‘The Penguin’ Ending Explained – Why Did Oz Kill [SPOILER]?

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for the season finale of The Penguin.

With the war between Sofia (Cristin Milioti) and Oz (Colin Farrell) reaching a tipping point, The Penguin‘s final episode gave us some shocking twists, a devastating death, and the beginning of a new era. The Penguin is a show filled with morally gray characters, even innocent characters like Victor (Rhenzy Feliz) end up as killers after spending too much time around Oz Cobb. The finale revealed how black Oz’s heart really is, and if there was ever hope for him to have just a bit of redemption, that ship has officially sailed. “A Great or Little Thing” offers a conclusion and a beginning to this chapter of The Penguin, giving it a smooth transition into The Batman Part II.

Francis Cobb Has Always Known the Truth in ‘The Penguin’ Finale

It’s been clear from the beginning that Oz has some serious mommy issues, but in the aftermath of Episodes 7 and 8, the relationship between Oz and his mother, Francis (Deirdre O’Connell) has developed into something far more complicated than we initially thought. After a shoot-out at the old Monroe’s bar where Francis and Oz first danced, Oz manages to make his escape after being stabbed by Francis for killing his brothers.

When Oz visits her later at the hospital after successfully climbing to the top of the criminal empire, he’s devastated to learn that she had a stroke and has been left in a vegetative state. Years after he made that promise to his mother that he would make sure she’d live a life of comfort and ease after the death of his brothers, Oz has finally done it, but now Francis can’t enjoy it. Worse yet, for Oz, she can’t tell him she’s proud of him. Their relationship makes one final evolution into something that almost feels nightmarish. By the end of the episode, we see that Oz has placed his mom in a hospital bed at the top of his penthouse suite. He’s fulfilled his promise to her, and even as a sad tear rolls down Francis’ eye, all Oz can do is pat himself on the back and say, “I know, it’s everything you wanted.”

Oz Kills the Only Family He Has Left in ‘The Penguin’ Finale

Much of Oz’s success in getting to the top of the criminal empire in Gotham is thanks to Victor. After visiting Francis, we see Oz and Victor sitting together on a park bench overlooking the Gotham waterfront. Oz openly admits that he couldn’t have had this success without Victor, who organized multiple coups in the Gotham criminal world. He’s laid down the path perfectly for Oz’s rise to power.

Smiling, Victor replies, “You’re family to me.” But while Victor loved his parents and his siblings, Oz only sees them now as a weakness. Putting his arm around Victor’s shoulder, Oz grabs hold of Victor and chokes him as the young man begs for him to stop, pleading for his life. Oz says that Victor has seen him at his lowest and still has been by his side every step of the way, but he can’t bring Vic along for the next part of his story. He acknowledges that Vic is right; they are family. However, to Oz, family has always been complicated. As Victor draws his last breath, Oz soberly tells him, “You’re a good man, Vic. You got a good heart. It wasn’t for nothing.”

But lest you think that this heartbreaking moment has affected Oz on a fundamental level, he reaches down and takes Victor’s wallet from his lifeless body. After pocketing all the cash, he plucks out Victor’s ID and takes one look at it before tossing it into the river, leaving Victor dead on the ground with no identification and washing his hands of the man who got him everything he wanted.

Sofia Loses the War Against Oz in ‘The Penguin’ Finale

Second only to Victor’s tragic end, Sofia finds herself in a place she never thought she’d be again. We’ve seen Sofia do some heinous things, but at her core, she is still a traumatized young woman who was betrayed and tossed aside by her family. In a triumphant move, she calls a bounty on Oz’s head and decides to leave her family legacy behind her for whoever can get her Oz, setting fire to the Falcone mansion as she walks away.

When Oz gets the upper hand, Sofia simply expects him to kill her, even looking at peace with that decision. Instead, however, she ends up in the place of her nightmares. The cops recapture Sofia after Oz pins everything on her and Maroni (Clancy Brown), making a deal with the ambitious Councilman Hardy (Rhys Coiro). He paints Sofia as a crazy woman who got out of Arkham and went on a killing spree and then dangles the narrative of saving the city in front of Hardy. It’s too good to resist, and Sofia winds up back in her cell in a near-catatonic state. Dr. Julian Rush (Theo Rossi) is there again, but she doesn’t react to his appearance — until he hands her a letter from Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz). When she opens the letter from her half-sister, a small smile cracks on Sofia’s face, and Selina’s musical theme plays.

Penguin Is on Top, but the Batman Is Back in Town

There’s been a lot of chatter over the last few episodes about where the hell Batman is. While I’m sure we’ll get some answers in The Batman Part II, The Penguin has been quiet about the caped crusader until this finale. After Oz returns home to his penthouse, he is greeted by Eve (Carmen Ejogo), dressed in his mother’s sequin dress, which she wore the night they went to Monroe’s. Dancing with her, it seems as if maybe Eve and Oz’s relationship is still salvageable, even if it is transactional. But then, as they dance, he asks her to tell him that she loves and is proud of him. When she does, he tells Eve, “I did it, Ma. Tell me I did it.”

With Oz’s Oedipus complex in full swing, Eve coos and tells him that nothing is standing in his way now. And as we pan away from the building, we see that in the distance, the Bat Signal has finally turned on. With an ending like that, it’s obvious that this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Oz and Sofia, who could likely appear in The Batman Part II or perhaps even a second season of The Penguin if HBO decides to renew the show.

All episodes of The Penguin are available to stream on Max.

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