The Penguin just aired the final episode of its first (and possibly only) season, and it was as good as fans have come to expect. Before this show began, if you told me that I'd end 2024 thinking that a TV spinoff of The Batman centering around a supporting villain character would be one of my favorite shows of the year, I would have thrown a drink in your face, called you a traitor and pulled the fire alarm. But now that we're here, The Penguin kicked every ass. It was gritty, it was funny, the story ramped up in intensity as it went and the lead performance from Colin Farrell (as Oswald Cobb) and Cristin Milioti (as his rival Sofia Falcone) were brilliant. I expect them both to get Emmy nominations for this and maybe to win.
The finale, "A Great or Little Thing," cemented for me that The Penguin is a bold show that deserves to be mentioned along other HBO prestige series. Oz successfully outplayed Sofia to become the new king of the underworld in Gotham City; we'll see what Batman has to say about that when The Batman: Part II hits theaters in 2026.
And some of the twists were heartbreaking. But before we get into that, let's throw up a SPOILER WARNING. Beware what you read beyond this point.
For the love of The Penguin
The Penguin has never been shy about the fact that its title character is something of a sociopath. Oz lies constantly, is willing to betray anyone at a moment's notice if he thinks it will benefit him, and kills people in brutal ways. But he's also clever, resourceful and kind of charming in a fast-talking, oblivious sort of way. And he's the main character so we're supposed to like, right?
And we do like him. But the finale made clear that he is a terrible human being, just in case there were any lingering doubts. The one person Oz seemed to care about throughout the course of the show was his mother Francis (Deirdre O'Connell), who had harbored resentment against Oz ever since he left his two brothers to die as a child. Unable to mete out justice and kill her own son, she pushed that resentment down for her own safety, hoping that Oz would at least use his sociopathy to rise to the top of the criminal ladder and buy her way into a more comfortable life.
And he does do that, but with a horrifying twist: Francis succumbs to her dementia in the end and is left basically comatose. Rather than honoring her wish to end her life with dignity, Oz keeps her hooked up to a life support machine in a lavish penthouse apartment, where she's just conscious enough to know how miserable her life has become. Meanwhile, her son has his mistress Eve (Carmen Ejogo) dress up as his mother to give him the affirmation she never will, not caring that he's condemned his actual mother, whom he purports to love, to horrible pain for the rest of her life.
This does plenty to convince me that Oz is beyond redemption, if that's something I needed convincing of. Love isn't a real thing to him; he loved his mother only so far as it allowed him to tell himself a story about him being a decent guy. It was never real, and we have the horrifying truth.
But "A Great or Little Thing" showed us Oz's sociopathy in another way, and that one I felt was a bit excessive.
Justice for Vic
Before we find out what becomes of Francis, Oz and his protégé Vic, an orphan whom Oz has been training as his right-hand man, sit down on a bench to talk. After everything that's happened, Vic tells Oz that he considers him family, an expression of loyalty Oz can't stomach. Reasoning that family ties make him vulnerable, Oz strangles Vic to death.
It's another shocking moment and definitely works given what we know of Oz. But it struck me as too much. To start, I'm not sure that family ties really do hold Oz back. Obviously he didn't care to say anything about his brothers when they drowned in a tunnel under the city back when he was a kid. And although he appeared panicked when his mom was in danger, he also seemed ready to sacrifice her if it was in his best interests. If Sofia had killed Francis despite Oz having been able to stop it, I think he would have rationalized it to himself afterward.
But maybe I'm wrong, or maybe Oz believes that family ties will make him weak and that therefore Vic must die, which comes to the same thing. But I think Vic could have served the story better alive than dead. The idea that Oz, someone who cares about no one but himself, can attract people who love him unconditionally is very scary. I could see a scenario where Vic puts himself in the line of fire for Oz in The Batman: Part II, for example, only to die and realize that Oz never cared about him. It would be a tragic moment.
His death is also tragic in The Penguin, of course, but it loses some of its potency because at this point it's just one tragedy after another; I was more creeped out by Francis' fate than Vic's. At the least, I wish Vic's death scene had been given more room to breathe.
At the end of the day, this doesn't hurt the show overmuch; The Penguin was compelling from start to finish and delivered some powerful blows in these last couple episodes. This is just a nitpick here at the finish line. And maybe it's more about me not wanting Vic to die. Poor guy!
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