The Penguin Episode 6 “Gold Summit” just ended on a cliffhanger that has fans sweating like crazy, wondering what kind of tragedy could be coming in Episode 7. So far, the major characters of The Penguin – Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell), Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti), Victor Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz), Sal Maroni (Clancy Brown), and Francis Cobb (Dierdre O’Connell) -have all managed to dodge a bullet, shank, or worse in the war for Gotham City’s Underworld. Until now, at least…
WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW!
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In Episode 6, Oz Cobb/Penguin finally got his big break to make a name for himself as a crime boss, after uniting Gotham’s rival gangs under a banner of blue-collar frustration. But while ‘Oz Mob’ was rising, Sofia Falcone doled out some unexpected mercy to Penguin’s main lady Eve Karlo (Carmen Ejogo) that came back to her in the form of a tip from Eve about where Oz may be hiding out in his childhood slum of Crown Point.
Meanwhile, over in Crown Point, Francis is coming apart over having to return to her old slum living ways, confusing past and present with greater frequency. To prove his worth to his “ma,” Oz seeks to get the power in the ‘Point turned back on (winter is coming!), by tracking down the crooked city official on Carmine Falcone’s payroll. Oz leans on the councilman to be Penguin’s patsy, and the guy bends to the blackmail, getting power diverted back to Crown Point. As the lights and heat come back on, Victor and Francs dance to celebrate Oz’s big successes – which is exactly when Sofia arrives at the apartment, gun in hand, realizing that Oz has kept the secret of his mother being alive, playing her once again.
Will Sofia Falcone Kill Francis Cobb or Victor?
To Cristin Milioti’s credit, she’s made Sofia Falcone such a deeply layered and complex character that it’s hard to read what she’ll do next. She owes Oz a big emotional blow to the heart for killing her brother – but as she explains to Sal Maroni earlier in the episode while tossing Oz’s apartment for clues, Penguin’s great advantage is that there’s seemingly nothing and no one he cares about. It won’t take Sofia long to discern just how deeply attached Oz is to Francis, and know what her loss could do to him; however, Sofia’s meeting Eve seems to highlight the distinction that she is hesitant to hurt women and further fuel the lie that she’s “The Hangman.” That said, Sofia’s harshest weapons are often her wit and her words; she didn’t just give Eve a pass in their conversational joust: she made Eve feel the shame of getting played by Oz, the same man that helped Carmine Falcone kill dozens of women – including friends of Eve’s. It was a way of undoing the spell of deception and manipulation that Penguin excels at – maybe that will be the same goal with Francis: not killing her so much as killing her love for her son.
Then there’s poor Victor, who just gave us all the necessary runway for his untimely death, after making the final ‘fall from grace’ of killing neighborhood thug Calvin (Ben Cook) in cold blood. By TV show standards, Victor is now fair game for moral punishment, since he’s decided to follow the example of his surrogate dad (Oz) instead of his real dad. The only things that may save Victor are Sofia’s belief that he’s still some kind of good-hearted innocent Oz is using – and her skepticism that Penguin doesn’t truly value anyone.
Fans must wait until next Sunday when The Penguin Episode 7 airs on HBO and streams on Max.