there's a chance she'd ultimately forget as time went on. Given the type of person Oz is, he'd likely be fine with his mother forgetting that part and continue to live in denial that he's the ideal favorite son of the bunch.
I Love That I Don't Know Which Of These Two Villains Will Be More Relevant In The Batman: Part II
When The Penguin was first announced, I thought this was the perfect way of further establishing Oswald Cobblepot as a threat in 2026's The Batman Part II. That's still definitely the case, and we've seen him ascend from being an associate in the Falcone family to building his own empire selling Drops and aligning with the lesser mobs of Gotham. It seems like he'll be in a much better position in Gotham's crime world than he was in the first movie, and he's not the only one.
The big crime families of Gotham have collapsed, and now Sofia Gigante is taking up the mantle of traditional mob activity in Gotham. Again, we don't know with certainty how the end of this show will pan out for her, but there are no shortage of rumors saying Cristina Milioti's character will have a major part to play in Robert Pattinson's next Batman movie.
Of course, we still have no idea precisely what The Batman Part II will be about. CinemaBlend's Mike Reyes has his own theories about who the sequel's main villain will be, and he thinks The Penguin actually hinted at it. There are also a good deal of iconic Batman rogues who fans would love to see this iteration of The Dark Knight tussle with, so who knows how relevant either villain from The Penguin will be by the time this movie rolls around?
Catch The Penguin's finale on HBO on Sunday, November 10th at 9:00 p.m. ET. There's a part of me that is expecting some big surprise at the end of this episode, though I don't want to get my hopes too high. Perhaps we'll find out where Batman has been this entire series. I'd be fine if we didn't, but it would be a great treat.
