Picking up from where The Batman (2022) left off, drama miniseries The Penguin tells the story of a small-time mobster (Colin Farrell) encumbered by his painful limp, but propelled forward (and upwards) by the force of his white-hot ambition.
The show points out Oz Cobb’s redeeming qualities—he loves his mother! He’s a kind mentor to a kid! He’s an ally!—but it gradually becomes clear that he’s less anti-hero, more straight-up villain. Not all of his crimes might be intentional (the jury’s still out on whether he intended to murder his brothers), or even crimes at all (his snitching isn’t illegal but it does lead to a young woman being framed for a series of murders and sent to an asylum). But there’s no doubt that where Cobb goes, chaos follows.
Now that the finale of The Penguin has aired, here are all of Oz Cobb’s crimes, ranked from least to most shocking:
(Warning: Spoilers ahead!)
12. Both Sal Maroni murder attempts
Poor Cobb, 0 for 2 when it comes to Sal Maroni (Clancy Brown) murder attempts. First, he bribes a Blackgate Penitentiary guard to shank his rival, and while viewers are privy to the sneak attack, which includes the sickening squelch of a knife sliding into flesh, it’s later revealed that Maroni killed the guard instead and escaped using his keys.
When Cobb and Maroni tussle once more in Episode 7, the old man drops dead of a heart attack, robbing Cobb of the satisfaction of having bested him. All he can do is ineffectually fire bullets into the corpse.
11. Setting up the Drops heist
Cobb helps the Maronis hijack the Falcones’ Drops convoy, pretending to be a victim of the attack while walking away with half the payout. Audacious, yes. But shocking? Only to the Falcone henchmen who realize just moments before their death that they’ve been betrayed.
10. Shooting Sofia’s henchmen
Only shocking because of how agile he is even after being stabbed in the stomach with a glass bottle by his own mother (Deirdre O’Connell), still able to pick her up, throw her over his shoulder and flee the scene, spattering Detective Wise’s (Craig Walker) brains all over the camera while he’s at it
9. The tarmac shootout
The tiniest upturn of the side of Cobb’s mouth is the only warning Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) gets before her henchmen, Triad boss Feng Zhao (François Chau), and his henchmen are shot. Eight episodes in, Cobb’s canny knack for pulling himself out of the holes he’s dug has become familiar, but no less fun to watch.
8. Blackmailing Johnny Viti
Cobb takes a break from all the murder and double-crossing to engage in a spot of light blackmail in Episode 3. There’s a slight hitch to his plan to bring the Triads on board with his drug distribution dea: They need Falcone underboss Johnny Viti (Michael Kelly) to confirm his support for Cobb and Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti).
Since Viti would never willingly agree, the two corner him having clandestine hotel-room sex with his boss’ wife (Tess Soltau). For a trapped man, Viti is remarkably adept at spotting a way out, attempting to drive a wedge between Cobb and Sofia, pointing out how little she can trust him. Enraged, Cobb straddles him, shoving a cellphone into his mouth with such force, the glass cracks against his teeth. Physical intimidation works. He makes the call.
Cobb amps up his blackmail tactics in Episode 6, deploying his weapons before his words. He accosts a councilman (Rhys Coiro) in a dark parking lot, taking a pair of pliers to his nose while threatening to reveal his misuse of public funds if he doesn’t divert electricity to Gotham’s neglected Crown Point neighborhood. Overkill, but wiping off the bloodied pliers on the councilman’s tie is a nice touch.
7. Murdering Ervad Hakimi
Add another body to the pile Cobb’s building his growing empire atop. Just when he thinks he’s pulled off the Falcone Drops heist, the Maroni henchman Ervad Hakimi (Fajer Al-Kaisi) he colluded with is caught. Cobb’s immediate instinct isn’t murder. He knows that he has to avoid being implicated in the scheme if he wants to retain the Falcones’ confidence. Instead of silencing Ervad, he initially tries to coach him into framing Johnny Viti instead.
