The Penguin episode 5 review | Burn, baby, burn

the penguin episode 5
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Sofia makes a huge power move while Oz is trying to secure his future in the shrooms business. Here’s our The Penguin episode 5 review. 


We’ve been treated to two excellent episodes of The Penguin, so as we go into episode 5, the question inevitably is: can the series keep up this amazing energy and intrigue it has built up?

The answer is yes and no. 

Last week’s episode showed us Sofia’s time in Arkham as well as her taking over her family’s fortunes by killing everyone with gas. Now with most of her family dead, this week’s  episode finds her ensuring her own legacy. 

Meanwhile, Oz doesn’t seem too worried that Sofia knows he killed her brother. He’s much more concerned about his aspiring shroom business. In order to get his stock back from the Maronis, he devises a plan in which he kidnaps their son so he can blackmail the Maronis. A particularly amusing bit in the episode finds Oz showing a TikTok video of the Maroni kid to his accomplices, implying that Oz too likes to scroll the app at night before bed. Criminals, they’re just like us, eh?

The problem here is that episode 5 of The Penguin had no chance of reaching the highs of the last two episodes. It’s a very good hour of television, but after such fascinating deep dives into characters, it’s almost a shame we have to go back to the main narrative.

the penguin episode 5 sofia
Credit: Sky

I found myself wondering who I care most about in The Penguin and was rather surprised to find I’m more drawn to Sofia and Vic’s arcs than Oz’s. Sofiaā€™s arc particularly feels very strong and has an emotional base to it, thatā€™s lacking from Ozā€™s rise to power. Would the show benefit from having an episode that focused on Oz’s past? Probably, but letā€™s hope the plot naturally finds a way to deepen the character.

Oz also sends Vic to care for his mother Francis this week and Deirdre Oā€™Connell is pretty outstanding here. As Vic enters her bedroom, Francis mistakes him for Oz and after Vic corrects her, she changes in the blink of an eye. O’Connell goes from calm and happy to cold and crude in a second. Later on in the episode, she asks Oz: “What kind of a man can’t take care of his own mother?” and we see the effect has on Oz. 

Although Colin Farrell, under extensive prosthetics and make-up, is great as Oz, the character remains a bit of black hole. He’s constantly double-crossing his allies and manipulating them, but the issue is now that we’re not sure when Oz is manipulating the audience. There’s no definition between Oz the gangster and Oz the human being. 

The Penguin does a great job at keeping Oz a villain ā€“ something Todd Phillips’ Joker should have done too ā€“ but I’m keen to see what’s going on underneath all of that. Oz has proved to be a man with his own set of morals and hugely ambitious, but what else is he? With only three more episodes to go, I’m hoping we’ll gain more insight into Oz. 

Join us again next week for another episode of The Penguin.

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