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The Doctor of Gotham City in The Penguin
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The Relationship Between Sofia and Strange
It seems safe to say that everyone is enjoying Lauren LeFranc’s depiction of The Penguin over on Max. The eight-episode miniseries highlighting the rise of Oswald Cobblepot — *ahem* Oz Cobb — has only aired two entries thus far and has scored high with both critics and fans alike. While the first episode provided a stylistic return to Gotham, Sofia Falcone’s release from Arkham Asylum and the climactic event that puts Oz on a path of total control, the latest entry teases a very familiar Batman character that is straight out of the caped crusader’s comic book history — but with a different name.
If you are already a fan of the superhero genre, you might recognize actor Theo Rossi from being a series regular in Netflix’s Luke Cage as Hernan “Shades” Alvarez (a smooth-talking, street-smart criminal). But in Inside Man (the title for the second episode of The Penguin), he plays Doctor Julian Rush, an Arkham Asylum psychiatrist who is Sofia’s manipulative and seductive therapist. Considering his clinical and creepy introduction, hardcore Batman fans are already pointing fingers and shouting from the rooftops that this character is just a semi-altered version of Doctor Hugo Strange.
The Doctor of Gotham City in The Penguin
When we first come upon Rush, he is implementing some sort of hypnosis therapy on Sofia. A number of tiny red lights guide Carmine Falcone’s daughter back to Arkham, where she is set to talk to her dead brother. When Alberto places his hand on the glass separating them in an act of familial bonding, his missing (and gory) pinky finger pulls Sofia into a repeating loop of his death. This panic causes Rush to pull her out. Before ultimately leaving the session, there is a moment of intimate cuddling, which implies Rush plays with her in ways that precede a professional doctor-patient relationship.
While we all can’t wait to see more of Rossi’s interpretation of this Strange-like character, some information about who Rush could be is found by digging into the original comic villain. Hugo Strange was first introduced in a 1940s edition of Detective Comics, where he successfully kidnaps Gotham’s infamous hero, hangs him upside down, and whips him mercilessly. While it is confirmed that Batman won’t appear in The Penguin, some connections to the show appear quickly.
The Relationship Between Sofia and Strange
Strange does use aliases — like in the 1970s with the name Dr. Todhunter. He also unleashed gigantic monster men upon the Falcone estate because he wanted to erase his debt to the family and cover up any connections between the two of them. He also teamed up with the Penguin (and Two-Face) to have access to all of Gotham City’s citizens’ genes (in hopes of controlling future generations). Appearing in many different types of Batman-related media since then, the criminal mastermind, trained in all sorts of sciences (psychiatry and chemical biology), repeatedly finds himself fascinated by Batman’s hardened mental state. As in the case of Max’s The Penguin, this unhealthy obsession seems to be rerouted to a certain Sofia Falcone.
We all know that the one sequence that has played out so far is only a tease of what’s to come regarding Julian Rush. Yes, Sofia has a lot to unpack and manage (emotionally and mentally speaking — since she is a psychopathic serial killer, after all), but Rush will undoubtedly become a terrifying menace to Oz and his child-like love for his mother. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens each week. Set to premiere a new episode every Sunday until November 10, The Penguin is now available to stream on Max.