Like a fine wine that’s been given a good opportunity to decant, to let all the effervescence out and just kind of learn to find its own body, this episode of The Penguin has done just that. You let it breathe, and now we get this amazing character piece, which gives us all the backstory of Sophia that we need and sets up the moves to come.
The episode is titled “Cent’anni,” which is an Italian toast. It means may you live a hundred years. Much like last week set us up for Vic and Vic’s eventual rise, this week sets us up for who Sophia is going to be on the other side of all this.
Right Where We Left Off
It starts us right where we left off. We get the moment where they show up to take her and Oz out, we hear them talking, and she gets to see firsthand Oz trying to talk his way out of it. Especially when they imply that he’s the one who killed her brother.
That’s all it took, man. She’s livid.
That’s of course when Vic shows up, and that’s the last we’re going to see of Oz this episode. The entire hour focuses on Sophia.
The Rise and the Fall
It shows her, I’d say, rise and fall. And the only reason she had a fall was because she was approached by Summer Gleeson, who by the way is a very cool callback to a character from the animated series, a reporter.
The reporter is interested in talking to her about what her father’s been up to, and is implying that her father might be strangling people, might be murdering people. So the episode basically sets up that Sophia was talking to a reporter about things that could imply her father’s guilt. Things she was already starting to notice herself. Her mother wasn’t depressed.
So we’re clearly learning that Falcone loved to put his hands on some people, okay? Much like the movie. We saw what happened there. This is what got him in trouble, and the entire thing is about that.
She Had to Become Crazy to Survive Arkham
We get to see why she went into Arkham, what happens there, how she gets involved with her therapist. All the ins and outs of that place and the experience of it.
Because she wasn’t crazy. She had to become crazy to survive Arkham, and that’s a story I do not doubt.
Everybody in the House
The episode lays the groundwork for a lot of things, and it does it very quickly. She clearly has to do something radical now, and she does. By the way, she completely takes out the entire family. Not quite everybody in that house, so we’ll see what happens when the ones she spared wake up.
There’s not a whole lot more to tell. The episode didn’t have a whole lot to do with Oz. It had a lot to do with Sophia and her background and her history, and she’s sort of becoming this lady boss. And what does she do? She takes the whole family out. At the very end it’s her, and she’s ready for bear.
So let’s see what happens, because she’s about to get the support and backing of some folks, especially considering she just killed everybody in the house.
The Halfway Mark
Judging by the trailer for the next episode, Oz is going to be in for a fight, and they’re really closing in now.
There are quite a few episodes left in this season. This was Episode 4, we’re at the halfway mark, and I’m excited to see how they’re going to turn it around. I really am. This entire thing has been engaging, it’s riveting, and I’m genuinely enjoying it.
We’re going to talk about it more this Saturday, along with Agatha All Along, and hopefully start doing some more looking ahead, because we have some Star Trek coming down the pike.
Are you excited for what’s coming? I know I am. Tell me where you think Sophia goes from here in the comments on the video above.
