The Penguin isn’t a show that’s big on mysteries. Most of the time during Oswald Cobb’s (Colin Farrell) quest for power in Gotham City, things are pretty straightforward: he kills someone, and they kill someone back. Rinse, repeat. But one mystery that has been bubbling in the background is what exactly happened to Oz’s brothers, Jack and Benny. Thanks to this week’s episode, “Top Hat,” we have the answer. And yeah, it’s even more horrifying than we thought.
Spoilers for The Penguin Episode 7 past this point.
Right at the top of the episode, we flash back in time to 1988. How do we know it’s 1988? Because — to jump ahead for a second — later in the episode, Young Oswald lies about his brothers going to see Beetlejuice in theaters, and that movie came out in March of 1988. There you go! Research!
In any case, we meet Young Oswald Cobb (Ryder Allen), Jack Cobb (Owen Asztalos), Benny Cobb (Nico Tirozzi), and a younger version of their mother, Francis Cobb (Emily Meade). Francis is working hard, but all Oz wants to do is spend time with her and go out to the movies. She has too much work — right up until Jack (the oldest) and Benny (the youngest) come out loudly wrestling with each other. She takes the time to play zombies with them, then sends them out on an errand to give Rex Calabrese (Louis Cancelmi) the financial books Francis has been working on.
They meet Rex, who seems fond of Jack and Benny, but contrary to the story the older Oz told Victor (Rhenzy Feliz) in an earlier episode, Oz doesn’t seem to like Rex much… Likely because he seems to be taken with Jack, and Oz is jealous. To make things better, Jack takes his brothers to play flashlight tag in the abandoned trolley tunnels where, in the present day, Oz is running his Bliss operation. Oz, who has a club foot and can’t run very fast, has a hard time keeping up with his brothers. To make things worse, they hide in the water overflow tunnel, which is one level down a ladder.
When Oz almost falls trying to climb down, Jack tries to apologize, but Oz is furious, and locks the water overflow door — the same one he gave a knowing look at in the present, several episodes back.
Oz leaves, and by that point, it’s started raining. He’s soaked, and his mother gets him warm — but wants to know where his brothers are. That loops back to the lie we mentioned earlier… Showing that even at a young age he’s able to come up with convincing lies on the spot. Francis tells him they can watch a movie, and Oz chooses the same one he always does: Top Hat, a 1935 film starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. In case you’re curious, Top Hat is your typical screwball comedy with a case of mistaken identity. While there’s perhaps more there, I’d suggest Oz loves the film because Astaire and Rogers are able to move their feet in a way Oz never will. Plus it’s a cute little shout-out to how The Penguin is usually dressed in a tux and top hat, so there you go.
In any case, despite worrying, Oz plies his mother with drinks and snuggles as the rain gets worse outside. Between shots of Oz happily watching Top Hat, we cut back to the water overflow door, and Jack and Benny banging on it for Oz to let them out. At a certain point, the banging stops.
So yeah, Oz killed his brothers by drowning them in an overflow tunnel during a torrential rainstorm. And that may explain quite a bit of why Oz seems taken with Victor, a kid who lost his parents to a torrential flood, caused by The Riddler (Paul Dano).
Later, thanks to a dementia-fueled episode from the older Francis (Deidre O’Connell) we learn that eventually she became scared for Jack and Benny’s safety, and blamed herself for not looking sooner — despite it being Oz’s fault the whole time.
A final flashback shows that the story Oz told Sofia (Cristin Milioti) at Alberto Falcone’s (Michael Zegen) funeral was mostly true… After some time spent mourning, one night Francis put on her best dress and took young Oz out to Monroe’s for dinner and dancing. And there she told him that she deserves a good life, and made Oz promise that he would get it for her. Of course, the young Oz, totally devoted to his mother, promises her everything she wants.
By the episode’s end, Sofia has taken Francis to Monroe’s for a final showdown with Oz, just like Joker (or whoever) always looping back to Crime Alley to taunt Batman. And Oz has escaped a bomb left by Sofia by doing what he couldn’t do years earlier, jumping through the water overflow door and down into the tunnel where his brothers died… It couldn’t save them, but it saves him. Why? Because he’s the villain Gotham deserves. And Jack and Benny paid the price for his sociopathic rise to power.
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”
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