SERIES: THE PENGUIN
EPISODE TITLE: “Top Hat”
EPISODE DETAILS: Season 1/Episode 7
PREVIOUS: “Golden Summit”
AIR DATE: Sunday, November 3, 2024
WRITERS: Vladimir Cvetko
DIRECTOR: Kevin Bray
SHOWRUNNER: Lauren LeFranc
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Matt Reeves, Dylan Clark, Colin Farrell, and others
OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: Oz fights to preserve his family and his enterprise, while Sofia makes a shocking discovery.
CAST: Colin Farrell as Oz Cobb/”The Penguin”, Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone, Rhenzy Feliz as Victor Aguilar, Deirdre O’Connell as Francis Cobb, Clancy Brown as Salvatore Maroni, Theo Rossi as Dr. Julian Rush
PODCAST
REVIEW
(SPOILERS!)
“Top Hat” is the penultimate episode of THE PENGUIN and boy was it a doozy!
I’m sure that some fans figured/hoped that the title of this episode was an indication that Oz Cobb would finally don a tux and tophat. But alas, the title has nothing to do with Oz’s wardrobe. No monocle either…thank goodness. 😂 It refers to the young Oz’s affinity for the old movie TOP HAT…and watching Fred Astaire tap dancing as he “shoots” the other dapperly-clad dancers on stage with him.
In addition to this tap-dancing scene, the opening of this episode is a flashback segment where we learn more about Oz than the kind of films he likes. We’ve known that his 2 brothers died as kids but we never knew how other than Oz saying that “the city took ’em.” Now we know how it happened: they drowned while trapped down in the abandoned underground trolly system where Oz has set up his Bliss shop. Oh yeah, Oz essentially killed them. And the thing is, they were good kids. Oz simply wanted his mother for himself. The guy was born a killer and an asshole.
Back to the current timeline and main story, Oz returns to the Crown Point hideaway and finds Vic beaten and unconscious…and no sign of Francis in the apartment. Vic eventually tells Oz what we already knew: Sofia took her. Oz sends Vic to get him an “army” and then proceeds to have Sal Maroni — who has now shown up at the apartment with some of his men — practice his golf swing on Oz. And for the time being, the Maroni and Gigante families are in charge of the Bliss operation.
For the time being…
We won’t have to wait ’til the finale to find out the fate of Salvatore Maroni. Once Sal and his men — along with Oz — return to the underground Bliss lab, the big and final confrontation between Oz and Sal takes place. I think it’s obvious that Sal doesn’t make it out alive, but he did take something away from Oz with him: The satisfaction of being the one who takes him out permanently. What a great scene that I did NOT see coming.
As far as finale confrontations, we’re going to have to wait until next week to see the one between Sofia and Oz. We think we get one when a big SUV shows up in Oz’s underground headquarters (Oz had offered to turn over the Bliss operation to her in exchange for his mother). Sofia isn’t in the vehicle, but a bomb is.
Now no one is running the Bliss operation.
Oz escapes, but his freedom doesn’t last long. Sofia wants to see him.
So it all comes down to next week’s episode and the fates of Sofia, Francis, Vic, and Oz will be revealed. It’s safe to assume that Oz makes it out alive and goes on to become the mob kingpin of Gotham. But what about the others? I have some ideas, but I’ll keep them to myself for now. Even if I think I know what will happen, time and again during this season of THE PENGUIN, what goes down is totally unexpected…which is why this show is awesome.
A couple of other things to keep in mind as we watch the finale…
Sofia’s meeting with her little cousin Gia at the children’s hospital and the 2 promises Oz made to his mother (one by the adult Oz in a recent episode and the one the young Oz made while dancing with his mother in this episode). Just sayin’. – Bill “Jett” Ramey