SERIES: THE PENGUIN
EPISODE TITLE: “Homecoming”
EPISODE DETAILS: Season 1/Episode 5
PREVIOUS: “Cent’anni”
AIR DATE: Sunday, October 20, 2024
WRITERS: Breannah Gibson, Shaye Ogbonna
DIRECTOR: Helen Shaver
SHOWRUNNER: Lauren LeFranc
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Matt Reeves, Dylan Clark, Colin Farrell, and others
OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: With his nascent operation at stake, Oz makes a desperate move to turn the tables. Meanwhile, Sofia strives to build a new legacy for herself.
CAST: Colin Farrell as Oz/”The Penguin”, Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone, Rhenzy Feliz as Victor Aguilar, Deirdre O’Connell as Francis Cobb, Clancy Brown as Salvatore Maroni, Carmen Ejogo as Eve Karlo, Con O’Neill as Chief Mackenzie Bock, as Shohreh Aghdashloo as Nadia Maroni, Theo Rossi as Dr. Julian Rush
PODCAST
REVIEW
Wow.
I didn’t expect that…like, NONE of that!
Episode 5 of THE PENGUIN, “Homecoming”, is another fantastic episode of this excellent series. When you think you have things figured out, you don’t. When you get answers, more questions arise. And this is one of the many reasons why THE PENGUIN is so damn good.
In the aftermath of Sofia killing all of the Falcone family (except for Johnny Vitti and her young cousin), she begins making plans to form a new mob family, the Gigantes, named after her late mother’s surname. Sofia herself disowns her father’s name and proclaims herself Sofia Gigante, boss of the Gigante Crime Family.
Oz finds himself in a really tight spot because he knows both Sofia and Sal will be coming for him. He goes into hiding, assigns Vic to go and protect his mother, and comes up with his latest plan. He and his men kidnap Sal and Nadia Maroni’s son hoping to make a deal with Sal: the son in exchange for the Bliss mushrooms. Sal agrees, and the exchange location is set, and then, well, all hell breaks loose. This is the point where Oz goes from an almost likable crook to being straight-up really, Really, REALLY BAD. I guess we knew this was inevitable — he was always destined to become “The Penguin” — but seeing the pleasure get got from doing what he did was still jarring.
Back to the plan, it didn’t go as Oz hoped — including the other part of it that was supposed to take place in Blakegate. Let’s just say it ultimately leads to an unexpected partnership of revenge with Oz squarely in their crosshairs. Furthermore, Vic makes yet another mistake when he and Francis Cobb are spotted in Crown Point by an old neighborhood nemesis, Squid (remember him from the rooftop flashback scene of The Riddler flood?). Something tells me that ‘ol Squid is going to figure a few things out and go to Sal/Sofia.
The episode closes with Oz, Vic, and his men taking refuge in an abandoned underground trolly/subway station (Remember how The Batman moves secretly around Gotham as seen in the movie?) to set up his Bliss shop, if you will. These final 3 episodes are going to be interesting, fun, and quite shocking, I’m sure. Oh yeah…
Good to see our old friend Chief Mackenzie Bock “You Son of a Bitch!” again! – Bill “Jett” Ramey
