The review contains spoilers for The Penguin episode 7.
1994’s Green Lantern #54 changed superhero stories forever. That’s when Kyle Rayner came home to find that supervillain Major Force had killed his mother and stuffed her in the refrigerator. Written by Ron Marz, the issue was intended to show Kyle, who had just become a superhero a few issues earlier, the cost of fighting evil.
Instead, it shone a light on the way superhero stories use the death of women as a motivator for male heroes. The website Women in Refrigerators highlighted the issue, prompting larger discussion and reform, especially when the site’s creator Gail Simone went on to become one of the better writers of modern cape comics.
The end of The Penguin‘s seventh episode tips right up the edge of Women in Refrigerators territory. The gang war between Oz and Sofia has gotten personal, with the latter kidnapping the former’s beloved mother Frances. Sofia’s gambit works, driving Oz to bargain for his mother’s life. He’ll give Sofia the Bliss if she gives him Frances. But when a car from Sofia arrives at his headquarters, Oz finds it unmanned, a lump with his mother’s coat inside.
Thankfully, Oz does not pull back the coat to find Frances’s body. Instead, its a bomb about to explode, leaving Oz’s headquarters in shambles and The Penguin with ill-advised 9/11 imagery. Sofia has given Frances to her creepy psychiatrist Dr. Julian Rush, for purposes still unclear.
Whether or not they made an intentional nod to comic book fridging, “Top Hat” writer Vladimir Cvetko and director Kevin Bray use Oz’s discovery as a way to continue the show’s central theme about the mistreatment of women. In something of an echo of last week’s stand off between her and Eve Karlo, Sofia faces down Frances in this episode, and finds a worthy opponent.
On one hand, the way the two women sneer at one another threatens to pull the series’ weaknesses from subtext to text. Sofia characterizes Oz as a pathetic man who leverages his personal pain to manipulate others and Frances describes Sofia as nothing more than another gangster, following in her daddy’s footsteps.
Both women are right and, to the show’s credit, it allows them to acknowledge it. In particular, Sofia realizes that Sofia Gigante is doing the exact same thing that Carmine Falcone wanted his daughter to do, back when she was Sofia Falcone. And she has seen where that leads, with seven women dead and Sofia taking the fall. By the time that Sofia goes to visit her niece Gia, vows to make a change, which involves blowing up Oz and taking Frances to Rush.
We haven’t talked too much about Rush in these reviews, mostly because he’s been a non-entity thus far. Theo Rossi has a very particular take on Rush, a softness that makes empathy feel invasive and controlling. But he’s only had a few scenes in the series thus far and, with only one episode left, there’s not a lot of time for The Penguin to let Rossi shine, let alone to reveal him as Dr. Hugo Strange, the Scarecrow, or anyone else.
Then again, The Penguin has had a habit of underutilizing great actors. Deirdre O’Connell just now in episode seven gets to show off her stuff as Frances Cobb. While the wraparound flashback showing Oz’s tragic villain origin story leaves a lot to be desired (we’ll get to it in a minute), the center standoff between Sofia and Frances is electric. Both women have been used and manipulated by men so long that they don’t find the other’s posturing impressive. O’Connell is at once all sharp edges and all raw nerves, a combination that proves more than a match for Sofia Gigante.
Likewise, Clancy Brown finally gets to have some fun as Salvatore Maroni unleashed, at least for a while. A veteran of B-movies and shows, Brown knows how to make the most of limited screen time and doesn’t disappoint here, roaring into the scene to hand Oz a long-deserved beatdown. The scene also gives Oz a chance to show off his skills as a master manipulator. When he starts talking about smell of Sal’s burning wife and son, Oz distracts the stronger man long enough to win the fight.
Although the face-off between Sal and Oz has more than enough delights in its brutality and in the joy of watching Brown and Colin Farrell fight over the scenery they chew, the moment doesn’t do much thematically. In fact, that’s been the problem with The Penguin all along, as highlighted by the flashbacks.
“Top Hat” begins and ends with a look at Oz as a child in the 1980s. As Frances (played by Emily Meade in flashback) works hard to make ends meet, Oz feels neglected and jealous of his siblings, one older and one younger. Oz turns a game of hide and go seek into an opportunity to murder his brothers by locking them in a sewer and leaving them to drown.
On a plot level, all of this makes sense, and is (somewhat) true to the Penguin’s modern comic book origins. But on a thematic level, the flashbacks add nothing. Oz has always been cruel and manipulative? Oz caused his mother’s pain? At his core, Oz is just a middle child who wants attention?
As has so often been the case with Oz’s storylines, he’s been the least interesting part of his own show, despite Farrell giving it his all. When compared to Sofia’s rich and entertaining rise, one cannot help but wonder why the show isn’t called “Sofia” or “Gigante” (because IP and branding, we know, we know).
Yet, in light of the history of women in refrigerators, maybe The Penguin‘s focus on Sofia is a good thing. Not only does it relegate Oz to other-the-top comic relief, where he works best (Oz even repeats a memorable line from The Batman here), but it also draws attention to the way women get ignored, even when they take the name “Gigante,” even when they’re the best part of the show.
The Penguin finale premieres at 9 p.m. ET on Sunday, November 10.
The post The Penguin Episode 7 Review: Oz’s Not-So-Tragic Villain Origin Story appeared first on Den of Geek.
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