The Penguin, Episode 4 Review: Sofia Falcone Takes Center Stage
Admittedly, it’s quite unusual for a series episodic review to drop after the first three episodes have already aired, but The Penguin is anything but ordinary. If the numbers indicate anything, The Penguin has emerged as one of the standout series in recent years, and Episode 4 is where the story really begins to unveil the curtain for us.
While a large amount of what we’ve seen thus far in The Penguin has rightly focused on the beginning’s of Oz Cobb‘s rise in Gotham’s criminal underworld, it’ been clear that there was more to Cristin Milioti‘s Sofia Falcone than we’ve seen. Episode 4, “Cent’anni,” delves more into her backstory.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS for The Penguin episode 4.
In the aftermath of Episode 3’s cliffhanger ending which saw a deadly shoot-out between Oz and Nadia Maroni, Oz and Sofia are being held at gunpoint. Nadia not only exposes that Oz had been playing the Falcones against the Maronis but also that he killed Sofia’s brother, Alberto. Oz’s trusted right hand, Vic arrives just in time, before Sofia was surely about to lose it over this latest betrayal. In the action that follows, she succumbs to a head wound and slips to unconsciousness. It is then that we are taken down memory lane.
We’re first taken to a luncheon for the Isabella Falcone Foundation, a project that Sofia worked on with her father to raise funds and awareness around mental health issues and suicide among women (her mother, Isabella, took her own life). Oz is still her driver at this point, and they have a visibly close relationship. Towards the end of the luncheon, Sofia is approached by a journalist about a slew of suicides, all by hanging, that seem to involve employees of her father, Carmine Falcone’s, various business endeavors.
This leads to another flashback where we meet a much younger Sofia who discovers her mother hanging from the ceiling. A meal between Sofia, Alberto and Carmine (played this time by Mark Strong), reveals two major developments: Carmine intended to cede control of the Family to her instead of her brother and that Sofia never remembers her mother being depressed or why she didn’t reach out for professional help. When Sofia meets with the same Gotham Gazette reporter who approached her at the luncheon, it is revealed that all the dead women had bruising that suggested strangulation, not hanging, and that they all had defensive wounds. In this moment, Sofia’s recalls her father coming into the room the night she discovered her mother, and seeing scratches on his hands. This strongly implies that Carmine killed Isabella, and that Sofia suspects as much.
Carmine subsequently murders the reporter in the same way and pins the killings of all the women on Sofia, getting several family members to sign affidavits testifying to Sofia’s long history of mental health issues. Sofia eventually gets remanded to Arkham State Hospital for six months while awaiting trial.
Arkham’s head, Dr. Ventris, who is on the Falcone payroll, subjects Sofia to a litany of indignities and abuses during her stay at Arkham. After six months, when Sofia is told by Alberto that Ventris has written a report prohibiting her from standing trial, she snaps, brutally murdering a fellow inmate.
Sofia’s wakes up to her only ally in Arkham, Julian Rush, when we return to the present day. We learn that it was Rush who helped Alberto get Sofia out, but the exact nature of their relationship is a still a little unclear.
Sofia, clearly inspired by Oz’s latest betrayal, returns to the Falcone estate to reinvent herself. She attends dinner and gives a speech that conveys that she is read for a fresh start.
Later that night, Sofia takes her cousin’s daughter outside to protect her because Sofia has rigged a carbon monoxide leak in the estate, killing everyone left in the Falcone family.
Ken’s Cultured Review: Cristin Milioti turns in an award-worthy performance in “Cent’Anni”, a clear turning-point for the series that tragically lays out Sofia Falcone’s past demise, but ultimately raises the stakes for her “rebirth” that will ultimately play out the rest of the season.
Are you excited for Episode 5 of The Penguin? What are your thoughts on how the series is unfolding so far? As always, sound off in the comment section below, and don’t forget to stay tuned right here at The Cultured Nerd for all the latest updates and reviews on The Penguin.
Stream Episode 4 of The Penguin on Max.
