Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers for The Penguin finale.
The Penguin finale sent its audience off with an unforgettable ending. Double-crossings and explosive showdowns to a few familiar faces returning in Gotham – viewers were given some of the darker turns of the season.
Much of it set things up for some connections to Matt Reeves' wider Batman universe, from nods to Gotham's underground rulers to that long-awaited return of Robert Pattinson's Batman.
We saw how Oz Cobb, our rough tough Penguin, played wonderfully by Colin Farrell, managed to become the new kingpin of Gotham, yet managed to switch alliances with the city elites on one hand and, on the other, found himself at a clash with crime lord Sofia Falcone for dominance.
The show is riddled with easter eggs like showing Bella Reàl in a sling, Oz allying with Councilman Hady, Selina Kyle (Sofia's half-sister) a.k.a Catwoman sending a letter to Sofia, and the Bat-signal lighting up Gotham's night sky in the finale.
The Penguin finale episode would drag the viewer down to the underbelly of Gotham, then fill it with ominous foreshadowing of the eventual conflict between the city and Batman. Here's a look at all the significant Easter eggs, scene breakdowns, and how they tie back to The Batman.
The Penguin finale recap: Sofia Falcone’s final gambit fails
The climactic confrontation of Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) and Oz Cobb is no exception: Sofia armors Oz's very own mother, Francis Cobb, against him, revealing Oz's history of family betrayal. Oz escapes and fights back by engineering Sofia's downfall on The Penguin.
She tries to push her gangs to engage in a truce with the gangs of Gotham by offering them Hendrick's gin in place of the bad beer Oz is selling, but fate plays its final trick, as the Triads turn against her. Almost at that moment, Sofia traps Oz, it's revealed he has set up an elaborate trap.
“You have no idea what it feels like, born into nothing,” he coldly tells her.
He's solidifying his status as Gotham's most powerful crime lord. In this scene, he is very much like The Godfather, watching his calculated rise, as all of Oz's allies snuff out these ties of loyalty to take Gotham's underworld for themselves.
The Penguin finale recap: Gotham’s renewed corruption and political connections
Through his connection to corrupt councilman Hady, Oz connects himself to Gotham's high class, taking directly from the source that DC Comics created whereby Penguin so many times manipulated the political systems.
Oz takes this alliance to angle Sofia as the puppet master that has been driving the riots hammering Gotham City to assure himself of Mayor-Elect Bella Reál's campaign pledge of cleaning up the city's riff-raff.
This is a rather subtle Easter egg as Reál wears a sling, recovering from injuries she suffers during The Batman when Riddler's henchmen beat her up.
Bella Reál's appearance represents a struggle for Gotham in its fight against corruption: Oz is exploring these politics to stage himself as an even more legitimate figure while deepening his hold over the city's elite.
The Penguin finale recap: Selina Kyle’s mysterious letter
Another reference to Gotham's notorious characters appears when Sofia gets a letter from her half-sister Selina Kyle, known as Catwoman, implying that the duo has some family issues to settle.
The Catwoman theme by Michael Giacchino from The Batman theme music plays in the background as Sofia opens the letter, and her former hypnotherapist, Dr. Julian Rush, observes that the letter is:
“Something you’ll want to read.”
In the comics, Selina and Sofia have a taut relationship tied to a mutual dislike of their father, Carmine Falcone. This Easter egg adds to Sofia's storyline. Based on this plot, her meeting with Selina may be shown in future seasons or movies.
The Penguin finale recap: The Bat-Signal’s appearance
The very final shot of the episode is of course a chilling shot of the Bat-Signal illuminating the night sky of Gotham—a powerful moment signifying Batman's imminent return to the chaos Oz has unleashed.
This shot on The Penguin, though brief and striking, brings the memory of Batman over the Gotham complex looming over it; they tease part II of The Batman.
Batman is absent this season, and many believe he is hiding after his major fight with the Riddler. The gap this opened paved the way for the entrance of Oz, a young crime boss into Gotham. For fans awaiting the big battle between Batman and Penguin, this theme is more than fabulous.
The Penguin finale recap: An end for Victor
But an unhappy ending awaits faithful Oz's assistant, Victor Aguilar, in one of the most painful moments of The Penguin. Victor aided Oz in building his crime empire, so he is an unlikely victim, discovering that loyalty in Gotham City often translates to betrayal.
“You know I couldn’t have done any of this without you,” Oz tells him.
He hugs Victor and then strangles him, which is betrayal proving Oz transformed brutally. According to The Penguin screenwriter Josh Rosenberg, the killing of Victor marks a "point of no return" for Oz, cementing his place as the ruthless ruler of Gotham episode's final scenes, Oz fulfills his mother's dreams in a penthouse while completely ignoring her comatose state.
Notwithstanding his seemingly victorious state, Oz's vacuous sense of fulfillment is demonstrated in this context. It illustrates the emptiness of his transgressions.
While dancing with the s*x worker Eve, who is unsettlingly attired like his mother, the Bat-Signal foreshadows Gotham's impending judgment and Oz's unavoidable confrontation with Batman.
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