Even in his drugged stupor, Ervad understands what’s being asked of him, and agrees. Moments later, however, Cobb realizes that his plan to plant Falcone jewelry in Viti’s car has failed and just Ervad’s word won’t be enough to set him up as a traitor. He pulls out a pocket knife and stabs the wide-eyed captive in the heart. “We all gotta make sacrifices, pal,” are his cold parting words.
6. Framing Sofia for well, everything
Cobb’s Episode 8 triumph is Sofia’s tragedy, with her ending up exactly where she started—framed for crimes she didn’t commit by a power-hungry mobster trying to save his own skin. It’s a bold move by a desperate man, and would be a lot more shocking if not for an earlier scene in which he spells out his entire plan.
5. Shooting Alberto Falcone
Alberto Falcone is (Michael Zegen) dead and dispensed with swiftly, the heir to the Falcone empire winding up in the trunk of Cobb’s car before ever claiming his seat at the head of the table, but it’s the suddenness of his death that makes it so jarring.
The violence is juxtaposed against Cobb’s fond reminiscing about a benevolent mob leader he used to know, the kind who was so beloved, his death warranted a parade in his honor. Falcone, on realizing that this is how Cobb would like to be seen, begins to mock him. “You really think people would make a float of your dumb face and march it down the street chanting your goddamned name?” he asks in Episode 1. Cobb’s ego can’t sustain the bruise, his reflex is to wound in return. Falcone is dead and the game has just begun.
4. Framing Castillo for murder
The only thing shocking about Cobb slipping a bloodied knife into the pocket of Sofia’s bodyguard Castillo (Berto Colón) in Episode 2 is that he didn’t slip it into Johnny Viti’s pocket instead. He plays it perfectly too, orchestrating a public scuffle with Viti, getting close enough to let the audience think he’s finally about to frame his longtime target, then using the chaos to implicate Castillo in Ervad’s murder instead. Oh Cobb, never change
3. Setting Taj and Nadia Maroni on fire
Taj Maroni (Aria Shahghasemi) is caught with his pants down (literally, he’s wearing saggy pants, getting a tattoo and vaping when Cobb kidnaps him). Cobb’s proposition to Sal and Nadia (Shohreh Aghdashloo) is simple: his shrooms in exchange for their son. When he lets Taj walk over to Nadia, however, the boy is dripping wet. Cobb flicks open his lighter, then pointedly drops it on the ground, sparking a trail of gasoline that leads straight to mother and son locked in an embrace. Cobb was never going to let Taj and Nadia walk out alive, but it’s the cruelty of their deaths that’s so horrific.
2. Killing his brothers
The source of young Cobb’s frustration and resentment is twofold: his physical disability, and having to share his mother’s (Deirdre O’Connell) affection with his brothers (Owen Asztalos and Nico Tirozzi). Spurred by one, he finds a solution to the other, his villainy utterly chilling in just how childish it is.
As his brothers goof around in Gotham’s abandoned sewer tunnels, their playfulness becomes a constant reminder of Cobb’s own limited mobility. In a moment of anger, he shuts the door on them and walks home, trapping them in as it begins to rain. The episode cuts between the coziness of Cobb’s apartment where he snuggles against his mother, the rain coming down in torrents outside, and his brothers’ eventual desperate cries as they’re left to drown.
The scene’s final sights and sounds are haunting: his smile and their silence. Did he mean for them to die? In locking them in, he gave in to the same petty impulsive vengefulness he had when he shot Alberto Falcone. Only this time, the closed door seems to slam shut on any hope of his redemption.
1. Killing Victor Aguilar
It was obvious that Cobb’s mentee (Rhenzy Feliz) was going to die at some point during the show—Gotham’s underbelly is no place for someone so young, no matter how resourceful—but the prevailing theory was that his death would spur the mobster into a murderous rampage, securing his victory once and for all. The Penguin‘s most shocking moment is the result of it flipping the script, making Cobb’s victory the reason for Victor’s death instead.
As they sit together at the end of Episode 8, Cobb’s embrace gradually turns crushing, squeezing the air out of his right-hand man. Caring makes you vulnerable, he’s realized, and he just can’t have that anymore now that he’s at the top. Cobb kills Victor, and with him, his last tethers to humanity. In a show full of terrible actions, him looting Victor’s corpse might just be the most heartless.
