‘The Penguin’ Ending Explained: A Shock Death and Horrifying Twists
It was very easy to get misdirected by The Penguin’s central premise. I’d wager that most viewers became completely blindsided to its true nature – the origin story of Batman’s top-hatted and tailed nemesis – thanks to Cristin Milioti’s stunning performance of Sofia Falcone-Gigante, who stole the show, and of her storyline, so masterfully thread through the series by showrunner Lauren LeFranc.
But the finale was a stake through the heart for characters like Sofia, Francis and Vic. As much as we wanted to see them succeed, there was only ever going to be one winner. How else could it end other than with Oz Cobb, a.k.a. The Penguin (Colin Farrell) on top? If anything, it made it even more soul-crushing to witness the fates unravel for these other leading characters while the evil mastermind prospered. So, what did we learn in the finale and how exactly did it all play out in the end?
Big reveals
Thanks to Dr. Julian Rush’s dubious red light therapy, it was revealed that Oz’s mum, Francis (Deirdre O'Connell), knew all along that her weird, Oedipal son killed his two brothers, her beloved sons. She’d found a yellow torch in his coat, so knew he was lying; Jack and Benny’s bodies were eventually found by the police, and it turns out they’d had to “prise open the door to find them”. She knew it was Oz, and called in the resident gangster Rex to bump off her remaining son. “I got the devil in my house Rex, what am I supposed to do?” she asked.
The moment that Oz held so tightly, his memory of the lovely night when his mum took him out dancing and he promised to give her the world? Yeah, that’s when Rex was meant to kill him off. But she danced with the devil: either she wasn’t willing to kill her only remaining son (despite him clearly being a murderous psychopath) or she felt seduced by him offering her all the riches he’d be able to provide for her, and that she deserved. So she kept quiet about ever revealing what he did.
The reunion
Mother and son were eventually reunited by Sofia, who threatened to cut off Francis’ finger – like Oz did to her brother, Alberto – unless he confessed to killing his brothers. Even in the face of his mother having digits lopped off, he cannot tell the truth, and eventually Francis cracks, but Oz gaslights her and tells her that it’s “lies… just your disease”. She tells him: “ I should have had Rex kill you when I had the chance,” and stabs him in the stomach with a broken bottle. However, after seeing a vision of her boys, she collapses on the floor. This gives Oz just enough time to escape, hauling his mother over his shoulder, in the melee that follows.
The bounty
Sofia then puts a bounty out on Oz’s head, telling all the other ganglords that she’s willing to give over her empire to whoever manages it. All she wants is to see Oz dead and she’s gone for good.
In the meantime, Oz heads over to City Hall and gets Sebastian Hady to agree to pin all the blame on Sofia. It was all quite simple, he says: “an unhinged angry broad got out of the looney bin and went on a killing spree”. Naturally, Sebastian could be presented as a hero for exposing it and putting a stop to the drug and gangs wars in Gotham. Here’s another person who cosies up to a ruthless gangster in exchange for as yet unspecified favours – will these people never learn?
Vic (Rhenzy Feliz) buddies up with one of the Triads and arrange Oz’s handover to Sofia, but obviously, this is all a set up. Vic would never betray Oz! There’s a shoot out, and Oz takes Sofia – who has literally just burnt her family and their home to the ground – out to the riverside and orders her to turn around. It looks like he’s going to shoot her, but instead out pop the police and they haul her away.
Shock death and horrifying endings
We were rooting for you Sofia, we were all rooting for you! Even if you did murder your entire family and made your cousin’s daughter, Gia an orphan housed in a care home. So it was incredibly upsetting to see Sofia defeated and back in the cells at Arkham. But who’s that at her cell door? It’s Dr Julian, who’s managed to get a job back there again, despite helping her escape before! And there’s a letter from a woman, Selina Kyle, claiming to be her half sister! Yes, that is Selina Kyle as in Catwoman. And with a wry smile from Sofia, it looks like we could be back in business for season two.
Vic’s ending is nothing less than shocking. As the two men swig conspiratorially from a bottle of booze by the river, they talk about everything they’ve been through together. And, how they are each other’s family now. “It’s good that we met!” Vic says.
Is it though? Before there’s even the chance to draw a breath, Oz grabs Vic, and strangles him. “It wasn’t for nothing,” he says, before pickpocketing him and tossing his ID into the river. Poor Vic.
But perhaps worst off of all is Frances, Oz’s mum. She’s still alive, but has had such a severe stroke that she’s trapped within her body, which means she can’t move, and she can’t talk or communicate. Cast your mind back to when she begged Oz to kill her when the time came where she couldn’t look after herself any more, and he goes against her wishes. In perhaps all the cruellest of his acts (and there have been many), he keeps her alive in her vegetative state in his new penthouse, a prisoner in her own body and in the house of her serial killer son. A small tear trickles down her cheek, which is truly heartbreaking – he has been the architect of misery for her whole life, and he won’t even give her the grace to exit this world of pain. It’s never been about her, it’s been about him, and his twisted control and mastery of her.
If you think that scene’s fucked up, then wait until the following one… his mistress Eve’s back, and she’s dressed up exactly like his mum on the night she took him out dancing. The incestuous ambiance only gets worse when Oz – now wearing all the proper Penguin get up – starts creepily dancing with Eve (Carmen Ejogo) cos-playing as his mum.
“Tell me you love me. Tell me you’re proud of me… Tell me I did it Ma!”
“I knew you would, my beautiful boy,” she replies.
“Nothing standing in your way now.”
“Goddamn right,” he says, as the camera pans out from his penthouse. Oh but wait… what’s that lighting up the night sky outside? It’s the Batman sign. Here’s hoping the caped crusader is ready to finally fly in to restore some justice to Gotham city.
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