The Penguin – Season 1 Episode 7 “Top Hat” Recap & Review

Top Hat

Episode 7 of The Penguin starts with flashbacks to Penguin as a kid. He was always the dark horse of the family, and there’s a telling shot of Oz watching in jealousy as his mum shrugs off his attempts to play. When his brothers, Benny and Jack, intervene, Francis immediately gets up and messes about with them. His ma though is always busy working.

It’s around this time that Oz gets his first take of the criminal underworld. Rex, the bigtime player in Gotham, hands Jack 50 bucks while they’re out. Oz is impressed but Jack warns him that he’s not a good guy, so he shouldn’t get involved. This money though, is for their mother.

For now, the trio head down into the sewers and begin playing hide and seek. However, Oz is angry at his brothers not playing fairly, given his busted leg, so he locks them in the sewers and decides to head home by himself.

His brothers don’t make it though, and Oz’s lies about them being at the movies so he can remain with Francis by himself. Oz does take a fancy to the film they watch, which includes men in top hats and suits dancing about. It’s the iconic Penguin get-up, and even here, with the gunfire and action, Oz finds himself enjoying the criminal aspect of it all.

As the film finishes, the rain pours down and locked in the sewers happens to be both Benny and Jack, who drown and die. All so Oz can have his mum to himself.

Fast forward to the present and Oz heads back home to find Victor passed out on the floor and Francis gone. Sal shows up at the apartment, just as Oz tasks Victor with finding his mum and going down the chain of command. Sal grabs the golf club he found at Oz’s apartment and begins beating him with the club.

Sal can’t kill him though, given he’s under orders from Sofia, who currently has Francis at the mansion. She’s confident that Oz is going to come for her and destroy both Sofia and Sal. Francis  is surprisingly confident and brash, throwing little quips out to Sofia. Francis points out that Oz has been watching and learning all those years that he was driving her around.

However, the mood changes when Sofia brings up Benny and Jack. That’s always been her weakness and this immediately sees Francis rant and rave. She relives that night, haunted and scared, and suddenly slaps Sofia. Gotham’s new queen doesn’t retaliate though, given what she’s been through herself, and she obviously needs Francis to get what she wants from Oz.

Meanwhile, Julian shows with bad news. A psychiatrist at the Brookside Children’s Home has spoken to Gia and they could be getting the police involved. While Sofia works to silence her, she tasks Julian with speaking to Francis.

Oz is a slippery customer, and in the underground warehouse, he riles up Sal who actually ends up having a heart attack while they raid the warehouse. Still, Oz unloads a bunch of bullets on him and takes the ring for himself all the same to make it seem like he killed the guy.

With Sal and his men dead, Oswald tells all of his underlings that he’s proud of them but there’s a storm coming and they need to be ready for it.

Sofia’s ordeal is tough, especially when she notices Gia has been cutting herself. Whispering to Gia, Sofia mentions how the family are bad and they deserve to die. She leaves the room and struggles to hold it together. It’s actually a really powerful moment, shattered by Oz phoning Sofia. He offers her the keys to the kingdom in exchange for handing over his mum.

Sofia is tempted to go for the deal, despite knowing this is very likely a trap. However, she also wants Oz to die. She plays him at his own game, using his weakness to show with a car rigged with explosives. When Oz notices he has less than 20 seconds to live, he abandons everybody and hides in the very spot where Benny and Jack drowned. The place blows sky high, causing a sinkhole to destroy the whole operation – and presumably kill everybody here too.

Sofia has fully embraced her maniacal side, and she urges Oz to come see her if he survives this. And survive he does. He clamours out of the wreckage and finds the Eastside in chaos. He can’t find Vic but does, unfortunately, get knocked out by one of Sofia’s goons.

The Episode Review

Everything is starting to come together now and with no more shackles holding Sofia back, seeing Gia like that has completely broken Gotham’s new queen. Sofia has embraced her crazy side  with the maniacal, unhinged and unpredictable persona.

The bombing is a clever play, and something that Oz didn’t expect. It catches him off-guard and for all of his talk of family and togetherness, he high-tails it at the first sign of trouble and only saves himself. He doesn’t even warn any of the other guys there, despite calling them family early on.

But then, ironically, family doesn’t mean very much to Penguin. We see this through those flashbacks with Jack and Benny, where Oz is quite happy to sacrifice them, knowing they’ll drown, just so he can have his mum all to himself.

There are so many layers to this series, and this episode in particular is helped along by some solid character writing and sharp editing too. Those quick cuts between Sofia opening her car door, and Oz doing the same, is a particular highlight, while the use of colour and general cinematography is excellent all round.

The Penguin is easily one of the best shows this year and it looks like we’re gearing up for a very dramatic ending to this one. Roll on next week!