Review: Penguin S01E06 Golden Dome

Penguin is on its way to becoming one of the best series of the year, bringing excellent world and character building, as well as expanding the mythology of The Batman. If you look closely, you can feel that you could put a little bit of Batman in the dialogues, even if he didn't appear, but so that we know that he exists there, now that Oz and Sofia are up to no good in Gotham. That said, we have another excellent episode and then I will break down what is best about it and point out its negative points as well.

It is worth mentioning once again that this review may contain SPOILERS, so go watch it first and then come back to check it out, okay?

Oz Rises and the Fight for Leadership in Gotham's Crime

Last week's episode, Welcome It was a giant change of direction for Sofia (I swear the pun was not intentional). The character decided to take the lead in the family Falcone and change all, including the name, in addition to joining Salvatore Maroni for an alliance that promises to put an end to Oz, Penguin.

Oz, on the other hand, has found the source of mushrooms he needed to get Bliss production up and running. The new episode is quite clever in moving this process forward and starting with everything up and running, saving us from having to see how it all works again. We already saw it in episode 3. The factory is in full swing, with people working Crown point helping in the process, making the new drug Oz a great success.

At the same time that this elevates the protagonist in the world of crime, it leads Sofia and Sal to take more drastic measures. With this, she starts to kill and hang the bodies of those who sell the drug for everyone to see on the streets, as a message that anyone who sells the Bliss will be punished. This creates a big problem for Oz. However, he has one more trick up his sleeve.

Basically, he starts providing the drug for free throughout the city, as a way to increase the supply and people's desire for it. The idea works really well, but it creates another conflict, this time for Vic. The boy is more accustomed to the world of crime now, in fact, but he still has a long way to go. One of them was Squid, the guy who told him to steal the wheels from the car Oz back in the first episode. This conflict between the two characters makes Vic have to take a cruel attitude and I'm not kidding.

The situation is getting tight, Vic comment with Oz about the situation and says he will resolve it. He tries to talk about the situation, but Squid presses it, causing it to Vic shoot him and well, kill him. This is a really cool moment in the episode, showing the inner conflict of Vic, after all he killed a person. Later in the episode, this becomes a conversation with Oz and he congratulates him and says that “it gets easier with time”. In other words, Vic now he is immersed in this world and there may be no going back.

Returning to Sofia, we had a possible answer of what Julian represents in the story. He is a luxurious doormat for the protagonist. He does not have great relevance in the story, but he serves to inflate the ego of Sofia, maybe. On the other hand, we get a little more Sal, which would be a shame if we didn't get a big moment by the end of the season. This episode showed the more human side of the character, with him cooking and showing how much he misses his wife and son, serving as ammunition to get revenge on Oz.

With the new play of Oz, Sofia needed a new strategy. She and Sal Island invade the apartment of Oz and she discovers the character's connection with Eve, the prostitute who helps Oz and leads this issue there in the underworld of Gotham. Although I have not highlighted the character in reviews of past episodes, her role is important in keeping everything in order in the region and even a protection for Oz.

Sofia then go after Eve and we discover some important details. The first is how these women are united. At first we have the impression that Roxy is a traitor, a character that I even commented that perhaps had more depth in the episode of Vic, but it didn't go forward. When Sofia finds Eve, we found that Roxy told where she was at Eve's own request and here we have one of the best scenes of the episode.

Despite being calm, the tension in the conversation between the two characters is great, as well as bringing a lot of important information. Once again, Oz has a situation in his favor over lies, in this case the question of Sofia be the Carrasco. This leads to a discussion between the two, causing Eve start trusting in Sofia and revealing where Oz is.

Another point that I didn't go into much detail about previously, but which is very important here is about the mother of Oz, Francis. The character suffers from Lewy body dementia, generating several problems and complicated situations, such as taking a bath in cold water. The situation worsens in this episode and although the character is always very demanding with Oz, we have a very impactful mother and son moment here.

