Episode 4 of The Penguin is the one that shifts the entire series. It’s also the one that Cristin Milioti should send to the Academy for Emmy consideration. Up to this point, Milioti has played Arkham Asylum patient Sofia Falcone as a deranged, power-hungry lunatic who’ll stop at nothing to find out who murdered her brother, Alberto Falcone. We know, from the premiere episode, that it was Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell) who pulled the trigger, but Sofia didn’t know that. Well, with the latest episode of The Penguin, we learn a lot more about Sofia, including how she got to Arkham, and what she intends to do now that she’s out.
Last warning. Stop reading now if you haven’t yet seen The Penguin Episode 4.
A new side of Sofia
What a tour de force for the spectacular Cristin Milioti, who brings so many unexpected emotional layers to the tortured Sofia Falcone. The daughter of Carmine Falcone (played by Mark Strong in this HBO series), Sofia seemed to be next in line to take over “The Family” … until she started to figure out that her father murdered her mother, and likely was also responsible for several other murders attributed to a killer the news has labeled The Hangman. Carmine’s solution? Frame his own daughter for the killings, and manipulate the system to lock her away forever in Arkham Asylum.
Speaking with Cristin Milioti on behalf of her amazing work on The Penguin, I asked her how it felt to wear the signature prison jumpsuit for Arkham, and she told me:
Incredible. I’m a really huge Batman fan. And to have that uniform on, with the exact same neck chain – being in that visitation room. I was freaking out. I was so excited. … There (were) a lot of moments on this show where I experienced full body chills because I just wanted to be IN this universe for such a long time. Arkham was one of them. I mean, there were so many. But Arkham was a big one. I was so excited.
The Penguin Episode 4 also marks a distinct break in terms of structure for the show. Oz is a part of the story. But we don’t spend any time with Victor (Rhenzy Feliz), dwell on the devastation left by the flood, or trace the continuation of the cartel wars. And that was very deliberate, according to Penguin showrunner Lauren LeFranc. Sitting down with CinemaBlend, LeFranc explained:
In terms of just narrative storytelling across a season, I think it's really helpful to break things up and to suddenly take a pause on the primary ‘A’ story and dive deeper into a character. And it was important to me to showcase Sofia. Because Oz is a villain, even though we don't really think of things in terms of black and white and heroes and villains in our show. Certainly, no one's a hero. But for you to understand Oz, and to not condone what he does, I think it was important to show other people's perspectives. And for you to deeply understand Sofia's plight, especially in opposition to Oz.
‘There’s darkness inside of her.’
To sell that narrative, I particularly loved the amount of time that Episode 4 of The Penguin spent on Sofia before sending her to Arkham. Specifically, I loved the way that Milioti played that somewhat innocent version of Sofia… knowing that her spirit was about to be broken. The way that LeFranc described it to us:
For me, I have always known who Sofia was in the past. I couldn't begin writing the first episode without that. I knew in the lunch scene, for instance, in (Episode) 1 that she can't speak the way she speaks without me knowing where she comes from, and the type of woman she once was. So it was always intentional that she was a privileged young woman in a Mob family. So there's darkness inside of her, because she's around the Mob. She looks the other way often. She's not familiar with all the inner workings that her father does, and who he fully associates with. But she's aware that she's part of a crime family, and she wants to be in more of a leadership position than people are offering her. Alberto has the inside track in a way that she doesn't, and that is something that frustrates her. I think even though she loves Alberto, she knows that she's sort of the smarter child, and more capable than him. She worries about him, his ineptitude. And really tries to help him out. And we try to showcase that a bit.
By the end of the episode, though, Sofia has claimed her spot at the head of the table. What’s left of the table, anyway. And now we have a different perspective regarding her relationship with Oz… which is why The Penguin was quick to leave her behind once Victor rescued him from the clutches of the Maroni family. You know there are about to be some serious repercussions of Sofia’s actions, of Oz’s actions, and beyond.
Make sure that your subscription to HBO remains up to date so that you can watch new episodes of The Penguin, and so much more, as they drop on Sunday nights.
