Inside Man
The Falcones and the Maronis are going to war due to the death of Alberto Falcone, and the Penguin, the man who actually killed Alberto, continues to play both sides while Sofia Falcone descends into madness.
Playing Both Sides
The Penguin bounced back and forth like a pinball as he went back and forth between the Falcone crime family and the Maroni crime family. Oz Cobb continues pinning Alberto’s murder on the Maronis while promising to be the Maronis’ inside man. This leads to a massive issue when the Maronis ambush the Falcones during a drug run, a Maroni associate is captured and everyone dies in Penguin's car except him.
The ambush leads the Falcones to capture one of Maroni’s men for interrogation. The Maroni family now targets Penguin but he shows proof that one of the top people in the Falcone family is betraying the family. This saves Penguin who tries to get the Maroni man free. When the mission to find the man goes sideways because of Penguin’s assistant, Vic Aguilar, and his failure to get his part of the job done, Penguin improvises, killing the Maroni man and framing Sofia Falcone’s bodyguard, leaving her without a loyal soldier as Sofia’s uncle, Luca Falcone.
Family Fighting
Sofia Falcone may be out of prison, but there’s a battle over who will take over the crime family. Carmine’s death opened weaknesses in the family, but Alberto’s murder led to a power vacuum. Both Sofia and Luca are looking to take over. Luca uses his strength as Carmine’s brother to move into power during this episode, but it’s clear Sofia is unhinged and power hungry.
The Penguin uses this family-fighting to his advantage. He has dirt on many of the Falcones and is trying to position himself close to Sofia so that he can come out the clear winner in this battle between Sofia and her uncle as well as the battle between the Falcones and Maronis.
Vic Aguilar
The most intriguing part of the show is Vic Aguilar. He is a young man who Penguin has taken under his wing to be his Assistant/Driver/Right Hand Man. Vic keeps messing up because he’s young and this is his indoctrination into the life of crime that encompasses Gotham’s underworld. Vic is a fresh set of eyes for the viewer to see the over the top villains from Gotham in a different light.
Vic brings a special view for the viewer, because it’s clear that, at some point, Vic and Penguin will not be on the same side. The question becomes how do we get there? Will Vic betray Penguin because he can’t handle the life of crime? Will Penguin betray Vic because he grows to distrust him? Or will Vic become collateral damage for Penguin’s life? It’s intriguing and a great way to get the viewer invested in someone outside of the bigger, more well-known names of the Batman story.
Ratings
This series has taken two things I love, mob movies and Batman, and mixed them together almost flawlessly. While I was wary about how much the Penguin needed his own series, Colin Farrell has delivered through two episodes. He’s menacing and actually feels like he could be a Batman villain despite his physical issues that led to the penguin-like walk. Yes, this is just The Sopranos again, but it’s the best version of The Sopranos we’ve gotten since the actual The Sopranos show. This series is a home run.
Check out The Penguin on HBO and Max.
Article Written By: Jeremy Brown for Stelmach Brown Media 2024
Add comment
Comments