The Penguin Episode 3: "Bliss" recap and review

We’ve seen Victor Aguilar almost get killed in The Penguin series premiere and do the jobs for Oz Cobb, but what else is there? Episode 3 starts and shows that he has a family and a girlfriend, and the stuttering isn’t just when he’s nervous. It’s something he does. Unfortunately, this happy moment wasn’t the present. It was a flashback to when Riddler bombed Gotham City. That’s when he lost his family in the flood (this happened at the end of The Batman).

The Penguin picked the perfect time to get into Victor Aguilar’s life. Despite not being Sofia Falcone or Oz, we needed to see more of him. He’s important to the show, especially to Oz. He sees something in Victor and does what he can to toughen him up. More importantly, he's trying to instill confidence in him. Victor recognizes this. That’s why he came back instead of leaving Gotham with his girlfriend. Oz is lucky he did. If Vic left, he would have been killed by Nadia Falcone and her goons.

"The world ain't set up for the honest man to succeed." -Oz Cobb

Pay attention to how Victor adjusts to killing someone. This isn’t something a person does and gets over it. Vic already has PTSD from the flood that killed his parents. He’ll likely have nightmares about hitting the henchman with Oz’s car. But, this is the life he chose. Let’s see how he deals with it.

Later, Sofia introduces Oz to her new plan. It's a mushroom grown from the dirt from Arkham Hospital. These aren’t the normal magic mushrooms that (as Oz puts it) you can buy in any college dorm. Sofia says the user gets a body high they’ve never experienced. Now the problem is distribution.

Since Oz and Sofia can't use the Falcone Family, Oz uses an old connection (to which he, of course, owes money). Thankfully, it works out when they catch Johnny Vitti in bed with a woman who isn’t his wife. They use this opportunity to blackmail Johnny into using his name as a backing. Now they have a connection and  Johnny Vitti in their pocket.

"These people need an escape. And nothing delivers a better escape than Bliss. That's why they gave it to us in Arkham." -Sofia Falcone

This episode did a lot of things right. Among them is establishing the underworld of Gotham City. We learned that there’s more than the Maroni and the Falcone families. One of them are the Triads (who Oz and Sofia are now in business with).

Second, Sofia drops a hint about their past. Oz did something to Sofia that she hasn’t forgiven. As Oz apologizes she says that she isn’t the Hangman. It was hinted that she was framed for it, but she officially said it. However, she could have said it in a sarcastic tone. She said Oz ratted on her and he denied it. Whatever Oz did forced Sofia's father to send her to Arkham.

Hopefully, Sofia is The Hangman. Not only would this be comic book accurate, but it would be impressive for her to be the killer with her small frame. At some point during The Penguin, we’ll get a definitive answer. Stay tuned to Caped Crusades to learn the truth behind Sofia’s past.

What did you think of this episode of The Penguin? Have you enjoyed the series so far? We want to hear from you. You can email us at entertainment@fansided.com.