The Penguin Episode 5 Recap & Ending Explained

Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for The Penguin episode 5The Penguin episode 5 ends with significant status quo changes for Gotham’s underworld as both Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell) and Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) make major moves. In the new Max series set in the same universe as Matt Reeves’ The Batman, the alliance Oz and Sofia briefly had has since ended thanks to the Maroni Crime Family. Now, The Penguin episode 5 ends with Oz and Sofia positioned as key rivals who have each gained new power.

In episodes of The Penguin released thus far, Sofia Falcone recently murdered the majority of her family that had betrayed and sent her to Arkahm on the orders of her father, Carmine. This has positioned her to finally take control of the Falcone Crime Family in The Penguin episode 5, while Oz grapples with the Maronis. Here’s our recap of The Penguin episode 5 and its very exciting ending explained.

The Penguin Episode 5 Spoilers & Key Story Takeaways

• Penguin kidnaps Taj Maroni to get Bliss back from The Maronis.
• GCPD Chief Bock questions Sofia Falcone, confirming a new era is coming with a crackdown on crime and corruption.
• Sofia keeps Johnny in the Falcone mausoleum, needing to know where Carmine kept his money. Johnny confirms Isabella was going to leave Carmine the night he killed her.
• Penguin bribes a guard to shank Salvatore Maroni in his cell.
• During the exchange, the Maronis ambush Oz and his men. In response, Penguin lights Nadia and Taj on fire with gasoline (nearly destroying the mushroom supply in the process).
• Salvatore escapes Blackgate, while Julian Rush officially joins Sofia.
• Sofia renames her family’s empire to the “Gigante Crime Family”. She kills Johnny Viti before giving out Carmine’s money to secure loyalties.
• Victor takes Oz’s mother Frances to Crown Point to keep her safe, while Eve refuses to go with Oz.
• Salvatore and Sofia join forces to kill Penguin and take over Gotham.
• Penguin and Victor uncover Gotham’s underground trolley system, their new base of operations.

Sofia’s New Crime Family And Comics Connections Explained (The Gigantes)

Named After Sofia’s Mother

Having kept Johnny Viti alive to secure her father’s untraceable money and to seemingly legitimize her new leadership, Sofia Falcone confidently stands before the men who worked for her family. Wearing the coat that once belonged to her mother (whom Carmine killed), Sofia elects to take Isabella’s birth name “Gigante” for herself, as well as making it the new name for her crime family, intending to kill Carmine’s legacy going forward. However, Sofia shockingly shoots Johnny in the head after he speaks out against this idea, while also offering the men Carmine’s money to secure their loyalty.

With Sofia’s leadership cemented, the new name change is quite exciting due to its connections to the original DC Comics. On the page, Sofia’s full name is “Sofia Falcone Gigante”, the daughter of Carmine and the wife of Rocco Gigante. However, this new name origin revealed in The Penguin episode 5 is very satisfying with Sofia taking her mother’s birth name, a woman who was similarly betrayed by Carmine and the Falcones. It’s a very dynamic change from the comics, one that puts Sofia front and center as a major force to be reckoned with.

Sofia’s New Alliance With Sal Maroni Explained

Vengeance And A Major Gotham Takeover

Having told the new Gigante Family that she intended to end the Falcones’ long-standing war with the Maronis, Sofia is later seen meeting with none other than Salvatore Maroni himself. Despite breaking out of Blackgate after taking the keys from the man Penguin bribed to kill him, Salvatore was too late to save his wife and son whom Oz lit on fire with gasoline during the hand-off for the Bliss mushrooms they’d taken from him. As such, both Sofia and Salvatore have major axes to grind with Oz.

Thanks to Sofia Gigante, Salvatore seems convinced that an alliance between their families makes the most sense. While taking out Oz will likely be their top priority, they’ll then turn their sights on Gotham itself, intending to take full control of the city’s organized crime as an extremely powerful joint organization. Naturally, this will no doubt prove to be a major challenge for Oz, who at the moment only has two buckets of Bliss that survived his encounter with the Maronis (though he does have allies from the Falcones whom he’s rallied to his cause).

Penguin’s New Base of Operations Explained

An Exciting Ending For Penguin Episode 5

Even as Oz continues to remove threats on his way to the top, the ending of The Penguin episode 5 proves the biggest challenges are still to come. This is especially true now that Salvatore Maroni is seemingly allied with Sofia and the new Gigantes. However, Oz and his right-hand man Victor Aguilar do uncover a key advantage by the end of the new episode: Gotham’s underground, abandoned, and forgotten trolley system.

Remembering its existence as a place he used to explore with his brothers before their deaths, The Penguin episode 5 ends with Cobb telling Victor that the underground tunnels and trolley hub are primed to become a new base of operations. Thanks to the two buckets of Bliss he still has, Cobb confirms the humidity will be perfect to grow even more of the mushrooms as well. This will allow Penguin to build his very own foundation of power on the back of this new drug that’s recently been introduced into Gotham.

As a result, it’s going to be fascinating to see what happens next now that Oz and Sofia have quickly become the two most powerful players in Gotham City’s underworld. The face of crime in Gotham has already been intrinsically changed in the episodes of The Penguin released thus far. However, it’s only going to evolve even further once Cobb and Gigante eventually go to war in earnest in the episodes that are still to come.

New episodes of The Penguin are released Sunday nights on Max.

Created by Lauren LeFranc, The Penguin is a crime-drama spin-off television series of 2022’s film The Batman. Set shortly after the events of The Batman, Oz Cobb, A.K.A. the Penguin, begins his rise in the underworld of Gotham City as he contends with the daughter of his late boss, Carmine Falcone, for control of the crime family’s empire.

Cast

Colin Farrell , Cristin Milioti , Rhenzy Feliz , Michael Kelly , Shohreh Aghdashloo , Deirdre O’Connell , Clancy Brown , James Madio , Scott Cohen , Michael Zegen , Carmen Ejogo , Theo Rossi

Character(s)

Oz Cobb , Sofia Falcone , Victor Aguilar , Johnny Viti , Nadia Maroni , Francis Cobb , Salvatore Maroni , Milos Grapa , Luca Falcone , Alberto Falcone , Eve Karlo , Julian Rush

Release Date

September 19, 2024

Seasons

1

Writers

Lauren LeFranc

Directors

Craig Zobel

Showrunner

Lauren LeFranc

Prequel

The Batman (2022)

Avg Episode Length

60 Mins

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