Editor’s Note: The below recap contains spoilers for The Penguin Episode 7.

Things are continuing to heat up in The Penguin. Last week’s episode saw Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell) rallying together many of the gang leaders of Gotham to declare war on the newly unified Gigante/Maroni crime family. In the meantime, Vic (Rhenzy Feliz) is cornered by Squid (Jared Abrahamson), a local drug dealer from Crown Point, and shoots and kills him after he threatens to snitch on their whereabouts to Sofia (Cristin Milioti) and Sal (Clancy Brown). Oz’s mother, Francis (Deirdre O’Connell), is nearing life’s end, as her dementia is getting worse by the day, and asks a devastated Oz to kill her when the time comes, not wanting to live life in a vegetative state.

While hunting down Oz, Sofia interrogates Oz’s lover, Eve Karlo (Carmen Ejogo), who reveals his hiding place. The episode ends with the power being restored at Oz’s Crown Point apartment, leading Vic and Francis to dance in celebration. Unbeknownst to them, Sofia is already inside, ready to strike. This week’s episode, “Top Hat,” marks the penultimate installment of The Penguin, as Oz reflects on a devastating childhood memory.

‘The Penguin’ Episode 7 Reveals How Oz’s Brothers Died
Image via HBO

The episode opens with a prolonged flashback as we are introduced to a young Oz (Ryder Allen), pestering his mother Francis (Emily Meade) as she works on paying taxes. Suddenly, Oz’s two brothers, Jack (Owen Asztalos) and Benny (Nico Tirozzi) run into the room, acting like zombies. Francis initially acts as if she’s angry, but quickly joins them in their game of pretend. Oz sits at the table, visibly jealous of his brothers.

Francis sends her sons outside, and hands Jack a book to give to Rex Calabrese (Louis Cancelmi). As the three boys arrive outside a corner store, they witness Rex and his men beating a man. Oz calls out to the gangster, who recognizes Jack and calls him over. Oz watches in envy at the attention Jack is getting from the man he clearly views as his role model. Rain begins to fall, and the three brothers head to the abandoned trolley station to play a game of flashlight tag. Oz is instructed to turn around and count to ten as his brothers go hide. As Oz strolls through the station, he picks up a token and hears his brothers hiding in the overflow tunnel. Oz is angered at his brothers for choosing a hiding place that he physically can’t get to because of his deformed foot, and shuts the door on them, locking them inside.

When Oz arrives back home, he tells Francis that his brothers have decided to go to the movies. Hours pass and rain continues to fall, and we learn that Jack and Benny have drowned in the overflow tunnel. Oz has done some pretty despicable things throughout The Penguin, but we do know that he has always had a soft spot for people like Francis and Vic. While Oz undoubtedly caused his brothers’ deaths, whether or not it was intentionally done is left fairly vague. It all depends on whether you truly believe the character to be a sociopath or a misunderstood man who was just dealt a bad hand in life.

Sofia Kidnaps Francis in ‘The Penguin’ Episode 7
Image via HBO

We then fast-forward back to the present as Oz returns to a now-powered Crown Point. Upon arriving at the apartment, he notices that the place is in disarray, and rushes in, ultimately finding an unconscious Vic, who revives to tell him that Sofia has kidnapped Francis. Oz barely has any time to process this information before Sal and his men enter the apartment, and Sal attacks him with a silver golf club. Oz tries to convince Sal that Sofia is tricking him, but he refuses to listen. Sal calls Sofia, who is seen preparing breakfast for Francis. Over the phone, Oz cries for his mother’s safety and eventually agrees to give over his base of operations to Sal and Sofia.

Sofia walks into the room where Francis is being kept and reveals to her that Oz had told her that she had died. Francis begins to ridicule Sofia, believing that Oz will come to her rescue before she can kill her. Sofia proceeds to ask what really happened to Oz’s brothers, and Francis breaks down in tears. Sofia attempts to comfort her but instead gets slapped across the face by the grieving mother. Francis tells Sofia that the name Gigante means nothing if she’s still playing her late father’s game, and that she’ll always be a Falcone, no matter what.

Sofia heads back out into the kitchen, where Dr. Julian Rush (Theo Rossi) tells her that his friend, a psychiatrist at Brookside Children’s Home, has informed him that Sofia’s young cousin, Gia Vitti (Kenzie Grey), is asking to speak to the police, claiming she saw something the night of her family’s demise. Rush offers to deal with Gia, but Sofia tells him that she’ll take matters into her own hands and asks him to watch over Francis while she’s away. Francis does raise a good point here: Sofia had made such a big deal out of shedding her father’s name and taking on the mantle of Gigante, but hasn’t prioritized taking care of her own men the way that she promised.

