The fourth episode of The Penguin Season 1 is now streaming on HBO GO and HBO (Astro Channel 411 / Unifi TV 401).

The events of The Penguin take place after 2022’s The Batman, as he rises to become the iconic villain from the comics. It will consist of eight episodes in its first season.

Subsequent new episodes continue every Monday, from 30 September 2024.

Check out my breakdown of The Penguin Episode 1, Episode 2 and Episode 3 here.

Starring Colin Farrell as Oz Cobb (aka “The Penguin”), the DC Studios series continues filmmaker Matt Reeves’ The Batman epic crime saga that began with Warner Bros. Pictures’ global blockbuster The Batman. Developed by showrunner Lauren LeFranc, the series centers on the character played by Farrell in the film.

Cast includes Colin Farrell (Oz Cobb), Cristin Milioti (Sofia Falcone), Rhenzy Feliz (Victor Aguilar), Michael Kelly (Johnny Viti), Shohreh Aghdashloo (Nadia Maroni), Deirdre O’Connell (Francis Cobb), Clancy Brown (Salvatore Maroni), James Madio (Milos Grapa), Scott Cohen (Luca Falcone), Michael Zegen (Alberto Falcone), Carmen Ejogo (Eve Karlo) and Theo Rossi (Dr. Julian Rush).

The Batman Part 2 is slated to premiere in October 2026. In the meantime, you can head on over here for my breakdown of The Batman’s ending and post-credits, as well as what to expect from the upcoming sequel.

Sofia Falcone Learns That Penguin Killed Her Brother, Alberto

While accusing Oz of betraying the Maroni family, Shohreh Aghdashloo’s Nadia Maroni reveals to Sofia that Oz killed her brother, Alberto. However, before anything can happen, Oz is saved by Victor Aguilar.

A Flashback Shows Mark Strong’s First Appearance As Carmine Falcone

John Turturro couldn’t reprise his role as mob boss Carmine Falcone from The Batman, so he’s been replaced by actor Mark Strong and this marks his first appearance as Carmine Falcone in The Penguin series.

In case you don’t remember, Carmine Falcone was killed by the Riddler in The Batman.

It’s Heavily Implied That Sofia Falcone Was Not Responsible For The Murders As The Hangman And That It Was Carmine Falcone And The Falcone Family Who Framed Her

It’s heavily implied that Carmine Falcone was actually the real Hangman and is the one who murdered all those people (which we know to be true from the events of The Batman). Carmine frames Sofia for those murders, which is why she was incarcerated in Arkham Asylum in the first place.

Unlike the comic book version of Sofia Falcone, it appears that this version of the character is actually innocent and not the psychotic serial killer Hangman.

In the comics, Sofia Falcone really was the Hangman serial killer as revealed in the Batman Dark Victory story arc. She spent over a year targeting and eliminating various members of the Gotham City Police Department, as well as murdering her own brother, Alberto (who in the comics is the Holiday Killer from the Batman The Long Halloween story arc).

The Introduction Of Another Batman DC Comics Villain In The Penguin

The Penguin Episode 4 introduces Margaret Pye AKA Magpie (played by actress Marié Botha), who becomes Sofia’s ‘friend’ in Arkham Asylum.

This isn’t the first live-action version of Magpie. The character has been portrayed in live-action by Sarah Schenkkan in the final season of the Gotham TV series, Rachel Matthews in the first season of the Arrowverse series Batwoman, and now, Marié Botha in The Penguin.

In the comics, Magpie is a jewel thief who specifically targets jewels named after birds and then replaces them with booby-trapped replicas. Taking a job as a museum curator, Pye is slowly driven mad surrounded by the beautiful things that she loves but can never own. She was notable in Post-Crisis continuity as the first villain who was defeated by Superman and Batman working together, Superman having visited Gotham to “apprehend” Batman before Batman’s demonstration of his skills while tracking Magpie convinced Superman that Gotham needed someone like Batman to protect it.

Magpie is an expert at hand-to-hand combat. Later appearances showed her with the ability to extend her fingernails into claws. Most recently in the comics, she was a part of the Suicide Squad for a brief moment before eventually dying during one of her missions.

Sofia Falcone Kills Magpie

Sofia kills Magpie for provoking her. Well, that was a short-lived ending for the Magpie in this universe, but she was never a prominent Batman villain anyway so she was pretty much an expendable character.

Sofia Falcone Takes Revenge Against Her Own Family In The Penguin’s Version Of The Red Wedding

Every show these days wants to create its own take on the concept of a dramatic and shocking Red Wedding-like massacre, and The Penguin is no exception.

She pretty much kills the rest of the Falcone family, with the sole exception of her cousin’s daughter, Gia, and Michael Kelly’s Johnny Viti. She probably spared Gia because she genuinely loves her niece and she’s the only truly innocent person in the entire Falcone family.

As for Johnny Viti, Sofia probably wants to blackmail him and force him to surrender full control of the Falcone family to her, considering that he’s the current de facto leader of the Falcone family after the deaths of Carmine and Alberto.

In this episode of The Penguin, we pretty much delve into the traumatic past of Sofia Falcone and what happened to her all those years before the events of The Batman. Cristin Millioti’s Sofia Falcone is perhaps the best and most complex character in The Penguin TV series, even more so than the titular character himself. We’re looking forward to seeing more of her as Sofia Falcone in the episodes ahead. If she keeps this up, she may well be worthy enough to win an Emmy Award for her amazing performance next year, alongside Colin Farrell as The Penguin. Comic book shows rarely get that honour (unless they’re made by HBO, such as Watchmen), so it’ll be great to have more comic book adaptations get more award recognition at the highest levels.

We’re already halfway through The Penguin, so we only have 4 episodes left to go.

Until next week’s episode, excelsior!