re: 'The Penguin' Season 1 Discussion Thread - Spoilers allowed

Talk about a cold open. Kid Oz did a great job playing that little psychopath.

Sofia’s scenes with Francis and Gia are helping to secure that Emmy win.

Vic next episode only for Oz to betray him

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With James Gunn running shite now you shouldn't be too surprised. He was able to take Marvel's D list characters and churn out a great trilogy along with 4 or 5 billion dollars.

This really is a great Gotham they've built with The Batman and The Penguin. Hell I'd watch the frick out of a Zoe Kravitz catwoman movie/series at this point.

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That is a good point. I do kind of hope they go a different direction in the movies. I thought catwoman was the least interesting subplot. Replace her time with Sofia. For some reason the Batman movie is just not super rewatchable for me. I thought the ending was just kind of absurd. They also ventured into modern political messaging which always leaves a sour taste in everyone's mind. It was also just a little too grandiose.

Oz is a great character, but now we know he has been a POS his entire life. That opening was actually a little gut wrenching. For me, there are no redeeming qualities for Oz and I would be perfectly fine with him being popped in the head in the season finale. It's not going to happen, but man I am rooting against him hard.

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You know he didn't mean to kill them, right?

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What? Did the writers say that after the credits or something? I was too tired and was going to watch that tonight.

He locked the door, told them good luck getting out, and poured it on heavy with his mom so she would think they were safe and watched the rain come down even harder and did nothing. His inaction was killing them. Thought that was pretty obvious.

Edit: Just looked it up, the showrunner said Oz killed them to have their moms undivided attention. Which again, was pretty obvious.

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Just looked it up, the showrunner said Oz killed them to have their moms undivided attention. Which again, was pretty obvious.

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The showrunner's quote. It's an impulse followed by inaction that becomes an action.

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“There’s an impulsivity to Oz, right? In [Episode 1], when he shoots Alberto (Michael Zegen), it’s impulsive and it’s because he’s made fun of and mocked and laughed at,” Lauren LeFranc said, explaining how young Oz and adult Oz are motivated by the same insecurities. “Similarly, his brothers do something in the same vein, but they’re children, and obviously, Oz is a child, too. And so the first action he takes is an impulsive move.”

“To me, I think the treachery is in the waiting and the amount of time that passes,” LeFranc said. “We give him opportunity after opportunity to say something, to do something. But in that vein, he doesn’t do anything. That to me is actually quite active. His choice not to do that.”

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I really don't think that he realized that it was a death sentence.

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While it may not have been necessarily premeditated, they played it perfectly where you can see his MO of just figuring stuff on the fly, justifying it in his mind, and then moving on without a care in the world.

Very well done. And absolutely brutal. By far the heaviest of sequences on the show so far.

Man that was a brutal opener. And yeah he 100% meant to do it. He kept looking out the window making sure they weren’t coming home. He was completely content with what he did. Little piece of shite his interaction with the gangster with his brothers had me cracking up too.

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I was wrong in my view that he never realized the true danger. But it was a perfect example of him doing something terrible out of impulse, but then rationalizing and making shite into Shinola.

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Yea I mean I feel like you're reading this wrong and the showrunners are even telling you much less a "you realize he didn't kill them right?" take of it.

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“He loves the comfort of his mother,” LeFranc said. “He finally gets what he wants. He gets her full attention.”

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He wanted them gone. He knew what was happening. There's a it kept showing him look at the window and noticing the rain coming down harder and harder and he's just happy as can be there alone with his mom.

I mean how dumb would he have to be to not realize the danger? And him lying to his mom just further drives it hom.

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While it may not have been necessarily premeditated, they played it perfectly where you can see his MO of just figuring stuff on the fly, justifying it in his mind, and then moving on without a care in the world. Very well done. And absolutely brutal. By far the heaviest of sequences on the show so far.

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i agree with this analysis. i dont think when he shut the door he was in that exact moment thinking that they would die. but he got home, had time alone with his mother, and started sort of realizing what was probably happening and didnt care bc he realized now he had his mom all to himself and that suited him just fine. what a little sociopath.

but i disagree with those that think he deliberately locked them in there in the moment as an act of murder.

I gotta give it up to Lauren Lefranc, she put together a hell of a show