The Penguin: Notes and questions after the season finale

The Penguin on Max was better than what anyone could have expected. Cristin Milioti should make space for awards after her performance as Sofia Gigante. Colin Farrell’s interpretation of the classic Batman villain showed that Oz isn’t someone to be messed with. And you can’t talk about this show without mentioning how great Rhenzy Feliz was as Victor Aguliar. As good as they were, they wouldn’t have been as good without the brilliant creative team.

The writers, producers, and production designer Kalina Ivanov all did masterful jobs bringing Gotham City to life. As a comic book fan, it’s hard to not appreciate the work that went into showing Gotham City from the perspective of regular people. The best part is that we haven't seen the last of Oz Cobb, Sofia Gigante, and others because the creative team left a lot of questions to be answered in an upcoming project. These are the most important.

The Bat Signal

The Penguin creators stuck to their word about Batman not appearing in this series. However, they did leave viewers with something related to the Dark Knight. The Bat Signal appeared in the sky at the very end of the episode. Which begs the question of where was Batman and Jim Gordon while Oz and Sofia tore up Gotham City?!

Seeing the Bat Signal in the sky was cool, but it was a little late. Now that everything is over, the Dark Knight decides to pop his head out of the cave. Granted, we’ll likely find out that he was working on something during the gang war. But not being around isn’t a good look for Gotham’s protector. Especially after Crown Point was decimated even more.

Oz's weaknesses

Sofia did Oz a favor by exposing his past sins. After his mother (Francis Cobb) stabbed him and said she always hated him, Oz realized that he couldn’t care about anyone. With his mother in a vegetative state, that was one less person to be a weakness. The only ones left were Vic and Eve Karlo.

After defeating Sofia, Oz tells Vic he couldn't have done any of this without him. Oz leans over, hugs his protégé, and starts to choke him. As Oz kills him, he tells Vic that he's a good man with a good heart. As true as those words were, it probably wasn't comforting for Vic as the guy he admired killed him.

And then there was one, Eve Karlo.

Eve Karlo

At the end of the episode, Eve and Oz are dancing. Oz is asking her to tell him that she’s proud and loves him. All of that seems normal until he calls her ma. That explained the look of concern Eve had when they first embraced.

At first, it seemed like Eve wondered if Oz knew she helped Sofia find where he, Vic, and Francis were staying and that she was going to be killed. After the whole, "We did it, Ma," comment, I think she realizes that Oz is more dangerous than she knew. She's probably aware that she has to keep him happy and play the game or she'll end up like everyone else he loves. But how long will someone as strong as Eve do this?

Also, what’s up with Eve’s last name? Was it just a coincidence that she shares a surname with Clayface? It wouldn’t be unheard of for a name comic book fans know to be used out of context. It keeps us watching and waiting for the ball to drop. Nevertheless, it would be nice if something came out of it.

Sofia in Arkham

To Sofia, being back in Arkham may be a fate worse than death. When it looked like Oz was going to kill her, she seemed at peace with her fate. When she saw the police approaching, she looked terrified.

The only good thing is she still has Julian Rush to look after her in Arkham. One of the things he does is try to keep Sofia’s spirits up. He did so by bringing her letters from fans and admirers. A special letter came from her sister, Selina Kyle

People may have forgotten that Selina is Carmine Falcone's daughter. That makes them sisters. Getting Selina's letter may have been the first time Sofia smiled after being sent to Arkham. We don't know what the letter said, but I'm going to assume a breakout of Arkham is in Sofia's future.

What's next for Oz and the Bat

Oz told Councilman Sebastian Hady that he wanted to be introduced to some of Gotham’s politicians and he meant it. Oz doesn't want to sell drugs forever. He wants to be one of the people making big decisions. So far, he's on the right path.

If you’re a fan of DC Comics, you know Oz has a different persona than his true life as a criminal. We could be looking at the same thing in The Batman universe. Maybe we'll see Mayor Cobb on an election ballot. However, there's no way Batman lets that happen without a fight.

Defeating Oz Cobb isn’t an easy task. Besides Oz being shorter and weaker, he’s not looked at as a criminal. As Vic told Oz in the season finale, he gave people jobs and got the lights turned back on. The average person won’t forget that. So if Batman starts physically attacking him, the Caped Crusader will go from hero to bully.

Oz won't get credit in public for taking down Sofia, but that's not important. What is important is Oz knows that he helped and can probably prove it. That gives him leverage and another way to blackmail people into getting what he wants.

Oz knows that knowledge is power. And, in his hands, that makes him stronger than Superman. Stay tuned to Caped Crusades to see what he does with everything he knows. Because, he may not be able to beat Batman, but Bruce Wayne is an entirely different story.

What did you think of the ending of The Penguin? Do you think the show deserves a second season? We want to hear from you. You can email us at entertainment@fansided.com.