The Shocking Ending of ‘The Penguin’ Episode Four Explained: What Exactly Did Sofia Falcone Do?
Spoilers for episode four of The Penguin below
When Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti, in the role of a lifetime) told her therapist, Dr Rush, that she was off for a fresh start, this wasn’t quite what he had in mind.
But after being framed by her family for the murder of seven women – and sent to Arkham State Hospital where she was tortured and abused for 10 years – it’s no wonder Sofia wanted revenge on those who set her up.
The final 12 minutes of episode four of The Penguin will probably go down as the most shocking in the series (well, so far) as Sofia finally got her own back on her family, with a blood-curdling mass murder that was all executed quite cheerfully – was that a little skip we spotted at the end? – but what exactly did our little murderess do?
The backstory
So, it turns out that Sofia Falcone was not The Hangman, as she’d been referred to in earlier episodes. No, it was even darker than that. Through a tip-off from a reporter, Sofia uncovered that it was not only likely that her dad, Carmine, had killed off seven sex workers at the club, but that he was also responsible for her mum’s death, making a strangulation look like her suicide (Sofia suddenly remembered his hands had bloody scratches on them the day she found her mum’s body).
When she confronted him about it – big-mouthed Oz (Colin Farrell), her driver, had told Carmine that Sofia had met with said reporter – he then framed her for all the murders and had her locked up in Arkham State Hospital for a decade, where we all saw the horrors of what went on there (violent attacks, murders, suicides and electro-convulsive therapy, for starters). Her uncles and cousins all falsely attested to her violent, psychopathic nature, and it was enough for the hospital psychiatrist, Dr Ventris – paid off by Carmine – to declare she wasn’t fit to stand trial in court.
However, thanks to her late brother, Alberto – apparently the only person she could trust in the family – and her other doctor, Dr Rush, she escaped, telling the family that she had been rehabilitated. But her uncles and cousins are still keeping up the charade that she’s severely mentally ill and want to ship her off to Sicily, to stop her becoming head of the family. Enough, says Sofia. That’s happening over her dead body. Or, as it turns out, someone else’s dead body…
The last supper
Sofia crashes a family dinner looking stunning in a yellow cocktail dress, and promptly digs into the meatballs and huge goblet of red wine.
But she interrupts her uncle Luca’s speech to remind them all that she was falsely convicted of murdering seven women, and repeats all their names, so as they’re not forgotten: “Summer Gleeson, Taylor Montgomery, Nancy Hoffman, Yolanda Jones, Susannah Weakly, Devri Blake and Tricia Becker.” And effectively, Sofia could add her own name to the list, as her life was over the moment she was sent to Arkham.
She reveals how surprised she was that her trusted family betrayed her, and not one person tried to help her, and that she was innocent. She tells them that for the first time she has a new life – and she knows that she doesn’t fit into this family any more. She toasts them in Italian “Cent’anni” (also the title of this episode), which literally means 100 years, or “may you live 100 years”. Little do they know that 100 minutes would be more accurate.
Hands up who thought Sofia was going to kidnap her cousin’s little daughter, Gia? In the middle of the night – after, importantly, shutting all the windows – she entices Gia downstairs for chocolate cake, then tells her that they’re going to have a sleepover in the greenhouse, where she and Alberto used to camp out.
She tells Gia that she had to fight monsters to survive, but that Gia should never be worried about being locked away, as Sofia will make sure she never has to fight any monsters. She doesn’t realise it yet, but she is one of the only sole survivors of familicide; and Sofia has saved her (although, she has made Gia an orphan which might have some consequences).
With the sun rising – and a jazzy little number, So Long, My Love by Sarah Vaughan, playing in the background – Sofia saunters back into the house, still wearing her ballgown and a… gas mask? There’s the reason why: as soon as she opens the doors to the mansion, there’s a couple of security guards slumped on the floor. She’s gassed the whole house from the supply in the basement.
She goes to check on the family: Luca, dead! His wife, who was having an affair with Johnny, dead! Everyone: apparently dead! “Let’s make the final scene nice and clean / No aftermath,” croons Vaughan, which Sofia’s certainly taken to heart.
However, as she heads into Johnny’s bedroom, the window has purposely been left open. Johnny’s still alive, and has been kept alive for a very particular reason. “Put your pants on Johnny,” she tells him, brandishing a gun, “we need to talk”. For the first time in a decade, Sofia’s in control, and one of the Falcone family is finally going to have to obey her.
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