Oz “Beats” Salvatore Maroni in ‘The Penguin’ Episode 7
Image via HBO

Now holding Oz at gunpoint, Sal and his men arrive at the drug lab, where Sal announces that they will now be working under the watchful eye of the Gigante-Maroni family. Several of the men attempt to leave, but Sal orders them to get back to work. Oz shares a look with one of his employees, who is standing by the power lines, and begins to talk about the smell of Nadia and Taj’s corpses when he burned them alive. Distraction successfully implemented, Oz’s man flips the switch, giving him the opening to charge Sal, and the two proceed to fight inside one of the trolley cars. The showdown ends unexpectedly when Sal has a heart attack. Oz triumphantly and repeatedly yells “I beat you!” to the dying head of the Maroni family, and then shoots him in the chest multiple times for good measure. As Oz walks out of the trolley car, he tells his men that their war against Sofia is far from over.

Sofia arrives at Brookside Children’s Home and begins experiencing a minor PTSD episode as she recalls her time in Arkham. Eventually, she is led to Gia’s room, where she inquires about what her cousin saw the night of her family’s demise. Gia reveals that she saw a gas mask inside Sofia’s bag, and directly asks her if she was the one who killed the family. Sofia initially denies the accusation, but then ultimately admits to it upon seeing self-harm scars on Gia’s arms. Sofia comforts Gia, telling her that she should be glad that her family is dead, as they were bad people and she has always deserved better. As Sofia leaves Gia, she begins to cry before receiving a call from Oz on Sal’s phone. Oz informs her that Sal is dead, but that he’s willing to give her everything as long as he gets his mother back.

As Sofia returns home, she walks in on Julian performing red light therapy on Francis. She updates her partner on Sal’s death, and Oz’s willingness to give them what they want. Julian tells Sofia that Oz is clearly setting up a trap, but Sofia solemnly replies that nothing matters to her anymore. She begins to tell Julian about how, before she was sent to Arkham, her father wanted her to become the head of the family. She then starts to consider that maybe Francis was right and begins to have a panic attack. Julian ultimately calms Sofia down by asking her what she wants, to which she responds: “I want to be free. And I want Oz to feel pain, real pain, the kind that I have felt. I need him to suffer for what he’s done.”

Related Deirdre O’Connell’s ‘The Penguin’ Character Was Inspired by Mob Movies and Her Showgirl Grandmother Deirdre O’Connell also talks about the show’s very complicated mother-son dynamic, and whether Francis really loves Oz.

Back at the trolley station, Oz prepares his men for Sofia’s arrival. Just as the car pulls up, Oz receives a call from Sofia, revealing that she is not in the vehicle. She taunts Oz, stating that her time in Arkham did teach her new strategies, and tells him that she left him a present in the trunk. Oz hesitantly opens the trunk to find a blanket, initially believing that it might be covering his mother’s body. Instead, it’s a bomb, with only 20 seconds left until detonation. Sofia and her men are holding Francis at the ruins of her favorite nightclub, Monroe’s. Meanwhile, Oz narrowly escapes by jumping into the same overflow tunnel that his brothers died in.

We once again flash back to a childhood memory of Oz’s, shortly after the deaths of Jack and Benny. A young Oz knocks on his mother’s bedroom door, telling her that he has made dinner for her, but Francis walks out wearing a fancy dress and tells him to get dressed because she’s taking him out. The two dance at Monroe’s, as Francis tearfully asks her young son to make a name for himself so that he can take care of her and get her everything that she deserves. Back in the present, Oz wakes up and walks through the streets of Crown Point, which has now been further destroyed by Sofia’s bomb. Detective Marcus Wise (Craig Walker) approaches Oz, calling him “the Penguin,” much to his annoyance, and informs him that Sofia is looking for him before knocking him unconscious.

Just as things are starting to look up for Oz Cobb, it seems like everything is going to come crashing down on him once more — at least that’s what the penultimate episode suggests. “Top Hat” begins by making us believe that the episode may be another flashback, this time about Oz’s childhood. While that does take up a good portion of the story, including the flashback towards the end, the rest of the episode is pulse-pounding, stressful, and dreary. Salvatore Maroni’s death may have felt a bit too anticlimactic, but that was clearly the intention. This has always been the story of Oz and Sofia. However, after his shocking storyline in last week’s episode, it was a bit strange for Vic to barely even be present this week. All The Penguin needs to do now is stick the landing in the finale.

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

The penultimate episode of The Penguin makes great use of its shorter runtime while still delivering some shocking reveals.ProsThe opening flashback cleverly leaves Oz’s true intentions vague with regard to his brothers’ death.Salvatore Maroni’s death perfectly fits with the series’ narrative.Detective Marcus Wise returns for the intriguing cliffhanger. ConsVic is barely present here, which feels odd considering his major storyline in last week’s episode.

It follows the transformation of Oswald Cobblepot from a disfigured nobody to a noted Gotham gangster.Release Date September 19, 2024 Cast Colin Farrell , Cristin Milioti , Rhenzy Feliz , Michael Kelly , Shohreh Aghdashloo , Deirdre O’Connell , Clancy Brown , James Madio , Scott Cohen , Michael Zegen , Carmen Ejogo , Theo Rossi Seasons 1 Prequel The Batman (2022) Story By Bill Finger, Bob Kane Writers Lauren LeFranc Franchise(s) Batman , DC Elseworlds Showrunner Lauren LeFranc Avg Episode Length 60 Mins Expand

Watch on Max