She acknowledges the situation of her illness and begs for Oz that if the disease worsens to a level where she becomes just a “vegetable,” she wants him to help her die and not suffer for the world. Although she is reluctant about it, Oz promises this to his mother. It is worth highlighting the excellent performance of Deirdre O'Donnell here, making us believe the horrible situation she lives in.

This takes the episode to some great extremes. The first, on the part of Oz, is to go after one of the guys from the city hall in order to bring the energy of Crown point back. How he does it, for a change, is very creative and painful. He threatens the guy with a pair of pliers in his nose and well, it worked. Not only that, but Oz can also summon the other families of Gotham, with some characters like Feng Zhao, Billie Pena, Vasily Kosov, Donny Boy e Able Crown.

He brings these people together to show that politicians Gotham, no matter how much they hate each other, they are always meeting and having dinner together to benefit themselves and they should do the same in the world of crime. Despite Zhao go against the idea at first, Oz manages to convince all of them, which creates high expectations among us viewers. After all, these are now families with Oz against Sofia and Sal.

However, it is curious that all this is happening and the fear of Batman not even be mentioned. I understand the proposal of the series and that doesn't take away its value, but stop and think. In the film, he said that the bandits were afraid of the dark because of him. Oz and company are having a party in all these episodes and at no point, there was not even a hint of fear of Batman appear and end it all.

Finally, the episode ends with the energy in Crown point coming back and Francis dancing all happy with Vic. However, we have a vision of Sofia breaking into the house with a crowbar, suggesting that she may end what Oz loves most in the world, his mother. Whether that will happen or not, we have to wait until next week.

Actuations

What I said before still applies here. Colin Farrell and Cristin Milioti are great in their characters and each one works in its own way once again. You can clearly see the change in attitudes of the Sofia from two episodes ago to the current Sofia, in the same way that it is possible to see the persona of Penguin crime kingpin being created here too.

Rhenzy Felix also does a great job of delivering an innocent face getting involved in crime, delivering a very evident conflict on his face. He does what he needs to do, but not necessarily because he likes it, an important duality for his construction.

Clancy Brown deliver one Sal Island in mourning and with a lot of hate too. The delivery of the actor famous for playing villains is great, but I feel it's missing that scene for him in the series. Maybe they're saving something for the last episode.

And finally we have Deirdre O'Donnell like Francis who, for me, stole the episode at this point. Her character seems difficult to interpret and she delivers everything. Whether in the moments of bad mood and swearing, in the dances, in everything, she seems like someone who is really suffering with that and who can't take it anymore. And as I said, her request for Oz is the pinnacle, delivering just the right amount of drama.

Technical aspects

This is already stating the obvious, but it's worth mentioning the costume. Sofia, now even more elegant than before. Gotham still looks like Gotham and things connect seamlessly. One detail I noticed in the kitchen scene was that Sofia He picks up the glass with his hand underneath and in the cut his hand is holding it differently. It would go completely unnoticed if there wasn't a dry cut and it doesn't get in the way at all, but it's funny.

Soundtrack

Michael Giachinno is once again behind the series' soundtrack and without complaints, but in this episode, I don't remember any moment where the soundtrack was super impactful either. It still does its job well in moments of tension, but without surprises like in previous episodes.

Conclusion

I don't think this is the best episode so far, but it maintains the level very well. It manages to create an excellent expectation for what we should expect from the last two, in addition to finishing developing some important traits of our protagonists.

It is a very well structured production and so far, except for forgetting the existence of the bat em Gotham, everything borders on perfection, whether in design, narrative or any other aspect. It's worth checking out.

Where to watch

If you are interested, you can watch the Penguin on the paid channel HBO, or else by MAX streaming service. There are two episodes left until the end of the miniseries, scheduled for November 2nd and 9th.

See also:

Text revised by Alexandre Marques in 28 / 10 / 2024.