Victor Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz) has a secret on The Penguin. That’s been pretty clear since when the character was first introduced. And it became even more clear thanks to some curious clues dropped during the second episode of the series. So who is Graciela? And more importantly, who is Victor Aguilar, really?
Spoilers for The Penguin Episode 2 “Inside Man” past this point.
While the nerd internet has been freaking out for the past week about Victor’s first name indicating he could be Victor Fries (aka Mr. Freeze) or Victor Zsasz (a serial killer Batman villain), it’s more likely Victor is an original creation for The Penguin. However, there are a lot of questions about who he is, and what he wants… Something that his new boss Oswald Cobb (Colin Farrell) doesn’t seem particularly interested in finding out more about.
In fact, while we wrote last week that the show is giving us a twisted take on the Batman and Robin dynamic with Oz and Victor, most of that is coming from Oz. Yes, Victor has a pronounced stutter that prompts him to stay silent all the time. But it also allows Oz to fill in info, like the assumption that Victor wants to follow the same career path as Oswald. In a monologue midway through this week’s episode, Oswald explains that he became a driver for a member of the Falcone family named Pinchy. Was it the lobster who Homer fell in love with on The Simpsons, who was also named Pinchy? Probably not.
Regardless, when Pinchy died, Carmine Falcone took in Oz and he rose up the ranks. Oz is telling Victor he can do the same, and the kid doesn’t necessarily disagree. And yes, Victor seems to be doing Oz’s bidding, down to picking up food for a party and attempting to plant jewels in a car in order to frame Johnny Viti (Michael Kelly) for Alberto Falcone’s (Michael Zegen) murder.
But a lot of that seems to be under duress. And up until now, other than a quick glance at his driver’s license and knowing he was stealing the tires from Oz’s car, there hasn’t been a lot of info about who Victor is, or where he comes from. That changes in this week’s episode.
Who Is Graciela On The Penguin? And What Does She Have To Do With Victor Aguilar?
We actually learn a relative slew of info — by comparison — about Victor during one scene in the episode. Oz invites Eve Karlo (Carmen Ejogo) and a bunch of her sex worker pals to his apartment for a party with members of the Falcone crime family. While Oz makes a speech, Victor gets a text from someone named Graciela, who asks, “Where are u? Are u OK?” It’s 2:45 in the morning, so that might be part of the question here. But Victor ignores the text and puts the phone back in his pocket.
Then Oz introduces Vic to Roxy (Jessie Pinnick), a camgirl specializing in fetishes like domination and “cake,” who tries to engage him in conversation. Unfortunately, Victor’s stutter gets the best of him, so we don’t get a lot of info from the convo. He is able to explain he comes from Crown Point, which we know is one of the poorest neighborhoods in Gotham City. It’s also been pretty much destroyed by the flood caused by The Riddler’s attack in The Batman, with Roxy calling it a “no man’s land,” a potential reference to the Batman comic book crossover of the same name. Roxy notes the people of Crown Point lost everything, but when she asks what Victor lost, he clams up.
That’s all we get there, but it emphasizes the events of a quick moment earlier in the episode. While walking back to Oz’s place, Victor is distracted by a telephone pole covered in missing posters. He briefly looks at the posters on the pole, searching for something, before Oz tells him to catch up.
What does all this mean? Pure speculation here, but Victor likely lost someone, or someones in The Riddler’s flood. And given the way he stares at the missing posters, it’s likely he thinks they’re still alive. To that point, it’s possible Graciela could be his girlfriend. Or, to throw something out there, she’s his sister, and their parents were lost in the flood. Our Dark Robin figure having lost his parents as part of his origin story is classic Batman lore, so it would certainly fit.
To take things one step further, what if Victor is with Oz not to rise the ranks of the mob, but to have the resources to see if he can track down his parents, or whoever he lost? Maybe he hasn’t told Graciela about it because the plan is too dangerous. But given the limited resources of someone from Crown Point, working for a member of the Falcone crime family is his best — or only — shot at finding whoever he’s lost.
Interestingly, Graciela is not listed as part of the cast for The Penguin at this point, on IMDb or otherwise. That said, this isn’t the sort of detail a show like The Penguin would drop casually. So expect much, much more on this as the show continues.
Where To Watch The Penguin:
The Penguin Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
The first episode of The Penguin premieres Thursday, September 19 at 9 pm ET on HBO and Max. There will be an encore airing on Sunday, September 22 at 9 pm ET, and then the show will move to its regular time slot of Sundays at 9 pm ET starting on September 29.
Here’s the full list of episodes in The Penguin, with premiere dates:
- Thursday, September 19, 2024: The Penguin, Episode 1: “After Hours”
- Sunday, September 29, 2024: The Penguin, Episode 2: “Inside Man”
- Sunday, October 6, 2024: The Penguin, Episode 3: “Bliss”
- Sunday, October 13, 2024: The Penguin, Episode 4: “Cent’Anni”
- Sunday, October 20, 2024: The Penguin, Episode 5: “Homecoming”
- Sunday, October 27, 2024: The Penguin, Episode 6: “Gold Summit”
- Sunday, November 3, 2024: The Penguin, Episode 7: “Top Hat”
- Sunday, November 10, 2024: The Penguin, Episode 8: “Great or Little Thing”